Marti smiled back.
It might have been her imagination, but Sierra didn’t think Marti liked her much. Sierra felt a little guilty because she didn’t particularly care for Marti either.
Marti lifted her chin and said sweetly, “Well, I suppose we should try to find Todd and Christy.”
She led Sierra through the elegant living room toward the back patio.
“Oh, Christy,” Marti called out before they reached the patio door. “Your friend is here, Christina.”
They stepped out onto the patio that faced the glorious beach and deep-blue ocean. Christy and Todd were sitting across from each other under the umbrella of the patio table. They were holding hands and looking intensely at each other.
Sierra felt certain she and Marti had just interrupted a private moment. She wished they hadn’t burst onto the patio.
Todd sprang to his feet and gave Sierra a welcoming hug. Christy was right behind him with another big hug. The two friends pulled apart and looked at each other with joyful smiles and excited hellos.
Sierra could tell that, despite the smile, tears were brimming on Christy’s eyelids. She was holding them back with willpower, but Sierra was sure Christy would have let them roll down her cheeks if Sierra and Marti hadn’t interrupted them. Sierra knew she wouldn’t be at peace until she had a chance to ask Christy privately if everything was okay.
“How was your trip down here?” Todd asked. His warm smile and steady gaze comforted Sierra. Either Todd wasn’t as upset as Christy, or he was much better at concealing his feelings.
“Fine. It was a smooth trip. Tawni and I stopped for lunch at a really fun place, which was nice,” Sierra replied.
Bob joined them on the patio. Sierra casually gave Christy another look. She seemed to be swallowing her tears quickly.
“Your bag is up in the guest room,” Bob said. “Now, is there anything else? Did you want to call home and let them know you arrived safely? Or don’t you jet-set kids do that kind of thing anymore?”
“I can call later,” Sierra said. “Actually, I’ll need to call a friend, too.”
“You’re welcome to make the calls now,” Bob said.
Sierra wondered if Amy would be home. “Then I guess I’ll go ahead and try to call, if that’s okay.”
“Sure. Help yourself. Nearest phone is in the kitchen.”
“Yes. I remember,” Sierra said, heading back inside. The kitchen phone was the one Christy and Sierra had run to when they called 911 the day of Bob’s accident. It felt strange to retrace those steps now, months later.
Sierra dialed her home number and got their voice mail. She left a quick message letting her parents know she had arrived safely and that everything was fine. She knew her parents would appreciate her checking in.
Then she called Amy. Her voice mail picked up Sierra’s call, and since she didn’t know what kind of message to leave or who might listen to it, she simply said, “Amy, it’s Sierra. I’ll try to call you later. ’Bye.”
What a wimp! You could have left some kind of coded message like, “Don’t forget what I said this morning.” Right Like that’s going to change anything. She thinks she’s in love with this guy. They’re probably together right now.
“Father God,” Sierra prayed in barely a whisper, “I don’t know how to pray for Amy. Would You please protect her? Don’t let anything bad happen between her and Nathan, please. I really want her to be strong in You and stay pure.”
Sierra mouthed an “Amen” to close her prayer and headed back to join the others. But nothing inside her felt comforted. How could she be peaceful when her closest friend at home was in over her head with some guy, and when her dear friend Christy was nearly in tears?
Relationships! Why do I think I’ll be able to figure out my own with a simple list and a creed? I can’t even cope when my friends are involved in intense relationships.
Sierra stopped in the middle of the living room and realized her thinking was wrong. She wasn’t in charge of her friends’ lives or their relationships. All she needed to concentrate on was her most important relationship, the one with the Lord.
A not-so-favorite feeling stirred in Sierra’s stomach. Whenever she had these little glimmers of insight, it usually meant God was about to teach her something. And that meant she was going to be stretched. She didn’t like this part of growing up.
