By the time Christy returned to the bathing suit department, Paula had paid for the swimsuit and stood waiting for her by the register with the bag in her hand.
“Did you get the green one?” Christy asked, trying to hide her jealousy.
“Nope. Changed my mind. I got the pink one. Now I want to find some of those really cool sunglasses like I saw in a magazine. Do you think they have sunglasses here?”
“I think we’d better find my mom first,” Christy suggested. “We can ask Marti about the sunglasses. She’d know where to find them.”
“Aren’t you going to get anything?” Paula asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I can’t really think of what I need.”
“Forget what you need. Get what you want! I bet your aunt would buy anything you wanted if you just hinted you liked it.”
“Yeah,” Christy agreed, “she would.”
What Christy didn’t add was that she’d tried that route with her aunt before, and it hadn’t produced the kind of satisfaction she’d expected. Almost all of Aunt Marti’s gifts came with a string attached, and Christy had concluded that being content with what she had was more freeing than having lots of things and feeling like Marti’s marionette.
“Girls!” Marti called. “Over here! Margie’s getting a new bathing suit and cover-up. Did you two find anything?”
“Paula got a bathing suit too,” Christy offered.
Marti looked at the bag in Paula’s hand and with a slightly offended tone said, “You paid for it yourself?”
“Well, yeah,” Paula answered, confused at Marti’s reaction. “I planned on buying a suit once I got here, and I had the money all saved up and everything. It was even on sale!”
Marti handed her credit card to the clerk at the cash register, and in a voice that sounded like a cooing dove, she said to Paula, “You tell me how much it was, and I’ll give you the cash back. I wanted to get the swimsuit for you as my little Welcome-to-California gift.”
Paula’s eyes stretched wide open, resembling two bright blue marbles. Christy thought she looked like a character in a storybook right after being sprinkled with fairy dust and told all her dreams were about to come true.
I didn’t look that way last summer … did I?
They shopped another three hours, with David continually complaining until Marti bought him a frozen yogurt sundae in a waffle cone. Mom warned him that he wouldn’t be able to finish it, and he didn’t.
Paula spotted the sunglasses she wanted in a store window, and Marti swiftly bought them for her, as well as a matching pair for Christy. Christy didn’t even really like them. They were expensive, and she knew she should be appreciative to her aunt for the gift, so she said thank you. But she refused to gush the way Paula did.
When the valet brought the car around, Marti suggested they go somewhere for dinner. Mom declined, saying she was anxious to get on the road since they still had another hour and a half drive back home to Escondido.
“Thank you soooooo much.” Paula gave Marti a hug as they parted in her driveway. “I love the sunglasses and the bathing suit and everything you got me. Thank you!”
“Thanks,” Mom said, giving her sister a hug. “I guess we’ll see you at six o’clock on Tuesday morning when we pick you up.”
“Right,” Marti said efficiently. “Six at the latest, because the plane flies out at eight-thirty. Why don’t you take the leftover lunch meat home for dinner? I won’t eat it before we leave, and it’s a waste to throw it out.”
Mom followed Marti inside for the leftover deli tray, Christy and Paula transferred the shopping bags from Marti’s car to Mom’s car, and David claimed the front seat, where he lined up his tiny cars on the dashboard.
“You sure didn’t get much,” Paula commented once the bags were all in the car. “How’s your headache?”
“It’s gone. Thanks.”
“Can you believe we’re going to Hawaii? I still can’t believe it! And Todd is there! I can’t wait to meet him! I noticed your bracelet while we were shopping. That must be the one he gave you on New Year’s Eve, right? And didn’t he give it to you somewhere right around here, in the street? You’ll have to show me the intersection on the way home. I thought that was so romantic when you wrote and told me all about him jumping out of the car and giving you the bracelet and kissing you and everything!”
“Ewwww!” David exclaimed. “You and Todd kissed? That’s gross!”
