“No, dear,” Marti said. “You keep being yourself. You have tenacity, Christy, and I don’t want you to ever lose that.”
“I’m not sure I know what that is, but I hope it’s good.”
Marti brushed a spot of powdered sugar from Christy’s cheek, “Yes, it’s good.” Then, focusing on the earrings more than she needed to, Marti said, “Tenacious women are good at giving second chances.”
Christy desperately wanted to say something deep and tender, like in the movies, but all that came to mind was, “Well, then you must be a tenacious woman too. Maybe that’s where I get it from.”
“Possibly.”
“Ready?” Todd asked, stepping toward them.
“Yes,” Christy said, giving Marti a quick hug. “Thanks for being like a second mom to me, Aunt Marti. I really appreciate you. And thanks for letting me wear your earrings.”
“You two get going now,” Marti said, snapping out of the tender moment. “I’m certain it goes without saying, but Todd, if you have too much to drink, don’t try to drive home. We’ll be up, so you call us, okay?”
Todd began to laugh, but then he saw that Marti was serious. “Don’t worry. I don’t drink. Honest.”
“Well, it is New Year’s, and you don’t know what Heather might have at this party.”
“If you knew Heather, you wouldn’t even think that,” Christy said. Then she realized her aunt must be remembering a party Christy went to last summer where the alcohol and drugs were plentiful. That was an experience Christy never wanted to repeat.
“Don’t worry,” Todd said. “We’ll be fine.”
Christy waved to her family in the living room and noticed that David was drowning his sorrows in the remainder of the chocolates, his silly tie blinking off and on.
Sorry, David, but this time you can’t take him away, Christy thought. Finally, Todd and I are going to be together.
Christy had so much she wanted to talk to Todd about, yet, oddly enough, they drove the first few blocks in silence. She wanted to get the conversation going, but now that they were finally alone she couldn’t think of a thing to say. Did he feel strange too?
Just then Todd stopped at a red light. Christy glanced out the front windshield. It was their intersection! This is where he kissed her last summer. Did he remember? Was he thinking the same thing? She glanced at him cautiously. He was looking straight ahead.
The light turned green, and Todd sped on.
“I wanted to ask you something,” Todd said, breaking the stillness.
Good! Finally! He’s going to start the conversation!
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Alissa lately. Have you heard from her?”
Alissa! You’ve been thinking about Alissa? What about us? “Actually,” Christy said stiffly, “I got a letter from her the other day.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Not so well,” Christy said, letting down her guard and choosing to give the news to Todd slowly. “She asked me to pray for her. She’s going through a rough time right now.”
“She needs the Lord,” Todd stated.
“I agree,” Christy said as they pulled into a tight parking spot at the end of Heather’s block. “But she also needs people in her life who can help and support her while she goes through all this.”
“Goes through what?” Todd asked. He turned off the engine and faced Christy.
“Todd, she’s pregnant.”
“How pregnant?”
“What do you mean?”
“How many months along?”
“Five or six. Why?”
“I knew it!” Todd hooted, popping the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. “Man, this is great!”
“Todd!” Christy couldn’t believe his reaction. “I just said she’s having a baby!”
Todd kept smiling. “You know what, Christy? It’s Shawn’s baby.”
“Shawn’s? How do you know?”
“She’s five or six months along, right? Well, count backward.”
“I don’t know. I thought it might be that other guy’s—Erik. The one with the black Porsche who she met at Shawn’s party.”
“Nope, it’s Shawn’s.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know Erik. He never went to bed with her. He tried, but he never did.”
Christy thought back to the day Erik had come to Alissa’s house and was upset when he found Christy there.
“I wonder if that’s why Erik said all those mean things to Alissa the day she left.”
“Could be.” Todd leaned back in his seat. The glow from the streetlight washed over his face, showing his contented expression.
“Todd, you should see your face right now. I think this whole thing is awful, and you’re smiling. I mean, can you imagine how hard it must be for Alissa being pregnant, with no parents around to support her? And she can’t even tell the baby’s father because he’s dead!”
“Don’t you see?” Todd said, leaning forward. “She’s giving that baby life. Shawn’s baby! She could have aborted it. But she chose to give it life!”
“Todd, she got pregnant! That’s not such a noble thing. And you’re acting as if she’s a heroine. From my perspective, she blew it, and now she’s suffering the consequences.”
“Right. She is. But don’t we all blow it sometimes, in one way or another?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Doesn’t God forgive us and give us second chances?”
“I don’t know if she’s asked God to forgive her.”
“True, and that is the first step,” Todd agreed. “But she didn’t try to solve the problem by having an abortion. She’s going to give that little soul a life, and who knows what that kid is going to be when he grows up? He could be the greatest evangelist the world has ever known!”
“What makes you think it’s going to be a ‘he’?”
“Okay, she’s going to become the greatest evangelist the world has ever known!” Todd smiled and then looked serious again. “Man, we’ve got to pray for her and the baby. We need to pray that she’ll meet some Christians who will help her out.”
“She did meet some.” Christy explained about Frances and the Crisis Pregnancy Center. As she did, Todd’s expression grew into a full smile.
