Take One

  When she stepped back inside the theater, all eyes were on her. “It’s over!” she raised her hands in the air. “They’ve reached an agreement. Filming starts again in the morning!”

  The crowd came instantly to life, people standing and hugging and raising their hands to a God who loved them no matter what the size of the problem they were facing. Lisa caught Ashley’s eyes across the room and she mouthed a silent thank you. What she’d said earlier was so true. A night of praying together had bound them as friends for life—whether they ever had a time like this again or not.

  Before they left, Cole came up and flung his arms around her middle. “I told you.” He flashed his bracelet once more. “I knew God would get it done.”

  They were words Lisa took with her on the drive back to the hotel room, and as she crawled alone into their bed. Keith and Chase would work with Luke the rest of the night writing up the new contracts for each crew member and making sure everything was in order for their seven o’clock call time. They hadn’t slept at all, but God would see them through tomorrow. In the meantime, she would hold tight to the wisdom from young Cole—no matter what problem they faced through the rest of the shoot. She would pray until something happened.

  The way a town of believers and friends had prayed tonight.

  Seventeen

  ANDI AND BAILEY WERE TOGETHER WHEN they read the Scrooge cast list Friday after school.

  “I can’t believe it!” Andi braced herself against the hallway and stared at the list. “Isabel? I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d be Isabel!”

  Bailey’s hug came quickly and solidly. “See, God had it all figured out. We each won big parts this week.”

  They scanned the list a little further and saw that Bailey had been named the Ghost of Christmas Past. “That’ll be fun. She’s really dry … I like that.” At the same time, Bailey’s eyes flew to the top of the list and she gasped. “Look at that! Tim’s Scrooge!” She grabbed hold of Andi’s arms and they danced in a tight circle. “I can’t believe it! Tim’s gonna flip!”

  Both of them needed to be on the movie set in half an hour, and now that they’d seen the cast list, they started walking across campus to the movie location for the day—the same auditorium on the west side of the school where Campus Crusade held its meetings. Bailey’s scene was on the list for this afternoon, and if things went well she could get her part done in one day.

  As they walked, Bailey tried Tim’s cell phone, but she only reached his voicemail. “I can’t leave a message telling him something this big.” She slipped her phone back in her pocket and hurried along beside Andi. “What a week!”

  Andi loved that there was no tension between them. Whatever ways either of them were tempted to be jealous of the other, they’d worked past that. But there were still things Andi hadn’t shared with Bailey. The walk ahead of them would take a good fifteen minutes or so, and as the excitement over the cast list died down, Andi took a deep breath. “You ever wonder … if everything isn’t just sort of random?”

  Bailey shot her a funny look. “Random how?”

  “I don’t know. My friend Rachel dying before she had a chance to really live … my dad struggling to make this movie.” She narrowed her eyes against the glare of the afternoon sun. “Just random. Like God isn’t really part of everything that happens.”

  “Hmmm.” Bailey slowed her pace. Worry sounded in her tone. “You mean like you wonder if God isn’t real?”

  “No, not exactly.” Andi wasn’t sure how to voice her feelings. “Just the whole way the world is, you know? I mean there’s a gay couple in my science class, and I really like them. They’re the nicest guys there.” She lifted one shoulder and dropped it again. “Are they really going to hell just because they love someone of the same sex?”

  “Well,” Bailey raised her eyebrows, but kept her eyes focused on the pathway ahead of them. Her tone was kind, but firm. “The Bible’s pretty clear about it. I mean, the people can be nice and everything, but it’s not okay just to give in to our own desires, you know … do our own thing.”

  “That’s the right answer.” Andi felt her confusion like two hands pressing down on her shoulders. “Believe me, with my parents, I know the right answers.” She smiled. “Sometimes it’s hard to just believe it because the Bible says so. What if it’s all one big hoax? I guess I have to figure it out on my own.”

  “Yeah.” Bailey looped her arm through Andi’s. “And you will. You know the truth; it’ll always be there inside you.”

