Nickels (27 page)

Niki shot upright.  Her heart pounded from the sudden move
from sleep to consciousness.  Her clock read seven thirty.  Sunday morning. 
The doorbell rang and she assumed that must have been what woke her.  She
really needed to disable that thing.  She threw the covers back and pulled on a
pair of shorts then ran down the hall.

She opened the door and frowned at the face that greeted
her.  Kyle.

“Couldn’t you call to make sure Marcy is around first or
something?” she snapped as she got the key to let him in.

“Are you always grumpy in the morning?”

“I was up until three, okay?”

The sound of the garage door opening gave her an out. 
“Sounds like she’s home now.  If you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to bed.”

She took two steps when Marcy bounded in from the garage.

“Oh, good, you’re up.  Why don’t you have breakfast with
us?” Marcy asked as she set a few grocery bags on the counter.

“No, thanks,” Niki said as she walked back to her room.

She jumped back in bed and pulled the covers around her
neck.  She closed her eyes.

The smell of bacon frying wafted down the hall, causing her
stomach to growl.  Great.  Throwing the covers back, she dropped her feet over
the edge.  Maybe she could eat and then go back to bed afterwards.

Entering the kitchen, she pasted a smile on her face. 
“Changed my mind.  Tell me you have coffee ready.”

Marcy smiled as Kyle pushed a full cup towards Niki, already
the perfect shade of light tan.

“What, you have some kind of bet on how long it would take
me to join you?”

“Nope.  I just know you.  Once you’re up, you’re up,” Marcy
said.

“I’m sure you could have picked something other than bacon,
too.”

“Since you’re up…” Kyle said.  “Why don’t you come to church
with us?”

She glared at him.  She was tired and she barely agreed in
her mind to go to Matt’s study.  She wasn’t sure she was ready for something
like church.

“I don’t know.  I was up late.  I was kinda hoping for more
sleep.”

Marcy piped up.  “Come on.  It’ll be fine.  Matt and Joe
will be there besides me, Kyle, and Chad.  You know all of us and we don’t
bite.”

“Most of the time,” Kyle said under his breath.

Niki glared at him again.  Jack’s words from his letter
pressed against her subconscious.  She pushed them back to a dark corner of her
mind as she sipped her coffee.

As Kyle studied her, heat rose to her cheeks.  The look on
his face was…  Pleading?  That didn’t make sense.  Why would he care if she
went to church or not?

She took a long gulp of her coffee to avoid his stare.  When
she set her empty mug on the counter, she gave in.

“What does one wear to church?” she asked noticing that Kyle
wore khaki shorts and a nice t-shirt.  Marcy wore a cute top with capris.

“Whatever you would like,” Marcy said.  “Breakfast should be
ready in fifteen.”

Niki nodded and refilled her coffee.  Taking her coffee cup
with her, she walked into her closet.  She grabbed her yellow sun dress and a
pair of chunky sandals.  Setting her mug on the counter, she rushed to get
ready, deciding to finish her makeup and hair after breakfast.

Sun dress on and towel holding her wet hair back, she
returned to the kitchen just as Marcy set out the breakfast.

“Smells good.”  Nodding towards Kyle, she asked, “He always
come over for breakfast and I just haven’t noticed?”

“Naw.  I just thought I’d be nice to my big brother today. 
That and I figured we could carpool out to mom and dad’s since Chad will have
to leave later.”

Niki pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead.  She
completely forgot she was supposed to go with them for lunch at the Jacobses
today.  Guess it was a good thing she was up and almost ready.  She finished
wolfing down breakfast so she could fix her hair and makeup.

Once she was ready, the three of them piled into Kyle’s
truck.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the church, she
swallowed back her fear.  She couldn’t believe how big it was.  There must be
nearly a thousand cars in the parking lot.  The cinderblock and stucco building
was massive.  Much bigger than she thought.  Guess no one would even notice she
didn’t belong here.

Kyle parked as close as he could get, which wasn’t close at
all.  She didn’t mind, even though it was another hot July day.  Maybe she
could get up the nerve she needed to really go through with this—not like she
could back out now.

Marcy led them inside.  As they walked into the sanctuary,
Niki tried to look around without being conspicuous.  The place looked more
like a theater than what she pictured a church would look like.  There was a
huge stage in the front center of the room.  A drum set, keyboard, and several
guitars sat waiting to be played.

Marcy walked up a set of stairs and turned right into the
fifth row from the bottom.  She counted out seats and then picked one to sit
in.  Niki sat next to her.  Kyle took the seat on Niki’s other side.  She
looked down and nervously fiddled with the program the man at the entrance
handed her.  She scanned its contents hoping to ease her nerves.  Surely
everyone could tell she was out of place.

“Relax,” Kyle whispered in her ear.  “No one here will bite
you or anything.”

She half-smiled through very strained lips.

