“They have a Lighter Fare column here.” Marti directed Katie to the back of the menu. “I can recommend any of their salads. Be sure to order your dressing on the side, and don’t order the house dressing. I understand it’s made with sour cream. Terribly fattening.”
Katie skipped the Lighter Fare column and stuck with the hamburger column. When the waitress came to take their order, Katie went first. “I’ll have the double cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake.”
Marti started to laugh. “You have such a fresh sense of humor, Katie dear.”
Katie remained straight-faced.
“She’ll have the Hawaiian fruit salad,” Marti told the waitress. “And I’ll have the same. Dressing on the side for both of us.”
“I’m having the cheeseburger,” Katie said to the waitress, ignoring Marti’s shocked stare. “And could you please add some bacon to that?”
“Katie’s come back to the real world.” Doug leaned across the table and confided in Bob loudly enough for Marti to hear. “It happened yesterday. I admit, I led her to this destruction with a Fantasia ice cream cone.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Marti said. She was taking this loss of her health food comrade seriously. “Do you realize, Doug, that it will take her a week to detox from what you let her eat yesterday, and now this—beef and pork and sugar all in one meal!”
Before Marti could rage anymore, the waitress asked, “Would the rest of you like to order, or should I come back?”
“No, we’re ready,” Bob said. He ordered a patty melt with extra onions. Doug ordered a french dip with a side of onion rings. Todd ordered a turkey sandwich with potato salad, and then it was Christy’s turn. She still didn’t know what she wanted.
“What is your soup today?” she asked, stalling for time.
“Cream of mushroom and vegetable beef barley.”
Both of those gave her the shivers. Now she really didn’t know what she wanted, and everyone was waiting for her. Christy hated making decisions. This kind of situation had never been her strength. The worst part was, the only thing that sounded good to her was the Hawaiian salad. But how would it appear if she ordered that after Katie refused it?
“I guess I’ll just have the, um…” Christy hesitated. Oh well. What does it matter? “I’ll have the Hawaiian fruit salad.”
“Dressing on the side?” the waitress asked.
“Sure. That’s fine.” Christy closed the menu and handed it to the waitress, fully aware of her aunt’s puzzled look.
Christy’s choice must have thrown Marti for such a loop that she didn’t continue her lecture when the waitress left. Doug jumped right in and began to tell Bob about the highlights of their Disneyland excursion. Katie joined him, and soon a spirited conversation was in full swing around the table.
Todd reached over and grasped Christy’s hand under the table. He squeezed it, and she squeezed his back. Instantly, the warm feelings she had experienced at Disneyland returned. An invisible bond seemed to encircle Todd and Christy in their own private bubble. Nothing, Christy was confident, could ever burst it.
“Good-bye, now” Bob patted the side of Christy’s car as she and Katie waved at him, ready to drive home after their full weekend.
“Call us when you get home,” Marti added. “And drive safely. Do you both have your seat belts on?”
“Yes,” Christy called out from her open window. “We’re all set. We’ll be fine.” She slipped the car into gear and eased away from the curb.
“You really don’t want to leave yet, do you?” Katie questioned as Christy glanced at her waving aunt and uncle’s reflection in the rearview mirror.
“The weekend went too fast,” Christy answered with a sigh. “I wish I could have spent some more time with Todd.”
“He’s coming down to your house next weekend. You can live till then.”
Christy couldn’t tell if Katie was teasing or being sarcastic. Katie seemed to have made considerable progress in recovering from the loss of Michael after her emotional release at Disneyland. Still. Christy couldn’t help but wonder if a few more tears weren’t left inside Katie. Christy decided to redirect the conversation.
“There are some CDs in a box under the seat. Do you want to find us some traveling music?”
Katie reached for the box. “What do you want to listen to?” Then, before she lifted the lid, Katie said, “Oh, wait! I have a new CD in my backpack. Doug gave it to me.”
“Doug gave it to you?”
“Yeah, this morning in the parking lot after church. He said it had some songs he really liked, and he thought I might like them too. Wasn’t that nice of him?” Katie unlatched her seat belt and knelt on the front seat, reaching into the luggage in the back.
“Careful.” Christy checked her rearview mirror, which was filled with the reflection of Katie’s backside. “Try to hurry, okay?”
It was dusk. Christy turned on her lights and gingerly merged into the traffic on Pacific Coast Highway.
“Where is that thing?” Katie leaned farther into the backseat.
Christy wanted to say to Katie, as if she were a child, “Sit back down right this instant! Don’t you realize how dangerous that is?” But instead she nibbled on her lower lip and checked her side mirror. To her horror she saw blue flashing lights.
“Katie… is that a policeman behind us?”
Katie popped her head up, checked the car behind them, and with a friendly wave said, “Yep, looks like he’s trying to get your attention. Hey, Mr. Policeman!”
Just then the siren went on, and Christy felt her heart stop. “What do I do? What do I do?” she sputtered.
