A Storybook Finish (15 page)

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you call? At least you can get a friendly discussion going.”

“It’s over between us. We haven’t spoken in over a year. The

last thing he sent me was a scrap of paper with an obscenity

written on it.”

“Why not try an innocent phone call? You never know.”

Candy laughed. “Now look who’s trying to fix everyone’s

problems. Little bro to the rescue. You suddenly have a lot of

confidence, don’t you? I guess your life is going well, and love

is kind. Are you gonna marry that woman you were telling

me about?”

The idea jarred him. While he did love Lindsay, he’d never

considered proposing to her. He gazed around his place.

Papers were strewn everywhere. History texts littered the

floor. He couldn’t imagine her moving into his apartment,

wading through the history books, trying to hang clothes in a

closet stuffed with all kinds of junk, sharing a bed that was

covered by an orange-striped bedspread.

He grew warm then and sprang to his feet. “I—I don’t know,

Candy. We’re not quite ready for that yet. I’m just getting to

know her.”

“Yeah, I know. I leapt at the chance and got burned on the

way down.” He heard the tapping of her fingernails. “Well,

maybe I will call Anson. Scare that girlfriend of his right out

of the house. I would love to see that.” She chuckled.

When Jeff hung up, he again thought of Lindsay. Would

she marry him if he asked her? What if she said no? He

couldn’t ask her, not yet. He had no money for a diamond

ring. Besides the ring, there were wedding expenses, not to

mention the honeymoon. And what about that new computer

he was saving up for? How can you compare a life with Lindsay

to owning a dumb computer system? Isn’t she worth it? “Of

137 course she is. The problem is, does she think I’m worth it?”

Lindsay could not escape the fact that something strange was

going on in cyberspace. Every day she checked her messages

on the computer, and every day she found E-mails from Ron

waiting for her. At first she answered them with one or two

sentence responses. He emailed even more, as if her

were outright messages of interest. How he could

her mail in that way left her baffled. She even told him

she went to Baltimore with the friend he had met on

a few weeks back. Ron responded with descriptions of the

great spots he had been to in California, including the amusement

areas in L.A. and the glitter of Hollywood. Lindsay had

the distinct impression that as long as she answered his mail

he held out hope for some kind of renewal of their relationship.

She had to put a stop to it.

With shaky fingers Lindsay accessed her E-mail to find several

messages waiting for her. The company had sent one about

the new sales products coming out for the spring fundraising

campaign. A bulletin came from the reunion site where she

had first registered to find out Ron’s whereabouts—a move she

regretted from day one. Finally, three E-mails were there from

the man himself. Ron thanked her for her humorous Email.

(She did not recall her last E-mail being at all humorous, especially when she stated in no uncertain terms that it would be better for them to stop writing.)

His next message suggested

they get together for the Christmas holidays. He would fly her

to California for an all-expense paid vacation. Lindsay gaped in

astonishment. In the last E-mail, he sent her a sample itinerary

for the latter part of December.

Lindsay sat still in her seat, stunned by his audacity. I don’t

believe this. Is he crazy? Why is he doing this? She hit the reply

button and wrote:

Why are you doing this? I’ve already said I think we should stop

with these E-mails and go on with our lives. Even if you thought

my E-mail was funny, I meant every word of it. Please—let’s just

leave on friendly terms.

She didn’t even bother to check for errors but hit the mouse

button. How she wished a dozen times over she had never

opened the door that night and invited him in. Now the past

was digging its way back into her life, infecting everything

she was trying to do.

Worst of all, it was coming between her feelings for Jeff. At

times she caught herself comparing Ron to Jeff. Ron was

muscular and tall; Jeff shorter and small boned. Ron had

money. Jeffhad little. Ron wanted to fly her out to California.

Jeff thought it was a big deal just driving to Baltimore for a

picnic under an old oak tree. “I have to stop this,” Lindsay

scolded herself. “It isn’t right, and it isn’t fair.”

The phone rang. Lindsay prayed it wasn’t Ron.

“Hi, Lindsay. I was wondering if you wanted to see a video

tonight? I rented State Fair—your favorite.”

Jeff. What would he think if he knew I was entertaining

notes from an old boyfriend on the West Coast? She began

deleting all of Ron’s E-mails from the inbox, wondering why

she hadn’t done so in the first place.

“Unless, of course, you’re as restless as—something or other

in the wind. How did that song go?

“I don’t remember, Jeff.”

“What’s the matter? Did a client chew you out today?”

“No, it’s-” Her gaze returned to the computer screen and

the E-mail folder once filled with Ron’s messages. I can’t tell

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him what’s bothering me. She looked over at her brochures in

disarray on the floor and on her desk. “This place is a disaster,”

she blurted out.

