Christy was stunned. She had been worried about whether or not Todd would kiss her, and her aunt was imagining much more.
“Why, I have done nothing but lavish my love on you all summer long,” her aunt continued. “I’ve given you everything a young girl could dream of. Your uncle and I have made a great number of sacrifices for you, and if this is all the thanks we get, then perhaps it’s for the best that you’re leaving tomorrow. Maybe once you’re gone you’ll appreciate all we’ve bought for you.”
Christy wanted to rush over to her aunt, first to hug her and then slug her. How could she think in such a twisted way? How could she take a situation and bend it so that Christy came out the guilty party? Yet, she was right too. Christy had taken all the clothes and dinners out and excursions for granted.
“Aunt Marti,” Christy began cautiously, hoping to melt her aunt’s frosty stare, “it’s just that there are some things you can’t buy with money.”
As soon as she said it, Christy thought of the Debbie Stevens song “You Won’t Find It at the Mall.” Now she really knew what that song meant.
“But,” she added quickly, “I appreciate all that you have done for me. I really do. I’ll never forget this summer. It’s been the best summer of my whole life!”
Aunt Marti didn’t respond. She stared out at the ocean, her lips pulled tight with anger. “I have nothing more to say, Christina.”
“I’m sorry,” Christy said with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry for being such a problem to both of you.”
“You know we loved having you here.” Uncle Bob reached over and gave Christy’s shoulder a squeeze. “Why don’t you enjoy your last afternoon and go join your friends down on the beach?”
“I don’t know if I ever want to see Todd again. Or what I’d say if I did.”
“Sure you do. Besides, this is your last chance. Make the most of it, honey. And by the way, would this, by any chance, be yours?” He held up the sandal she had hurled at Todd.
“Yes,” she said sheepishly and took it from him.
“Go ahead,” Aunt Marti obliged. “You need to make up with Todd before you go home.”
“I need to make up with you, too,” Christy gently pointed out.
“All is forgiven,” Aunt Marti said with a little smile.
Christy rushed over to her aunt and bent down to hug her. Laughing uncomfortably, as though she wasn’t used to such affectionate displays, her aunt returned the hug.
“Now get going,” she said, releasing Christy and smoothing her own slightly rumpled hair.
Twenty minutes later, Christy shuffled through the sand, wondering whom she would find down by the jetty. Alissa was back in Boston. Tracy was probably at work. Todd … who knew what Todd was doing?
After all, nobody paid Todd to spend time with me this afternoon, so why would he be hanging around?
She scanned the surfboards out in the water, but Todd’s orange board wasn’t among them. She approached the group that Todd tended to hang around with, but the only ones she knew were Heather, Doug, and Leslie. Remembering how she had felt like an outcast the night of the concert, Christy hesitated, not sure she wanted to face the group. But it was too late. They had already seen her and were motioning for her to join them.
“Hey, Christy,” Doug greeted her, “you just missed Todd. He was here all morning. Said you guys had an awesome time at Disneyland!”
“Awesome?” teased Leslie. “Nobody uses that word anymore.”
“Doug does!” Heather said with a giggle. “Tracy said she and Todd gave you a Bible. That was so cool of them.”
“Oh, cool,” Doug teased. “Now that’s a real groovy word.”
Heather wadded up a T-shirt and threw it at him.
“Yes,” Christy said, trying to appear relaxed. “It’s a really nice Bible.” She wanted to tell them of her decision that morning to give her life to Jesus, but she didn’t know how.
“We’re all going to have a barbecue here tonight,” Doug announced to her. “You should come.”
“Where’s it going to be?”
“Over there at the fire pits.” Heather pointed. “Everybody just brings food, and we sit around and talk and sing and stuff. It’s kind of our church group, but we try not to be cliquey. Michelle, Doug, and I are coming, and Todd said he might come and bring his guitar.”
“Todd plays a guitar?” Christy asked.
“You didn’t know that? He’s really good.”
For the next couple of hours, Christy talked to Heather while Doug rode his body board. She lay on her back the whole time to get as much sun on her face as possible, so that when she got off the plane the next day everyone would know she had been to California.
Around five o’clock, Christy headed back to the house to get some hotdogs for the barbecue and to grab her new Disneyland sweatshirt.
On the side table by the front door was a letter for her. She thought it was Paula’s writing at first but then realized it was Alissa’s. Come to think of it, Paula hadn’t written her in a long time. Oh, well. Tomorrow she would be home and could tell Paula all about Disneyland, the catastrophe with Todd, and opening her heart to the Lord. So much had happened in such a short time.
Christy sat on the bottom step and skimmed the letter from Alissa. She sounded a little better than she had in her last letter, but maybe that was because of the new boyfriend she mentioned. Her grandmother even approved of him. He was a college sophomore named Everett, but everyone called him Bret. She sounded pretty happy with him, but Christy wondered how long that would last.
Christy stuck the letter back in the envelope and decided she would write Alissa on the plane. She felt she now had some answers to offer. Having Jesus in her heart made her feel as though she weren’t all alone anymore, trying to figure things out on her own. Alissa needs that kind of friend. Somebody who isn’t going to leave her.
