Teri didn’t answer. She didn’t like Dan lecturing her, especially after Anita’s mothering comments. But she didn’t want to be a brat, either. She wanted to be clear-headed and unemotional and take in her brother-in-law’s advice like a mature, twenty-six-year-old woman. Unfortunately, she felt about thirteen.
“God has the right man for you, Teri,” Dan said as he rose to leave. With a yawn he opened the sliding glass door and added, “Just be patient and wait for the right one.”
Teri had waited. While she waited, she had watched Anita and Dan’s love affair for ten years. Of course Dan could say, God has the right man for you. He and Anita met when they were high school freshmen. They fell in love and were married two weeks after graduating from high school. Neither of them knew anything about blind dates or sitting home alone weekend after weekend. Neither of them knew the pain of breaking up with someone after dating him for almost a year.
Teri swished the cold coffee grounds around in the bottom of her cup. She was irked whenever anyone used pat Christian answers to explain something in life that was difficult. “God is in control.” “God will work it out.” “Wait on the Lord.” Teri knew them all. And she knew that, while they held important truths, many times they had been reduced to a simple reply to a complex situation.
Teri also had to admit that she had used those statements herself on countless occasions. Both she and Anita had learned them growing up as daughters of the pastor of a large Hispanic church in north San Diego County. But the older Teri became, the harder she found it to explain the disappointments in life. She couldn’t believe a capricious God would choose to bless some people in their love lives and ignore others.
Glancing at the night sky, she noticed dozens of stars twinkled down on her, all winking. “Okay,” she whispered into the stillness, “I’m waiting.”
Chapter Six
The next morning, Teri and Anita acted as if they had not had a tiff the night before. Anita wasn’t feeling well, which put her more in the mode of a kitten than a tiger. She worked quietly in her room, and Teri entertained herself reading out on the patio, or “lanai,” as Dan and Anita called it, and then watching some television. Finally she decided to act on her goal to exercise every day of her vacation. She had procrastinated long enough.
“I’m going for a walk,” Teri called out through Anita’s closed door. “If I’m not back in an hour send out the hound dogs.”
Anita didn’t answer. Teri quietly opened the bedroom door and spotted Anita curled up on her bed fast asleep. Her computer was on. It looked as if the past few late nights had caught up with her. Teri tiptoed over to the desk, wrote a note on a Post-It, and stuck in on the computer screen. Then she left the room and closed the door.
Outside half a dozen barefoot kids were playing in the street. The sky over them hung heavy with thick, pink clouds streaked with white strips of sunlight. Teri walked out of the cul-de-sac and headed toward the beach.
She knew it was more than half a mile down to the sand, but she didn’t care. She was on Maui. What was a mile’s walk to the beach and back? In Oregon it took her more than two hours to drive to the coast, and once she arrived, the temperature was so cold she couldn’t stand to walk barefoot in the sand. Maui’s warm sands beckoned her feet to come to them this beautiful afternoon, and she would oblige.
The wind kept her company as she made long strides through the housing development and downhill toward the highway. In front of her, majestic Moloka’i, the neighboring island, rose in great, green splendor. It looked so close, as if she could swim right over to it.
She had heard of wind surfers skittering the nine miles across the Pailolo Channel from Maui to Moloka’i on a windy day. She wondered if any were trying the journey today. It seemed windy enough from where she was standing.
When Teri crossed the main road, the wind decreased markedly, blocked by continuous buildings—condominiums, hotels, motels, resorts. They looked like one long barricade that not only cut the wind but also blocked Teri from the sand.
She walked through the grounds of one of the motels and headed out to the beach. Slipping off her sandals, she twisted her toes into the warm, white sand. Closing her eyes, she savored the moment.
Then, instead of walking along the shore, Teri found a spot to settle in the sand. She watched the dozens of people. A few feet to her right, a father with a belly that hung over his swim trunks was barking commands to two little kids who were trying to ride a gentle wave into shore on a Styrofoam surfboard. The little girl looked as if she was close to tears as her dad said, “Come on, do it again! This time look up at the camera and wave to Daddy. That’s it! Go catch that wave, honey.”
A woman in front of Teri wore a tiny bikini. Her skin was deep red. She lay on her stomach with sunglasses on, elbows propped up, as she read a thick novel. Teri noticed she was turning the pages fast, as if she had to finish this book by a certain time.
Couples strolled by, and toddlers squatted at the shore and scooped wet sand with blue plastic shovels. Everyone seemed so busy vacationing, so hurried about their relaxing. Teri promised herself she would downshift. She would take everything at a much slower pace and savor every moment.
She tried not to think about getting married, about sitting on a beach someday watching her own children play. But it was hopeless. The sights and sounds of families, of children, of couples, surrounded her.
Funny, but she didn’t feel lonely like this when she was working. Her life in Glenbrooke was full and rich. So far this vacation, which was supposed to help her relax and become rejuvenated, had only brought confusion about Mark and longing for marriage. It was not a satisfying combination.
Teri took her time walking back. She knew the answers to her heart’s questions were not simple ones. Marriage to the right man didn’t insure happiness and the coming true of all one’s dreams.
