A Storybook Finish (9 page)

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going on in your life.”

Jeff sighed. To Candy he would always be “little bro,” no

matter what his age might be. Only five years spanned them,

but Candy believed she had lived life. At that moment, he

didn’t care. She might provide the help he needed. He craved

advice after a day like today. He picked up the phone to

punch in her number. If there were one area Candy had

plenty of knowledge, it was relationships. She’d had many in

her years, though not in the way Jeff would have envisioned.

Still, maybe she had some ideas.

The phone rang six times before a voice answered. Loud

music filled the background. Jeff cringed at the rock and roll

that attacked his eardrums. “Hey, this is Jeff!” he shouted

above the roar.

The music instantly died. “Hey, little bro, what’s up?”

Jeff pulled out a chair and threw himself into it. “I need

some advice about a certain woman.”

“All right! You finally found one. I was worried you’d be a

bachelor for the rest of your life.”

Jeff said nothing for a moment. Candy’s own marriage had

collapsed after two years. He had decided he’d rather stay

single for as long as needed rather than face the pain of a broken

marriage. “I’m not that old. Thirty is hardly old anymore.

Besides I want her to be the right one.”

“Well, if you’re going to make any headway, you have to at

least start dating and find out if you’re compatible. Have you

gone out yet?”

“I don’t want to shop around. I’d rather get to know one in

particular, maybe over a cup of coffee. In fact, there’s a woman

I wouldn’t mind getting to know, only tonight I discovered

she has a boyfriend.”

78 “Okay, so give me the long end of it.”

Jeff was thankful Candy had switched off the music so he

could hear himself think. He went into the aspects of their

relationship during the fundraiser and the trip to D.C., leaving

out most of the religious parts since Candy wasn’t a Christian.

She listened patiently until he came to the coffee shop scene

and Skips shoulder.

“Are you kidding? You should have still asked her out.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? I mean, she didn’t say this Skip was her boyfriend,

did she?”

“No, but she cried on his shoulder. What other shoulder

would you cry on unless it was a good friend’s–or a brother’s?”

He hinted at their relationship and the times Candy came to

him, telling him about the guys who had dumped her. He

recalled many a wet shoulder after those encounters. When

he’d suggested she forget about relationships for a while and

pursue other things, she cried even louder and told him he was

insensitive.

“For all you know, Skip could very well be her big brother!

You’d better find out what’s going on before you start making

assumptions. Then make your move.”

“Right. Make my move where? The moon?”

“Oh, how romantic. One of those boat rides under the silvery

moon. Can’t you just see it, Jeff? Really—take her wherever

you want. Wine and dine her.”

“I don’t drink. I prefer coffee.”

“Fine, the coffee shop—though that sounds pretty boring

to me. Maybe offer to take her someplace she would really

like to go. What does she like to do?”

“Uh …” He hesitated. What did Lindsay like to do? He

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had no idea. All he’d talked about were his interests without

bothering to discover hers. Maybe that’s why she preferred

Skip’s shoulder for a good cry. Maybe Skip spent time asking

her what she liked in life, and she felt comfortable confiding

in him about her woes. Maybe she enjoyed shopping in the

mall—like browsing through toy stores, looking for toys to

use in her fundraising presentations. The thought appealed

to him. Searching out toys might make him feel young again

instead of a stuffy old history teacher who had lost his knack

for fun.

“Hey, are you there?”

“Yeah, just thinking. Okay, I’ll find out some more details. I

just thought after a day like today that there might be something

between us. I don’t want to lose what’s there, no matter

how insignificant it may be.”

“Then go for it. Let me know what happens.”

Jeff hung up the phone, relieved after talking it out with

Candy. No longer did he feel sour like the milk he had

dumped down the drain. He would find out all he could

about Lindsay and see if he had any reason to hope for the

future.

81 Lindsay couldn’t believe what she saw on the computer monitor

before her. She blinked once, then twice, to make

certain she was reading the words and not imagining them.

Hey, Lindsay,

Guess what? I’ll be in your neck of the woods tomorrow.

The boss wants me to attend a special conference outside

Washington, D.C., and he bought me a last-minute plane

ticket. Since I knew you were in the area, I jumped at the

chance. Maybe we can catch dinner. Let me know your plans

and if you’re available.