Christy pushed her bedroom door open and found Uncle Bob folding a pair of her jeans into a suitcase.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said. “I think we’ll need to get a few boxes or another suitcase. Seems you’re going home with more than you brought!”
“You don’t have to do that. I can do it later.”
“Well, your aunt’s made reservations for six-thirty at the Five Crowns Restaurant, so I thought I’d get a head start for you.”
“Oh, no!” Christy moaned. “I was going to go cook hotdogs on the beach with everybody. We don’t have to go out to eat, do we?”
“I think she wanted to make your last night here special.”
“It will be special if I can spend it with my friends,” Christy pleaded.
“Well,” he said, his eyes twinkling, “tell you what. You go have your cookout with your friends. Don’t worry about your aunt. I’ll take care of her.”
“You are so awesome!” Christy threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
Christy spent a few minutes in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Then she splashed her face with cool water and smoothed some aloe gel over her sunburned cheeks. She looked like a true California girl: dark tan, sun-streaked hair.
I’m going to move to California as soon as I’m old enough. Maybe I’ll go to college out here. This was her real home now. She felt no connection with cows and snowdrifts and all that went with Wisconsin living. Palm trees and surfboards—that was more her real self now.
Christy dabbed on some mascara, grabbed her sweatshirt, and slipped downstairs to the kitchen, where Bob, with a wink, handed her a bag of cookout food. Christy rushed to the fire ring, where some of the guys had already started a fire. Tracy stood there, straightening out coat hangers to cook the hotdogs on. Cute, petite Tracy with her quick smile and big brown eyes. Christy had tried so hard not to like her, but now she realized how much she was going to miss her.
“Christy! Todd told me you’re going home tomorrow. I can’t believe it!” She tossed the coat hangers down and gave Christy a friendly hug. “We’re going to miss you
so much.”
Christy quickly looked around. Todd wasn’t there. She was disappointed and relieved at the same time,
“Thanks,” she said as she hugged Tracy back. “And thanks, too, for the Bible and the cover you made. I really like it.”
“I’m so glad. After our little encounter yesterday morning I wasn’t sure if I should give it to you or not,” Tracy said.
“Well, I’m glad you did. Do you know if Todd is going to come tonight?”
“I don’t know. Hey, Brian, do you know if Todd’s coming?”
“He was out here this morning when we were talking about it, but he didn’t say.”
“Who knows with Mr. Unpredictable,” chimed in Michelle.
Well said, Christy thought.
For the next hour or so she kept looking, hoping that Todd would show up and yet wondering what she would say to him if he did—or what he would say to her. After a while she quit watching for him and tried to push him out of her mind. Everyone else was being so nice to her that it made it easy to have a fun time. Christy quietly thought about how much she was going to miss this new group of friends. She watched as the sun slipped into the ocean like a huge orange beach ball and wished she’d gotten to know all of them better. She also wished again that she didn’t have to go home.
“So what if Todd isn’t here with his guitar?” Tracy said as the sky began to darken. “Let’s sing anyway.”
The group, eleven of them, gathered around the fire and began singing choruses that Christy had never heard before. Some of them were soft and gentle, others loud and spirited. But they were all about the Lord, or rather songs that they sang to the Lord. She recognized some of the songs as verses she’d learned in Sunday school.
This is the most beautiful place in the world. What a perfect night! If only Todd were here. If only we hadn’t ended last night in such an awful way. This clear night sky, these gentle breezes, and these songs are all so wonderful. I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here forever!
Michelle must have noticed Christy’s tears glistening in the firelight, because she leaned over and said, “It’s probably going to be really hard for you to go home.”
Christy’s cheeks stung from salty tears on her sunburn. “I don’t want to go.”
“It’ll turn out all right. You’ll see.”
The next song they sang was another Bible verse:
Trust in the Lord
With all your heart
And lean not on
Your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him
And He will direct your paths.
Christy had never felt her heart so full. The group huddled around the fire until the last log snapped and fell into a mound of red-hot embers. Then they went around the circle, and everyone prayed. Some prayed for their families; some prayed for their friends—that they would become Christians. Others thanked God for things He had done for them. Christy was the second to the last one to pray. Surprisingly, the words came easily.
“Dear Lord, I want to thank You for coming into my life this morning. Please be with my family and the problems we’re having now, and please be with me when I go home tomorrow. Amen.”
The next person, Doug, didn’t pray. Instead he put his arm around Christy and pulled her close. “Did you really?” he asked.
“What?” Christy looked up, startled.
Everyone was looking at her.
“Did you really ask Christ into your heart this morning?”
“Yes,” Christy answered, surprised at the reaction of everyone around her.
They all spoke at once: “That’s great!” “Wow!” “You’re kidding!” “I can’t believe it!” “We’ve been praying for you!”
Everyone gathered around her in a big group hug, and Christy was amazed at how excited they all were. She never felt so loved and accepted. Doug gave her the biggest hug of all of them.
If only Todd had been there! It killed her, not knowing if she would ever see him again, especially after their closing scene at the door last night. She wasn’t sure how they would have worked it out, but she was sure they could have if they tried.