Even her sister had struggles. Twice Anita had miscarried. Several years had passed since she had lost the last baby, and Teri knew Anita was afraid to try again.
How much better it would be, Teri thought, if I could learn to be content in whatever my situation.
Resolved to discover a deeper level of contentment, Teri concentrated on smelling the flowers on her walk back to the house. She listened for every bird and toyed with the idea of moving to the island permanently. Today the thought seemed like a good one.
Her laid-back mood matched the day when she met Scott the next morning. The drive down to Maalaea Harbor was beautiful, and Teri breathed in the sights, sounds, and scents along the way.
“I think I could live here,” she said.
“I have plans to stick around quite awhile,” Scott said. “I wouldn’t mind a bit if you were part of those plans.”
Teri hadn’t expected those words. What was Scott thinking? They had only met a few days ago.
“Are you going to try to get a job here?” Scott said.
“Well, I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“I’ve been thinking pretty far ahead these past few days,” Scott said. “Funny thing is, every thought seems to have you at the center.”
Teri didn’t glance over at him. She wasn’t sure how to take his comments.
“Here we are,” Scott said, pulling into the harbor. “You’re going to love the Moonfish. Can you grab the towels in the backseat? I’ll get the ice chest and the bag of gear out of the trunk.”
Teri followed Scott to the dock where he pointed out the sleek, white sailboat. “There she is. Isn’t she a honey?”
The boat looked pretty ordinary to Teri, but then she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be looking for. “I can’t believe you sailed all the way here from San Diego on this little boat.”
“Lots of people have made the crossing in smaller vessels than this.”
“Is the moonfish the name of an actual fish?” Teri asked as they boarded.
Scott offered her a strong hand and said, “Yep. They’re a long, thin fish with
a silvery body. The first time I ever saw one was in Peru. They have great big eyes and a funny, upturned mouth.”
“I’ve never heard of them,” Teri said. But then, she knew little about marine life in general. She had discovered that quickly enough when Mark talked about whales.
Thinking about Mark gave Teri a funny feeling. The ocean was Mark’s domain, yet Teri was going out to sea with another man. It felt strange. For an instant Teri wondered if by some bizarre chance they might run into Mark out on the water.
“Here, hold this, will you?” Scott said, lifting up a thick rope. “I’m going to need some help getting out of the harbor. I’ll just tell you what to do and do it as quickly as you can, okay?”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
Scott smiled at her humor, and as he passed her, his arm brushed against her shoulder. Teri couldn’t help but wonder if he had noticed the magnetism between them. It intrigued her and enticed her yet made her feel a little frightened.
For the next twenty minutes, Scott called out his commands, trying his best to give Teri a crash course on the anatomy of a sailboat and how to handle her. They made it out to the open sea with no problems. Soon they were skimming across the deep blue water with salty spray clinging to their arms, legs, and faces. “You’re right,” Teri called out over the roar of the wind, “I love it!”
Scott smiled back, looking pleased. He had been busy unfurling the sails, pulling a rope here, winding something over there. “Do you want to ride the winds some more?”
“We can slow down,” Teri called back. “Let’s kick back for awhile.”
Scott relinquished his battle to harness the ferocious wind and let the taut sails relax. Almost instantly the boat slowed, and everything around them seemed quiet. They were still moving, bobbing about, and the wind was still blowing through Teri’s hair. But it was calmer. Slower. The way she wanted her time on Maui to be.
“Hungry?” Scott said. He moved over to where Teri sat toward the front of the Moonfish. She had been using the ice chest for a footrest.
“A little thirsty,” she said, shifting her position so Scott could open the chest.
“Raspberry or cherry?” he asked.
“Raspberry sounds good.” When he handed her a wine cooler, she asked, “Do you have anything else in there?”
“No, just raspberry and cherry.”
“I meant like juice or soda. I don’t drink alcohol.”
Scott looked at her as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “Why not?”
“Well, because, I just don’t. I never have.”
“Never?”
“No. Never.”
“You’ve never had a beer?”
“No.”
“A glass of wine or champagne? Not even at a wedding?”
“No. Never.”
“Then how do you know you don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. I just don’t drink.”
“But why?” Scott asked, flipping the lid on his bottle and taking a swig.
Now Teri was stumped. No one had ever challenged her like this before. In high school, when she was offered alcohol, she had plenty of reasons that most of her friends respected—her parents forbade it, she was under age, or she was a Christian and therefore didn’t drink. Now the only reason that applied was being a Christian. Yet she had lots of Christian friends who drank, and they seemed to have strong relationships with God.
“It’s a personal choice. It’s not right for me because I’m a Christian. Not that Christians can’t drink in moderation if they want to, but I don’t. At all. It’s my choice.”
Scott tilted his bottle in a toast to her. “A woman of virtues,” he said. “Even more reason for me to keep you around. You could turn out to be a good influence on me.”
Then, before Teri knew what was happening, Scott leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
Chapter Seven
Then what did you do?” Anita asked, staring at her sister as she related the morning’s events.
