Blinking a few times and trying to steady her voice, she said, "I"m fine. Really. I"m okay." It came out garbled because of her throbbing jaw.
"I"m so sorry, Christy," Doug said softly, his face only a few inches from hers. "Let me help you up."
Doug took one arm, and Jon held the other. Christy rose to her feet feeling embarra.s.sed by all the attention. "I"m okay, you guys. Really. I"m fine."
"Then how come you sound like a truck driver?" Katie said.
Christy tried to smile. "Ouch."
"You know, Doug," Katie started in, "it"s not a surprise you don"t have a girlfriend with the winning way you keep leaving your mark on any girl who comes too close to you."
Michael laughed along with Katie. "I"m Michael," he said. "Katie"s boyfriend. I suppose I should actually thank you for giving her the black eyes. That"s the first thing I noticed about her. If it weren"t for the eyes, we might not have started a conversation."
Doug seemed more interested in Christy at the moment than in Katie"s boyfriend or the cheap shot Katie had taken at him. "You"d better sit down, Christy." Doug held her arm and directed her to a folding chair at the table. "I guess we"d better find some ice for that. Here." Doug handed her the plastic cup, which was now half full of melting yogurt. "Hold this on your cheek until I can find some ice."
"I already have it." Jon returned with an ice pack. "Put this paper towel between you and the ice. Otherwise it will be too cold."
Christy gingerly held the cold pack against her sore jaw. It was a doozy, and she knew she would be feeling it for quite some time to come.
"Can we call a truce?" Doug asked Katie once Christy had the ice firmly in place. "I have to tell you. Michael was very convincing. I"d say you"ve won, Katie. I don"t think I could top that, and I don"t think I"d want to try. Besides, it isn"t fun when someone keeps getting hurt, especially the innocent bystanders." Doug gave Christy a sympathetic look.
"Sure, we can call a truce." Katie offered her hand to shake on it with Doug. With a hint of glee in her voice, she added. "But you have to admit that was a good one! Michael, you were award-winning in your performance of a big brother defending the honor of his baby sister!" Katie offered Michael a high five, and he cheerfully slapped his hand against hers.
"Had you going, didn"t we?" Michael said to Doug.
Doug nodded and tried hard to push a grin onto his face.
"The funniest part, I think," Katie said, "was accusing Doug of being involved with a young girl when the truth is, he"s never even kissed a girl before."
The room became silent except for Katie"s laughter. Christy could feel all eyes on Doug. She knew he must be terribly embarra.s.sed in front of Michael and Jon. Doug had made a vow that the first girl he ever kissed would be his wife, at the altar on their wedding day. Christy saw it as a n.o.ble, honorable goal. She especially admired that he had kept to that standard and, as a guy over twenty, had never kissed a girl. The way Katie blurted it out made Doug sound like some kind of freak with a serious disorder.
"I think we should call a truce all around," Christy said, working hard to form the sloppy words that seemed to stumble off her lower lip. "Enough people have been hurt."
Katie sobered, and everyone focused back on Christy.
"We actually stopped by to see if you wanted to go out after work," Katie said. "Doesn"t look like you"ll be up for it now."
Christy shook her head. "But thanks for stopping." She sounded like she had a mouthful of marbles.
"Are you doing anything, Doug? You want to do something with us?" Michael invited.
"I need to get going. This was supposed to be a quick stop to say hi to Christy. Maybe another time."
"We"ll get going, then," Katie said, "before we cause any more damage. Bye, you guys. We"ll see you later, hopefully under less bizarre conditions."
Jon joined Katie and Michael in the exit, saying, "Take it easy, Christy. If you want to cut out early, that"s fine. I am counting on you to work tomorrow."
"I"ll be here," Christy promised.
"Why don"t you go on home?" Doug suggested. "You need to take some aspirin and get to bed. That jaw is going to hurt more in the morning."
"I"ll go after I finish marking this fish food."
"I can do it for you." Doug said. "I"m sure Jon won"t mind. Do you feel strong enough to drive home by yourself? I could follow you if you want."
"No, I"m sure I"ll be fine. It"s not very far, and I feel okay, really. A little sore maybe."
"As long as you"re sure you"ll be okay."
"I"m sure. Thanks, Doug."
"Yeah, right. Thanks a lot for almost breaking your jaw, you mean."
Christy stood up and placed a comforting hand on Doug"s arm. "It wasn"t your fault. Please don"t blame yourself, okay?"
Doug looked down at his feet and then almost shyly into Christy"s eyes. "I feel really bad about this, Christy."
"Please don"t. I don"t blame you a bit. Don"t feel bad about it."
Doug"s grin returned. "Thanks, Christy. You"re a sweetheart." Then carefully, tenderly, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle side hug.