Oh good, Paula! Great. Thanks a lot. I’m so glad you feel free to make my private life public! Why did I ever tell you all those personal things?
Christy’s expression mirrored her feelings, and Paula instantly got quiet while making a face that said “Oops!” Then she giggled a tiny secret giggle like she and Christy had many times in the past. But this time the last thing Christy felt like doing was giggling.
All the way home Christy pretended to be asleep, her head resting on the window. Paula didn’t slow down a bit. She talked about the farm where Christy grew up and about the new owners while Mom kept her going with questions about a variety of people who lived in their small community.
Christy filtered it out and tried to figure out why she was feeling bothered by everything. This was Paula, her best friend ever since she could remember. They were going to Maui to spend a week with Todd.
Maybe she hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before. Whatever it was, she didn’t like being so grumpy, and she decided to lighten up and try to act carefree like Paula.
Come on, Christy! She tried out Paula’s favorite phrase while mentally lecturing herself. You’re too uptight. Try to be perky like Paula. Paula’s excited. You be excited too. Paula’s cute. You try being cute too.
With her eyes still closed and her head resting against the window, Christy pressed her lips together and forced them up into a puffy-cheeked, cutesy grin. She pictured herself opening her eyes, round and dreamy like Paula’s. Instead of seeing herself looking sweet and darling like Paula, the only image that came to her was Miss Piggy tilting her head and getting mushy over Kermit the Frog.
The picture struck Christy as so silly that it actually chased away her foggy-headed feeling. The rest of the way home all she had to do was think, Oh, Kermie, Kermie! and a fresh little giggle bubbled up inside.
How odd it was, then, that when they got to Christy’s house, Christy perked up and started being bubbly, while Paula took one look at their small rented house and said, “This is where you live?” Then Paula became the moody one or tired one or whatever her problem was.
Dad suggested they order pizza, since it was late. Then Mom wouldn’t have to cook.
“Fine with me,” Mom said. “Marti sent the rest of her deli tray home, so it looks as though you can snack on leftovers for at least the first few days we’re gone.”
Dad didn’t seem to mind that they were all going without him. He listened to their exciting plans for Maui and said he’d go next time. He just had too much work at the Hollandale Dairy to be able to take off right now.
In a way she couldn’t explain, Christy admired her dad, watching him be happy for them without acting left out. She also knew that Hawaii was not her dad’s idea of the perfect vacation spot. He preferred a quiet lake and a fishing pole. They’d had many such camping vacations while she was growing up.
What she saw in her dad now was comforting. Something inside her said, Even though Dad isn’t a Hawaiian-vacation kind of person, he doesn’t try to stop us from going.
David ate three pieces of pizza, leaving all the green peppers on his plate. Paula barely nibbled on one piece before saying she felt tired.
“I’ll bet you are,” Dad said. “It’s half-past midnight where you come from. I put the roll-away in Christy’s room for you. It’s a tight squeeze, so don’t try to open the door all the way.”
Christy showed Paula where the towels were in the bathroom. At her friend’s request, she came up with an extra pillow for her and then got ready for bed while Paula occu
pied the bathroom.
When Paula returned to Christy’s room, she found Christy lying on her bed, reading her Bible.
“What are you reading?”
“My Bible.”
“You’re kidding. Do you do that all the time now?” Paula tossed her dirty clothes in the corner of the bedroom.
“Well, I try to every day—even if it’s only a little bit.”
Paula responded with an “Oh.” Then she slipped into her roll-away bed, fluffed up the pillows, and turned her back to Christy.
A few minutes later, Christy heard a huge yawn followed by, “Are you going to turn out the light pretty soon? Not to be rude or anything, but I’m really, really tired.”
“Oh, sure.” Christy obliged, closing her Bible and snapping off the light. “Sweet dreams, Paula. Dream about Maui—the golden beaches, the summer sun, the clear blue water … Paula?”
The only sound coming from Paula was the deep breathing of a sound sleep.
