Chapter 15 - Like a Deer in the Headlights
It was the last Friday before Valentine’s Day and Oscar was getting ready to see Evangeline. He was actually going to wear a tie and even put on cologne. In their last few phone calls she had been a lot more sentimental and he had been much less cynical. They were now at the point where they had agreed to get together to patch things up formally. She would soon be by to pick him up in her little red car.
Over the course of their relationship Oscar had never tried hard to be the stereotypical good boyfriend, he just wanted to be himself. For the sake of tonight’s date though, he decided to try being a little more traditional. He had cleaned his apartment, so that if she wanted to come in, the mess wouldn’t scare her off. Breaking out of his blue jeans and sweatshirt routine, he was wearing a shirt buttoned all the way up to the collar. He normally waited for Evangeline to come up and pick out a tie and tie it for him, but today he would take care of that himself. On the way back from campus that day he had even picked up a single red rose to give her.
Evangeline would usually just barge in, but today she walked slowly down the hall to his apartment unit and tapped gently on his door.
After they exchanged awkward smiles at the door, Oscar handed Evangeline the rose. “To our future,” he said.
“That’s so romantic.” She took a sniff of the rose before adding, “You look good in that tie. It’s the exact one I would have chosen.”
“Is there anything else you wanted to do before going to the restaurant?” he asked.
“No, let’s go,” she said quickly. “I’m starving.”
Both Evangeline and Oscar were on their best behaviour. He complimented the way she looked and the smell of her perfume, and at the restaurant he opened doors for her and pulled out her chair for her at the table. She asked him about how his seminary classes were going, listened without interrupting and even laughed at his jokes. She didn’t ask about Zack, Lydia or the book project, and he didn’t ask about her dad. She didn’t criticize him when he ordered his steak well done and he didn’t tease her for ordering a salad as her meal.
Everything that happened, from the drive to the restaurant to the ordering of the food, gave Oscar the feeling that they were going to be okay. Their relationship wasn’t just back to normal, but it was going to be even better than it was before. Still, he had prepared a few things to say, and when the waitress finished taking their order and headed back to the kitchen, he thought it would be a good time to express his thoughts.
“Evangeline,” he said, reaching his hand across the table to meet hers, “I’m really glad we’re working things out and there are a few things I wanted to say. I really do love your father. I love him for the values he instilled in you, I love him for the love and protection he still offers you, I love him because God wants us to love everyone, and I love him because you love him. I respect him as a pastor too, for the spiritual calling he has followed and for the counsel he has given to me and especially to you over the years. When I recommended Zack, it was a response to the marketability requirements set out by the company and in no way was it intended to be a show of disrespect toward your father, his work, or his theology. My initial response to you was overly defensive and I said some things that I didn’t really mean. In doing that, I insulted you, your faith, and your family, and I needlessly weakened our relationship. For all that and more, I am truly sorry.”
Evangeline wiped away a tear that had formed in her eye. “Oscar, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything. I just had to get that off my chest. I wanted you to know how I truly feel.” Then, after a short pause he added, “But it would be nice if you said we could get back to planning the wedding.”
“Of course we can,” she said enthusiastically. “A wife’s primary responsibility is her husband, and I guess in all the busyness of the planning and the issue about Zack, I may have lost sight of that.”
“Both of us will make the other person our first priority,” Oscar insisted, “so let’s put all of that other stuff behind us and just have a normal date.”
“Okay,” she agreed, “but we are way behind on some wedding planning details, so we need to talk about some of that too.”
As the evening went on, they were able to have a really nice time together. For about fifteen minutes Evangeline had her wedding notebook open. Oscar focussed on making only positive comments about the wedding planning and Evangeline made a concerted effort to take a lot of input from Oscar. And rather than Evangeline doing all the work, they also agreed to divide up some wedding tasks. Unlike their regular dates where they would rush off as soon as the meal was done, today they actually took the time to enjoy the food and also ordered a dessert.
Even though it was cold outside, they decided to go for a walk together in a park nearby instead of rushing back. As they strolled along the path in the February air, Oscar felt the urge to be playful and pushed Evangeline into the snow. While she would normally have found this annoying and juvenile, today she giggled happily. She would have scoffed at seeing this display from a younger couple, but today she just let herself enjoy it.
“How about we pick out a movie and go back to my place to watch it,” Oscar suggested when they arrived back at her car.
“Your place?” she asked. “Are you sure?”
“It’ll be clean,” he insisted. “I spent a few hours tidying up before you got there.”
“You know we can never agree on a movie.”
“I promise, I’ll let you pick whatever movie you want.”
“Okay,” she agreed, “and I’ll let you pick the movie next time.”
In the car, they discussed their options, and Oscar was good to his word. He didn’t mention the documentaries or the silly comedies he wanted to watch, and instead gave Evangeline absolute freedom. Almost as though she was testing his limits, she asked if they could watch the sappiest romance she could think of.
“Maybe we should pick up some candy on the way home too,” Oscar suggested, much to Evangeline’s delight. Despite his warnings, she would always eat so much candy that she would feel uncomfortable and complain afterwards. Today he wouldn’t hold her back.
Evangeline was thinking about what kind of gooey and gummy candies she could choose from as she sped through a wooded area.
Suddenly Oscar shouted, “Whoa, Evangeline, slow down!”
A deer was blocking their path and Evangeline was barely able to stop the car in time. “Why won’t it move?” she asked Oscar when the creature stood still. “Is it afraid?”
“Just wait,” he said. “She knows what she’s doing.”
Ignoring the waiting vehicle, the deer looked behind her to the side of the road and two young fawns emerged carefully and walked past their mother.
“They’re beautiful,” said Oscar, admiring the display of nature.
“Doesn’t it make you want to reach out and touch them?” Evangeline asked.
Soon the doe followed the twin fawns into the forest and Oscar and Evangeline were on their way again.
Once they had arrived at his place, Oscar got the TV ready and Evangeline prepared the snacks. As the movie played, the two of them sat quietly and comfortably on the couch together. Then, when the snacks were gone and the movie was almost over, Evangeline spoke up. The look in her eyes caught Oscar off guard. He had never seen her look at him like this.
“You’ve been really great today, and you wouldn’t have had to be. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal who you recommended, but with all the stress of wedding planning, I let it become a distraction. I should have said this before, but I overreacted too. I should have trusted you, but I didn’t, and I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”
At that moment, if Oscar had hesitated even a moment, the wave of emotion flowing through Evangeline would have culminated in her weeping uncontrollably. Instead, he immediately slid closer to her on the couch and put his arms around her. He was pleasantly
surprised by her unexpected and sincere apology. She looked up from their embrace to see that in fact his eyes were watering too.
She reached up to kiss him and he gladly kissed her back. She smiled and got up to turn off the lights while he reached out to turn off the TV. Evangeline would soon have to leave for home, but she wanted to stay in the arms of her fiancé for a little while longer. Her thoughts quickly shifted from remorse and regret to closeness and joy as she accepted the forgiveness that was offered to her. And even with the lights out, Oscar could clearly see the appreciation that she wanted to show him.
When Evangeline left and Oscar went to bed alone, he put his head to the pillow with every reason to believe that their relationship was going to be just fine.