Sierra slipped quietly out onto the patio. Bob was standing by the low brick wall, talking to a neighbor. The older, nearly bald man had been walking his little terrier on a retractable leash. Marti sat with Todd and Christy at the table under the shady umbrella; she was talking animatedly and had the couple’s attention.
Not quite sure where she fit in, Sierra walked over to the wall and held out her hand to the small dog. It yipped loudly, and its owner pulled on the leash.
“Sorry,” Sierra said sheepishly.
“Nothing to be sorry about,” the man said. “You hush, Mittsey.”
Christy came up next to Sierra and said, “Do you feel like going for a walk?”
“Sure.”
“We’ll be back in about an hour,” Christy said to her uncle.
“Okeydokey.”
Sierra noticed as they stepped over the brick wall that Marti was still talking at full speed to Todd, but his eyes followed Christy as they left.
“Do you mind walking in the sand?” Christy asked.
“I love it. I’m glad you suggested this.”
“And I’m glad you’re here,” Christy said. She pulled a ponytail holder from her wrist and gathered her nutmeg brown hair into a high ponytail. Christy was taller than Sierra and moved through the sand with what Sierra considered a casual gracefulness.
Christy wasn’t elegant like Tawni. And she wasn’t particularly beautiful. But what made Christy striking was her open face and clear-eyed honesty. She had distinctive blue-green eyes, which were once again filling with tears.
“So much has happened in the last few days,” Christy said as she directed Sierra toward the shore, where they could walk more easily in the firmly packed sand. “I feel as if my head is so full of information that it’s going to crash like a computer hard drive.”
“What’s going on?” Sierra slipped off her sandals and let her toes mesh into the hot sand.
Dozens of beachgoers were scattered along the shoreline. Little kids played in the water, laughing and squealing. The carefree scene around them was a stark contrast to the downcast mood that hung over Christy.
She let out a long, deep breath. “I just found out I’ve been accepted at the school I wanted to attend. They turned me down last spring, so I went on with other plans. Now they have an opening, and I have two weeks to decide if I’m going.”
The curling hand of an ocean wave unfurled at the their feet, shocking Sierra’s toes with its cold fingers.
“And you’re having a hard time deciding if you still want to go?”
Christy nodded.
They walked quietly for a few minutes, letting the playful Pacific grab their ankles and then run away. Sierra glanced at Christy and saw the first tear break over the rim of her lower lid and slide down her cheek.
“The school is in Switzerland,” Christy said softly.
SIERRA WALKED ALONGSIDE CHRISTY in silence. Sierra knew such a decision would be hard for Christy. What would happen to Todd and Christy’s relationship if she were far away? Would it be jeopardized by the distance between them? Then there was the adventure factor. The two friends had talked about this on the phone. They had decided that the trip to England, when they had met the previous January, had been more to Sierra’s liking than to Christy’s. Even though Christy said she liked the trip and wouldn’t change any of the things God did, by nature she was more of a homebody.
“I can see how this would be a hard decision for you,” Sierra said.
“It shouldn’t be, I suppose,” Christy said, sounding irritated with herself. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to Switzerland? It’s a unique progr
am that gives me college units along with work-experience credits, so it would be almost like two years of study in one.”
“You would be gone for a year?”
“Yes,” Christy said, her voice growing dim. “It’s a minimum commitment of six months, but they really want you to stay a year. The work experience is at an orphanage, and it’s too hard on the children if the workers leave every few months.”
As they walked on, Christy explained more about the program. She knew it would prepare her for what she wanted to do—to work with small children in a ministry setting. “But it means I’ll be leaving Todd and my family for all that time, and I don’t know if I want to do that.”
“What do your parents think?” Sierra asked.
“They think it’s a wonderful opportunity and that it’s up to me to decide. I’ve been offered a scholarship. My parents could never afford to put me through a program like this. They said they’ll support whatever I choose to do. They’re praying I’ll make the right decision.”
“And Todd?” Sierra ventured.