“Kyle,” someone greeted as they sat next to him.  When the
man leaned forward, she recognized Matt.

“Niki,” Matt said, reaching his hand across Kyle to shake
her hand.  “So good to see you.”

“Hi,” was all she managed as she released his hand.  Her
nerves were getting the best of her.

“I’m glad you like loud music,” he said with an encouraging
smile.  “Our band plays pretty loud.”

Matt took his seat between Kyle and Joe as the music
started.  Niki caught movement from her left and looked over just in time to see
Chad take the seat on the other side of Marcy.  At least she knew some people
here.

The lead singer greeted the gathering then led them in a
song.  When Marcy and Kyle stood, she jumped to her feet.  The words were up on
the screen, but she didn’t know the song and wasn’t quite brave enough to try
singing along.  She listened to Kyle’s booming baritone voice on her right and
Marcy’s sweet soprano on her left.  They both sounded really good.  She
followed along reading the words about God’s grace—whatever that was—and his
love.

After two more songs, they all sat down.  Then a man came
out, identifying himself as the pastor.  He spoke about a passage in the Bible
that talked about a son who asked his father for his inheritance.  Then he left
home and began partying and spending the inheritance extravagantly.  When he
ran out of money and was destitute—eating pig slop for his meal—he decided to
return to his father and ask for his forgiveness.  When he came back, his
father welcomed him with open arms and threw him a party.  The pastor said that
the father in the story represented God and the son represented those who
rebelled against him.

Niki had a hard time listening to the story.  She could
imagine her father would have totally disowned her if she had done something
like that.

She thought of Kyle again.  She didn’t really know his
story—not all of it.  She heard a few bits and pieces of what Marcy shared over
the years.  She knew he had been wild during his years in the Air Force and she
knew he was different now.

The slow burn of anger rose in her heart.  Kyle had been so
horrible to her in school.  Would God really welcome such a jerk into his house
and throw a party for him?  That didn’t make sense.  Kyle didn’t deserve that
kind of treatment.

She barely noticed the rest of the service.  Her mind was
spinning.

Jack said Jesus changed him.  He found what he was looking
for.  Yet no matter how she turned it over and analyzed it, she couldn’t
understand what that had to do with the story the pastor told.  She hoped to
get answers by going to church.  Instead she only had more questions.

She reached up and rubbed her temples.  Her head hurt from
the lack of sleep and now from the confusion whirling in her mind.  She didn’t
even realize the last song was over until Marcy nudged her.  She scurried to
catch up with Kyle who was already exiting the row.

Once out of the sanctuary, Matt, Joe, Kyle, Chad, and Marcy
seemed to be content to chat in the lobby for awhile.  Niki could only think of
one thing—leaving.  She felt so out of place and her brain churned with one
question after another.  She needed escape.

Finally, Kyle and Marcy decided it was time to leave.  She
followed behind wordlessly as Marcy chatted on about how great the message
was.  At one point she even compared Kyle to the prodigal son from the story. 
Funny that she had the same thought.  He agreed he had been, but didn’t
elaborate on it.  From what Niki gathered, it was as if Kyle’s mistakes and the
pain he inflicted on others was wiped clean.

That wasn’t fair.  How could his mistakes be forgotten, but
the hurt that she still felt—inflicted by him in high school—stayed with her? 
She had been the victim.  How was that right?

Kyle glanced at Niki’s reflection in the rearview mirror. 
The scowl that settled onto her face after the church service hadn’t left. 
Something that was said or done triggered something in her.  He wondered what
it was.

Be ready.

For what?  What did he need to be ready for?

A strange feeling settled over him.  He knew what God was
asking.  But he wasn’t ready.  He couldn’t do it.  Not today.  Not on the
anniversary of the crash.

Please, don’t ask me to do this.
  He pleaded.

You asked me to change her heart.  This is the only way.

He coughed to mask the well of emotion stirring inside.  He
never expected God would call on him to help her find her way.  It was
overwhelming.  Frightening.

Give me strength.

Chapter 24

Niki stewed for the entire hour drive out to Luke Air Force
Base, where the Jacobses lived.

When Kyle pulled his truck into their driveway, Brenda and
Rick rushed out to greet them—much like the father in the story from church. 
She braced herself.  Brenda was a hugger.  Well, so was Rick.

“Niki,” Brenda said engulfing her in a huge hug.  “It is so
good to see you.  It’s been ages since you’ve been out.  We’ve missed you.”

Rick hugged her next, as Brenda moved on to her own
children.  “You look great,” Rick said.  “Come in out of this heat.”

“Colonel,” she greeted him.

“You know you can call me Rick.”

Niki smiled.  “Of course, but it’s so much more fun this
way.”  Her mood lightened some.  “How are your pilots?”

“Green as always.  I’m just starting to train them on the
F22 Raptors.  Nice bird.”

“Marcy, honey, when is Chad getting here?” Brenda asked as
they all took seats in the great room.