Christy took note of her roommate’s answer. Katie had said “we.” That meant Katie and Rick. The two of them were planning to go together. And the fair wasn’t until February.
“Are you ready for this?” Rick asked Christy.
No, I’m not ready for Katie and you to be making plans together so naturally, Rick Doyle. Katie may have forgiven you for the way you treated her years ago, but you’re going to have to prove to me you’re worthy of renewing such a chummy relationship with my best friend.
Rick pointed to the frying pan and repeated his question. “Are you ready for me to make your omelet? Tell me what you want in it.”
“Oh. Just some cheese.”
“Is that all?”
Christy nodded.
“Don’t worry,” Katie said. “My omelet will allow you to showcase your culinary skills.”
“That’s my girl.” Rick flashed Katie a big smile. He didn’t say it with the manipulative edge his voice had carried in high school. His words, his tone, his expression all reflected warm genuineness.
And it gave Christy a shiver up her spine. Katie, girl, you and I need to talk.
4 The opportunity for Christy to have a heart-to-heart discussion with Katie seemed to present itself late that night when Katie finally returned to their dorm room. Christy was busy packing her things to go home for Christmas vacation as Katie burst in, bright as a sunbeam.
“Hello, favorite of all the roomies in all the world! Is God incredible or what?” Katie twirled around and flopped on her unmade bed. “I’m telling you, Chris, life is never dull when God is doing His God-things. I’m speechless. No, I’m overly full of speech. Full of praise, actually.”
Katie jumped up and dashed across the room to tackle Christy in a hug. “And speaking of miracles, I still can’t believe you and Todd finally are engaged! I loved watching you two sitting close on the couch at Doug and Tracy’s. It was adorable the way you were sharing bites of each other’s omelets. You both looked so happy, and by the way, weren’t those great omelets? Is Rick amazing or what?”
“Katie!” Christy laughed and grasped her friend firmly by the shoulders. “Take a breath! I’ve seen you hyper before but never this hyper. How much caffeine have you had today?”
“I don’t know. Enough to keep me awake after staying up all night. And I drank a lot of homemade hot chocolate. Todd and you left before Rick made it. I had three mugsful! You should have stayed; it was so good. Did you guys go to the mall?” Katie flitted over to her dresser and began to pull out clothes and cosmetics and toss them on her bed.
“No. We were going to look at more rings, but we ended up talking for a long time, and then Todd dropped me off here so I could take a nap before we went to dinner.”
“You wouldn’t have needed a nap if you had had some of this hot chocolate! You know how they say that chocolate can give you the feeling of being in love?” Katie wagged her toothbrush at Christy. “Well, I never believed it before today, but after three mugs of pure chocolate, I’m definitely in love!”
“In love with chocolate?” Christy ventured.
“No, not in love with chocolate. In love, in love. You know. Really in love.” Katie’s green eyes sparkled as she stopped long enough to give Christy a sideways glance. “Do you think that could be possible?”
Christy wasn’t sure she was following Katie’s logic. “Are you asking if it’s possible for you to be in love someday?”
“Yes, but not someday. Today. With Rick.” Katie’s face went red. “Do you suppose I’m really, truly, finally in love?”
“Katie, it would make more sense if—”
“I know, I know.” Katie turned on her heel and pulled out a large gym bag from her closet. “I’m just hyper. It must be the hot chocolate high. Rick used dark chocolate. I think there’s a difference.” She tossed a pair of shoes into the bag and a crumpled pair of jeans. “Dark chocolate probably has more caffeine. Or more of that stuff that induces feelings of being in love.”
“Maybe,” Christy answered cautiously. Then in an effort to move the conversation to a neutral topic so Katie would come down a notch, Christy said, “Are you going to drive home in the morning?”
“No, I’m going home tonight. Didn’t I tell you?” Katie paused and added, “Rick is taking me. He’s waiting in the lobby. Oh, and I almost forgot. He said he wanted to talk to you if you were here.”
