Read Picket Fence Pursuit Online
Authors: Jennifer Johnson
Tags: #Romance, #Religious, #General, #Christian, #Fiction
After several knocks, Kylie opened the front door. Wearing a pinstriped brown suit and yellow silk tie, Brad smiled down at her. She’d pegged him sly as a fox, but there was no denying he’d been hit by the handsome stick.
“Kylie, you look surprised to see me.”
“I am. You know where I live?”
Brad smirked. “It would be on the résumé.” His gaze roamed up and down her body. “Cleaning today?”
Feeling violated, Kylie squinted as her lips formed a straight line. She tugged the bottom of her white T-shirt farther down her jean shorts. “No. As a matter of fact, I’m getting ready to go to an informal meeting.”
“ ‘Informal’ being the key word.” He snorted and tilted his head to look past her and into her apartment. “Good manners would insist you invite me in.”
“No.” Kylie stepped outside and shut the door behind her. “Not necessarily. Especially not when the weather is as lovely as it is right now and we have two comfortable chairs to sit in and enjoy it.” Kylie sat in one of the lawn chairs on the apartment’s small front porch. She motioned for Brad to sit in the other. “Now, to what do I owe the privilege of this visit?”
He dusted the chair’s seat, then sat. “All right then.” He clasped his hands. “Miller’s been trying to get in touch with you for a week.”
“He has? My answering machine’s been giving me fits. One moment it works, the next it doesn’t.”
“Well, he planned to cancel a meeting to make a trip over here, but I told him not to worry. I could handle this.”
Queasiness churned inside her. “What’s up?”
He handed her a memo. “It seems the position you were hired for isn’t needed.”
Kylie tried to skim the content. Heaviness filled her heart, and tears welled in her eyes. She took long breaths to hold her emotions at bay in front of Brad. Standing, she lifted her chin and extended her hand. “Thank you for coming personally.”
He stood and took her hand. “That’s the breaks, kid.” He winked, turned, and walked toward his car.
Kylie stepped inside the apartment. After shutting the door, she leaned against it and allowed the dam inside her to crumble. I guess You’re telling me to take the job at the ministry, God. I thought I was keeping the one at Miller’s.
❧
Arms full of Chinese takeout, Ryan kicked Kylie’s front door with his foot. His heart had plunged when she’d called him crying, saying she couldn’t attend the missions meeting. He couldn’t make heads or tails of her reason. He could only distinguish the word “Brad.”
If there was a person on the planet Ryan felt distrust for, it would be Brad Dickson. Christian feelings did not surface when Ryan thought of that man. The fact that Brad often sweet-talked Kylie didn’t help matters.
Kylie opened the door. Her eyes, bloodshot and swollen from crying, glanced at his packages. She sniffed and offered a weak smile. “Come on in, Ryan.”
He set the bags on the table, then pulled out a box. “I’ve got sweet-and-sour chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, some General Tso’s, two kinds of rice, crab rangoons. . .”
Kylie rested her hand on his. “Thanks, Ryan.” She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two plates, forks, and cans of pop. They filled their plates. “Let’s go sit on the couch.”
Ryan picked up his drink with his free hand and followed Kylie. They ate in silence except for Kylie’s occasional sniff. Ryan peeked at her, unsure what to say and when to say it. He took another bite and swallowed. She sniffed. He couldn’t take it anymore. “You want to talk about it, Ki?”
She let out a long breath. “I don’t have a job in January.”
Ryan laid his plate on the coffee table and scooted closer to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Tears formed and spilled quickly from her eyes. “It was the perfect job, and Miller sent Brad over here to tell me. Mr. Hoity-Toity himself.”
“I thought you liked Brad.”
Kylie scrunched up her face. “Ugh. He’s an uppity snob if ever there was one.” Kylie’s expression loosened. “I shouldn’t have said that. I try to pray for him. He just makes me so—so mad.”
Ryan scratched his jaw. Here, he’d believed Kylie liked Brad, but if he thought about it, Kylie never flirted. She was polite, courteous, but she didn’t lead Brad on. He peered at the woman beside him. She wasn’t like Brad or Vanessa. She was goal-driven, determined, but she wasn’t money hungry.