Another tear skittered down Christy’s cheek. “He’s praying I’ll make the right decision, too.”
Sierra tried to imagine what it would feel like to make such a gigantic decision. She knew if it were her choice, she would fly off to Switzerland in a second. But if a guy like Todd were in her life, she knew it would be much more complicated. Her next question was simplistic, but she had to ask it.
“Could Todd go to Switzerland, too?”
“Not really. He’s taken his college courses in too many pieces. He’s been to three universities and then worked on a correspondence course while he was in Spain. He needs almost a full year of courses before he can get his B.A. There’s nothing in Switzerland that we know of that would provide that for him.” Christy stopped walking and let out a sigh. “Do you mind if we sit for a while?”
“Not at all.”
They trudged through the sand to an open spot away from the summer crowds and sat down.
“Man, this sand is hot!” Sierra said.
“Try scooping off the top layer,” Christy said, demonstrating. “That’s what Todd does. Either that or he turns his flip-flops upside down and sits on the bottoms of them.”
Sierra tried to scoop the hot sand away and settled back down. “Much better,” she said. “But I felt like a cat digging in its litter box.”
Christy laughed. It seemed to break the tension.
“So, tell me what’s been happening with you,” Christy said. “I’ve been giving you all my problems, and I haven’t even asked how you’re doing.”
“There’s not much to tell,” Sierra said with a wink. “I’m not being offered scholarships to schools in Switzerland.”
“Yet,” Christy said with a smile. “Your chance will come soon enough.”
“And you will have gone through it all and have made all the right decisions,” Sierra teased. “So when it’s my turn, you can tell me what to do.”
Christy laughed again. “Don’t count on it! If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that God is a very creative author, and He writes a different story for every person. No two lives or stories are alike.”
“Next thing you’re going to tell me is there’s not another Todd floating around in this world just waiting to meet someone like me.”
A tender smile curled Christy’s lips. Then she pursed them together in a tight, contemplative expression. “You know,” she said slowly, “everyone thinks Todd is the perfect guy.”
“And you don’t?”
“He’s not perfect,” Christy said. “He’s an only child, and his parents are divorced. So sometimes it’s hard for him to connect and be open with people.”
“But he’s close to you, isn’t he? And your family?”
“Yes. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this decision about Switzerland is really hard for me, and I don’t think he completely understands because he’s done so much moving around. He would have no problem picking up and leaving for a year. He’s done that before. To me it’s an overwhelming decision.”
“May I ask you something kind of personal?” Sierra asked.
“Sure.”
“Are you afraid your relationship will fall apart if you go away to school?”
“I don’t know. I think it would last. We’ve been through a lot already. But then, a year is a really long time. People change.”
“Did you change when Todd went to Spain?”
“Yes, I suppose I did.”
“But you were still right for each other when you met up again.”
“Yes.”
“This might be naïve,” Sierra said, shifting her position in the sand, “but what’s one more test of your relationship after all you’ve been through? I mean, true love waits, right?”
Christy swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, true love waits,” she repeated. “But don’t ever let anyone tell you it’s an easy thing to do.”
Sierra looked over at Christy, smiled, and said with confidence, “I think you should go to Switzerland, and you and Todd should write letters to each other every week. It would be the ultimate endless romance. Then one day when you’re sitting in your rocking chairs and all your teeth have fallen out, you can show those letters to your great-grandchildren, and they’ll have them bronzed or something.”
Christy burst out laughing. “You really have a way of putting things into a different perspective, Sierra.”
Sierra laughed with her. “Think about it,” she said more seriously. “You have the rest of your life to be with Todd if he really is the right guy for you, which none of the rest of us seems to doubt. But you might not always have the chance to go to Switzerland.”
“I know, you’re right,” Christy said.
“Not that it makes it any easier to take off for a whole year, and not that I have any idea how hard it would be or how much you would miss Todd. But think of it, Christy—Switzerland!”