“He wants to talk to me? What about?”
Katie shrugged.
“So, if Rick is driving you home, are you leaving your car here during Christmas break?” Christy asked, trying to make sense of Katie’s last-minute plans.
“No. See, I drove Baby Hummer home last night after your engagement party. Rick followed me, and then he and I drove to Doug and Tracy’s since their house is only twenty minutes from my parents’ house.”
Christy nodded.
“Then, when we left Doug and Tracy’s this afternoon, we went to the movies. Then Rick drove me back here to pick up my stuff. Now we’re going to Escondido.” Katie casually flipped a feathery strand of hair off her forehead as if her suddenly exploding social life made complete sense.
“Katie?” Christy asked in a small voice.
Katie either didn’t hear her or chose not to hear as she continued to haphazardly toss things into her bag and kept talking. “Oh, and I should tell you, Rick wants to go to Mexico with us next week, so we need to add one more to the list when we go buy the food. He said he would help us cook when we’re down there. He suggested spaghetti.”
“Katie . . .”
“I told him you probably had the grocery list already figured out. If you’d like, I could ask him to go shopping with us. I’m sure Rick would—”
“Katie!”
“What?” Katie turned and faced Christy, and when she did, her entire countenance fell. “Oh no you don’t. I know that look.” Katie set her jaw and lowered her chin.
“What look?”
“I know exactly what you’re going to say to me.”
Christy laughed nervously. She hadn’t thought she was that transparent. Her concern for Katie obviously showed all over her face.
Katie put down the gym bag and crossed the room in three steps. “You’re going to ask me if I’ve thought this through and if I think that spending all this time with Rick is a good idea.”
“Well . . .”Christy hesitated. Katie was exactly right, but Christy didn’t want to admit it.
“And you know what?” Katie planted her hands on her hips. “I won’t let you ask me those questions right now because I didn’t go looking for this, Christy. You know I didn’t. It just happened. Rick was there at The Dove’s Nest, and the guys tried to play a joke on me by having Rick come over and ask me out. But the joke is . . .” Katie’s eyes brimmed with tears, and her voice quavered. “The joke is that it isn’t a joke. This is the most wonderful, amazing thing that has ever happened to me, Christy Miller, and you are not going to analyze it away from me!”
Christy swallowed all the sisterly words of caution that had been filling her mouth. She kept her lips together, not daring to let out a single sound.
“Thank you.” Katie turned with her head held high. “Thank you, my best friend. That’s the nicest gift you could give me at this moment.” She grabbed her bag and motioned with her head for Christy to follow her. “Come on, Rick wanted to talk to you, remember?”
Christy followed quietly, wondering if she was doing the right thing to keep her apprehensions to herself.
In the middle of the dorm hallway, Katie said, “If this is a God-thing, it will last. If not, it will dissolve. I know that because I’ve never been so completely open to God’s leading in my life as I am right now. I think it’s the same for Rick. Neither of us is trying to make this happen. It’s just what it is, and it will be whatever it’s going to be.”
Christy nodded her agreement, and a surprising calm came over her. For some reason she thought of how her aunt had always tried to contr
ol Christy’s social life and how much Christy disliked it when Aunt Marti interfered. If it had been Aunt Marti’s choice, Christy would never have developed her friendship with Katie. But what did Aunt Marti know?
The last thing I want to do is to take on my aunt’s controlling characteristics!
“I love you, Katie,” Christy said just before they walked into the lobby.
Katie flashed Christy a smile. “I love you, too.”
“Hey, Christy,” Rick said as they strode toward him. “I have something I wanted to give you. I was going to mail this.” He pulled an envelope from his back pocket. “But I hoped to somehow be able to hand it to you. I guess this is the opportunity I was hoping for.”
“Would you like me to leave you guys alone?” Katie asked.
“No, I don’t mind if you hear this, Katie. I mean, if Christy doesn’t mind.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“I guess you both know I’ve been trying to make things right with people I hurt in the past and . . .” Rick seemed to have run out of words. He held out the crumpled envelope to Christy.