Deep down, he knew that. His own fears of not being accepted for himself had kept him from seeing Kylie for the woman she was. What a fool I am.
“Thanks for the Chinese, Ryan.” Kylie interrupted his revelation. She looked at her watch. “The meeting starts in about twenty minutes.”
“You feel up to going?”
Kylie shook her head. “I think I’ll stay home tonight.”
“You want me to stay with you? We can rent a funny movie or just hang out.”
“No. You go.” She picked up her Bible from the shelf under the coffee table. “I think I’m going to spend some time in this tonight.”
Ryan stood and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be praying for you.”
❧
Kylie opened her Bible. A slip of paper fell onto her lap. “It’s the verse from the singles’ fellowship.” She read it. “ ‘He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor,’ Proverbs 21:21.”
The phone rang, and she laid the paper and the Bible on the coffee table. She answered the call, and a man with the invitation company asked to speak with Robin. “She’s not here right now, but I’ll tell her you called.”
Kylie laid down the phone, then started to clear the table. The proverb swam through her mind. Life, prosperity, and honor—she’d wanted them since she was a small girl.
She wanted a life free of financial worry. Her mother always said she was silly and too sensitive, but Kylie hated feeling bad for asking her parents for money for a movie or for a snack after school. She knew everything she asked for would be a hardship for them. Sure, her sisters and brothers didn’t seem to have qualms about asking, but Kylie didn’t want to add any strife.
Prosperity. Her parents never had it, but God had given Kylie a smart mind. She was a clear thinker; school came easy to her, especially math. “I know writing isn’t my strength.” She opened the refrigerator and stuck the leftovers inside. “But despite what Professor Nickels thinks, I won an award in high school for my persuasive letter about the dangers of strip-mining, and I did well in all my college English classes.” No, her parents had never prospered, but God had given Kylie the necessary talents to help her family.
Her mother’s eyes, gleaming with pride when Amanda announced she was having twins, slipped into Kylie’s thoughts. A vision of her daddy hugging Mama and thanking her for supper followed swiftly behind. They’d always said God had blessed them beyond measure. Kylie never quite understood them.
And honor. If she had anything to do with it, Kylie would never have a child of hers receive a free lunch. Her son would never be sponsored for field trips or extracurricular sports. Her daughter would never wear someone else’s prom dress. Instead, Kylie would be the one to give those things to someone who needed it. She’d pay back all that she’d received as a child. “Isn’t that what God calls us to do? When we’ve been given, we pull ourselves up, and then give more than we’ve received.”
Something sounded wrong with her words. They felt funny. She couldn’t put her finger on it. After throwing the food wrappers in the trash, she scraped the plates and placed them in the dishwasher. She wiped off the counters, then grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and headed back to the couch.
She picked up the slip of paper and read it again. “ ‘He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor,’ Proverbs 21:21.” Flipping to the reference in her Bible, she added, “My reasons for working hard have always been driven by righteousness and love. I don’t know why this verse keeps tripping me up.”
Kylie devoured the chapter. Each verse, a nugget of wisdom from Solomon, spoke of many things from the wicked to the mocker to the ill-tempered wife. Verse two pricked her heart and she read it again. “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
“My ways seem right to me, Lord.” She gazed out her window, past the parking area, past the other homes, and toward the horizon. The land was flat, but she could see the tips of trees in the distance. A clear, blue sky blanketed their tops. “What is the weight of my heart, Lord?”
Her parents, her siblings, they seemed to line up in her soul, displaying their peace in good times and bad times. The Nelsons, gracious and thankful, spilled into her mind. Contentment gleamed from their faces.
Sweet, kind Ryan flooded her thoughts. She had no idea where he got his means, but he always gave of all he had. His heart overflowed with generosity. She relished every moment with him. He never despaired over financial gain, for right or wrong reasons.
It wasn’t financial stability they needed. It was God, plain and simple. Their walk with the Lord made them rich, not poor. Proverbs 22:2 screamed at her from the page. “Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all.”
