lingering a moment as Michael climbed back into the truck
with his things.
"Did you have a good show, Jed?" she asked, longing to
prolong this encounter.
"Yeah, surprisingly so. Thanks for asking."
She took a breath then said, "I missed you, Jed."
"You did?" He seemed genuinely surprised.
"Of course. I"ve been missing you for weeks now."
Looking for You All My Life281
His eyes began to glow warmly and he moved toward her,
now standing on the first step of the porch. "Well, the truth
is, I"ve been missing you too. And I"ve been wondering if we
could get together and talk some things over."
"I don"t know why not. I know I have some things I need
to say to you." She smiled down on him.
He stepped up another step and now looked directly into
her eyes. "And there"s one thing I need to say right now,
Maggie." He reached over and touched her arm. "I need to
tell you I"m sorry for being so horrible that day in your
office. I don"t even know what got into me, but will you for-
give me?"
"Of course, but I said some pretty harsh things too. Will
you forgive me?"
He nodded and continued looking right into her eyes.
"I"ve been giving everything a lot of thought, and I think
there has to be a better way to deal with all this. I don"t want
to hurt Leah, but I can"t stand to be apart from you any
longer, Maggie. Do you think we could find some time to get
together and talk about all this.. .about us?"
"I sure hope so!" Her heart felt like it was actually flut-
tering and she couldn"t think of anything else to say.
"I"ll call you tomorrow and we"ll talk." Jed sounded
hopeful.
"By the way, have you got any plans for Christmas yet?"
"None that I know of."
"We want to invite you and Michael over. We"ve already
got Barbara Harris and Leah all lined up. We felt pretty sure
you guys might like to join them."
He smiled. "Now, that sounds like a perfect plan."
"And my brother and an old friend of mine are coming
too.
"I"d like to meet them." His voice was so warm, so
gentle. This was the Jed she knew! It was all she could do not
to run down the steps and throw herself into his arms, but
she held onto the cold wooden railing, controlling herself.
"Well, then you will."
282Melody Carlson
"I think it"s pretty late, and I"m sure Michael"s getting
cold in the truck."
"L,.
"Yeah, you better go. See you in church tomorrow?"