Christy Miller Collection, Volume 2 Page 4

  A few times Christy had held all of their gazes as she told about her week. Each time she did, her mom would say, “I didn’t know that,” or, “You didn’t tell me. When did that happen?” It always made Christy feel as though she’d hurt her mom’s feelings for not confiding these bits of information the moment they occurred. It was as if she’d been holding out or trying to keep a secret from her parents. And she wasn’t.

  The truth was, most of the time the incidents weren’t that important or that memorable. It was just that when Todd started talking around the table, it always made her think of other things to talk about.

  Tonight Todd was giving a rundown of how Gus the Bus had sprung a leak in one of his hoses earlier in the week and how complicated it had been to find the right size replacement hose.

  They chatted until David got bored with talk of car repair and excused himself from the table. Christy got up and began to clear the table. As much as she enjoyed sitting around talking like this, she was eager to be alone with Todd so they could talk about a few certain topics that were more interesting than leaky hoses.

  Todd stood to help her clear the dishes, as he often did, and suddenly he said, “I was wondering, Mr. and Mrs. Miller, if you would mind if I took Christy someplace.”

  Christy stopped midstep into the kitchen and held her breath. He’s going to ask me to the prom like this? In front of everyone, with my hands full of dirty dishes? Todd!

  Mom flashed a look at her husband and then back at Todd. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I wondered if we could go out for some ice cream or something. It’s a great night for a walk. Is there any place close?”

  Christy released her breath and lowered the dishes into the sink. How romantic! He’s going to take me out for a walk and ask me to the prom. Under the jasmine! I’ll get him to ask me under the jasmine. Her mind raced ahead, her hopes soaring.

  “I’m going too!” David jumped up from the couch in the living room.

  “No, you’re not!” Christy snapped. “I mean, you probably should stay home. Shouldn’t he, Mom?”

  Everyone looked at her. Christy realized she’d overreacted. There was no doubt from anyone in this room that she wanted to be alone with Todd. She felt like they had all read her deepest, most secret wishes as easily as if they had been written on her face in fluorescent letters. Mom looked at Dad. He paused.

  “Please?” David pleaded. “Can I go too?”

  “It’s all right with me,” Todd offered, standing between the kitchen and the table like a net over which passed a volley of looks between Christy and her mom, Christy and her dad, David and Dad. Todd held the empty lasagna pan in his hands, and in that moment Christy wanted to rub his face in the smeared tomato sauce.

  How can you say it’s okay for David to come with us? she thought angrily. Todd, work with me here. I’m trying to get some time for just us.

  “I think,” Dad said slowly, “that you need to stay around here, David.”

  “Aw—” David began in protest. Before he could say anything else, Dad gave him a look that silenced his complaining.

  Now Christy was afraid that her dad was going to say no to her as well and that she’d have to try to be more mature than David and hide her disappointment in front of her dad and especially in front of Todd.

  But Christy’s dad surprised her. “Christy, you and Todd can go over to Swenson’s at the Vineyard, but I’d like you home before dark. Nine o’clock at the latest.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Christy tried not to sound too exuberant. She was sure her face showed her relief and delight, so she turned away from Todd so he wouldn’t see her cheeks turn rosy.

  Usually when Todd came to see her, they did stuff around the house. Todd seemed more like one of the family. This was good though. Very good. If Christy’s dad didn’t mind their going for a walk and for ice cream, then he probably wouldn’t object to their going to the prom. Perhaps her dad realized something of which Christy was becoming more and more sure: She and Todd were ready to move forward in their relationship.

  Todd stepped over to the sink and began to rinse off the dishes.

  “I’ll do those,” Mom insisted. “You two get going. You only have an hour or so.”

  “Great dinner.” Todd gave her a broad smile. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome, Todd. You’re always welcome. You know that. And thank you for the strawberries.”

  “Hey, dude,” Todd called to David, who had flopped back on the couch, arms folded across his chest, glasses falling down, pouting like an expert. “You and I can do something together next time.”

  “When?” David stuck his lower lip out even farther.

  “Next time I come down.”

  “Can you come next weekend?” David looked up hopefully. “Can you come on Saturday? And can you come for the whole day?”

  “Naw, can’t come next Saturday.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s my school prom that night.”

  David resumed his pouting, but Christy’s heart stopped. There, he said it! The prom is next Saturday. He’s going to ask me tonight, I just know it! But then Christy’s thoughts swung sharply to the other side. Next Saturday? That doesn’t give me much time! Tryouts are Friday! When am I going to have time to get a dress and everything? Why didn’t he ask me sooner?

  “Ready?” Todd broke into Christy’s teeter-totter thoughts.

  “Oh yeah. Sure.”

  For the first time that night, Todd’s gaze fully met hers. He kept looking at her a bit longer than necessary, and Christy wondered, Am I doing it? Am I giving Todd a killer-eyes look like Rick said? Does he feel for me what I feel for him?

  “We’ll be back by eight-thirty or nine,” Todd called over his shoulder as he held the door open for Christy. “Later, dude!”