Kylie fell to her knees in front of the couch. “Forgive me, Jesus. My pursuit has been my own. In my pride and self-centeredness, I let the world’s standards dictate my worth. I have been a fool.”
A tear, warm and refreshing, slipped down her cheek. She clasped her hands and lifted her eyes toward the ceiling. “My life belongs to You. My past. My present. My future. In poverty or wealth or somewhere in between, I don’t want to live another moment concerned about the wealth of this world.”
Scriptures from Matthew filled her. “God, I don’t want to store up treasures from this earth. You are my treasure, Lord. Weigh my heart, and find me full of You.”
She stood, walked to her room, and grabbed her cell phone from the shelf. Searching her directory, she found Candy’s number then pushed it. Candy’s voice sang, “Hello,” over the line. Kylie inhaled as peace enveloped her soul. “Candy, I’m going to take that position with the ministry.”
Ryan couldn’t get Kylie off his mind as he stocked cans of green beans and corn on the shelves at God’s Pantry. She’d changed over the last few weeks. Eager to raise money for the missions trip, she’d participated in a bake sale and a parents’ night out with members of the team. Her eyes danced, and smiles warmed her lips on a regular basis, and Ryan longed to be with her more. He’d been watching for the right time to tell her about his reasons for not working, but he hadn’t had a moment alone with her.
Welcoming a couple, Gramps opened the door, and a gust of cool November wind swept through the small building. “Awful cold to not even be Thanksgiving,” Gramps’s voice boomed.
“Sure is,” a man responded.
“Hello. How are you?”
A familiar female voice said, “Did your grandson come today?”
Ryan strolled down the aisle to find Kylie’s mom and a man standing beside Gramps. “Mrs. Andrews, it’s so good to see you again.” Ryan extended his hand. She grabbed him in a hug instead.
“It’s good to see you, too. This is my husband, Richard.” She patted the man’s shoulder.
“You must be Ryan.” Mr. Andrews shook his hand, then turned his head to cough. The slump in his shoulders gave away his fatigue and illness. Ryan could tell he’d been a strong man, but black lung was taking its toll on him. He stopped coughing and looked back at Ryan. “Lorma can’t seem to stop talking about you.”
“How’s Kylie?” she asked. “We seem to be playing phone tag.”
“She’s great. Working hard to raise money for the missions trip and going to school.”
“The last I talked to her, she found out she wasn’t getting that job she wanted. We’ve been praying for her.” Mrs. Andrews clucked her tongue. “Kylie worries something fierce over having things all laid out nice.”
Mr. Andrews cleared his throat. “Life just isn’t always like that. Praise the Lord, He’s in charge.”
“Amen to that.” Gramps patted Richard’s back.
Mrs. Andrews handed a sack to Ryan. “We came to give back the cans and boxed foods we didn’t use.”
“You didn’t need to do that.” Ryan tried to hand it back to her.
She lifted her hand. “No. The good Lord blesses us with what we need each time we need it. Richard’s disability checks are coming in now.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Andrews interrupted. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a check. “There’s a time to give and a time to receive. We needed to receive from this pantry for a while. Now God’s allowing us to give a bit back.”
“You’re a wonderful couple.” Gramps accepted the check.
“I’d like to ask one thing in return.” Mrs. Andrews looked up at Ryan. “Can I have another hug?”
Ryan laughed as he leaned down and embraced the older woman. She whispered, “Take care of my Kylie.”
“Always.” He released her, and she smiled and nodded her head.
Ryan watched as the couple made their way to their car. Though Mrs. Andrews was the driver, her husband opened the door for her and then walked to the passenger side. She leaned over and kissed his cheek before buckling her seat belt and starting the car.
“Kylie has a great family,” said Gramps as he sat to write down the donation in the ledger.
“Yes, she does.”
“Did you notice that Richard’s coat has seen better days?” A sparkle lit Gramps’s eyes.
“You know, Gramps, I hadn’t noticed, but now that you mention it, Mrs. Andrews’s coat wasn’t in too great of shape, either.”
“Hmm.” Gramps hunched over the desk and calculated some numbers.
Ryan pushed a cart filled with laundry detergents that needed to be placed on the shelf. “We’ll just have to take care of that.”