“At first I froze. I couldn’t move. I could hardly breathe! Then he moved closer to kiss me again, and I pulled away.”
Anita waited. She was dressed for her waitress’s job in a white shirt and black skirt and looked a bit like a lawyer.
“I told him it was all happening too fast, and I needed to take things slower. He said he liked that in a woman and then finished his wine cooler.”
“That was it?” Anita said. “Nothing else happened?”
Teri paused. “No, we just talked for about an hour or so, and then we put the sails back up and sailed home. He asked me to dinner Sunday night.”
“And you said yes?” Anita asked.
“Of course I said yes.”
Anita looked up at the kitchen ceiling and shook her head.
“What?”
“You trust him?”
“Of course I trust him! Why shouldn’t I? He respected me today. He even called me a woman of virtue because I didn’t drink. Why shouldn’t I go out with him again?”
“Teri, will you turn on your brain? This is Scott Robinson we’re talking about here.”
“What are you saying? That I’m not good enough for a man like Scott Robinson?”
“Good enough? You’re too good! The guy is a smooth operator. He’s coming on to you, and you’re playing right along every step of the way. I can’t believe this. I absolutely can’t believe this! Especially when you have a relationship already going with Mark Hunter. Now there’s a man of virtue.”
“Then how come this man of virtue hasn’t called since I’ve been here or asked me out?”
“Probably because he saw you with Scott at the luau. I told you that you needed to talk to him.” Anita looked smug.
Teri hated it when her sister acted superior. “It’s really not up to you to decide whom I should go out with,” Teri said with a snap in her voice. She rose from the kitchen stool where she had been sitting, ready to march off. The problem with a small house was that it didn’t offer many places to march off to.
“Just answer one question for me,” Anita said, raising her voice. “Since when did you start going out with men who weren’t Christians?”
Teri spun around. “You can’t tell me Scott isn’t a Christian.”
“Oh, is he?”
“You heard him the other night when he was here. He went to church with Rick Doyle and those other guys when he was in high school. Then in college he sort of floated away from church. He said he’s coming back now, and he still believes everything he did in high school.”
“That’s a long time to float,” Anita said.
“You know what your problem is? You’re too judgmental,” Teri said.
“Oh, really? Well I’d love to stand here and debate the point with you, but I have to go to work. We’ll finish this discussion later, Teri.”
“You’re not my mother!” Teri shot back at Anita as her sister swished out the front door. The door slammed shut, and Teri released a frustrated “Grr!” It was ridiculous to fight with her sister like this.
Teri figured that, because she and Anita had been so close when they grew up, they had developed set patterns of interacting with each other. After Anita had moved to Maui, they had little chance to see each other. The two didn’t know how to relate to each other as adults.
Teri stormed over to the refrigerator and looked for something to drink. She settled on a bottle of sparkling water. Raspberry. It looked similar to the bottle of raspberry wine cooler Scott had offered her that morning.
Why couldn’t Scott have brought along some sparkling water? That might have eliminated their conflict right from the start. Flipping off the lid, Teri retreated to the lanai.
The covered porch was separated from the dining area by a sliding glass door. Beyond the lanai, hibiscus bushes were thick with red, trumpet-shaped flowers, and a plumeria tree blossomed nearby. The profusion of vegetation provided a solid green barrier from the nearby neighbors
and a beautiful view out the sliding glass door. This evening the hibiscus plants were releasing their subtle fragrance into the soft breeze.
Teri had lied to Anita. Well, not actually lied. She had made the incident on the sailboat appear harmless, as if everything had been smoothed out. It had ended that way, but what Teri had omitted from the version she had told Anita was the disagreement she and Scott had not managed to resolve.
Teri hadn’t felt she could tell Anita the details of her encounter with Scott. Anita would only lecture her, and she didn’t need that now. Not at all. What she needed was time to think, to sort things out. She was glad that both Dan and Anita were working at their restaurant jobs tonight. She needed to be alone.
Now, in the cool of the evening as Teri sat on the lanai, she tried to figure out what had happened between her and Scott. When he was about to kiss her the second time, Teri had pulled away and had said, “This is happening too fast, Scott. Can we take things slower?” It wasn’t until nearly twenty minutes later that he had said he liked that in a woman and then had finished his wine cooler.
After she had told him things were going too fast for her, he had invited her to sit down so they could talk. She had sat across from him, on top of the small ice chest, with her hands folded across her stomach.
Teri had told him she didn’t like being taken advantage of and she felt that was what he was trying to do. Scott had become defensive and had said she really needed to lighten up, that she was too rigid.
“I know your dad is a pastor and you grew up with these standards. I think it’s great. Really!” Scott had said. “But I guess what bugs me about some Christians is that they are so locked into their worldview that they don’t have a clear understanding of reality. They think everyone should be like them, but not everyone is. They disassociate themselves from the rest of the world, sit back, and condemn everyone else for not being like them.”
“I’m not like that,” Teri said.
“I’m not saying you are. I’m only saying it’s something to think about. Your standards are great. Admirable. Honorable, even. It’s just that the rest of the world isn’t exactly of the same mindset.”