Katie waved her hand at Christy"s confused expression. "I know it"s dumb, but it was like G.o.d did what I asked by putting you there, and then I got mad. I couldn"t even talk to you."
"Yes, I noticed," Christy said softly.
"It was like you were on G.o.d"s side, and somehow you were both against me. I don"t know, Christy. I was a mess for a couple of days. Then Michael and I got back together. He"s happy. I"m happy. Everything is normal, except that I know I"m disobeying G.o.d. So I"m ignoring Him." Katie chomped into her burger and ate silently for a moment.
"Why are you talking to me now?" Christy asked. "Does it seem like I"m not on G.o.d"s side anymore?"
"No!" Katie said quickly. "You are. That"s why I thought I needed to talk to you face to face. I want you to tell me to break up with Michael."
"I can"t do that. That"s between you and G.o.d and Michael."
"Thanks a lot." Katie muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, all along you kept warning me about him not being a Christian, and now that I want you to tell me to break up, you won"t do it."
"I can"t," Christy said. Then using Michael"s words, she added, "I haven"t earned the right. I"m not your personal Holy Spirit. You have to listen to what G.o.d tells you to do and then choose to obey or disobey."
"I"m disobeying," Katie admitted sadly. "It"s a creepy feeling."
"Then why don"t you break up with him for good this time?"
"There"s only one problem."
"What"s that?"
"I"m in love with him."
"You"re in love with him," Christy repeated. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Katie said, putting down her burger. "I"m in love with him. Do you know how hard it is to push someone out of your life when you"re in love with him? It"s impossible! Christy, there has never been any other guy in my life. There might never be any others! For six months the center of my universe has been Michael, and it"s been wonderful. Why would I give that up?"
"Because G.o.d told you to?" Christy ventured.
"Exactly! But I want a human to tell me so I"ll know it"s the right thing to do. You have to help me out here, Christy."
Christy remained silent, confused as to what to say. It would be easier if she could have time to think all this through. Would it be okay for her to go ahead and say, "Yes, Katie, G.o.d has told me to tell you to break up with Michael"? Or should she stick with her gut feeling that this was a decision Katie had to make, with or without a cheering section?
"You"re not going to help me on this one, are you, Christy?"
"Katie, you already know what I think about all this. I think Michael is a great guy, and he"s been the perfect boyfriend for you. But unless he becomes a Christian, the only areas you have in common are the emotional and physical. The spiritual part of you will never connect with him, and that"s the part of you that"s going to last forever."
"You sound like Todd."
Christy took that as a compliment.
"So go ahead, Christy, finish your speech. Tell me what to do."
Christy hesitated. "Katie," she said firmly, "you have to do what G.o.d tells you to."
"You make me so mad!" Katie spouted, pushing away her plate. "You have no idea how hard this is, Christy."
"I know." Christy said softly.
"No, you don"t!" Katie yelled. "You"ve never gone through anything like this. This is the hardest thing I"ve ever done. I love him, yet I"m breaking up with him because G.o.d told me to! That"s the only reason. Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds to Michael? All that witnessing. All those books. All those Bible studies. And now I"m telling him that G.o.d is so mean that He won"t let us go out anymore!"
Christy didn"t know what to say.
"Come on," Katie said. "Let"s get out of here." She left enough money on the table to cover the meal and marched out to the car. Christy hurried after her and jumped in just as Katie backed up sharply and swerved into the flow of traffic. "G.o.d is so totally unfair!"
Christy grabbed on to the side of her seat as a car cut in front of them. Katie laid on the horn and yelled. "Why did G.o.d bring Michael into my life only to jerk him away? I am so mad right now I could scream!" And Katie promptly screamed.
Christy had always admired Katie"s ability to express her feelings. But she had never seen Katie this upset.
Katie sped into the school parking lot and pulled up next to Christy"s car with a screech.
"Are you okay?" Christy asked before getting out.
"No. of course not. What a stupid question! I"m dying here. Christy. Have a little sympathy, will you?"
"What can I do?" Christy felt fl.u.s.tered.
"Nothing. I asked you for help, and you wouldn"t give it to me. If I"m going to do this, I"m going to have to do it without any human affirmation. So just leave me alone."
"Do you want to call me later?"
"Maybe."
"Call me," Christy urged, hopping out of the car. She wasn"t sure Katie heard her, because Katie started to speed away just as Christy closed the door.
Christy felt awful as she drove home. Her stomach didn"t seem to like the pulpy orange juice, plus a flood of accusations swept over her.
You"re a terrible friend, Christy. You"re so chicken that you couldn"t even tell Katie the right thing to do. All you could do was hide behind G.o.d and force Katie to make her own decision, is that the compa.s.sionate, Christian thing to do?
The minute Christy arrived home, she grabbed the phone and called Todd. To her relief, he answered on the first ring. Christy spilled out all the events of the past hour.
"You did the right thing," Todd said. "Don"t listen to all those doubts and accusations. Those aren"t coming from the Lord. You pushed Katie closer to G.o.d. You made her responsible for her choice. You did the right thing."
"Then how come I feel so terrible?"
"Maybe because you would like everything to be smooth and easy, and it isn"t always like that. You"re a peacemaker, Christy. I like that about you. G.o.d says the peacemakers will be called His sons and daughters. How do you feel about that? Christy Miller, daughter of the King! Should I start calling you Princess now?"
Christy let out a gentle laugh. "Only if you want me to call you Prince Todd."
"I can live with that."
"Well. Prince Todd, thanks for listening. You"re a peacemaker for me, I hope you know. I appreciate you so much. Thanks for always being there."
"You"re welcome, Princess. So what do you want to do this weekend?"