"What is this, the Annual Hug Christy Miller Fest and we forgot to put up signs in the window?" Jon stuck his head in the back room. "Hey, I checked with Beverly, and she can stay the rest of the night. Why don"t you go on home?"
"Okay, thanks, Jon." Christy grabbed her purse and headed for the back door. "I"ll try to be here a little early tomorrow."
"Mind if I finish labeling these for Christy?" Doug asked.
"Do I mind? Not a bit!"
Just as the door was closing behind her, Christy heard Jon say to Doug, "You wouldn"t happen to be looking for a Sat.u.r.day job, would you?"
Christy knew it was out of the question since Doug didn"t even live in the area. He must have been pa.s.sing through on his way home from college for the weekend. She never did ask him why he had stopped by.
Doug might talk to Todd before Christy did. She wondered how this whole escapade would be interpreted to Todd.
"Doug still feels real bad," Todd told Christy the next night on the phone. "He keeps blaming himself."
"I told him not to. It wasn"t his fault." Christy propped her bare feet up on a kitchen chair and leaned back against the wall.
"I"ll tell him again tomorrow."
"I wish I was there and could go to church with you tomorrow."
"You"ll be here next weekend," Todd said.
"I know, but it seems like forever," Christy said with a sigh.
"Your dad"s birthday is tomorrow, isn"t it?"
"Yes. We"re going to have his birthday lunch after church. Bob and Marti were supposed to come, but they"re at a golf tournament in Palm Springs. He goes every year. It"ll just be our family. I wish you were coming."
"What did you get your dad?"
"A flashlight. I know it sounds kind of lame for a birthday present, but that"s what he wanted. It"s a certain kind with an emergency flasher and a built-in radio. My mom said he"d like it. Doesn"t seem real personal to me."
"Then why don"t you make your card personal?" Todd suggested. "Didn"t you tell me you wrote a description of him for your English cla.s.s? Include that with your card. That"s personal. He"ll like it."
"You think so?"
"Sure. Dads like to hear that they"re doing something right every now and then."
Christy took Todd up on his idea and rewrote the essay on a piece of flowered stationery. This time she added at the end. "Daddy, I love you, even though I don"t think I"ll ever be able to tell you how much." She signed it, "Forever, your daughter, Christina Juliet Miller."
When her dad opened his gifts the next afternoon, Christy started to feel a little flip-floppy in her stomach. What if he doesn"t like the letter? What if the part about him smelling like cows hurts his feelings? The ending is kind of sappy. What"s he going to say?
Her dad opened the card and read the page silently as she bit her lower lip and tried to ignore her mother"s questioning glances. To her amazement, her dad didn"t say a word. He folded up the paper, carefully placed it back in the card, and put the card back in the envelope.
"What did it say?" David wanted to know.
Dad didn"t answer. He looked up at Christy, and she saw two teardrops start to race down his cheeks. She couldn"t remember ever seeing her dad cry before.
"Did you like it?" It was barely a whisper emerging from Christy"s still-sore jaw.
"Christina," he said, placing his big, rough hand under her chin and gently cupping her face. "You have given me the greatest reward a man can ever hope for in life. I"m so proud of you, baby."
Now Christy was crying, and her mom was crying too. David kept looking at each of them saying, "What? What"s going on? Why is everybody crying?"
Christy had never expected this reaction. Todd had said all dads like to know that they"re doing something right, but this had turned into much more than a pat on the back for her dad. Somehow, Christy"s dad had taken her feeble words and embraced them as a wonderful treasure.
It was a surprising and memorable experience, and Christy decided to write about it in her journal that night. She described the scene at lunch and her dad"s reaction. Then she added, "It made me think about my heavenly Father. I don"t often tell Him how I feel about Him. I know He loves me, even though I don"t think I"ll ever understand how much. And I love Him, even though I don"t think I"ll ever be able to fully tell Him how much."
Then Christy had an idea. If it touched her dad"s heart so much for her to write out her feelings for him, how much more would it touch the heart of her heavenly Father if she tried to express her love for Him on paper?
For the next hour, Christy filled two pages of her journal with her heartfelt attempt at telling G.o.d how much she loved Him. In the same way that her dad"s birthday lunch had turned into an emotional time between Christy and her dad, this hour of pouring out her heart to G.o.d on paper did something to Christy. She felt warmed and secure and closer to G.o.d than she had ever felt before. It was as if He was right there beside her, His heart listening to her heart, His eyes filling with tears the same way her dad"s had.
Christy tried to explain it all to Todd later that week on the phone. He listened with understanding and simply said, "You know, if anger is the fluid love bleeds when you cut it, there must be something opposite that comes out of love when you nurture it. Some kind of sweet fragrance or something."
"Todd, do you realize how poetic that is?"
