Pierced by Love (30 page)

“What do you say, Noelle? We’ll take it one day at a time. Let me take you on a real date. Your choice of anywhere you’d like to go.”

She mulled that one over before saying, “Well, you did offer to take me to Walnut Canyon, remember?”

“Yeah. I’m cool with that, but is that really where you want to go? I could take you to a nice place for dinner instead.”

A determined look came over her face. “That sounds totally boring. No, I choose Walnut Canyon. I want to see if I can keep up with your adventures.”

Now she was talking. Just being around this woman was an adventure for Pierce. “Honey, I have a feeling that it’s going to be tough for me to keep up with you.”

TWENTY-THREE

W
ALNUT CANYON WAS amazing, Noelle discovered as she and Pierce hiked a steep trail and toured the ancient ruins of the Sinagua people who had inhabited this land dating as far back as the 1100s. Noelle and Pierce opted for the steeper Island Trail to get closer to the cliff dwellings, but many tourists, particularly those with young children, were still able to see the canyon rim and ancient ruins on the Rim Trail. Her brain whirled with field trip possibilities for her future students.

It was hard to believe that this canyon was over sixty million years old. Pierce was right. The Grand Canyon wasn’t the only natural wonder in northern Arizona. Awestruck, Noelle took pictures of the pottery that had been preserved by these farmers who had grown crops at the top of the canyon while hiking to the bottom to retrieve their water. They also had built stone walls around the alcoves that had been naturally carved into the rock walls of the canyon, forming their homes.

Toward the end of their visit, she gave her camera to an elderly couple and asked them to snap a picture of Pierce and herself. Pierce wrapped his arm around her and smiled. After retrieving her camera, Noelle scrolled through her pictures, thinking that this had been a perfect date.

The following week, Pierce took her and their roommates rappelling off a bridge where they dangled on the rope before releasing their hold and splashing into the aqua-shaded waters of Chevelon Canyon between Winslow and Joseph City. Noelle had been nervous at first, but after watching Pierce and a few others go ahead of her, she gathered enough courage to try. When she let go of the rope and fell into the icy water with a big splash, an adrenaline rush like she’d never experienced swept over her. The water was cold, but she couldn’t wait to do it again!

Pierce met her as she climbed to the edge of the canyon. Seeing his soaked hair splattered against his skin reminded her of their near-kiss at SeaWorld. Lifting her hand, she twined a brown lock of his hair around her finger. He kissed her proudly, ignoring the catcalls of the others.

Stepping around Pierce, she caught Melody’s speculative gaze. Noelle smiled at her warily, noting how forlorn Melody looked from missing Chase, who’d had to work. If she truly didn’t want to be here, she shouldn’t have come. Yet Melody had claimed that she’d come simply for the company. It was silly to think that Melody had appointed herself as Noelle’s watchdog, wasn’t it? Maybe her overactive imagination was running wild again.

Noelle and Pierce also went to Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered. Their nonstop conversation made the two-hour wait under the stars for their turn to view Saturn through their giant telescope seem like ten minutes. The early May sky was incredible, the night air crisp. Noelle was glad she had brought a jacket. Of course, the cool night air was also a good excuse for letting Pierce wrap her in his arms.

Pierce took her to nice restaurants for dinner periodically as well. Eventually, Noelle even began making a few dinners for him and was having fun trying out new recipes. One of them, chicken cordon bleu, didn’t turn out so well. Pierce shrugged and smiled and escorted her out to his Explorer to pick up some Chinese food to go. Noelle loved being with this man. They’d even become running buddies when they could coordinate their schedules. Pierce was so considerate, so caring. She was starting to get used to having him around.

Noelle was quickly brought back down to earth as the time for a bridal shower approached. She and Lori had debated what to do about this, since Melody had been away from home for so long while serving a mission. They decided to hold a bridal shower for close relatives and friends in Gilbert, which Lori would be in charge of, and Noelle and her roommates would do the same at NAU. Noelle scrambled to gather decorations, recipes, and invitations. It was not her idea of fun, but to her surprise, the bridal shower they held for the college girls turned out all right, even if the gifts they gave Melody were a little embarrassing.

Pierce opened his mailbox and extracted the mail, including two thick envelopes, each bearing the official logo for a university that he had applied to for graduate school. Flipping through the junk mail, he sighed as he realized that the one he was hoping for was not there. The semester was almost over and he needed to make a decision soon. How was he going to tell Noelle that he’d be leaving the state in the fall?