"I don"t know. Should I see if I can get off on Sat.u.r.day and stay at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Marti"s? You and I could spend some time on the beach." Christy"s imagination began to swirl with dreams of walking hand in hand on Newport Beach at sunset.
"Sounds good to me. Call me after you figure it all out."
"Okay, I will. Thanks again, Todd. I don"t know what I"d do without you."
"You would probably be closer to G.o.d because you would have to talk to Him more." Then with a quick "Later," he hung up.
What did Todd mean by that? Does he think I don"t talk to G.o.d very much or that I"m not dose to G.o.d? Oh well. I"m not going to worry about it. One thing Todd is right about-I do like things calm and peaceful. Looking for hidden meanings in his words does not make me feel peaceful!
Christy quickly dialed her aunt and uncle"s phone number. They lived only a few blocks from Todd"s dad in Newport Beach, and over the past few years Todd had become like a son to them. There should be no problem inviting herself to visit for the weekend. But the answering machine picked up her call on the fourth ring. She left a message and then called Jon. her boss at the pet store.
"Hi, Jon. It"s Christy. I wanted to see if I could have Sat.u.r.day off."
"Sat.u.r.day, as in the day after tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"You"re asking me now? And you think I should give you the whole day off?"
"Yes." Christy thought she knew Jon well enough to know he was teasing her. At least she thought he was teasing her.
"Big date with Todd?"
"Well, kind of. I"m probably going to go up to Newport for the weekend. I could work another evening next week if you need me to make up the hours."
"No, it"s okay. You haven"t had any time off for the past few months. I"d say you"re ready for a break. You"ll still be here tomorrow for your regular hours, won"t you?"
"Yes, of course. Thanks. Jon. Did anyone ever tell you what a nice boss you are?"
"No." Jon said plainly.
"Then let me be the first. You"re a very nice boss, Jon!"
"You don"t have to schmooze me anymore, Christy. I already said you could have the day off."
"I know, but I might want to ask another favor someday."
"Well, next time I"ll say no."
"Thanks for saying yes this time, Jon. I"ll see you tomorrow."
The minute Christy hung up the phone, it rang again. Startled, she jumped and then answered it.
"Okay," the voice on the other end said. "I did it. It"s for good this time. Now I"m going to go crazy. I am absolutely going to go crazy!"
"Katie," Christy said cautiously, "tell me what happened."
"I went right over to his house and told Michael that I loved him, but I had to break up with him, and the only reason was because I knew that"s what G.o.d was telling me to do. He said, *You know that I love you, Katie, and now I love you more because you"re one of the few women I know who would make such a decision because of her convictions." Then he kissed me on the cheek, and I ran out the door."
Christy could tell that Katie was crying. She let Katie sob a few moments before trying to comfort her.
"You did the right thing, Katie."
"Then why does it hurt so bad?"
"I guess the good feelings don"t always come in the same envelope as the right answer."
Katie burst out laughing. "Did you hear yourself? What is that supposed to mean?"
"It"s the first thing that popped into my head. What I mean is, for now, all you can know is that you did the right thing. I think the feelings will catch up eventually."
"I hope you"re right. I can"t believe I did it. I"m going to hate myself tomorrow. Oh no," Katie groaned. "Tomorrow is Friday. What am I going to do?"
"What do you mean?" Christy asked.
"For the past six months Michael and I have always been together on the weekends. I have to have something else to do. Promise me you"ll spend the whole weekend with me, Christy. I"ll go crazy if I"m by myself."
"Well, I..."
"I know you have to work, but that"s okay. I"ll go to work with you. I"m sure Jon can find something for me to do in the back room. He doesn"t have to pay me or anything. I just can"t stay home by myself."
"Sure," Christy said boldly. "We"ll work something out. I was trying to make plans to go to Bob and Marti"s. I"m sure they wouldn"t mind if you came too."
"Oh," Katie said, sounding depressed. "You probably wanted to be with Todd. You don"t need me in the way."
"No, Katie, it"s fine. Really. You know Todd; he won"t mind a bit. I"d love to spend the weekend with you. It"s been so long since we"ve done anything together. It"ll be great. You"ll see."
"Well, if you"re sure."
"Yes, I"m sure. I"ll give my aunt another call, and then I"ll call you back. You might as well start packing, Katie. I"m sure it"ll work out."
"I broke up with Michael." Katie sounded like she couldn"t believe her own statement. "I really did it. I broke up with him for good."
"Katie, are you okay?"
"No," Katie said somberly. "But I will be. Someday. Not tomorrow. But one day, I will be. Call me back. Bye."
Christy listened to the dial tone and wondered if Katie really would be okay. She hung up and tried to sort out all the events of the past few hours. After weeks-no, months-of stifled tension between Katie and her, in the last two and a half hours everything had changed.
In a way, Christy wished Katie"s big breakup with Michael hadn"t come until Monday. That way, at least Christy and Todd could have had a fun weekend together. The minute she thought it, she felt bad.
She and Todd had enjoyed months of terrific weekends together, and during many of those weekends they had discussed Katie and Michael"s relationship. Over and over Todd had told Christy to wait and be patient, to stick with Katie through this whole thing. He had told her there was a time for everything. Apparently now was the time for Christy to come alongside Katie and support her and cry along with her. Todd would understand.
And he did. When she called him later that evening to tell him that she had reached Bob and Marti and they were delighted to have Katie and Christy come up for the weekend, Todd said, "I"ll see if Doug can come home from college this weekend. We"ll all have to go to Disneyland or something."
"That would be fun," Christy agreed. "You know, you and I haven"t been to Disneyland since our very first date. When was that? Three years ago?"