❧
“God,” Kylie mumbled, “I’m trusting in You.” She arranged the Christmas-colored hair bows on the table for the craft bazaar. Having raised only a third of the money she needed for the missions trip, Kylie was depending on a good turnout today to even consider making the missions trip.
“Hey, Ki.” Ryan walked toward her, his arms weighed down with wooden poles.
“What are these?” Kylie took a couple from his hands.
“They’re Christmas poles to put in your front yard.” He grabbed one. “This one’s for you.”
Kylie looked at the pole painted white. At the top was a piece of red-painted wood that stuck out like a street sign, reading
Kylie’s Kottage
. A smiling cardinal sat perched on top, wearing a Santa’s hat.
“This is adorable.”
“Thanks. Gramps and I love to make them.”
“How much are you selling them for?”
Ryan scratched his jaw. “I haven’t thought about it.”
“Haven’t thought about it?” Kylie furrowed her eyebrows. “Aren’t you worried at all about raising enough money for the trip?”
“Not really. You see, I need to talk to you—”
“We open the doors in five minutes.” Candy scanned the room. “Is everyone ready?”
“Sure are!” a man yelled.
Kylie poked Ryan’s arm. “You were saying?”
Ryan furrowed his eyebrows, looked at his poles, and mumbled, “It’s never the right time.”
“Right time for what?”
“Oh, nothing. I don’t worry about the money. God’s already provided.” Ryan stared into Kylie’s eyes as if he were trying to tell her something.
Kylie squelched the urge to rationalize and crunch numbers in her head. She knew God used practical means. She’d also learned He cared more about the heart than the way the money was provided. Her heart had no doubt. For this missions trip, God wanted her to trust Him. She smiled. “You’re right.”
Kylie placed her signs displaying the cost in front of the different-sized bows. She counted her change drawer one last time.
Customers filtered into the building. A woman with two daughters walked to her table. “These are pretty, Mom.” The younger, dark-haired girl touched one of the nicer, silk ribbon bows.
“They are adorable.” She picked up several. “I’ll take all of these.”
Kylie quoted her price, placed the hair bows in a bag, then took the money. “Thank you so much.”
The woman moved toward Ryan’s side of the table. “This is so cute.” She picked up a pole similar to Kylie’s except it had four cardinals on top of the sign.
“Look.” The older, red-haired girl pointed to the birds. “It’s a daddy, a mommy, and two kids. It’s just like us.”
“Yes, I believe you’re right.” Ryan picked up the pole. “How ’bout if I do this?”
Kylie watched as Ryan picked up a paintbrush, dipped it in green, then painted a bow on the mother cardinal and the two smaller birds.
“Now, they’re girl kids.” Ryan laid down the smaller brush and picked up a bigger one. “What’s your last name?”
“Sims,” the girls answered in unison.
Ryan painted the name on the sign and handed it to the mother. “Be careful. It won’t be dry for a while.”
“How much does it cost?” The woman reached into her purse.
“Not a thing.” He winked at the girls. “Have fun.”
Within moments, several people flooded their table, having heard the tall redhead was giving away free decorative poles. Ryan directed them to Kylie’s side of the table as he personalized signs for different customers. Two hours before the bazaar ended, Kylie had sold every bow, and Ryan had given away all his signs.
“That was a productive day.” Ryan closed his paints and wrapped his brushes.
“For me.” Kylie shut and locked her money box. “Did you make anything?”
Ryan shrugged.
“Well?”
“No, but you sold all your bows.”
Kylie studied Ryan. Not an ounce of concern for raising enough money etched his face. She now had enough to cover a little more than half the trip’s expenses, but as far as she could tell, Ryan hadn’t raised a penny.
He leaned closer. “If it makes you feel any better, Gramps and I always make those to give away. We love it.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “God always provides for you.”
“Every time.” Ryan drew closer still until a wisp of his hair caressed her cheek. Her heart sped as goose bumps covered her skin. “Let’s grab a burger.”
She swallowed, unable to speak. If she tilted her head just slightly she’d be able to kiss him. The idea sent a wave of excitement through her veins. Instead, she nodded.