He took her to dinner. Afterward, he took her to Wheeler Park where they’d shared their first kiss. Pierce faced Noelle on the bench and told her, “Noelle, I have something to tell you and I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

Her worried expression did nothing to calm Pierce’s nerves. “The last time you said that, I ended up kissing you after we decided to try this whole dating thing out. Should I even ask what it is that you have to tell me this time?”

Pierce sighed. “I know you’re going to be moving in with your parents soon and we’ll have this summer to spend together. But starting next fall, I’ll be moving out of state.”

The look of shock on her face pierced his heart. He would spare her this pain if he could. “What?” she whispered.

“I’ve been accepted into two different schools, Stanford University and the University of Idaho.”

“Not ASU?” she breathed.

He shook his head. “Sorry, sweetheart. I was hoping to hear from them, but time is getting short. I’ve all but given up on them.”

Her eyes filled up with tears. “Are you serious? Please tell me you’re joking, Pierce.”

“I wish I was. I’m ready to graduate and I need to move forward with the biomedical engineering program.”

“So what does this mean for us?” she choked out.

He sighed heavily. “It means that we’re going to have a difficult semester. There’s no way to get around it. I’ll try to come back to visit you at least once a month.”

“You’ll try?” she said derisively. “That sounds like a convenient way of opting out of a commitment when it gets to be too tough.”

“Getting a little dramatic on me again, Noelle? Come on, everything will work out. We’ll get through the fall semester and then you’ll be able to go wherever you want after that. You said yourself that you wouldn’t limit your teaching options to Arizona.”

“I know, but it would take me a while to certify in whatever state I end up in.” Her voice gave out as the tears fell.

“Listen, Noelle. It’s only five months. We’ll both be so busy that it’ll fly by.”

She said nothing. Pierce waited for her to speak but was disappointed when no words of encouragement came. “Noelle?” he prodded.

Her voice came out sounding shaky. “Why did this have to happen, just when I was starting to become comfortable in a relationship again? I should have known better than to get mixed up with you. Everybody kept telling me that you were a guy who couldn’t commit to anybody.”

He didn’t appreciate that comment at all. With effort, he modulated his voice to deflect any hint of the frustration he was feeling. “Noelle, listen to yourself. I’m not walking out on this relationship. But this is a great opportunity for me and I need to take it.” He waited another second before adding, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. But this is what we need to do right now. It won’t last forever.”

“Maybe not, but what about us? Am I ever going to get a forever kind of guy?” she asked bitterly. “Or will I always be the girl that every guy chases only to be ditched when he becomes bored?”

“I am not ditching you,” he replied starkly. “It’s one lousy semester, Noelle.”

“And then what?” she cried.

“And then you find a teaching job close to me.”

“So we can do what?” she demanded. “Continue the way we are? No, thank you!”

“Noelle, be reasonable. You need to stay here to finish your degree. And I need to go so that I can get started on mine. It’ll be tough, but we’ll make it through.”

But Noelle was already shaking her head in rage. “I am
not
going through this again! I am tired of being sacrificed for someone or something else. So you can just take your acceptance letters and do what you want with them. Good-bye!”

She stormed off down the sidewalk. Pierce watched her go, waiting for the moment when she would remember that he had driven her here. What would she do?

To his relief, she didn’t keep walking. She slowed down when she got close to his Explorer and waited for him to approach. Wordlessly, he unlocked the vehicle and they climbed in. The ride back to the apartment complex was tense, the silence unbearable. When he pulled into their parking lot and parked the car, he tugged on her arm just as she yanked on the door handle with the other. “Noelle, wait. Please don’t be mad. This isn’t something that I can control. Will you pray about it, please? Ask the Lord to give you some peace over it?”

“Does our relationship matter to you, Pierce?” she asked quietly.

“Of course it does.”

More silence followed. Pierce waited, fearing that she would bolt before the matter was settled if he pushed too hard. Finally, she answered, her voice sounding moderately calmer. “I will pray about it if you will too. Maybe accepting either of those letters isn’t the right thing for you anyway.”

He had no clue where she came up with that harebrained idea, but he wasn’t going to force the issue. “We’ll both pray about it and talk it over. How does that sound?”

After a while, she agreed. “Okay.”

He released the breath he’d been holding. “All right. Take as long as you need to pray. We’ll talk about it when you’re ready.”

She nodded mutely. Gingerly, he reached for her chin and pulled her face toward him to kiss her good night. She whispered, “Good night,” and slipped out the door. Pierce’s chest was heavy as he locked the Explorer and went inside.