  Andi leaned her head on Bailey’s shoulder and then suddenly she stopped walking. “My phone. I can hear it.” The ring tone was something from Usher, and Andi was almost positive that it was Jake Olson. She crouched down and began tearing through her backpack until finally she held it up and clicked it open at the same time. “Hello?”

  “Hey.” His voice was smooth and easy. “I thought you were ignoring my call.”

  “Of course not.” She covered the speaker and whispered, “It’s Jake!” Then she cleared her throat and put the phone to her ear as she swung her backpack over her shoulder once more. They started walking, slower this time. “I thought you’d never call.”

  “Your parents probably wouldn’t like it that I was doing this.”

  “They wouldn’t care. My parents are great, they let me make my own choices now that I’m in college.” Andi sent a nervous look in Bailey’s direction. Clearly her parents would care that she was talking with Jake. Of course they would. She and Bailey both knew that much.

  “So … in case we don’t talk on the set today, I just wondered if you wanna go to Lake Monroe when we wrap tonight.”

  Andi felt the same thrill she’d experienced the first time she was with Jake. “Who would go?” She didn’t want to look at Bailey, didn’t want to feel any sense of disapproval.

  Jake laughed softly. “Just us. If that’s okay.”

  “Sure, I mean … sounds great.”

  “Can we take your car?”

  “Definitely. It’s parked close to where we’re shooting this afternoon.”

  “Great.” Again his voice was low and sexy, enough to make her dizzy. “You can show me this lake I keep hearing about and, well … maybe we can find something else to do. Ya know?”

  “Okay.” Andi felt her face grow hot, and she was certain Bailey could tell she was flustered. They made a plan to meet near his trailer when they finished for the day, and then the call ended. Andi slipped her phone in the outside pocket of her backpack and flashed a thrilled look at her roommate. “Seriously, Bailey … you won’t believe it. He wants to go with me to Lake Monroe tonight. Just the two of us!” She let out a quiet scream. “This day keeps getting better!”

  Bailey made a face that wasn’t nearly as happy as Andi’s. “Just the two of you? I don’t know. He’s got a pretty wild reputation.”

  “He won’t try anything. He knows better.” She brushed her hand in Bailey’s direction. She didn’t mention the part about Jake’s promise to show her a few things too. “My dad’s the director.”

  “What if he tries to kiss you?”

  Andi let the question sit for a few seconds, and then she stopped and frustration filled her tone. “Then maybe I’ll let him. I mean, I’ve never been kissed. Would that be so bad if my first kiss came from Jake Olson?” She started walking again, her irritation showing in her increased pace. “You have Tim, right? I mean you said so yourself, that you think you’re in love with him.”

  “I feel that way lately, yes.”

  “So everything’s fine for you. But when’s it going to be my turn, Bailey? Tell me that.”

  Bailey didn’t try to come up with a quick and perfect answer. No Scripture or preaching, like Andi was afraid of. Instead she kept her voice soft. “It’s hard. I’m sure it is.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes, and then Andi released a a loud sigh. “I mean, everyone in church is always talking about being rescued from this or being saved from that. People h
ave their testimonies, about how they lived these terrible lives and then God swept in and changed everything.” She still gripped her backpack with one hand, but now she lifted her free hand and let it fall to her side. “It seems like I’ve always had God in my life. Sometimes I want to know what that feels like, the feeling of being rescued. Like maybe I have to live a little on the other side before I can really appreciate God and what He’s done for me.”

  Bailey seemed pensive at that, as though she had a lot to say and wasn’t sure where to begin.

  “Go ahead.” Andi wasn’t mad, just not exactly sure of anything she was supposed to be sure of. The feeling put a shadow over everything else good about the day. “Go on, I know you’re thinking something. Just say it.”

  “I was going to tell you about my high school friends.”

  “What?” Andi realized she didn’t sound very open to Bailey’s story, but she turned toward her as they walked. “Seriously, tell me.”

