I Promise (14 page)

Before Christy had a chance to respond to the letter,
the door opened, and Katie entered holding a bright bouquet of mixed flowers. Her face glowed.

“Well,” Christy said, “must have been a good first day at your job.”

“My boss gave these to me.”

“Nice welcome present.”

“Rick doesn't give flowers to every new employee.” Katie was still standing by the closed door, as if she were caught in a dream and unable to move forward.

“No, I wouldn't imagine he does.”

“I don't know what to do with them.”

“They probably would like some water,” Christy suggested.

Katie swallowed and gave Christy a shy smile.

“What?” Christy asked.

Katie drew the bouquet to her blushing face and sniffed its fragrance. With a twinkle in her shimmering green eyes, she said in a very small voice, “I really like him. I mean, really, really.”

Christy said, “Oh? Really?”

“Yes, really.”

10
“Christy, I never expected this.” Katie sat down on the surfing sofa and held the flowers in her lap. “It's only been a few weeks, but did you know that we've seen each other every day since you and Todd got engaged? Rick and I talk about everything. We had a great time together in Mexico, and Christmas was wonderful with his family. His mom loves me. His dad told me on New Year's Eve I was a gift from God to their son.” Tears rolled down Katie's cheeks.

Christy was waiting for the bad news. “So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about this morning? In the cafeteria you said—”

“What's that?” Katie looked at Rick's letter that Christy had left on the sofa.

“The letter Rick gave me. Go ahead, read it.”

Katie scanned the letter. She looked up at Christy with searching eyes. “What is God doing?”

Christy smiled. “My best friend, Katie, would call this a huge God-thing.”

“This is beyond huge. It's mind-bending. And God is doing it, not me. I don't want to run ahead, or get freaked and pull back. I just want to take each step as it comes and to be right in line with what God has for me. For us. I want God to fulfill His purpose for me.”

Christy tried not to let out a cheer for her impulsive friend, who was showing more caution and wise thinking than Christy had ever seen in her. Instead, Christy just nodded support and understanding.

“Yesterday Rick said that having me in his life has been like the song Doug was working on. Rick said that when the Lord brought us together, his life filled with joy and laughter. The flowers are a thank-you to me for being me. But I got nervous and thought maybe he was trying to tell me that our relationship was about to go to the next level, you know?”

“So what did you tell him?”

“I opened my mouth like only I can, and I told him exactly what I was thinking.”

Christy knew that Katie could be pretty brutal when she decided to be honest. Wincing slightly, she waited to hear Katie's report.

“I told Rick I trusted him with our friendship. I told him I didn't want either of us to make judgments based on the past. I forgave him when his letter came, and I truly know that I did. I don't harbor anything against him in my heart. But I told him I'm not interested in a speedy relationship.”

Katie looked at Christy with self-doubt all over her face. “Then I said, ‘If there's anything lasting that's
going to grow out of our friendship, then it will be here five months from now or a year from now or ten years from now.'”

Christy's eyes grew wide. “How did he react to that?”

“He said he felt the same way. He said he was interested in a friendship that would last forever, no matter what. He had no expectations of me and wasn't in a hurry to make any predictions about what God was doing in our lives.”

“That's wonderful.”

“I know. So tell me I said the right thing.”

Christy sat next to Katie, putting her arm around Katie's shoulders. “Of course you did the right thing. You're an amazing, strong, incredible woman, and you handled what could have been an awkward situation with honesty and integrity.”

Katie smiled slowly, followed by a rhythmic nodding of her head. “Yeah, I did, didn't I? For once in my life I did the right thing.”

“You do a lot of things right.”

“Not when it comes to guys. You know my long list of failures in that arena better than anyone. And if by any remote chance this guy is the one I'm going to end up spending the rest of my life with, I want to make sure I don't go crazy and make all my decisions on impulse. I don't want to run ahead of God.”

Christy gave Katie a glowing smile. “You are absolutely amazing.”

“Amazing nothing! I'm exhausted! Do you know
how much emotional energy I've spent in the last twenty-four hours processing my feelings, starting a new job working for him, and trying to figure out how I was going to tell you all this?”

“I hope you expected me to be supportive.”

“I didn't know what you would think.”

“I think God is doing His God-thing. Katie, you deserve the best, and I only want God's best for you. For both of you. That's all I've ever wanted.”

“I know,” Katie said quietly. She sat next to Christy and let out a deep sigh. “Chris, I have to tell you something. I know I should have told you a long time ago, but things changed in both of our lives, and I decided to let it go. However, in light of what's been happening with Rick during these past few weeks, I think I better tell you.”

Christy couldn't imagine any secret Katie could have kept from her, let alone a secret she had kept for a number of years.

“Do you remember the night we went to the sleep-over at Janelle's when we were sophomores?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Do you remember how we all went out that night and T.P.'d Rick's house? You didn't run fast enough, and we took off in the motor home. You were left hiding in the bushes.”

“Katie, of course I remember all this. Rick's dad sent him outside to clean up the toilet paper. I jumped out of the bushes, and Rick chased me down the street.”

“Right. And that's when Rick became obsessed with you.”

“I wouldn't say he was obsessed with me.”

“Well, that's how I saw it,” Katie said. “Now, this is the part that's hard for me to tell you. I thought then that if I became your friend, I could get closer to Rick, and that's pretty much what I did.”

Christy let Katie's words sink in.

“I used you, Christy. I've wanted to apologize to you for years, but it got kind of complicated.”

