Right Where I Belong (31 page)
“My man in Berlin.” Papa ended his call. “Always a crisis with him. Patience and confidence—that’s what helps men like Gustav. That’s something you don’t learn in college.”
“Papa.” Natalia took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I am the best choice to take over the business. Have you considered Ari? She is very smart.”
Papa wrinkled his brow. “Don’t underestimate yourself, Natalia.”
“It’s not that.” She closed her eyes. “I just don’t think business is for me. I don’t think I’d enjoy it.”
“Of course you’ll enjoy it. Travel, money, power. What is not to enjoy?”
Natalia wondered if he was treating her like his German client. “But what if I want a family?”
“Then have a family.” Papa unbuckled. “And give them everything they want. Just like I did.”
Natalia wanted to tell him what she wanted most from him was something he never had—time. “I have found, Papa, that I really enjoy teaching.”
“There is a great deal of teaching in our business. We explain the market to our clients . . . we train those coming up.”
“But I want to teach children.” Natalia spoke quickly, telling her father about Costa Rica, her girls, and her desire to return there after college.
“Natalia.” He lowered his head. “You have returned from an exciting trip. I understand. The first time I visited this city, I was sure I wanted to live here, be a hippie in Greenwich Village. It all seemed very romantic. But then reality set in. As it will for you.”
Papa was treating her like a child. Anger would have been better than condescension. He wasn’t even taking her seriously.
“I believe this is what God has designed me to do. To help children who are moving to another country. It is much like what you have done—learning other cultures to make better relationships. I’ll be helping children do that.”
“And how much do teachers in Costa Rica make?”
“I don’t care. It isn’t about money, Papa. It’s about a calling.”
“That is easy to say when you have money.”
Natalia sighed.
“Your flight leaves soon. We need to go inside.” He opened the car door.
“Papa, I don’t want to be a businesswoman.” They stepped into the elevator.
He took Natalia’s hand. “I want you to be happy. Being a teacher in a third-world country will not make you happy. Trust me.”
“But what if it will? Will you allow me to try?”
“Try?” Papa’s voice grew louder. “To try means studying
education instead of business. When you discover I am right, you will be years behind our ten-year plan.”
“
Your
ten-year plan.”
“What if you try my plan, and if you really don’t like it, I will consider letting you go back to school to be a teacher?”
Natalia groaned. “I know after two days following you that I don’t like this.”
“That is just because you don’t understand what is going on.”
“I understand that you spent six years in school here in America so you could spend twenty years traveling the world building a company that requires all your time and energy. And I know that is not what I want.”
Papa stepped off the elevator. “What you want, instead, is to be a teacher? To spend almost as many years in school as I did to make very little pay and have no control over what you do and where you go?”
“Yes, Papa. That is what I want more than anything.”
“More than anything?”
“Yes.”
Papa sighed deeply as he pulled Natalia’s luggage to the security checkpoint. “I am a young man. I suppose I have time for you to sow these wild oats, come to your senses, and still train you to take over the business.”
Natalia hugged her father. This was as close to a concession as she could hope for. Her own small miracle from God. “Thank you, Papa.”
“You will see I’m right. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
I’m praying the same thing for you, Papa.
T
his was best class yet.” Victor kissed Natalia’s cheek. “Latin America is easy to love, yes?”
Natalia, Spencer, and Brian had shown the group their pictures from the trip to Costa Rica. Although the topic for the evening had been travel vocabulary, it ended being more about a group of friends sharing in a story of God’s work.
“It certainly is, Victor.”
“And I tell my friends about children’s class.” Victor opened the door to leave. “We will fill this room.”
“I hope so.” Natalia announced her plans to teach children while Brian and Spencer taught the adults. “Thanks for joining us, Spencer. I would not have been able to offer this children’s class if it weren’t for you.”
“I wish I had come here earlier.” Spencer grabbed an empty container and threw it in the trash. “This is great. We need a better projector in here, though. That one must be a hundred years old.”
Brian laughed. “You sure are spending a lot of your dad’s money in this room, man.”
“I can’t think of a better use for it.” Spencer smiled. “Can I give you a ride home, Natalia?”
“Thanks, Spencer, but I need to talk with Brian about something.”
“Okay.” He looked from Natalia to Brian. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
Brian watched Spencer leave. “Everything okay?”
Natalia sat on the new couch Spencer had purchased for the classroom. “Better than okay.”
Pastor Mike poked his head into the room. “Hey, guys, I’ve got to run. The wife is asking for a tuna-salad sub.”
Pastor Mike’s wife was five months pregnant. He had joked about her cravings at church the night before. “Better than the anchovy salad, right?”
“Definitely.” Pastor Mike laughed. “This kid is going to be a seafood lover, that’s for sure. You guys done in here?”
“We are,” Brian answered. “We’re heading out in a few minutes.”
“Excellent.” Pastor Mike checked his phone. “She says to hurry. The janitor is here, so no need to lock up or turn off the lights. See you guys later.”
Brian sat next to Natalia on the couch. He stretched out his long legs. “So what’s up?”
Natalia’s stomach clenched. She had spoken to Maureen the night before, admitted her feelings for Brian. Maureen, surprisingly, had encouraged Natalia to tell Brian how she felt.
“He’s waiting for you,” Maureen said. “Even I can see that. You need to let him know you’re interested.”
“Isn’t that a bit forward?”
“Not at all,” Maureen assured Natalia. “Men don’t read minds well. You have to let him know what you’re thinking and then he can decide what to do about it.”
“And you really think it’s all right?”