Laughter echoed in her ears. “Is that all? You should see my

place. Look, it doesn’t matter to me, so long as I can spend

time with you.”

Lindsay closed her eyes, wishing there were some way out

of this mess. In an instant she found herself in the same situation

as Jewel—smack dab in a love triangle, even though Jeff

had no idea what was going on. The guilt overwhelmed her.

It wasn’t fair keeping secrets like this from him. Maybe it

would be best to let him know what was happening and how

she was trying to defend herself from Ron’s advances. After

all, if God had it in mind for them to marry one day, He

would want them to start working out problems together.

“Jeff, I have a situation here I’m trying to solve. An old

boyfriend keeps hounding me.”

“Huh?”

“You remember that guy you ran into a few weeks back

when you came here with the pizza and the movie? Well, he’s

been emailing me almost daily and won’t leave me alone. I

keep telling him to leave me alone, but he doesn’t get the

message.”

Silence ensued before a soft response came over the line.

“How long has this been going on?”

“Not that long. It really started up after I—” Lindsay

paused. Her throat began to constrict. The words became

muddled. “This was before you and I were kind of … well …

before we got to know each other. I tried tracking Ron down

and used the information on a find-a-lost-classmate Web site.

Since then he hasn’t stopped pestering me.”

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Silence.

A tremor shot through her. “I know it was a stupid thing to

do. I should never have done it. I wish I could undo it all.”

“Just tell him then,” came his calm, nearly ice-cold response.

“I tried. Now he wants to fly me out to California and

everything. What am I going to do?”

His voice turned edgy. “How should I know, Lindsay? I

mean, if you went seeking him in the first place, he probably

thinks it’s open season. And you did invite him into your

house.”

“He came uninvited.”

“You let him in the front door, right? Look—I don’t need

or want the competition right now. Maybe you and I should

go our separate ways until this thing is sorted out.”

“Jeff, it is sorted out!”

“Sure, and now your old boyfriend is giving you a free vacation

in response. Next he’ll probably deliver a new Lexus to

your front doorstep. Yep, it’s all sorted out. I have to go.”

“Jeff, wait—” The dial tone buzzed in her ear. Oh, not She

squeezed her eyes, trying to stifle the flow of tears. Why is this

140 Jeff wandered around in a daze after hearing Lindsay’s

sion. Although she seemed sincere in wanting to get rid of this

Ron, the mere idea they remained in contact, coupled with the

offer to fly her out to California, knotted his insides into a

ball. How could he compete with some rich dude like that?

In the meantime, his concentration suffered. When students

posed questions to him in class, he struggled with the

answers. The money they brought in for the sales, he jammed,

carelessly in an envelope in his desk drawer. He had been

careful in the past to deposit the money he received each day

at the front office but now threw caution out the window.

Inwardly he burned with embarrassment at the way he had

fallen for Lindsay like some lovesick schoolboy. He told himself

he should find out if there was really anything between

her and this guy or if she intended to get rid of him. But he

fought against the nagging sensation to seek her out and talk

it through. Maybe his love for Lindsay wasn’t as strong as he

thought.

Lindsay called soon after their discussion and left a message

on his answering machine, telling him how sorry she was. He

listened to the message several times, hearing the plea in her

sweet voice that stirred up the feelings he still had for her.

They were quickly subdued with visions of the tanned and

muscular Prince Charming he had met on the doorstep of

Lindsay’s apartment. The thought of competition by a suffer

141 from California–sporting expensive clothes, a huge smile and

a fat wallet-proved too much to bear.

One afternoon on his way out of school, Jeff met Troy at

the end of the hall. The young man greeted him for the first

time since the trip to Washington, D.C. Jeff nodded curtly

before telling him he had a ton of work to do.

“I just wanted to say … well, I’m sorry for talking to you the

way I did a few weeks back.”

Jeff stared in disbelief.

“I guess I was mad that everyone kept saying you were

showing me favors and all.”

“I appreciate your telling me this, Troy.”

“Anyway a couple of us were talking. We want to get

together with some of the other kids and start planning the

junior prom. We gotta book the band real soon. So we need

to know how much money we raised.”

“It should be close to five thousand. Which reminds me, I

should get that envelope to the front office and not leave it in

the drawer. It has a lot of cash in it.”

“Five thousand? Woowee. That’s more than—I’ll have to

tell him—them, that is.”

“You’ll have the three thousand for the prom expenses. The

rest is slated for other class activities. Let me figure it all

out, and I’ll get back to you, okay?”

“Okay, sure. Hey—if you’re still planning to set up that

advanced history class next semester, I’d like to take it.” Troy

lifted his notebook in a gesture of farewell before taking off.