  “It’s just, well, I didn’t go to a Christian school. Back in eighth and ninth grade I had a whole group of really close friends, but as we got older they sort of felt like you, I think. They wanted to experience life, walk a little on the dangerous side of things.”

  “I don’t want too much danger.” Andi protested, but she stopped herself long enough to hear the rest of what Bailey had to say.

  “I know, neither did they.” Bailey looked up through the almost barren branches of a tree they were passing by. “But one by one they got sucked in. Drinking and then drugs, sex with one guy and then another. Pretty soon they were different, like life had changed them. We didn’t have anything in common anymore, and so … I don’t know, my senior year was pretty lonely.”

  Andi could imagine how weird it would be to be caught up in partying and boyfriends and still spend time with someone as innocent as Bailey. At the same time, it wasn’t Bailey’s fault her friends changed. “So … you think the thrills ruined them.”

  “It’s never what you think it’s going to be. None of my friends from school who went that way ended up happy.” She gave Andi a sympathetic look. “My mom always says if those girls could have their purity back, if they could do it all over again, they would every time. She says God has special plans for girls like you and me, girls who do things God’s way.”

  “Yeah, well … what if God doesn’t really care?” The question came out quickly and carelessly. “I mean, how come God took Rachel? And if He wants me to have a good guy in my life, then how come the only one who’s shown any interest is Jake Olson?”

  “You have to be patient. God has someone for you, Andi. Don’t make yourself easy for Jake tonight—if you decide to go. He probably expects everything to go his way. But girls like you … like us … we’re special. Your first kiss should be with someone like you.”

  Andi blinked back a sudden layer of tears, because that was one of the nicest things any friend had ever said to her. “You know what I hate?”

  “What?” The air between them felt suddenly lighter.

  “I hate when people expect so much of me. Just because I’m … I don’t know, whatever I am. A missionary’s kid, a producer’s kid …”

  “Beautiful and talented and completely pure.” Bailey raised her brow. “I get that a ton from my old friends. I hate it too. They think I’m perfect, when that’s not even close to true.”

  “My dad says it’s because girls like me and you are sort of a bright white sheet of paper. The other girls, like at your high school, are kind of beige white—not really bad, but they’ve compromised along the way.”

  Bailey laughed. “My mom’s told me that one too. The beige color feels pretty good until she comes up against the pure white, right?”

  “Right.” Andi laughed and gave Bailey a side hug. As she did she wrinkled her nose and added one last thought. “But don’t you ever think that pure white’s a little boring?”

  They had reached the set, and Bailey shook her head at her friend. Then she stopped and in a mock show of disappointment, she put her hands on Andi’s shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Don’t think like that. You have it all, Andi Ellison.” Bailey lowered her hands and her eyes grew tender and serious. “You and I … we both have it all. Don’t sell yourself short for anything.”

  Andi looked long into Bailey’s eyes. “Thanks.” She hugged her friend. “I needed to hear that.” She glanced across the set at the place where Jake Olson was talking to her father. “Especially tonight.” They hugged once more, and then Bailey scrambled off to find out where she needed to be. Before she got too far, she turned around and grinned at Andi. “Hey, tonight’s homecoming at Clear Creek High … wanna go? Maybe skip the lake?”

  “Uh … if things fall through with Jake, maybe.”

  “Okay … but you don’t know what you’re missing. Everyone’ll be there!” She waved once more, her smile full of a deeper meaning. “Don’t say you didn’t have options on this beautiful Friday night!”

  Andi laughed. “Look for me. I just might show up.”

  Bailey gave her the thumbs up, and then she ran off. A nervous feeling messed with Andi’s stomach as she thought about her options. Hang out with Bailey at a safe high school football game, or take a drive to the lake with Jake. In almost every possible way, there really didn’t seem to be any real decision to make. The safe bet was the game. But Andi had spent her whole life being safe.