"Yeah, I guess it is. Are you surprised?"
"What?" Christy asked. "Surprised that deep down you"re a romantic? No, not really. I"ve known all along that"s how you think and feel, even though it doesn"t come out very often."
"It"s there, all right," Todd agreed. "I"m saving it."
There was a pause, and Christy wondered what he meant. Was he saving all his romantic expressions for her or for the future or-she didn"t like the thought-saving them for someone else?
"There"s a time for everything," Todd said. "A time to keep your innermost feelings to yourself and a time to share them. It hasn"t yet been the right time for me to share a lot of my innermost feelings with you. But I"m sure you know they"re there."
"And when will it be the right time?"
"I don"t know. How do the leaves know when to change color? It"s something supernatural that they do in a natural way when G.o.d puts all the right elements in place. Right now it"s a time for us to..." He didn"t seem to have the right word.
"To enjoy today?" Christy ventured, remembering her uncle"s advice on the houseboat.
"I suppose. More than that though. I"ll have to think about that one."
Christy thought about it too. She especially thought about Todd"s words as she drove to school on Friday. A few of the trees along the way were changing into their autumn wardrobe and dancing about in the morning wind. She thought of Todd"s question: "How do the leaves know when to change color?" and she thought about how there"s a right time for everything.
And the time for me to finally see Todd is tonight! I can"t wait to get off work and go up to Newport Beach with him. It"s a good thing Bob and Marti are going to be home from their golf tournament today and they don"t mind my staying with them for the weekend.
With a cheerful bounce in her step. Christy breezed through her morning cla.s.ses and determined that she would have a good time at lunch with Michael and Katie. The last few days had been pretty rough. It seemed that whenever Katie tried to make a move to improve the friendship with Christy, Christy was in a critical mood. Whenever Christy tried to be patient and understanding, Katie or Michael would say something that would set her off, and she would have to walk away before she said something she would regret later.
Today Christy wanted peace.
"Guess what we"re doing this weekend?" Katie asked the minute Christy joined her under the tree. Michael wasn"t there yet. "We"re going to San Diego tonight, and tomorrow morning we"re going out on a boat to go whale watching! Doesn"t that sound like fun?"
"Where are you staying?"
"Remember that girl Stephanie we stayed with last spring when we went to the G.o.d-Lovers Bible study? Well, I got her number from Doug. She"s still in the same apartment, and she invited Michael and me to stay with her. Isn"t that great?"
"You"re both going to stay at her apartment?" Christy asked.
"I suppose. She has two rooms, you know." The delight seemed to be draining from Katie"s face. "I thought you"d be excited for me. Is that too much to ask? Why are you so critical?"
"It sounds a little strange, the two of you going off for the weekend and staying in the same apartment. Don"t you think so too?"
"I can"t believe this, Christy. Why won"t you take my word for it? Michael is a total gentleman. We"re not doing anything wrong. His morals are as strong as mine."
Christy could tell that Katie was starting to get heated up. Her freckled face served as a clear thermometer of what was going on inside, and right now the red was creeping to the top of her head.
"You"re really starting to get to me, Christy! Here I go and set this whole thing up with a bunch of Christians so that Michael can be around them and maybe even go to the G.o.d-Lovers group on Sunday night, and you make me feel guilty, like I"m doing something wrong!"
"I"m sorry," Christy said defensively.
"No, you"re not. You"ve got your own set of standards, which I might add, seem to me to be a double standard since you"re going to spend the weekend with Todd."
"I"m staying at my aunt and uncle"s. You know that."
"And I"m staying at Stephanie"s. It"s the same thing. You and Todd are going to be together the whole time. Why is it so wrong for me to try to introduce Michael to some Christians? Christians, I might add, who aren"t as judgmental as you!"
Katie"s words were piercing, and Christy felt her tear elevator quickly approaching the top floor, where all the wet drops would soon fill up her eyes.
"I need to go," Christy said, getting up and excusing herself when she saw Michael approaching. "I really do hope you have a good weekend, and I really do hope Michael becomes a Christian. I"m sorry I"m the way I am, Katie. I guess I just care about you too much, and I don"t want you to get hurt."
Christy s.n.a.t.c.hed up her uneaten lunch and was about to turn to go when Katie said, "I know that. Don"t you remember what I said when we were on the raft? There are no guarantees. I know that. I know it"s too late for any kind of a guarantee that I won"t get hurt. The same thing applies to you and Todd, Christy. Or are you not willing to see that?"
Christy couldn"t look at Katie. She couldn"t talk to her when things got this tense between them. Trying to hold back the tears, Christy stepped away and greeted Michael with a fake "Hi! How you doing?" She kept on walking, heading for the lonely spot at the picnic table that had often been her refuge recently.