Katie twisted around and plopped back in her seat. “Relax! You didn’t do anything wrong. Pull over to the right. Where’s your registration? In here?” She opened the glove compartment and began to shuffle through the papers as Christy nervously pulled the car over to the side of die road and rolled down her window before turning off the engine.
“Now what do I do?”
“Wait and be cool. He’ll come to you.”
“Should I get out my license? Where’s my purse?”
“Relax! It’s right here,” Katie said, handing Christy her purse. “And here’s Mr. Policeman.”
Christy turned to face a stern-looking man who leaned on the window rim and peered in the car, taking a good look at Katie.
“Good evening, officer,” Katie said with a smile.
The policeman looked at Christy and said. “May I see your license and registration, please?”
“It’s right here,” Christy handed him her whole wallet.
“All I need is your license. Would you mind taking it out?”
“Oh, sure. Sorry.” Christy fumbled with her wallet while Katie thumbed through a small stack of papers she had pulled from the glove compartment.
“Here’s the registration.” Katie held out the paper to the officer before Christy had managed to pull her license out of her wallet.
The officer waited.
“I almost have it,” Christy said with a nervous laugh. Her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely get a grip on the slick piece of paper. “There.” She handed it to the officer. He looked the papers over and then pulled a pad of paper out of his back pocket.
Just then a garbled message came over his car radio. He said something about staying put and walked back to his car. Christy closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
“Why are you so stressed?” Katie said. “You probably have a taillight out or something. It’s nothing. Relax.”
When Christy opened her eyes, she was aware of all the cars zooming past them. She felt certain all those people were laughing at her, snickering at her embarrassment. This was awful.
“Okay, Miss Miller,” the officer said, striding up to her car. “You lucked out. I have to respond to this call right away.” He handed her papers back and quickly looked into the car, making eye contact with Katie. “I suggest you put your
seat belt on and keep it on. The next officer might not be in such a hurry.” He rushed back to the patrol car, turned on the lights and siren, and pulled out into the traffic.
Still quivering, Christy crammed the papers and wallet into her purse and turned the car on.
“What was that supposed to mean?” Katie said.
“You didn’t have your seat belt on,” Christy said sharply. “I almost got a ticket because you didn’t have a seat belt on.”
“It was only for a minute. I was going to put it back on after I found the CD.”
Christy took her time pulling back into the traffic flow.
“Are you sure that’s what the problem was?” Katie asked defensively.
“Yes.”
“Well, then why didn’t you tell me there was a policeman behind us? I wouldn’t have been so obvious about retrieving the stuff in the backseat.”
“It doesn’t matter if a policeman is there or not. You’re supposed to keep your seat belt on,” Christy snapped back.
“Okay, okay, it’s on.” She clicked it hard for added emphasis. “Man, you would think you actually got a ticket the way you’re acting!”
“But I could have.”
“But you didn’t!”
“But I almost did!”
“But,” Katie spoke each word firmly, “you didn’t.”
Several minutes passed before Christy broke the stubborn silence. “I’m sorry, Katie. I was nervous. It really freaked me out.”
“No, it’s my fault. You’re right. Just because we didn’t suffer a consequence this time doesn’t mean I did the right thing by taking off my seat belt. Like the guy said, we lucked out. Or should we say it was a God-thing?”
Christy shot a smile at Katie. It was nice to hear Katie use her old favorite phrase and call something a God-thing. It was good to have Katie back.
“Pull in there.” Katie said, pointing to a convenience store on the right side of the road.
Christy made the turn and parked in front of the brightly lit store. “Good idea. I should call my parents and tell them where we are.”
“I need something to drink. How about you?” Katie asked.
“Sure. I could go for some juice.”
“I’ll get it for you.” Katie pushed open the store’s door and greeted the clerk with a friendly hello as if she knew him.
Christy dialed her home. She decided to save the part about being stopped by a policeman until she got home and only told her mom they were just past Laguna Beach. Mom gave all the usual instructions about being careful, and Christy said, “Don’t worry, Mom. We will.”
“Ready?” Katie exited the store with a bottle of orange juice in one hand and a bag in the other.
Christy nodded and unlocked Katie’s door. They crawled in, and as Christy started up the car, Katie said, “I picked up a few supplies for the rest of the journey home. Are you ready for a Twinkie?”
“A Twinkie? Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen you with a Twinkie in your hand?”
“Yes.” Katie tore off the clear wrapper and sank her teeth into the yellow sponge cake. “Too long.” There was a dot of white frosting on her top lip.
Christy laughed. “It’s nice having you back, Katie. I’ll take one of those Twinkies if you have enough.”
“Enough?” Katie said, opening the grocery bag and holding it up so Christy could see inside. At least eight packages of a variety of non-Michael-approved junk food lurked inside.
Katie handed Christy an opened Twinkie. She then pulled out a bag of chips for herself. “Let’s hope my next boyfriend, if there ever is one, is a connoisseur of the finer things in life. Like Doritos. Cool Ranch flavored.” With that she chomped down on the chip in her mouth.
“Are you going to be okay seeing Michael tomorrow?” Christy asked cautiously. “I mean, he’s in your government class, right?”