“Rick,” Christy felt as nervous as he looked at this moment, “you don’t need to apologize to me for anything. You and I settled everything a long time ago. I don’t—”
“We didn’t exactly settle everything,” Rick said. “I, uh, I did something really cruel and foolish when . . . well, you know . . .” He drew in a deep breath. “When you and I were dating, Christy, I stole your bracelet. Or rather, Todd’s bracelet. Or, I mean, the bracelet Todd gave you.”
Christy bit the inside of her lower lip. She knew she had forgiven Rick for that long ago, but watching him so tortured as he made his confession to her brought all the emotions back to the surface for her, as well.
“I’m very sorry, Christy. That was wrong. I know you’ve forgiven me. But I also know that Doug and you made payments on the bracelet to the jewelry store where I traded it in.”
Christy noticed that Rick’s forehead was glistening with perspiration as he continued. “I’ve made things right with Doug, and now I’d like to make things right with you. Christy, please accept this with my apology.” Rick’s deep brown eyes begged for forgiveness.
“Thank you, Rick. I already forgave you, like you said.”
“But you’ll keep what’s in that envelope,” Rick said. “Promise me you’ll keep it.”
“Okay, I promise. Thank you.”
Rick nodded. He looked relieved.
“I, um . . .” Christy felt another wave of awkwardness come over her. She didn’t want to open the envelope in front of Rick and Katie, and she didn’t want to prolong the conversation. “I guess I shouldn’t hold you two up. You have a long drive ahead of you.”
“Yeah, I guess we should get going.” Rick reached for Katie’s gym bag and backpack. “Is this all you have?”
“Yep,” Katie said. “I travel light these days, thanks to my best friend’s influence. Christy taught me all about traveling light when we were in Europe.”
“I want to hear more about your trip,” Rick said. “You guys went to Italy, right?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to the island of Capri?”
“Yes.” Katie seemed to anticipate his next question. “And yes, we went to the Blue Grotto that you are so crazy about.”
“You did?” Rick’s expression lit up.
“Yes,” Katie said with a grin at Christy. “Christy and Todd loved it, but I thought it was dark and cold and highly overrated. I mean, if you think about it, it’s just a dark cave with water and a bunch of men wearing straw hats and singing loudly in Italian.”
Rick’s mouth dropped open.
Christy laughed. Rick, I’d say you just had a full dose of the real Katie.
Regaining his composure, Rick said, “You know, you’re right, Katie. It is just a dark cave with water and singing Italian boatmen. I guess it’s who you’re with in the dark cave that makes it romantic.”
“Oh, you want to talk romantic,” Katie said, heading for the door, “then let’s talk about Venice. I loved Venice. When you were there, did you go for a ride in a gondola? Now, that’s a boat ride with a view.”
“You guys went for a gondola ride?” Rick followed Katie to the door.
As Katie recounted the details of their adventure, Rick turned and gave Christy a warm smile. “See you later.”
“I’ll give you a call tomorrow.” Katie waved over her shoulder. “You’re going home after church, aren’t you?”
Christy nodded.
“I’ll call you,” Katie said.
Christy waved. “Bye, you guys. Drive safely.”
Turning to go back to her room, Christy chided herself. Drive safely? Why am I talking like their mother would?
Once Christy was back in the solitude of her dorm room, she reached for the phone and dialed Todd’s number. She could tell from the sound in his voice that she had awakened him, but she asked the obvious anyway. “Were you asleep?”
“That’s okay. What’s up? Are you all right?”
Christy summarized her conversations with Katie and Rick. But before she could mention Rick’s envelope, Todd said, “That’s how it is when God’s working in our lives. We always need to save room for the unexpected.”
Christy thought of how Todd’s life seemed to have plenty of room for the unexpected. He even seemed to look for the unexpected, like when he took breakfast to the homeless man that morning.
