Coming Attractions (30 page)

“We want to take some pictures of everyone,” Christy said. “Who knows when we’ll all be together in the same place like this
again?”

The five of them exchanged flash glances in response to the reality that hung on Christy’s last statement. This was the end
of a peculiar season for all of them.

“We need pictures together.” Katie rose from the loveseat. “Lots of pictures.”

K
atie spent the next three days feeling sicker than she had since Valentine’s Day. She perspired an unladylike amount. She
barely ate. Her appetite was gone, and her stomach remained in knots.

Blessedly, her on-duty hours were minimal, which gave her time to sort, organize, and pack her room. It also gave her time
to work on where she was going to live and work. However, by Wednesday morning, Katie still hadn’t taken any steps to figure
out her housing or her work. She was lost. Floating on a vast sea of possibilities in her tiny, buoyant raft of indecision.

It seemed the only way to get unstuck was to talk things through with Julia. Trying to set a time with her was tricky because
Julia was caught up in the dash of last-minute wedding details. Katie felt bad about that too, because she was the woman of
honor, but she didn’t feel she was doing much assisting.

Katie and several other RAs had hosted a successful shower for Julia, but that had been the sum total of Katie’s involvement
with the wedding. Now the wedding was only three days away, and Katie had one self-imposed task remaining. She needed a dove.

Her first call was to the pet store in Escondido where Christy had worked in high school. The store’s owner remembered Katie.
Maybe a little too well. Why, she didn’t know.

“Listen, Jon, I’m trying to find a dove. A nice, quiet one that will fly out of a bridal bouquet when I open the door of the
cage. Can you help me out?”

No response.

“Hello? Jon, are you still there?”

“You know, if this were anyone else calling, I would have hung up. But since it’s you, Katie, I believe this isn’t a prank
call.”

“Of course it’s not a prank call! I’m serious; I need a dove.”

“Okay, not a problem. When can you pick it up?”

“Really? You have one?”

“I don’t have one in the store, but I can get one and have it here by next week.”

“No, I need it right away. The wedding is Saturday.”

“Saturday. That’s cutting it close.”

“Yeah, I know. Story of my life. So what else is new? Can you get me the dove?”

“I’ll work on it and call you back. By the way, who’s the lucky groom?”

“His name is Dr. Ambrose. Well, John. John Ambrose.”

“A doctor, huh? Good for you, Katie.”

“No, I’m not getting married. I’m the maid of honor. Well, actually, the woman of honor. We decided ‘woman’ sounded better
than ‘maid.’ ”

“It’s all the same, isn’t it?”

Katie was feeling irritated with Jon’s ribbing. She wasn’t a little high school girl in a Christmas elf costume anymore. She
was a college graduate and felt she should be treated with more respect.

“Just get me the dove, Jon, will you? By Friday at the latest.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Katie hung up, muttering to herself. She gathered her shower things and headed down the hall. When she entered the bathroom,
Nicole was there, brushing her teeth.

“Hey, grad,” Katie quipped. “Haven’t seen you for a couple of days.”

Nicole demurely spit in the sink and rinsed out her mouth before turning to Katie with a hesitant expression. “I was avoiding
you.”

“Why?”

Nicole raised an eyebrow. Her skin took on a soft glow. “Rick asked me out.”

Katie dropped her towel and shampoo and lunged toward Nicole with a big bear hug. “Fantastic!”

Nicole pulled away. “You’re sure you’re okay with this?”

“Absolutely. Blessings on you, blessings on Rick, and blessings on all your future children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren!”

Nicole scrutinized Katie’s expression more carefully. “You’re not having some reaction to all the immunizations, are you?”

“No, I’m happy for you, that’s all. As of last night I stopped the sweats, by the way. I think my immune system met the tetanus,
yellow fever, and typhoid challenge and won.”

“Have you decided yet where you’re going to go?”

“Not yet. What about you?”

Nicole hesitated.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Where are you going to live?”

“Rick’s mom invited me to stay in their guestroom for the summer or until a permanent job opens up. She said I could help
with the family business, if I wanted, and I said I would. I didn’t have anything else opening up. My parents talked it over
with them at the graduation party, and they think it’s a good option.”