“I’ll be okay. I think. I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t trust any of my emotions at this point. I wanted to tell you, though, that being with you guys this weekend really helped. I had a great time. Doug went above and beyond the call of duty in helping me feel better. He’s a great guy. I think he should be a counselor.”
“Well, if it gets rough this week, I’m here for you.”
“Thanks, Christy.” Katie snapped another chip. “Do you know what’s weird? I feel like while I was with Michael I was in a time warp. I’m outside of it now, so I feel normal. But when I was with him, being in his world seemed normal. Does that make sense?”
“Sort of.”
“The thing is, I don’t think I did anything wrong. I mean, I know I didn’t do anything wrong morally. Michael’s standards were just as high as mine. That wasn’t really a problem. Who knows? It might have been a problem eventually if we had gone together longer. You want some chips?”
“No, thanks.” Christy licked the last Twinkie crumbs from her lips and urged Katie to keep talking while she kept her eyes on the road.
“Do you think it’s possible that it was really God’s will I go out with him just to tell him about the Lord, even though Michael didn’t make a commitment to Christ? At least now he’s heard. Maybe I was the only one God could use to tell him.”
“Maybe,” Christy said cautiously.
“And maybe he’ll become a Christian soon, and we’ll get back together.” Katie turned in her seat to face Christy and wiggled to get comfortable in her seat belt. “Maybe the whole reason we broke up was to force him to look at the Lord without me there to bug him about it.”
“Maybe.”
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “I don’t know what I think. All I know is that when I first started going out with him, I knew somewhere deep inside my heart that it wasn’t right. But I didn’t think we would be together for very long, and I knew I wasn’t going to do anything wrong. What would it hurt? Then one date turned into two, and then three, and well, you know the rest.”
Katie crumpled up the empty bag of chips and tossed it in the sack, rummaging around for a bag of candy. “So my question is, did I do anything wrong by dating a guy who’s not a Christian? Everyone always tells us not to, but sometimes it’s okay, isn’t it? Like when it’s just a short time and nobody gets really hurt. I mean, I came out of this whole relationship fine. Sure, I still hurt a little, but I think I’m going to be okay. I’m a better person. I obeyed God when He told me to break up. It was okay this one time, wasn’t it?”
Christy had strong opinions about only dating Christians, and she and Katie had talked about it before. Of course, as Katie had pointed out, it was easy for Christy to say that when she was dating Todd. But it was a lot harder to say those same things when no decent Christian guys were around.
“I think the guideline exists for a reason,” Christy said.
“Right, I know. So you won’t marry a nonbeliever and end up unequally yoked. But don’t you think it’s okay if it’s for a short time and nobody gets hurt? Just a friendship. Don’t you think that stuff about not dating unbelievers is totally, grossly overemphasized?”
Christy tried to think of a way to tell Katie what she thought yet somehow tone it down so it didn’t come out as intensely as she felt it. Suddenly a peculiar analogy came to her. “Actually, Katie, I guess with Michael you lucked out. It would have been different if the officer didn’t have another call or if we’d actually gotten in an accident.”
“What are you talking about? Are we having the same conversation here?”
“You know, all that talk about wearing your seat belt is grossly overemphasized. You’re not planning to get in an accident. You guys only went out for a little while. Still, I’d say you lucked out.”
“Are you talking about my dating Michael or my taking off my seat belt?”
“Both.”
Katie let the full meaning of the analogy sink in. “Oh” was all she said.
Christy immediately felt bad. “I’m sorry, Katie. I shouldn’t have said that. That was
judgmental of me. You’re right. I was too self-righteous and judgmental the whole time you were dating, and that wasn’t right.”
“No, you don’t have to apologize. I deserve all your words and more. I live too much on the edge. I take off my seat belt and think it’s okay as long as I don’t get caught. I become involved emotionally with a guy who’s not a Christian and think it’s okay just because we’re not going beyond my standards.” Katie took a deep breath. She rested her bag of M&M’s on her lap. “But you’re right, Christy. There’s a higher level of accountability that’s not based on whether or not you get caught.”
Katie crumpled the candy bag and stuffed it back in the sack. Sitting up straight, she made a declaration. “Hear ye, hear ye. From this day forward, the new, improved Katie is going to strive for integrity in all things. Even in what I eat. That’s probably the best thing that came out of my relationship with Michael, an appreciation for healthy food. I’m going to go back to eating right. And I’m going to keep exercising regularly and start reading my Bible every day, and I am not going to gossip ever again.”
They were now approaching the interchange with the freeway that would take them back to Escondido. Christy signaled in plenty of time, got in the right lane, and followed the curve in the road up, over, and onto Interstate 78. She needed to concentrate on changing lanes, so she held back from responding to Katie until they were securely in the middle lane.
“You’re a good influence on me,” Katie said. “You do everything right.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You’re much more conscientious than I am. Much more concerned about doing the right thing.”
“I don’t do the right thing any more often than you do.”
“Oh, yes you do. You have a certain quality. Anyone can see it by just looking at your face. You’re without guile, Christy.”