Sierra did her best to imitate a carefree yodel, which made Christy laugh.
“There’s only one flaw in your romantic scheme,” Christy said.
“What’s that?”
“In all the years I’ve known Todd, I’ve never gotten a single letter from him.”
“Then I’d say it’s about time he started writing!” Sierra said. She felt a little pain in her heart after she spoke. Paul had written to her months ago, and her response had been flippant. What did she know about starting up a romantic correspondence? Who was she to give advice to Christy and Todd?
“You know what?” Sierra said. “You shouldn’t listen to me. I think you should pray, and I’ll pray, too, and whatever God directs you to do, that’s what you should do.”
Christy nodded. “This is my story, I guess, isn’t it? I have no clue what will happen in the next chapter of my life. All I know is that I want God to be free to write with His pen. Do you feel like praying with me now?”
“Of course. Sure.”
Under the deep blue August sky, Sierra and Christy bowed their heads together and asked the Lord, the Author and Finisher of their faith, to write the next chapter of both their lives with His grace and majesty.
Then, done praying and ready to face the others, they sauntered through the sand back to Bob and Marti’s house.
“I’m so glad you came,” Christy said. “I feel lighter somehow. I still don’t know what I’m going to do, but I feel a lot better about everything. I know everything will work out. It always does.”
Sierra thought of Amy. Will everything turn out okay for her? Or does it only turn out okay for those who diligently see God in every area of their lives? Sierra knew Amy wasn’t doing that, though. How could she be seeking God if it was so easy for her to physically express herself with a guy she barely knew?
Amy was settling for less than God’s best. That’s what Sierra would tell her. And Amy would see Sierra’s point, and once she did, she was sure to change her opinion about Nathan.
SIE
RRA TRIED TO CALL AMY again after Sierra and Christy arrived back at the house. This time Sierra left a message on Amy’s voice mail. “Hi, Aim. I’ve been thinking about our talk this morning, and I’m still positive I’m right. I just wanted to encourage you to never settle for anything less than God’s best. You know what I mean. I’ll talk to you when I get home. See you.”
She hung up with a sense of accomplishment. Now I can concentrate on my friends here.
Just then the doorbell rang. From the sounds that echoed from the direction of the open door, Sierra knew Katie had arrived. Katie Weldon, an exuberant redhead with a quick wit, was already teasing Uncle Bob.
“Be careful with that bag, mister. My only nice clothes in the world are in there, and they’re already ironed. Better keep that in mind or there won’t be a tip for you.”
Sierra stepped into the entryway, and Katie’s mischievous green eyes flashed in her direction.
“Sierra!” she screamed. “When did you get here?” She rushed to tackle Sierra in a hug.
“A few hours ago,” Sierra answered, her face crushed against Katie’s shoulder.
The only one who gave wilder hugs than Katie was Doug. Sierra had a feeling she was going to get her fill of hugs from all her buddies this week.
“All right! Let the fun begin!” Katie said, looking over her shoulder at Todd, Christy, and Marti. “Who else is here?”
“This is it,” Todd said. “The other guys are over at Doug’s. You know about the shower tonight for Tracy, don’t you?”
“Yep. Got my present in my bag. Hey,” she called up the stairs, “be extra careful with that bag, mister. Valuable gifts are inside.”
Bob appeared at the top of the stairs and played along with the bellboy role. “Would you like me to hang your garments for you, miss?”
“No thanks. You can tell me how to order room service, though. I’m starved.”
“Aren’t you always?” Marti said under her breath.
Sierra guessed she was the only one who heard it. She wondered how long Marti had been carrying on this love-hate relationship with Christy’s friends. Katie was certainly not one of Marti’s favorites, like Tawni was. In a way, Sierra felt glad for her sister. In their large family, Tawni had never been anyone’s pet. Sierra always felt Granna Mae paid more attention to her than to Tawni. Maybe this made a good balance. Finally Tawni had someone to dote on her.