“Man, this is incredible!”
“Todd, I still don’t see why you’re so happy about this. I didn’t think sin was something Christians were supposed to get all excited about.”
Todd laughed at her in a warm kind of way. “I’m not excited about the sin, Christy. You’re absolutely right. Shawn and Alissa should never have gone to bed together. That was totally wrong. At the time, I knew about it, and it ate me up inside.”
“You knew?”
“Yeah. But the thing is, God’s not limited by their mistakes. Don’t you see? Shawn and Alissa created a human life. A soul! Even though what they did was wrong, they made something that is going to last forever. A soul!” Todd looked really excited, as though he was about to shout or something. “A soul, Christy! Even angels can’t do that!”
Christy’s eyes grew wide. Todd amazed her. He absolutely amazed her.
Todd looked at Christy with a new expression: a pleased look. “You do realize, don’t you, that Alissa went to that pregnancy center and looked for a Christian because of you. You might have been the one who really saved that baby’s life.”
Christy shook her head. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You showed Alissa that you loved her and cared about her. You were a true friend. And that is something.” Todd smiled, his dimples showing in the dim light. “Come on,” he said. “We’d better get over to the party. Stay there. I’ll get your door.”
Being with Todd, even though they talked about Alissa the whole time, warmed Christy. She felt as though she had come into a warm house on a cold day. The anger, hurt, and confusion she had felt toward him that afternoon had thawed, melted, and washed away.
When Todd opened the van d
oor and took her hand to help her out, she felt like she’d just been given a second chance with Todd. And maybe that was what kept all lasting friendships going: lots of second chances.
Todd kept holding Christy’s hand for the half-block walk to Heather’s house. It didn’t matter to Christy if they ever defined their relationship. She didn’t need to know where she stood with Todd. Not when she had her hand in his and they were this close.
“Well,” Heather exclaimed when she swung open the door, “we were wondering when you two were going to show up. You guys look like you’re going to the prom.”
Christy felt her cheeks turning red, and Todd looked as though he weren’t used to having attention drawn to what he was wearing either.
“Where did you get the tux?” Heather asked.
“My mom. I had to have it for her wedding. She’s one of those people who thinks, ‘Why rent when you can buy?’ ”
“Well, you both look like you should be on the cover of some magazine. And Christy, those earrings are unbelievably sparkly. Are they real diamonds?”
“Yes. They’re my aunt’s.”
Heather oohed and aahed while Todd stepped down into the living room and started talking to the guys. Tracy, who had been sitting next to Doug on the couch, came over to Christy.
“Hi,” Tracy said. She looked pretty tonight in her pink sweater, with her hair curled full around her heart-shaped face. “Could we go in the kitchen for a minute, Christy?”
“Sure,” Christy said, following her to the corner of the kitchen by the window.
“I need to apologize, Christy. I was rude to you that night at Richie’s, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Tracy. Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure? No hard feelings?”
“Yes, I’m definitely sure. And you need to know that I honestly wasn’t trying to upset you when I skated with Doug. I didn’t know you liked him!”
Tracy’s face broke into her bright smile. “I know. I didn’t tell you, remember?”
“Well, maybe you should have,” Christy said with a laugh. “Then I would have stayed far away from him!”
Tracy reached over and took Christy’s arm. “No, I don’t ever want you to stay away from Doug or any of these guys just because I like one of them or somebody else likes one of them. I want all of us to be able to hang out together and not play jealousy games. And that’s what made me so mad at myself the other day. That’s exactly what I ended up doing at the skating rink! Isn’t that dumb?”
“No. I know exactly how it can happen. I’ve been there.”
“Well, Christy, if you ever see me doing that again, promise you’ll slap me,” Tracy said.
They both laughed.
“Only if you promise you’ll slap me too,” Christy said, still laughing. “I got caught up in playing games too, and I’m really sorry, Tracy.”
“It’s okay. Let’s just start over from here.”
Just then Doug came up to them. “Christy, you look really nice tonight.”
Impulsively, Christy put her arm around Doug’s neck, the way he always hugged everybody else, and she gave him a quick hug. Then she quickly turned to Tracy. “That was okay, wasn’t it?”
“Of course!” Tracy said. “That’s how I want us all to be.”
“What was that for?” Doug asked.
“That was for being the most considerate guy I know.”
Doug looked at Tracy. “Did I send her flowers without knowing it?”
“No, no, no,” Christy said. “When you came over and told me you were taking Tracy out and said that you still wanted to be friends with me, I thought that was the sweetest thing any guy could ever do. You made it possible for me to still feel comfortable around you, even though you and Tracy are together now.”
“Wow,” Doug said, “that’s awesome, Christy.”
Heather popped her head around the corner at that moment and said, “Awesome? You still use that word, Doug? Didn’t they teach you any new words in college?”
“Hey! Awesome is an awesome word!”
“Come on, you guys,” Brian called from the living room. “We’ve got the game all set up.”
Tracy and Christy exchanged glances.
“Don’t slap me,” Tracy teased. “This isn’t the kind of game I meant for you to slap me over.”
Christy laughed and joined the rest of her all-time friends in the living room.