“That's okay. I never felt as if you used me.”

“That's because you welcomed me into your life. I had never had a best friend before, and I ended up wanting to be your friend more than I wanted Rick to notice me. So I told myself I didn't care about Rick. The truth is,” Katie said slowly, “I was being eaten alive with jealousy.”

“You never showed it.”

“Oh yes I did. You're being gracious, Christy. I struggled all the time, and you know it. When you dumped Rick, half of me cheered that you took a stand and let him know what a jerk he had been to you. The other half of me hoped I might finally have a chance to get him to notice me. How sick is that?”

“I don't think it's sick, Katie. I think it's honest. It's complicated, like you said. Everything was a lot more confusing in high school.”

“I wish I had talked to you about all of this back then. There never seemed to be a good time. I almost said something during the spring of our junior year,
when we went to visit the guys at their apartment in San Diego.”

Katie paused and then leaned forward before continuing her confession. “Actually, I should go back to January of that year, when we went to the Rose Parade. Rick kissed me at midnight—you know that. It was a spontaneous Happy New Year's kiss. A big nothing for him. But it was my first kiss, and it was with Rick, and it was huge for me.”

Christy hung her head. “And I gave you a hard time about it.”

“Hey, this is my confession, not yours. Your heart was in the right place. You didn't want me to get hurt. But I did get hurt. And then when we stayed at Stephanie's next to the guys' apartment in San Diego, Rick walked me to the door late that night. He kissed me, and I kissed him back. I never told you.”

“I knew,” Christy said softly.

Katie turned with a surprised look on her face. “You knew? Why didn't you say anything?”

“It was awkward, like you said.”

“Yes, it was. I gave Rick plenty of opportunities the next day at the zoo to make good on his kiss and to express interest in me. But he was a blob.”

“That was pretty awful,” Christy agreed.

“Do you remember what you said to me in front of the koala bears at the zoo?”

“In front of the koala bears? No, I have absolutely no idea what I said to you in front of the koala bears.”

“You made me promise you something. You said,
‘Promise me you won't let Rick use you.'”

“I don't remember that.”

“Well, I do, because your advice cut me in half. I knew that's what I had done with you in the beginning. I had used you to get to Rick. I confessed it to God right then and got my heart right with Him, but I was too chicken to confess everything to you and ask you to forgive me. But I want to ask your forgiveness now, Chris. I'm so sorry.”

“Katie, I forgive you. Please don't worry about that. It was complicated, like you said. I never held any of this against you.”

“I know you didn't. But I still had to get it off my chest. You have this way about you, Christy. You open your heart, and you make people feel as if they can mosey on in, take off their shoes, and stay awhile. That's what I did back in high school and, well, here we are. Still friends.”

“Best of friends,” Christy echoed.

“I guess a couple of peculiar treasures like us don't come along every day, do they?”

“Definitely not.” Christy paused before adding, “And a God-lover like Rick Doyle doesn't come along every day, either.”

Katie stared at her hands.

“Let me pray for you. For us.” Christy placed a comforting hand on Katie's shoulder and thanked God for what He had done in their lives in the past and for what He was doing now and would do in the future.
She prayed for wisdom for Katie and Rick and for direction for Todd and her.

Katie prayed, as well. They hugged and both cried a little. Then Katie went to the laundry room, where she found a plastic pitcher and filled it with water for her flowers. It was almost two in the morning when Christy finally coaxed Katie to turn out the light.

In the dark stillness of their room, Katie said, “I didn't tell you one other thing.”

Christy was almost asleep and didn't think she could handle any more surprise announcements or confessions.

“We haven't kissed yet,” Katie said simply.

Christy opened her eyes and stared across the dark room at Katie's bed. All she saw was the silhouette of Naranja's top curve.

“Rick told me he made a promise to God that he would clean up his act in that area. He wanted me to know, as our relationship progressed, that he would be taking it really slow in physical expression. I think that's a good choice. For him. For us. It takes a lot of the pressure off, you know? Well, I just thought I'd tell you. Good night.”

“Good night.” Christy rolled over on her side. Now she was wide awake with not-so-pleasant memories of when she had dated Rick, before his act was cleaned up. Christy was fifteen. She was trusting and inexperienced. Rick was direct and expressive. She knew that the handful of kisses Rick had stolen had been part of what she forgave him for a long time ago. As the unsettled
feelings now tried to come back and torment her, she reminded herself that it was in the past. It was forgiven. Forgotten. Erased from God's book. Buried in the deepest sea.

A saying came to mind.
“When the enemy comes knocking on a door you closed long ago, you just call out, ‘Jesus, it's for you!'”

Christy smiled. She pulled up the covers to her chin and let Jesus answer the door while she floated off to dreamland.

Three weeks later the saying came to her again. This time Todd heard the enemy knocking on a door he thought he had closed long ago.

It was the evening of Todd's graduation. Christy's parents, her brother, her aunt and uncle, and Todd's dad all had come to cheer for him when he received his diploma. Christy took a roll of film of Todd in his cap and gown and handed her camera to David to take several shots of Christy and Todd together. Katie, Rick, Sierra, and a bunch of other friends came from school. Christy made sure they all posed in a group picture with her favorite graduate.

Afterward, a group of eleven family and friends went to a steak house in town. Todd's dad treated them to a fabulous dinner in a private room. The day had been filled with cheers, laughter, and applause. Christy thought it couldn't have gone better.