My Christmas Stalker (5 page)

     “Anything in this case would be just the thing to satisfy a sweet tooth.” She was surprised at how calmly she answered the good looking guy.

     “And what about behind the counter?” He stuck his hand out. “My name is David.” Whitley hesitated before she extended her hand in return and shook his hand.

     She took in his appearance. His dark hair was clean cut, his clothes weren’t too expensive, but new. His blue dress shirt and dark blue tie made his hair appear the color of a chocolate fudge muffin. And his eyes! Those eyes made her forget to breathe. They were the color of the sea on a clear day—deep blue. She stared into them for a moment before self-consciously dropping her eyes to the floor.

     She studied his shoes. He wore black dress shoes. She didn’t know for sure, but they looked like real leather. Whitley slowly raised her eyes, still noting details.

     He was very tall. A glint of light flickered off his wrist. The watch he wore was expensive. It looked like the one Shawn Paterson wore and he had told her he had paid $500 for it!

     She realized that he still held her hand and she quickly extracted it from his.

    “I’m afraid the only thing available behind these counters are the things in the food cases.” She felt a twinge of regret at that moment. Her smile felt like an apology to the dreamy guy staring at her.

    He tipped his head. “That’s too bad. A real disappointment, if I may say so. I woke up this morning and thought, ‘This is my lucky day’! I just knew it. Then I stopped at this delicious smelling pastry shop and…found you behind the counter.” He flashed her a generous smile. “I knew this would be a special day!” She blushed deeper.

     “Does that line actually get you girls?” she asked him with a scoffing sound to her voice. He laughed. She heard a bell ringing mingled with the masculine sound.

     “Well, obvious not. And by the way, that was the first time I have ever used that particular line.” His pearly white teeth flashed her another smile that made her knees fell rubbery. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t give me your name.” He leaned on the counter. “Just a name.” In the back of her mind she heard the bell again. What did it mean?

     Whitley looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Whitley,” she said softly. Her heart beat rapidly.

    “Whitley.” He smiled. “Nice to meet you, Whitley.” He nodded to her. She loved how her name sounded coming from his lips. “I will take five cheese Danish, three blueberry muffins and one apple turnover.” Whitley raised her eyebrows and fought the desire to smile into the tall, dark and dreamy guy’s eyes.

     “You must like a large breakfast.” She finally let her smile free. His eyes lit up, then he quickly summed a puppy dog sad look to his face.

     “Well, I have to have something to console myself—today of all days.” He sighed out loud. “After all, I finally found my dream girl and she is lost to me behind a counter of confection and glass.” She giggled then rolled her eyes.

    “I can’t believe you think that act of yours will work.” She frowned at him. “I like a straight forward approach, not all this…phony woe-is-me act.” David immediately drew his slacked shoulders back, straightened his tie and rolled his neck and shook his head. The bell sounded again. What did it mean? Was it a sign?

   “Hello! I am David and I think you are very lovely and charming, and I was hoping you might consider having dinner with me tonight.” Whitley gasped and took a step back. “To straight forward?” he asked with concern, mentally kicking himself for scaring her off.

    Whitley’s eyes had gone wide and her hand had settled on her neck. Her heart pounded. She had lived her life very carefully. She had a lot of safety rules in place about meeting guys. A stranger walking in off the street didn’t fit anywhere, but on the ‘don’t-do-it’ side of her list!

   David’s face dropped. “Hey, I’m sorry if that was too forward.” He ducked his head. “Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow when I stop off on my new breakfast route.” He gave her a sad smile and turned to go. She heard the little chiming again. A warning?

    “David!” Her soft voice called to him. He swung back around with hope in his eyes.

    “Did you want the pastries?” she asked her eyes held a worried look.

    “Oh, yeah.” He stepped up to the counter. “You better toss in a couple of those double chocolate muffins. I hear chocolate does wonders for depression.” Her eyebrows rose higher, her concern deepened.

    “Hey, I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wreck your day.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I…I…just don’t go out with strangers.” She filled a box with the pastries.

    “Then you must never go out,” he said with a half-smile, “because everyone is a stranger at some point.”