“I don’t do that very well,” Christy said. “I don’t leave room on my calendar or in my daily schedule for God to do unexpected things.”
“That’s okay,” Todd said. “I have a pretty good idea God will keep finding ways to fit them into your life anyway.”
“God sure did that tonight.” Christy told Todd about the envelope Rick had given her.
“You haven’t opened it yet?” Todd asked.
“No, I don’t know if I want to. In a way, I just want to throw it away and let it be over.”
“Didn’t you say Rick asked you to promise to keep it?”
“That’s right, he did.”
“You don’t have to open it now,” Todd said. “And you don’t have to tell me what’s in it when you open it. But you do have to honor your promise to Rick.”
“You’re right,” Christy said quietly. “And I will. I think the best thing for now would be if I went to bed and got some sleep.”
“Good idea. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night, my Todd.”
“Good night, my Kilikina. I love you.”
“And I love you.”
A settled calm came over Christy and over the dorm room after she hung up. She sat in the silence and stared at the envelope in her hand. Rick had written her first name in small, cursive letters. From the wear and tear on the envelope, he had been carrying it with him for some time.
Putting aside the envelope, Christy packed her neatly folded clothes that were still sitting on her bed. Right before she pulled down the covers, she reached for Rick’s envelope and tucked it into her suitcase’s side pocket.
The next day after church, as she and Todd drove home to Escondido, she thought again of the envelope. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t opened it the night before. She should have opened it while she was talking to Todd on the phone so the entire incident could have been concluded. She knew Todd would never ask her about it.
When I get home, I’ll open the envelope, show the contents to Todd, and it will be over. Settled. We’ll all be able to move forward. I don’t know why I’m being so squirmy about this. It’s probably a letter of apology like the one he sent Katie.
What Christy hadn’t anticipated was that Aunt Marti and Uncle Bob would be at her parents’ house when she and Todd arrived.
“We couldn’t wait until Christmas at our house to see you two.” Marti kissed Christy on both cheeks and then turned her affectionate attentions toward Todd.
Marti had gone through a lot of per
sonal changes during the past year. In September, she had arrived at Rancho to take Christy out to lunch. But after seeing Aunt Marti, Christy and Katie had concluded Marti already was “out to lunch.” Her hair extensions, minimal makeup, and long, flowing gauze skirt, along with an announcement that she was considering going to Santa Fe with her new pottery instructor, served as all the proof Christy and Katie needed.
But Marti hadn’t gone to Santa Fe. She and Uncle Bob seemed to be working on their relationship. And Marti’s dark hair was cut in a short crop that framed her face in a softened style. Even Marti’s perfume smelled like a fragrance Christy remembered from years ago.
Uncle Bob gave Christy a hug, and she noticed his dark hair was going gray by his ears. Bob and Todd both had been burned several years ago when Bob’s gas grill went haywire and exploded. The black turtle-neck Bob was wearing hid the scars on his neck.
Christy smiled at her patient uncle and wondered how his scars on the inside were doing, the scars from the hurts he must have suffered while Aunt Marti was going through her mid-life crisis.
Christy hugged her mom and dad, and then Marti jumped in and said she was ready to discuss wedding plans.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” Christy excused herself from the clutch of family members in the living room and carried her suitcase into her bedroom at the end of the hall. Closing the door, she leaned her back against it and swallowed hard.
Marti always had delighted in a project. Could it be that Todd and Christy’s wedding was her latest grand event? Why hadn’t Christy seen this coming? It made her clench her teeth to think of her aunt elbowing her way into Todd and Christy’s plans and trying to take over. Yet, at the same time, Christy knew that as long as Marti had a project that kept her in Newport Beach with her husband, she was less likely to run off to join her new friends at their art colony in New Mexico.
A tap on the door made Christy jump. “Who is it?”
“It’s me, David. Can I come in?”
Christy opened the door to let her fifteen-year-old brother into her private enclave. “Hi. How are you?” She gave him a quick hug, since he never had been a big fan of snuggling.