  The screen door slammed behind them, and they heard David whine, “It’s not fair!”

  Todd and Christy smiled at each other and headed down the front steps and under the arch of climbing jasmine.

  Some spring evenings can be enchanted. Especially when the birds sing a little longer, and the colors of the sky pale into ethereal shades. When the wind snatches fresh blossoms from the trees, festively tossing them into the air like confetti, it’s clear that it’s a night for celebrating. Tonight was such an evening.

  Not enchanted in a magical way, but in Christy’s awareness that everything around her breathed with evidence of a living God. A God who thought up daffodils and the scent of grass and transparent rainbows in lawn sprinklers. A God who knew and cared about the hidden, treasured dreams of a young woman’s heart.

  Adding to the enchantment was the comfortable silence between Christy and Todd as they walked the first block. It was usually this way with Todd. He would often be quiet for a long while and then say something deep and wonderful. His conversations tended to be thought-out and deliberate. Christy could talk on and on when she wanted to, but by nature she was more reserved and quiet too.

  One of the things she’d always liked about Todd was that he never made her feel uncomfortable because of her quietness during moments like this. Christy wondered now what he was thinking. Should she reach over and take his hand? She let her arm dangle close to his, hoping he would notice and mesh his fingers with hers.

  “Did I tell you that I’m being discipled?” Todd said. “By a guy at church.”

  “What do you mean by discipled?” Christy asked, moving a smidgen closer as they walked on.

  “Well, we meet once a week and study the Bible together and help each other memorize verses,” Todd explained. “You want to hear my verses?” He looked eager and excited, like a little boy who had something to recite for class.

  “Sure.”

  “It’s 1 Corinthians 13. It’s called the love chapter,” Todd said.

  Then without Christy’s expecting it, he reached over and took her hand. She closed her eyes for just a moment, determined to mark this moment in her memory very clearly
so she could write about it in her diary that night. She couldn’t imagine anything more romantic in the whole world than holding hands with Todd on an enchanted spring evening, listening to him recite what God had to say about love.

  Todd began. “ ‘If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.’ ”

  He paused and Christy thought, This doesn’t sound very romantic.

  Todd went on. “ ‘Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ ”

  He paused again and said, “That’s all I know so far, but there are more verses.”

  Now it was Christy’s turn to ponder her words before responding. The verses weren’t anything like she thought they would be. The only part she really caught on to was at the end about “hopes all things” and “endures all things.” Those were qualities she felt she had become well acquainted with lately in cheerleading.

  “Did it take you long to memorize all that?” Christy finally asked.

  “We’ve been working on it a few weeks now. I’m not a very fast memorizer.”

  “I’m not a very good memorizer either.”

  “It helps me to write it out on cards and carry them around with me,” Todd explained. “I worked on it while I was driving down here. That’s probably why it’s still pretty fresh on my mind.”

  “You did a really good job.” Christy liked praising him. She loved being beside him like this.

  Todd squeezed her hand. “Hey, do you know where we’re going?”

  “We turn down the next street, and it’s about three blocks after that.”

  “What a great night!” Todd said, filling his lungs with the evening air. “Smells almost … tropical, exotic.”

  “Could be my perfume.” She lifted up her wrist to his nose so he could smell it.

  “Yeah! What is that?”

  Christy told him, and he said, “Reminds me of Hawaii. You ever been there?”

  She felt like saying, “Oh, sure! When would I have ever gone to Hawaii?” but she settled for, “No, but I’d love to go someday.”

  “My dad and I lived there for a couple years.”

  “You’re kidding! I never knew that.”

  “Yeah, I went to King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina.”

  “Where?” Christy laughed at the mouthful of names.

  “It’s on Maui. I loved walking to school because of all the plumeria trees. They smell like your perfume. I’m going back there this summer.”

  Christy stopped walking. Their arms went taut in the sudden space between them. “You are? This summer?”

  Todd smiled at her reaction. “Yeah, or next summer. I’m not totally sure yet.”

  They resumed their walk, and Christy fired a string of questions at him. “What are you going to do there? What about school in the fall? Where are you going to college? Don’t you need to work this summer?” Her mind added, And what about me?

  “Man,” Todd said playfully, “you sound like my mother. Are you sure you don’t want to ask if I put on clean socks this morning?”

  “I’m sorry. I’m surprised, that’s all,” Christy said with a smile pressing the surprise out of her expression. “I just thought you’d be at the beach all summer, you know, like last year.”

  Todd shrugged. “Might be. I don’t know yet.”

  Christy held his hand a little tighter and kept her feelings to herself the rest of the way to Swenson’s. The deep-down truth surfaced over and over again: He’s not yours to hold on to.

  She deliberately ignored the thought. Enchanted evenings are to be enjoyed, not analyzed. Besides, there had been plenty of other times when she and Todd had been alone and Christy had spent the whole time brooding and missed the adventure of being with him. Tonight she was determined not to let her mood overwhelm her and take her deep inside herself, away from Todd.