Christy stretched out under the covers, folding her hands behind her head and facing the dark bedroom ceiling. Then in a whisper, with her lips moving but no sound emerging, Christy prayed.
“Lord, I have to tell her about You, but I don’t know how. I’ve told her in letters, and last summer I told her how I gave my life to You and promised You my whole heart.
“But she doesn’t understand. I feel as though we’re so different now, Paula and I. There’s so little between us that’s the same, and before we were like twin sisters.
“I think that’s why I was so bummed out today. I wanted to be close to her like I used to be, but we’ve both changed too much.
“She needs to become a Christian, like me, and then we can be close again. I’m going to try everything I can to show her she needs to give her life to You.
“Oh, and Lord, thanks for working out everything so that we could go to Maui. Please be with Todd right now and keep him safe. Good night, Lord.”
Before she could add “amen,” Christy drifted off into a beach-and-surf island dream.
The July morning sun hit Christy’s window at 6:20 and flooded the room with light through her thin, lacy white curtains. Christy had adapted all summer by pulling the covers over her head and hovering between the real world and dreamland for at least another hour.
Paula, however, wasn’t the hovering type. She greeted the early morning sun by opening the bedroom window and unpacking her suitcase, singing softly to herself.
“What are you doing?” Christy asked the early bird.
“You’re awake? Good! Why don’t you get up and give me your opinion on which clothes I should take to Hawaii and which ones I should leave here. Remember, your aunt said we should try to take only one suitcase each. I have too much stuff, so I have to decide what I really need and what I don’t. Is it always hot in Hawaii? Or should I take jeans and sweatshirts?”
Christy pulled the covers over her head and mumbled, “I can’t believe you’re up! Do you know what time it is?”
“In Wisconsin it’s almost ten o’clock. I’d be getting ready for work right now if I were home, but I’m not! I’m in California, and tomorrow we’re going to Maui.”
Christy rolled over and pulled back the covers from her eyes. “You mean that wasn’t just an exotic dream I had last night? We really are going to Hawaii?”
Paula laughed and tossed a pillow at her. “I know! I still can’t believe it either. This is going to be the absolute best summer of my whole life! But wait a minute.”
Paula plopped herself down next to Christy’s legs at the end of her bed. “You haven’t told me anything at all about Todd since I’ve been here. I thought you’d be going on about him nonstop like you do in your letters.”
Christy propped herself up on her elbow. “I haven’t exactly had a chance to tell you much. I mean, I’m not exactly into telling my whole life story in front of my little brother, like some people I know!”
She flung back the pillow at Paula. Paula caught it, hugged it to her middle, and giggled. “Sorry about that! It’s probably good for David to realize that people, you know, kiss and stuff. He’s old enough to figure all that out, isn’t he?”
“I don’t think so. Besides, Todd is like a big brother or a cousin to David. Sometimes I think he spends more time with Todd than I do!”
“So, tell me everything. I’ve been dying to hear. Are you in love?”
Christy laughed.
“Come on!” Paula urged. “How far have you guys gone?”
“What?”
“You know. How far have you gone? Like kissing and everything.”
“Well, he’s kissed me about five times.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What else?” Paula nudged Christy’s feet with her elbow.
“That’s all. There is nothing else.”
Paula stared at Christy a second and then, as if convinced she was telling the truth, pulled back and said, “Then something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it, Christy! You guys have known each other for more than a year, and you’ve pretty much been going together the whole time, right?”
“We’re not exactly going together.”
“You’re not going out with anyone else, are you?”
“Of course not! Paula, you know I’m not really allowed to date until I’m sixteen.”
“I’ll bet you anything Todd is going out with someone else.”
Christy gave Paula a slightly disgusted look and tried to figure out what she could be getting at.