“Wow.”

Even though Katie was happy for Nicole, she was feeling twinges of regret. Or maybe they were touches of jealousy. If Katie
and Rick still were together, Katie could see herself setting up camp in a luxurious guestroom at the Doyles’. She would have
wonderful things to eat every day and lots of comfort. She would have a stream of kindness and affirmation from Rick’s gracious
mother, and Katie would belong.

But she didn’t want to be absorbed into the expanding Doyle enterprises. Of that she was certain. There was nothing wrong
with their wonderful and successful endeavors. The Doyles were a generous and kind family. But their world just wasn’t the
one Katie wanted to live in long term.

“That’s great, Nicole.” Katie hoped her expression matched her words and didn’t reflect the aftershocks rumbling through her
heart as she spoke.

“Thanks for being so supportive, Katie.”

“So where is Rick taking you for your big first date, and when is it?”

“It’s tomorrow night. We’re going to the opening of an art exhibit in San Diego and then to a restaurant at the top of a high-rise
on the bay.”

Katie gave a low whistle. “Swanky.”

“He said to dress up.” Nicole smiled. “I might need some help deciding what to wear.”

Katie had to draw the line there; her feelings were too tender to venture that deeply into Nicole and Rick’s relationship.
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to help you out there, Nicole. I have a pretty tight schedule today. And tomorrow. And Friday too,
for that matter. Then the wedding is Saturday, and by the way, I ruined my new dress during graduation. I have to come up
with something else for the wedding.”

“Can’t you have it dry cleaned?”

“Maybe. But I’d rather get something else for the wedding.”

“Do you want me to go shopping with you?”

“No, that’s okay. I have to go down to Escondido later this week, so I thought I would have a look at the mall there.”

“If you get stuck, you know you can borrow anything of mine that you want.”

“Thanks.” Katie knew she was done borrowing Nicole’s clothes. Something strong and slightly sad had happened to her during
this conversation. Even though she was in agreement that Rick and Nicole should go out, she didn’t feel quite the same about
things like sharing clothes and secrets. When the day came that Rick kissed Nicole, Katie didn’t want to hear about it.

“I’d better get rolling.” Katie made her way to the shower. “Have a great time on your date.”

“Thanks, Katie. You’re the best of the best.” Nicole was beaming.

Even that was a little hard to take. While Katie agreed with all of this in principle, the loss of Rick in her own life caused
her heart to sag a little.

At least he gets to take her to high-class places I never wanted to go to like the art show and the fancy restaurant.

Katie stepped into the shower and turned on the warm water.
When Rick took me to San Diego, we went to the zoo and a Brazilian barbecue.

Right then and there Katie decided she wasn’t going to start a list of comparisons. If she planted a whole field of those
seeds in her heart, nothing good would grow from them.

Father, clear my heart from any jealousy or unwarranted hurt. I’m not the castoff woman in this scenario. I’m a victim of
your grace. You have other plans for me. Plans for good and not harm. You have something custom designed for me. So what is
it? Where do you want me to live? What do you want me to do?

Katie was careful not to ask God if he had any guys in mind for her now that Rick was out of the picture. She knew that a
relationship with any guy right now wasn’t where her focus needed to be. She had more important needs to be fulfilled, like
housing and a job.

Returning to her room after her shower, Katie saw that she had missed a call. Jon had left a message saying he had a dove
for her. She could pick up the bird anytime after two that afternoon. The price was much more than she had expected, but when
she thought about it, she realized she didn’t mind paying what he asked.

Katie scrounged around her room for something to eat. Her odd assortment of snacks was depleted, and her small refrigerator
held only half a tub of strawberry cream cheese and an unopened bottle of soy sauce. Not exactly a winning combination when
she had no bagels or noodles.

Her easiest option was to be first in line for lunch at the cafeteria. Then she would check to see if she could do anything
for Julia. After that, she would put her thoughts toward finding a place to live.

When Katie arrived at the cafeteria, she wasn’t the first one in line. But she was definitely the only graduate. It felt funny
being there. Yes, it was all so familiar that she could go through the line and find everything she wanted, plus make a frozen
yogurt cone from the machine, while blindfolded.