Jeff watched the young man leave. God appeared to be in the

work of restoration and just in time. Maybe it gave him a

shred of confidence to deal with Lindsay and the big shot out

in California.

142

Jeff strode out to his car in the faculty

parking lot. have the vehicle operational again. He had just

closed the door when another car zoomed in beside his, A young peered at him

through a set of dark sunglasses

them up on her head to reveal the beautiful

stirred his heart.

“Hi, Jeff.”

“Lindsay.

“Can we talk? I’m used to having in-depth conversations

at the Hickory Diner.”

“I’m not sure.”

“The only reason I even told you about Ron is

that I didn’t want any secrets between us.” She pulled the

sunglasses back down onto the bridge of her nose. “Please, can we talk?”

Jeff acquiesced, partly because of the

fion with Troy, but mostly because he couldn’t resist the

of Lindsay in those sunglasses. He followed her in his

car and parked opposite the Hickory Diner. Inside

they occupied a booth in the corner. The aroma of fried onions

and greasy hamburgers filled the air. They each ordered coffee.

He dumped packet after packet of sugar in

his coffee, not bothering to keep count. When he took

a sip of the lukewarm liquid, he wriggled his nose.

Lindsay giggled. “You really are preoccupied, aren’t you?”

“It’s been a little tough recently. Here I wanted to watch

a movie with you; then I find out Prince Charming is

you with free flights to the West Coast. It’s a little hard

to compete with that.”

“Jeff,

this guy. I thought you understood. I wish I had the chance

to explain it more.”

143

the coffee, despite the overly sweet taste. It gave

him something else to concentrate on besides Lindsay’s distraught

face. “It seems to me you’re keeping the door open.”

Lindsay leaned across the table. The aroma of her perfume

awakened him more than a full pot of coffee. “Jeff, I’ve made

up my mind. If Ron thinks I’m leading him on, that’s his

problem. He has to deal with it. I’ll be honest, though. Before

I got to know you, I did decide to find out if Ron and I still

had sparks left from long ago. Once I spent time with you

and found out what a fascinating person you are, I didn’t need

or want Ron.”

“I wish I could believe it,” he said. “I still can’t get over the

idea of that guy standing there in your apartment.”

“Jeff, I didn’t ask him to come to my apartment that night.

He showed up. I couldn’t very well leave him on my doorstep.

And the truth is, I’m glad you came when you did. I kept

watching the clock, hoping you would rescue me.”

Jeff’s gaze lifted to meet hers. Rescue Lindsay from the

prince of California? Could this be for real? He tried to discern

her sincerity. Her brown eyes never wavered but stared

directly at him. Her cheeks remained smooth, without a hint

of muscular tension. She tipped her head to one side as if

waiting for him to respond. “If all this is true, then why is he

asking you to travel to California?”

“I don’t know why. Look—to prove I don’t want any further

association with him, I got myself a new e-mail address. I also

plan to change my home phone number. Most of my sponsors

call on my cell phone anyway. Maybe it will convince you I’m

serious about dumping Ron.”

“You don’t have to go through all that. Okay, I guess I’m a

bit insecure. Maybe jealous. Ive never had a girlfriend in my entire life. When the right one comes along, I want it to be for keeps. I don’t want to deal

with the pain of broken

relationships.

I’ve seen it with my sister. I’ll admit you seemed

like the perfect one, Lindsay. Almost too good to be true.

That’s probably why I lost faith when I heard about Ron.”

The warmth of her hand on his arm sent shivers racing up

his spine. “Jeff, you’re a great guy—fun, interesting, and you

have eyes to die for.” I’ll-“

He felt the heat fill his cheeks. Eyes to die for?

“By the way I can’t wait to see State Fair. Any chance we

can rent it tonight?”

“I suppose, if you have nothing better to do.” He regretted

the statement after the piercing look she gave him.

Jeff dropped some money on the table for the coffee and

walked with her down the sidewalk to a small video store on

the corner. He thought of holding her hand but kept his hands

buried inside his jacket. Now, with everything laid to

rest, he would go back to taking this relationship step by step.

He did pray the steps would soon quicken to an all-out run.

The events of last evening carried Jeff into school on a gentle

wind of joy rather than a thundercloud of depression. Lindsay

had popped popcorn, and together they sat on the sofa with

the bowl between them, watching State Fair. Even during the

romantic parts, when Jeff sensed a rising urge to take Lindsay

in his arms and kiss her, he held back. He wanted to renew

their relationship and bring it back to where it had been

before all the confessions tumbled forth. Lindsay seemed to

enjoy the evening very much. When she told him good night

on the front step of her apartment, her eyes shone, and her

smile was radiant.