Ron

Lindsay stared until her eyes began to hurt. Ron is coming

to town, and he wants to see me. She swallowed hard. Her eyelid

developed a nervous twitch. Eight years had passed since

they’d seen each other, shortly after receiving their high

school diplomas. She recalled a pool party they went to at

the parents’ of one of Ron’s close buddies. They had just finished

sharing a kiss inside the cabana when he dropped the

bomb, announcing plans to attend college in California.

Lindsay felt as if someone had knocked her over the head.

He told her he was sorry it wasn’t someplace here, but this

was a great opportunity to launch himself into a high-tech

field in the Silicon Valley. Tears burned her eyes that day.

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Her heart felt like a lump of lead. When he left for college,

her whole world fell apart.

Now he was coming back. Could she handle such a meeting?

Was she ready for something like this after eight years? You were

the one who started it all, Lindsay, ol’ girl, she

reminded herself. You sent him that E-mail, asking him how he

was. You might as well have sent an invitation in bold black

letters with the words “Here I am. Come and get me.”

At one time she’d wanted to see if a spark still remained.

He had been her first and only love. They had shared so many

good times together. I was a kid back then, and I wasn’t a

Christian, Lindsay reasoned. Neither was Ron. And what if

he still isn’t? How can I think of rekindling the past with an

unbeliever?

Suddenly she grew nervous at the prospect of a meeting. I might

well be inviting disaster, not to mention the emotional

upheaval. I can hardly handle my life as it is right now.

Turning to the computer, Lindsay typed back a message,

informing him she would be too busy but thanked him for

the offer. Her finger wavered over the mouse button, uncertain

if she wanted to send it. Here was a chance for love to be

rekindled. Yet the mere thought of a relationship with Ron

made her uneasy. She had no peace. Finally, she hit the

mouse button with force, sending the E-mail on its way. There.

It’s better this way. Leave the past behind and embrace the future.

Lindsay was shuffling through the paperwork overflowing

on her desk when the phone rang. She answered it in a hurry,

knocking over several boxes of chocolates she had stacked on

the desk, ready to return to the merchandising department.

The corner of one box ripped open, dumping a few heart

shaped chocolates onto the floor.

82 “Hi, Lindsay. It’s Jeff.”

“Jeff,” she repeated. Jeff who? Her confusion continued for

another second or two until it dawned on her that this was

Jeff Wheeler, the history teacher from Western High. She

straightened in her seat. “Jeff, how are you? I guess you’ll find

out tomorrow how the sale is going. You’re going to do the

cash cards with the students, right?” She reached down and

picked up the box of chocolate hearts. In an afterthought, she

opened the box all the way and popped a piece in her mouth.

“That’s the plan. As you said, students love the idea of

earning a few extra bucks. I’m expecting to give away most of

the cash cards you gave me.”

She marveled over his optimism that seemed so uncharacteristic

for the man after their past meetings. They had left

each other quite abruptly in the coffee shop too, almost as if

the conversation had struck him in the wrong way. Lindsay

wondered about it the night she got home but couldn’t think

what it might be. Perhaps he was only tired out, as she’d been.

It had been a long day, filled with mixed emotions.

“So where do you go to church?” he asked out of the blue.

Chocolate and caramel swirled together in her mouth. “I go

to Covenant down the road from me.” She swallowed and

stifled a cough when the chocolate tickled her throat. “They

have services this evening, too, but I rarely go. Most of the

time I have to get ready for starts the next morning.”

“Do you have a fundraiser tomorrow?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, with the Over the Rainbow Day

Care. I’m meeting with the director.” She nearly confessed to

him that this was the fundraiser she had to move when he

abruptly changed his own start date but decided to omit that

fact. “They want to raise money for playground equipment.”

83 “I take it you raise people lots of do-re-mi.”

“I try. It’s how I get my own do-re-mi to pay the fa-sola-ti

bills.”

“Huh? Fasolati bills?”

She laughed outright. His ignorance endeared him to her.

“Haven’t you ever seen the movie Sound of Music? The kids

sing ‘do-re-mi’ followed by ‘fa-sola-ti.’”

“Do you like those kinds of movies?”