  Today Andi would reshoot the scene on one of the campus pathways, this time with another girl from IU. The speaking lines would only be Andi’s though, a compromise her father had texted her earlier today. She headed toward her mom, who would again be in charge of the extras, and as she did she thought about Bailey’s wisdom and whether later that night she’d still remember what her friend said.

  Or if being beneath a full moon on the shores of Lake Monroe with Jake Olson would make her forget every bit of wisdom she’d ever known.

  CODY HADN’T BEEN TO A CLEAR Creek High School football game since he came home from the war. Every time he thought about it, all he could see was himself, bigger than life, running the ball in for a touchdown, flying downfield under those Friday night lights. He could feel the pads rubbing against his shoulders, smell the sweat on his uniform, and hear the roar of the crowd all around him.

  Going back now, without the pair of legs that had been so faithful to him all those years of playing for Clear Creek? The loss would never feel greater, and so he hadn’t planned on making this trip. Another homecoming, maybe. Three, four years down the road when his prosthesis was as much a part of him as his leg once was. But now? When he still had to work to make his gait look normal? Cody hadn’t planned on it.

  But there was one thing that mattered more to him than avoiding the pain of watching the Clear Creek High football team play on the field where he once did some of his best work. Bailey Flanigan might be here.

  More than a football game was taking place here tonight. The movie crew was getting B roll for their movie—at least that’s what the newspaper had said. Besides that, Bailey’s dad would be here. The Colts were home again this weekend, and with it being homecoming he would definitely be on the field—reminiscing with his former coaching staff about the dozens of great games they’d played here.

  Cody parked his car in the side lot, the one where players used to park when they’d practice under the lights on occasion. He could hear the noise, see the lights long before he walked up the ramp to the stadium entrance. Don’t think about, he told himself. This is a new season, a new day. Help me see it as a new day, Lord. Please … I can’t be here if You don’t get me through it.

  My son, I will never leave you nor forsake you … where you go, there I am.

  The answer sounded in his soul louder than the noise coming from the stadium. God was with him, Cody anchored himself in the certainty of the fact. He’d gotten him home from Iraq, after all. He would get him through a homecoming game at Clear Creek High School. Cody went to pay his admission, but the wom
an selling tickets did a double take when she saw him.

  “Wait … you’re Cody Coleman, right?” She was sitting in a little wooden booth, and she peered out into the light to see him better. “My son played ball with you three years ago.” She introduced herself and then studied him for a moment. “I haven’t seen you around since you got back from Iraq.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The newspaper had covered his homecoming. There weren’t many people who had missed the fact that he was back from the war, and that he’d come home wounded.

  “I won’t take your money.” The woman held out her fingers and shook Cody’s hand. “Thank you for serving our country. You’re the best and brightest we have, Cody. Stay that way.”

  Cody thanked the woman and then headed up the stairs to the stadium. Along the way he smiled. God had known just what he needed, and with a welcome like the one he’d just received, it was easy to see this as a fresh start, the beginning of his life as a fan of the Clear Creek High football team. He breathed in deep the cool autumn air, the crispness that always signaled football season. He found a quiet spot out of the way of the home crowd and studied the field.

  There it was. Number 81—his old jersey. Some tall skinny kid was wearing it. Cody sat down and dug his elbows into his knees, taken by the sight. Wasn’t it just yesterday when that was him out there, patting his teammates on the back and firing up the bench, ready for another touchdown catch whenever his number was called? The lines blurred and for a few moments he tried to will himself back, back in time to that place where Friday night games seemed a given, like there would always be another season, another chance to suit up for Clear Creek.

  He sat a little straighter and blinked. Just once, but in that blink the images cleared and he remembered who he was and where he was and how that wonderful time in his life would never come again. No matter how badly he still wanted to suit up, how much he still believed he could take a pass from the quarterback and run like the wind for the end-zone. He reached down and rubbed his hand against the hard plastic and metal that made up his lower left leg. Even with his prosthesis he would’ve loved the chance to feel the ball in his arms again.