The group hung around the fire pit until everyone felt chilled from the night wind. At about eleven o’clock Doug walked her home.
“So, did you have a good summer?” he asked, stroking his fingers through his short hair.
“It went too fast.”
“I’m so glad I got to know you,” he said. “You can’t believe how excited I am that you became a Christian. You’ll never be sorry.”
“Does the Lord really help you when things are tough?” Christy asked.
“Of course. But you know He doesn’t take away the rough times. He helps you through them. Besides, all the difficult stuff makes you grow. It helps you depend on Him and not on yourself.”
They were at Bob and Marti’s front steps, and Doug added. “At least that’s what happens to me when I go through hard stuff.”
“You know what I’m going to miss?” Christy asked, standing with her back to the front door. “I’m going to miss listening to people talk about God so easily and naturally. I’ve learned a lot from you guys this summer. I don’t have any friends at home who love God the way you do.”
“Well,” Doug challenged, “you’ll have to tell them. Start your own group of God-lovers.”
“God-lovers?” she repeated.
“Or whatever you want to call them. It takes only one person.”
Doug was so easy to talk to. Why didn’t she like him the way she liked Todd? He was cute, nice, and caring, but there was just something about Todd.
Todd. Why wasn’t Todd standing by the front door with me tonight instead of Doug? She knew she had ruined everything when she threw her shoe at him.
“I’d better go in,” she told Doug, shivering a little in the damp air. “Good-bye! I hope I see you again sometime.”
“Here.” Doug gave her a big hug. “I’ll see you in heaven, if not before.”
Christy gave a little laugh and went inside. She found her room completely cleaned, and on the floor were three new leather suitcases, all packed but still open. A note from her uncle was pinned to her pillow: Hope you had a good time. You’ll need to get something out of your suitcase to wear tomorrow on the plane. I’ll wake you up at six o’clock so you’ll have time to get ready.
Christy couldn’t sleep. She had so much floating around in her mind. Why didn’t Todd show up tonight at the barbecue? Will I ever see him again? Why do I have to go home tomorrow? Why is life always so complicated? She wore herself out trying to come up with the answers.
Finally she released it all, thinking about Doug’s statement that God would help her through the rough times instead of taking them away.
“Okay,” Christy prayed, “I guess I’d better depend on You to help me through all these frustrating things, because I’m going to go crazy trying to figure them all out.”
She snuggled under the warm covers, and then she softly sang, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart …”
She fell asleep before she finished.
The next morning Uncle Bob tapped on her door at 6:02. “We need to leave in an hour for the airport, Christy. Let me know if you need help with anything.”
She showered and dressed in a daze. Her ears buzzed as if a toy airplane were circling round and round in her head. After curling her hair, she crammed the last bag of cosmetics into the last suitcase. Opening her door, she hollered, “I’m ready!”
Aunt Marti appeared in the hallway. “Are you sure you have everything, dear?”
Marti looked stunning in a bright yellow and navy blue outfit. Her cool composure reigned; nothing of their conflict from the day before remained. Apparently Bob had smoothed over the restaurant situation, but Christy wisely thought she had better not bring it up.
“Yes, but I can’t carry these suitcases. They’re way too heavy.”
Uncle Bob had to make a separate trip fo
r each suitcase, throwing the leather monsters into the trunk. They pulled out of the driveway, and Christy tearfully took one last look at the house, one last gaze out at the beach, and allowed herself one last thought centered on Todd. It was all over. Her summer. Her first love …
The car stopped at a red light. This was the same intersection she and Todd had crossed on their bike ride. Todd. Just thinking about him caused a painful ache deep inside her. She swallowed the swelling wad of agony in her throat.
“Are my lights on?” Bob asked Marti.
“No.”
“Then why is the guy in the car behind me flashing his lights and waving?”
Christy turned around. “It’s Todd! Don’t go yet!”
“But, Christy darling, the light’s turned green!” Marti protested.
Christy jumped out of the car and bounded toward Gus. Todd stepped out of the van, with the engine still running, and handed Christy a small bouquet of white carnations. Her favorite! How did he know? Had her aunt set him up again? At this point she didn’t care.
“I’m glad you stopped!” Todd said with a smile that showed his dimples. “The horn’s not working in ol’ Gus this morning.”
“Thanks for the flowers.”
“That’s okay. Hey, Tracy called me last night after she left the beach and told me about your decision to turn your life over to the Lord.”
“Yes,” Christy said shyly. “It all made sense finally, and I knew it was time to get in the boat, like you told me.”
“Christy,” Todd said, tentatively reaching over and touching her shoulder. “You have no idea how happy I am for you. I’ve been so bummed out about Shawn. But knowing that you’ve become a Christian.” He began to choke up. “It’s just the best thing that could’ve ever happened.”
“I know,” Christy whispered. She quickly searched Todd’s bronzed face for one last time, desperately trying to remember everything about him—his strong jaw, those faint dimples when he smiled, his sun-washed blond hair, and those screaming silver-blue eyes, which were now staring deeply into her eyes.
The driver in the car behind Todd, exasperated from waiting, pulled out around them and laid on the horn as he sped through the yellow light.