“Sure. I grew up with them. I enjoyed skipping down the

sidewalk, singing ‘do-re-mi.’ I also like the song ‘My Favorite

Things.’ ‘Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright

copper kettles and warm woolen mittens—’”

“Do you want to rent it and see it sometime?”

Lindsay’s skin broke out into goose bumps. Every hair

stood at attention. The old eyelid began doing the twitch.

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, would you like to come over sometime and watch

it? We can order out for a pizza or something, unless you

don’t like pizza. Maybe even tomorrow night. I’m free.”

Lindsay dearly wanted to tap the receiver and ask if this

person were actually Jeff Wheeler. The idea he wanted to

please her with a movie, and a musical at that, sent questions

running through her mind. Had she made that much of an

impression on him during the field trip? “I’d like to, Jeff, but

that’s the night I call teachers for potential fundraising

programs.”

She heard the audible sigh. “If we make it early,

though, I might be able to. Would you like to come here

instead? You can pick up the pizza and the movie on the way

here. I have an old VCR that still works. We can watch it over

dinner. Then I won’t have to do much traveling, you know,

and I can make my calls afterward.”

84 “Okay. Sounds good.” She could hear the excitement in his

voice. “I’ll let you know tomorrow how the fundraiser is going

and if there’s anything else we need to do before it wraps up.”

“That would be great.” Lindsay hung up, her mind in a

whirlwind. Don’t read anything into it, she cautioned. Yet the

idea he wanted to do something besides history made her all

the more curious about his intentions. She picked up another

chocolate heart and stared at it. The chocolate began to melt

from the heat of her fingers. She ate it without a thought to

the promise she’d made of not indulging in company sweets.

Why does Jeff want to do this? Maybe he’s looking for a history

buddy. Lindsay nearly choked on the chocolate and went to

the kitchen for a glass of water. History buddy, indeed. She

was more like a history baby with her lack of knowledge in

the area. To her, April showers brought the Mayflower.

Washington was the guy on the dollar bill and, yes, the

name of a tall monument in D.C. (She had learned this on

Saturday.) “

She chuckled, imagining Jeff’s reaction if he knew the

extent of her historical knowledge. He would likely be horrified.

Most of the history she knew had been learned from the

tour yesterday. The godly roots in the founding of their nation

amazed her. She wondered how many students in the schools

really knew about the Pilgrims’ devotion to prayer or the baptism

of Pocahontas.

Well, it didn’t matter. Jeff was bringing her favorite movie,

and that’s what counted, not her knowledge of history. A

pizza and a movie might be just the way to relax after a busy

day, without having to delve into topics she knew nothing

about. If all else failed, she could dazzle him with her knowledge

of the Sound of Music.

85 The appointment with the director of the day care went well,

except that Lindsay discovered a grape jelly stain on the elbow

of her favorite white blouse when she arrived home. She

immediately took it off, threw on aT-shirt and soaked the garment

in the bathroom sink with some mild detergent. How

was she to know that the table where she sat, discussing project

details with the sponsor, was also the same table where the

kids ate their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at snack time?

Lindsay then raced around the apartment, straightening here

and there, moving stacks of contracts to her desk and jamming

everything else into the office. She struggled with the door,

trying to shut it, with several cardboard boxes impeding the

effort. The last thing she wanted Jeff to see was her sloppiness.

No doubt he expected a woman’s habitat to shine. Lindsay

dragged out the hand vacuum and went about sucking up

month-old crumbs. She straightened the pillows on the sofa,

sewn by her mother. A country scene of a farmhouse and cows

decorated one pillow, a Noah’s Ark scene the other.

She had just scurried back to the bathroom to rinse out the

blouse when the doorbell rang. Oh, great! He’s early. She

moaned, staring at her ratty T-shirt. What am Igoing to do.

She ran for the bedroom and grabbed the first shirt out of the

drawer, throwing it on before dashing for the door.

A tall man stood there, dressed in sharp business attire.

Dark brown hair ruffled in the breeze. The strong scent of his

cologne made her woozy. Lindsay stared in bewilderment.

“Surprise!”

“Ron? Ron! Oh, no—what are you doing here?”

“Hey, great seeing you too after eight years.” He looked

miffed.