Christy ended up on the team with Heather, Doug, Tracy, and Brian. Todd was on the opposite team. It was a word-guessing game in which they drew with felt pens on a big, white easel pad. Within fifteen minutes, Todd’s team was way ahead.
“These phrases are too hard for my team,” Heather whined. “Don’t they have any with ‘awesome’ or ‘dude’ in them? Doug would guess those a whole lot faster!”
They laughed, and Doug jumped up, grabbed Heather by the shoulders, and shouted, “Come on, you guys, let’s throw her in the pool.”
Todd and the other guys jumped up and grabbed Heather. She screamed and kicked until they put her back down.
Christy watched Todd, trying hard to remember exactly what it was that afternoon that made her want to scratch him off her list of friends forever. He was everybody’s friend, but she was special to him. He had proved that by putting together their breakfast on the beach and by coming to dinner tonight. Why did she need to define their relationship? It was more than “like” and not truly “in love.” They were somewhere in-between.
Around eleven o’clock Heather rounded everyone up and directed them to the backyard, where a fire blazed in an in-ground fire pit a few yards from the swimming pool. Heather handed out marshmallows and coat hangers and had graham crackers and chocolate bars on the picnic table behind them. The gang set to work making s’mores.
Doug started acting silly, bending his coat hanger in half. “Trace,” he called, “hand me two marshmallows. Where’s Todd? Where did he go?”
Todd called from the picnic table, “Yo, Doug, over here.”
Then Doug stood up with the coat hanger across his head and marshmallows attached to either end so they covered his ears. “Todd,” he hollered, “check it out! Number fifteen. Earmuffs.”
Todd laughed until the graham cracker in his hand crumbled into dust. As he held his side, tears streamed down his face. Christy had never seen him crack up like that.
“I don’t get it,” Heather said, looking at Doug and then at Todd.
“It’s this stupid book,” Tracy explained, shaking her head. “Todd gave it to Doug for Christmas.”
“Todd gave one of those books to Doug?” Christy asked.
“Yes, have you seen it? All about what to do with dead hamsters,” Tracy said.
“Ewwww!” Heather squealed. “That’s gross.”
“Yes, I’ve seen it,” Christy replied. She poked her coat hanger into the fire and toasted her marshmallows.
“Todd gave me the same book,” Tracy said disgustedly. “Don’t you think a guy would have to be pretty strange to give a girl a book like that?”
“Yes, he would,” Christy agreed. “Definitely strange.” Christy stared into the amber flame and thought about Rick. Guys give joke gifts like that to their buddies. Rick must see me as a buddy. But then why did he kiss me? You don’t kiss your buddies.
That’s when Christy decided that she and Rick were buddies. They had pushed their relationship into something it wasn’t by trying to be romantic. Not that they couldn’t end up going out someday. But they definitely weren’t at that point now. And it was silly to pretend they were or to let other people convince them they were. She liked Rick, and she wanted to go back to being buddies—to give their friendship a second chance. To just let it be what it was without trying to make it something it wasn’t.
Christy felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew what she had done was wrong. Even though she wasn’t sure how to fix it, she wouldn’t give up until she figured it out. After all, she wa
s tenacious, wasn’t she?
While Christy was lost in thought, her marshmallows burned, but she didn’t mind. She peeled off the burned part and tried again, roasting the sticky white insides. That’s how she always toasted them on purpose when she was a kid. She knew how to burn and peel for layer after layer until only the core of the marshmallow was left.
“Look out! Yours are on fire!” Todd said, coming up next to her, his eyes still sparkly from the laughter tears.
Christy pulled her hanger out of the fire and blew. As Todd watched, she peeled the top layer off and popped it into her mouth.
“Trying to give that marshmallow a second chance, I see,” Todd teased when he saw her stick it back in the fire.
Christy said, “I think everybody deserves a second chance, even marshmallows.”
Just then Doug trotted into the backyard with a big box in his arms. “Look, you guys, sparklers! I’ve had them since the Fourth of July. Let’s see if they still work.”
They all finished up their sticky s’mores and grabbed sparklers and lit them in the fire pit. Suddenly flashes of glittering light were everywhere. The group laughed and swished sparklers in the air. The fireworks lasted for only a few minutes, and then everyone tossed the sparkler sticks into the fire pit. A few people went inside while others roasted one last marshmallow.
Christy joined the group inside and was standing by the kitchen sink, washing her hands, when Todd came up behind her and said, “You about ready to go?”
She gave him a surprised look. “It’s not midnight yet. Don’t you want to stay?”
“I said I’d have you home by twelve-thirty. I think we should go now.”
“Okay,” Christy said, still not sure why they were leaving so early. They said good-bye to Heather and the rest of the group.
Todd maneuvered Gus out of the tight parking spot, and Christy said, “Thanks so much for tonight, Todd. For coming to dinner and taking me to the party.”
“But you would have liked to have known ahead of time what was going on, right?” Todd asked.
Christy was surprised that he guessed her feelings so accurately. “I like being surprised, but, yes, I guess I got pretty insecure over when I’d see you and when we’d be able to talk.”