“You don’t see it, do you? Christy! How could you be so blind? When a guy likes you, he does more than just kiss you, and more than five times in a year! If Todd really, truly loved you, he’d be much more, you know, aggressive. That’s how you can tell if a guy really likes you—by how hard he comes after you. He’s probably got another girlfriend in Newport Beach, and you’re just like the backup, girl-next-door, good friend kind of girlfriend.”
Christy knew Paula was wrong, but she didn’t feel quite awake enough to try to prove it. She’d heard these kinds of accusations from another friend months ago. The other girl’s words had awakened a fear and anxiety in Christy over Todd. She’d since become more secure in her relationship with him, even if their relationship didn’t fit anyone else’s idea of “normal.”
“You know,” Paula adjusted her position at the end of the bed, “I’m pretty surprised. All along I thought you guys were a whole lot more serious, and you just weren’t writing it in your letters in case your mom or my mom read them.”
“Paula, wait until you meet Todd. He’s not like any other guy. He would never try to push our relationship into anything more than what it is. Physically or otherwise. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
“There is no such guy!” Paula declared. “No eighteen-year-old guy who is as good-looking and wonderful as you say he is is going to limit himself to only one girl. I still say he has another girlfriend he hasn’t told you about.”
Christy shook her head. “Wait until you meet him, Paula. You’ll see. He’s a Christian. He really loves the Lord.”
As soon as Christy mentioned the Lord, Paula ended the conversation by heading for the bathroom to get ready for the day. Christy tried to snuggle back down and get some more sleep.
Too late. Her brain was functioning at full speed, sorting through everything Paula said and throwing out most of it.
It did occur to Christy, though, that Paula had drilled her for details about her boyfriend, yet Paula hadn’t volunteered one word about any of the guys she’d mentioned in her letters over the past year.
When Paula returned to the bedroom, Christy asked, “You didn’t tell me if you have a boyfriend or not. What happened to that one guy? I forgot his name. Wasn’t he Melissa’s brother?”
“Him?” Paula looked surprised Christy would ask. “No, he’s long gone. I don’t have a boyfriend. I wanted to come to California available
for all the surfers I thought you were going to introduce me to.” She looked cute and playful when she added, “Now I guess I’ll have to settle for a Hawaiian surfer.”
Christy’s mom appeared in the hallway and stuck her head into the girls’ room. “I thought I heard you girls up. Ready for some breakfast?”
That stopped the talk about guys until that afternoon, when Christy’s redheaded friend, Katie, came over. Paula and Christy were in Christy’s room packing when they suddenly heard a cheery voice say, “Okay, tell me David is great at making up fairy tales, and I’ll save myself a couple bucks.”
“Katie! Hi!” Christy said. “This is Paula. Paula, this is Katie.”
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“So, what did my brother do this time?”
Katie leaned against the door, her green eyes flashing from Paula back to Christy. “Dear David gave me some fairy tale about you guys going to Maui tomorrow. When I told him I didn’t believe him, he made me agree that if he was telling the truth I’d have to buy him an ice cream cone. So tell me he’s a confused little kid living in a fantasy world.”
“He is,” Christy said quickly. “But he’s also telling the truth. It’s one of my aunt’s little surprises. We leave tomorrow morning.”
From the hallway they could hear David chanting, “I told you so! I told you so!”
“I can’t believe it! Do you guys realize how lucky you are?”
“I know!” Paula jumped in and rattled off the details to a straight-faced Katie, who had lowered herself onto a corner of the roll-away bed and sat still, taking in the whole story.
Christy felt awkward. She thought about how much it must hurt Katie that Paula had suddenly shown up and taken her place as Christy’s closest friend. And now they were preparing to be whisked away to paradise and leave Katie behind.
Christy felt especially uncomfortable because last fall Marti had taken her and two other girls to Palm Springs, and Katie couldn’t go along because of her obligations as school mascot. The trip had turned into a disaster, and Christy now rarely even saw the girls she’d invited along on that adventure. But she’d promised Katie after the Palm Springs trip that she’d invite her along on the next trip Marti set up, no matter where they were going.