      “That will be $42.50.” Her voice was low, just above a whisper. She cleared her throat, “Maybe if you…um…buy a pastry every day…then I will get to know you.” She glanced at him. A shy smiled moved over her face. David tilted his head.

    “That’s a deal. How many mornings will it take for you to agree to a date with me?” he asked with a firm resolve. Whitley stammered in her reply. The ringing sounded again in the back of her mind.

    “I…didn’t…say—” David interrupted her.

    “Oh, yes you did. You said maybe if I bought a pastry every day from you, you would get to know me. If you get to know me, we won’t be strangers, and then you can go out with me!” He reached for the box. “How late do you stay open?”

    “I…I…I…” Whitley faded in her response. David turned around to read the information printed on the glass door.

     “6:00.p.m.” He nodded. “I will be back later for another pastry.” He started to move to leave the shop. He turned to lean against the door with his shoulder. “I hope you hurry and decide, though.” He winked at her. “You might not go out with me if I lose my fit and trim body from eating pastry every day.”

    He sent her a charming smile that made her insides glow with warmth. The same ringing she had been hearing sounded louder as he pushed through the door. Whitley finally realized what the ringing meant—the shop was full of hungry customers waiting for their morning pastry!

    
W
hitley sunk into the table at the bistro across from Nora. Today was Nora’s day off and she had promised to meet her for lunch when Whitley called with a panicked cry for help.

    “Okay, what is up with you?” Nora asked as she sipped on her soft drink. “I ordered you a chef salad with no egg.” Whitley nodded her thanks.

    “There was a guy this morning!” Her breath rushed out with the words. “I have never met…anyone…so gorgeous…in my life!” Whitley’s hands were shaking in front of her for accent. Nora sat forward.

    “You talked to him?” Nora asked in surprise. Whitley nodded. “More than asking which pastry he wanted?” Whitley nodded and started shaking her hands again.

    “I promised…I promised if I got to know him I would go out with him!” She collapsed against her chair with her hands to her cheeks. Nora stared with her mouth hanging open. Then she snapped it shut again.

  “This is big! This is humongous!” Nora let out a little squeal. “Whitley, I am so proud of you!”

    “Oh, stop it! It’s not as if I don’t talk to guys.” She frowned. “I even date!”

    “Only guys from your church or who have gone on a mission or who has passed some test by your bishop.” Nora grimaced. “There are nice guys out there who aren’t LDS, Whitley.”

    “I know.” She shook her head. “You don’t understand. I have…certain goals I have set for myself and other men not of my faith can’t help me reach those goals.”

    “Oh, yeah, right. The temple marriage thing.” Nora expelled a breath. “I just don’t see why a regular wedding isn’t good enough for you guys.”

    “We have been over this before. I want a marriage that will last forever. Not ‘till death do us part’.” Whitley smiled at her friend. “If you could just go into the temple and feel how special it is, you would realize how important a temple marriage would be. I want my marriage to be special.”

    “So, are you saying my sister’s wedding last year isn’t forever or that it wasn’t special?” Nora sounded offended.

     “Don’t take this wrong, Nora. Your sister made important vows. She made a commitment to be faithful to Larry. But when they die in this life, it ends. A marriage sealed by priesthood authority in the temple will still be bound in heaven. And yes, that makes the thought of marriage extra special to me. It makes me want to be extra careful about whom I choose to live my eternity with, and that means I have to be careful with whom I date,” Whitley explained.

     Nora’s eyes became thoughtful. “So, divorce isn’t an option?”

    “Well, anyone can get a divorce, but we don’t go into marriage thinking that if I don’t like it, I can pick a new guy. A commitment of marriage should be forever.”

     “So…only LDS people can go to the temple, right? So, an LDS person can’t choose a nonmember to be their forever marriage partner then?” Nora’s eyes glanced into space. “I may have to talk to you a bit more about things you believe in.” She looked at her soda and stirred the straw in circles, swirling the ice around. She sighed.

    “Can a person know when they have met their forever love by just talking to someone?” Nora posed the question without looking at Whitley.

    “I know of examples of people that had the spirit witness to them on their first date that the person they were with was
the
one for them. The one that God would be pleased with for them to marry, yes.”