  To keep the conversation going, Christy said, “So, tell me about Hawaii. What did you like about it? Where did you live?”

  Todd talked about the simple life he and his dad experienced living on Maui and how the two of them were together all the time. He almost made it sound like an ideal childhood, which surprised Christy, since she’d often felt sorry for Todd because his parents divorced when he was very young and he didn’t have any brothers or sisters. Todd didn’t seem to have any regrets.

  Christy loved listening to him tell about his childhood and was a little disappointed when they arrived at the ice cream parlor. When he let go of her hand to open the door and then didn’t take it again once they were inside, Christy was really disappointed that their walk had come to an end.

  “Know what you want?” Todd asked, reviewing the list of flavors above the ice cream counter.

  Her instant mental response was, Yes! You! I want you to be my boyfriend and take me to your prom. And spend the summer with me on the beach. That’s what I want!

  “Umm, I’d like a scoop of Swiss Orange Chip in a bowl, not a cone.”

  The girl behind the counter went to Christy’s school, but Christy didn’t know her name.

  Todd smiled at her and gave his usual greeting, “Hey, how’s it going?”

  The girl responded with straightforward flirting. Christy couldn’t believe it. As if Christy wasn’t even there, this girl started asking Todd his name and why she hadn’t seen him before. She suggested that if he came back at closing time, she would give him free ice cream.

  Todd stood like a rock, seemingly unaffected by this pushy girl.

  Christy swelled with jealousy. How dare she act like that? Can’t she see Todd is with me? Who does she think she is?

  “Hey, thanks,” Todd said when she handed him his change.

  The girl grabbed Todd’s hand. “Remember, next time come at closing, and you won’t have to pay for it.”

  Christy couldn’t stand the sight of that girl’s hand touching the strong hand that had warmed Christy’s only moments earlier. She wanted to leave—to get out of here and go back to their walk, hand in hand. She wanted to have Todd all to herself, even if for only an hour.

  But Todd wanted to stay. He directed Christy over to an open booth against the back wall. They ate in silence for a few minutes, Christy scooping up tiny spoonfuls and slowly letting them dissolve in her mouth. Todd had a shake, and when she had calmed down enough to focus on him, it reminded her of their very first “date” at an ice cream parlor in Newport Beach.

  “Do you remember the first time we had ice cream together?” Christy asked in a soft voice.

  “When was that?” Todd said.

  Christy felt her emotions scrambling to be strong and secure. How could it be such a strong memory for her and something he needed to be reminded of? “Remember? Last summer after Shawn’s party.”

  Todd’s face clouded, and she realized Todd was being overwhelmed with another more powerful memory. That was the night his friend Shawn died.

  “Oh yeah,” Todd said slowly.

  Now Christy was the one who had brought a somber mood to their time together, and she knew Todd might retreat deep into himself the way she sometimes did. She quickly changed the subject. “So, how’s the end of your senior year going? Are you getting excited about graduation and everything?”

  The “everything” meant the prom, but Christy didn’t want to come right out and say it.

  “I’ve got only a few more weeks left. My mom called the other night and said she would fly out
for my graduation, so that’s pretty cool.”

  “That’s great,” Christy answered brightly. “I imagine it will be nice for you to spend some time with your mom.”

  Todd nodded.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Christy saw the door open, and the familiar bouncy blur of Katie entered. Katie spotted Christy and zipped over to their booth, immediately sliding in next to her without even noticing Todd.

  “I can’t believe you’re here! This is so perfect! You’ll never guess what happened? He said yes, Christy! Can you believe it? Lance said he’d go with me! You should have heard my mom. You’d think I’d won a gold medal or something!”

  Christy looked at Todd and then at Katie and said quickly, “That’s great! Katie, this is Todd; Todd, this is Katie.”

  “Oh!” Katie noticed Todd for the first time, and her eyebrows rose. “Oh! Todd? That Todd. The Todd! Hi! I thought you were David. I mean, not that you were David, but that Christy had come here with her brother because who else would she come with? I mean, besides you?”

  Todd responded with his typical chin-up nod and said, “How’s it going?”

  “Katie goes to my school,” Christy said, feeling a little embarrassed at her friend’s loud enthusiasm. “We go to church together too. I’ve told you about Katie.”

  Todd nodded.

  “And she’s told me a lot about you, Todd,” Katie said, wide-eyed. “But what are you doing here tonight?”

  “Katie!” Christy laughed nervously at her friend’s lack of tact. “I told you Todd was coming tonight for dinner.”

  “No, you didn’t.” Katie seemed to catch a look in Christy’s expression that caused her to take her voice down a notch.

  With a big smile at Todd, Katie said, “Nice to meet you, Todd. Really. I kind of feel as though I already sort of know you because of all the stuff Christy has, you know, told me about you guys. Not that she’s told me any of the really private, personal stuff. But you know, all the good stuff about you, and I think you’re really great. I mean, according to what Christy has told me.”