She knew that feeling uncomfortable there was more of a mental thing. In her head, she was done. Time to get a life. Time
to make her own turkey sandwiches on white bread with her own jar of mayonnaise from her own refrigerator in her own apartment.

Katie had just filled her all-too-familiar plastic cafeteria cup with milk from the never- empty metal cow, when she saw Eli
standing by the salad bar in his security uniform.

“So you’ve been promoted, huh? Official guard of the cherry tomatoes?” She intended to keep walking, but his serious expression
made her pause.

“No, it’s the croutons,” he said with a straight face. “We had a report of unauthorized hoarding of croutons by a subversive
group of disgruntled freshmen.”

Eli said it so convincingly that Katie paused before catching on that he was messing with her.

“Don’t mess with me, Lorenzo. I’m a college graduate.”

“Don’t mess with me, Weldon. I’m a college graduate,
and
I know the tribal call of the Masai warriors.”

“And what exactly happens when you give this tribal call of the… whatever warriors?”

“That’s for me to know and you to wonder about.”

She squinted at him and shook her head. “You’re just a bundle of mysteries. For instance, ‘Oh, surprise! Dr. Ambrose is my
uncle.’ ”

“Why does that matter?”

“Well, he’s marrying Julia. My RD. My friend. I guess that means you’re going to be at the wedding Saturday.”

He nodded. “Do you have anything against my uncle?”

“No, I think he’s wonderful. Although he did give me a B- my first year here, and I think, if he had searched his heart, he
could have found his way to make that into a nice solid B. But I’m not complaining. I managed to graduate anyway and choose
not to hold that temporary slip in his grading abilities against him. We all have our weaknesses.”

“My uncle is an extremely generous man,” Eli said. “Maybe not in grades, but in other ways. He doesn’t know that I know this,
but he found a way to pay off my tuition. All of it. He did it anonymously, but I know it had to be him.”

Katie swallowed hard and tried not to let her face show any flicker of disagreement. No way was she going to spout, “That
was me, Eli. I paid for your college tuition.” This was much better all around. Let Eli think it had been Dr. Ambrose.

“Is he the uncle you lived with last summer?” Katie asked calmly.

“Yeah.”

“So that makes him the uncle who went to school here ages ago and introduced your parents to each other.”

“That’s right. You remembered.”

Katie pulled up a smile. “Well, I have to be going; I’m in a rush. As usual, I have lots to do and not enough time to do it
all.”

Eli took a step toward her and looked her in the eye. “Before you run off, I want to ask you to do me a big favor.”

“Sure.” Katie felt his gaze coming at her like a wave she couldn’t escape. When Doug taught Katie to surf, he showed her how
to hold her breath, dive down under the wave, and float through the less turbulent waters before popping up on the other side.
Subconsciously, she held her breath and dove.

Eli said in a low voice, “In Africa we have a saying. ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’
”

Katie popped up on the other side of her heart-dive, blinking.

That wasn’t so overwhelming. Actually, that was a beautiful saying
.

Then the real wave hit her full on.

“Before I go back home, I want you to consider us, Katie. Ponder what it would be like if we went together. Not alone and
fast but together and far.”

Katie had no words. No quips, comebacks, or clever jives.

When it seemed clear she wasn’t going to respond, Eli turned and walked away.

She watched him go; she was treading thoughts but refusing to call out to him.

Then he turned around. An ocean of humans bobbed between the two of them. He looked at Katie, placed his open palm on his
chest, and pounded three times.

K
atie suddenly lost her appetite. She made her way to the dishwasher carousel in the cafeteria and placed her tray of untouched
food on the conveyor belt.

Making a straight line to her car, she took off, heading for Escondido. Driving helped. Driving down the hill, away from Rancho.
Away from everything. Away from Eli.

I can’t do what you asked, Eli. I can’t ponder “us.” Pondering happens in the heart. I can’t go there. No, not now. You’ll
go home to Africa, and you’ll see. It’s better if we don’t open any of these pondering places of the heart.