     Nora raised her tear filled eyes to look at Whitley. “Well, I believe it, too.”

     “Oh, Nora! What is it?” Whitley asked with concern in her eyes.

     “Whitley, you will yell at me for this, but I believe Jeff is the one God wants me to marry. The only problem is, he’s a member of your church. A strong active one. And from what you say, he will want to get married in the temple and right now—I can’t!” Sadness filled her friend’s face. “And I don’t intend to give him up!” A tear slipped down her cheek, she flicked it a way with a quick movement of her hand.

     “But, Nora…you don’t even know him.” Whitley started. Nora put up her hand to stop her.

     “Not another word.” She looked at Whitley with a glare. “A feeling so strong came to me and it was as if words were spoken to me, but yet no one was there! I know Jeff is the one for me!” She sighed and went all soft in her eyes. “We talked till two in the morning.” Another sigh escaped from Nora. “We are soul mates.”

     Whitley stared at her friends for a few seconds. “I’m sorry, Nora. If you say God spoke to you—then who I am to say you didn’t receive your own personal revelation.”

    “Right!” Nora squared her shoulders. “Now, what about this momentous moment for you!” She snapped her fingers. “You can teach this guy about forever marriage too—if you decide you like him enough to go on a second date, that is.” Whitley’s face puckered up.

    “I don’t know, Nora. Why take the chance on falling in love if you can’t be together in the end!” Whitley’s excited expression turned sour. Nora’s face fell.

    “You may be right.” Her face lost its color.

    “Oh, no! Nora! I didn’t mean that about you and Jeff!” She smiled as she took her friend’s hand in hers. “You have already said that God told you this was it. So, now we should ask the missionaries to come teach you about the gospel, so you can make that choice before you get too serious with Jeff. You can study and learn about the gospel before you fall in love and break each other’s heart.” She shook her hand to get her attention. “You getting baptized could become a wonderful gift to Jeff!” Nora’s face lifted and she gave a weak smile.

    “Yeah. I can make it a gift to him!” She swallowed like she had a lump in her throat. “But what if I can’t accept what your church teaches? You know, I haven’t said too much, but I heard some weird stories about Mormons when I was a kid.”

     “It will be great. I promise you!” Whitley drew her eyebrows together. “Do you believe there is a God in heaven?” Nora nodded soberly. “Do you know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world?”

     “Yes, I said my prayer of forgiveness and accepted Christ into my life as my Savior when I was thirteen.” Whitley nodded to her.

     “Do you believe in staying away from drugs and alcohol?”

     “That stuff was only for stupid kids to mess with!” Nora scoffed at the idea.

      “Do you believe God talked to prophets in the Old Testament time period? How about the thought of God sending a prophet to help the people he loves now just as he did back then?” Whitley watched as the question stirred thoughts in Nora’s mind.

     “Wow! Wouldn’t that be great? To know a prophet was here to help us like Moses help the children of Israel? Life would be so much easier, don’t you think?” Nora laughed. “That would be…amazing!” Her excitement returned and she was starting to fidget as if she needed to get up and shout and dance.

    “Are those the kind of things you believe in?” Nora asked with wonderment on her face.

   “Yes, we believe there is a prophet on the earth right now, leading God’s children today. His name is Thomas S. Monson.”

     Tears filled Nora’s eyes again. “It’s true! Isn’t it?” She held her hands to her heart. “I feel this warmth spreading all over me!” Whitley felt the burn of tears in her eyes.

    “Yes. That is the spirit telling you what I said is true,” Whitley said softly. She reached over and hugged her best friend. “There is more to learn, but it is all wonderful, and it will make you feel wonderful just like now.”

    Nora hugged her friend hard around the neck, she wiped her tears again and pulled away. “I guess we better call those missionaries!” Nora laughed with happiness as she wiped the running mascara out from under her eyes. “I get to spend time with Jeff this afternoon and then later tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to meet his friend? I am sure he won’t be a jerk. Jeff is such a nice guy.”

    “No, thanks!” Whitley scowled. Their lunch arrived and their conversation ended.