“I do, Natalia.” Maureen’s smile had been genuine. “You both are mature and have your focus where it needs to be—on Jesus first. And I can’t think of a better young man for you than little Brian Younger.”
But faced with “little Brian,” Natalia’s courage faded. So many “what ifs” floated through her mind.
“Natalia?” Brian broke into her thoughts. “I think I know what you want to talk about. I want you to know that I’m fine with it.”
Brian spoke so matter-of-factly. And he still sat all the way on the other side of the couch. This was not at all how she had imagined this exchange.
“Really?”
“I knew you weren’t made to never date.” Brian shrugged. “That was just a coping mechanism because of all you’ve been through with your parents.”
Natalia swallowed hard. Brian sounded like he was discussing a business transaction. Did he not realize how vulnerable she was making herself? Was he that unromantic? Natalia didn’t expect him to fall at her feet and thank her, but this . . .
“What’s wrong?” Brian’s eyes softened.
“I didn’t expect it to be like this.” Natalia wanted to run out. This was terrible. What was she thinking?
“Natalia, we’re friends. Nothing will change that. I
know it’ll be different. It has to be. But we’ll still be working here together. I’ll still bug you for help in math.”
Her heart sank. She couldn’t bring herself to look into Brian’s eyes. Was he saying he knew she was interested, but he wasn’t? He just wanted to be friends?
“Spencer is not the same guy he used to be. I’m seeing that firsthand.”
Natalia finally looked at Brian. “Spencer?”
“Yes, Spencer.” Brian’s eyes widened. “We are talking about Spencer, aren’t we?”
“No.” The pieces were falling into place. “I have been rethinking my commitment not to date. But not because of Spencer.”
Brian turned to Natalia, his back against the arm of the couch. “You’re not interested in Spencer?”
She tried not to laugh—the idea was so preposterous. “He’s a friend. We have a lot in common. But, no, I’ve never been interested in him.”
“But Costa Rica . . . ?”
Natalia stood and walked the length of the room. “Spencer was working through all that God was doing in his life. I was just helping him.”
“You were helping him?” Brian was beside Natalia, his hand on her shoulder.
“What did you think?” Natalia’s heart beat faster. She could feel the warmth of Brian’s touch all the way to her toes.
“I thought that Spencer Adams had everything now—money, looks, Jesus. He’s the perfect catch.” Brian folded his arms and sat on the edge of one of the new tables.
“I’m sure there are some girls who think that.” Lexi’s face popped into her mind. “But I’m not one of them.”
“Really?” The hope in Brian’s voice gave Natalia goosebumps. “Why?”
“Because.” Natalia heard her pulse in her ears, felt it racing through her body. She sat next to Brian and laid her head on his shoulder. “Spencer’s not you.”
W
oo-hoo!” Brian raced into his house. He pulled his mother up from the couch and swung her around in a huge hug.
“Brian.” Mom pulled herself out of Brian’s grip. “What is going on?”
“Natalia Lopez is what’s going on.” Brian put his hands on his mother’s shoulders. “With
me
.”
“Really?” She hugged Brian, gentler this time. “Oh, sweetie. I’ve been praying for that.”
“You have?”
“Yes. Your father and I both felt like this could be the girl for you.”
“She sure is.” Brian still couldn’t believe the events of the last hour.
“Spencer’s not you,”
she had said.
For days Brian had been preparing himself for the inevitable. Natalia was interested in Spencer. Of course she was. Why wouldn’t she be? Brian still couldn’t believe that all this time, Natalia had been fighting an attraction to
him.
As
they talked on the way home, she confessed just that—that from the first time she saw Brian she liked him.
“It was that hair,” Natalia had said. “I came down the stairs the day you came to help assemble our things, and there you were. The tallest, whitest boy I’d ever seen, with the reddest hair and bluest eyes I’d ever seen.”
“So I’m just a novelty?” Brian joked. “If I’d looked like Spencer Adams, you might not have been interested?”
Natalia held his hand, and Brian thought he understood how people felt when they were having an out-of-body experience. He couldn’t think about anything but Natalia’s hand in his.
She scooted closer on the truck’s bench seat, and Brian thought his heart would explode. “I think you’re the best-looking boy I’ve ever known.”
Brian thanked God for the red light. “You need to sit over there.”
Natalia’s green eyes widened. “What?”
“I don’t trust myself right now.” Brian closed his eyes, fighting off desires he had never experienced in all his eighteen years.
“I guess you’re right.” Natalia moved back to her side of the truck, and Brian’s heart returned to a seminormal state. “You really are a gentleman.”
She wouldn’t think that if she could see inside his head right then. “I am trying. But you sure don’t make it easy.” Brian had to tear his gaze away when the light turned green.
Natalia smiled. “Addy was very right.”
“About what?”
She sighed. “God gives good gifts to his children.”
“Don’t rush,” Mom warned, snapping Brian from his memories. “You need time.”
“I know, I know.” Brian sat on the couch. “Believe me, I know. But could we postpone that talk just a little? I just want to enjoy this for now.”
“Of course.”
“Oh no.” Brian sat up, the joy of the moment suddenly shattered. “Spencer.”
“Spencer?”
“He asked me about Natalia the other day. I gave him the green light to go out with her.”
“What do you mean, you gave him the green light? She’s not a commodity to be traded.”
“I know, Mom.” Brian rubbed his temples. “But he knew I was interested, and he asked if I would be upset if he went out with her. I assumed she returned his interest, so I said sure. What else was I going to say?”
“You need to talk to Spencer.” Mom picked up the phone from its charger. “Now. This news will be all over school tomorrow. You need to be the one to tell him.”