Read The Living Room Online

Authors: Robert Whitlow

Tags: #Suspense, #Fiction, #Christian, #General, #Legal, #ebook

The Living Room (8 page)

BOOK: The Living Room
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Jeff believed it would be hard for Luke and Natalie to recoup what they’d invested in the house when they sold it, but Amy knew Natalie didn’t think that way. She feathered her nest the best she could, then opened it up for others to enjoy. An invitation to one of her holiday parties or summer cookouts was highly prized in the neighborhood.

Amy rang the door chime that played the first few notes of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In a few seconds Natalie opened the door. She was wearing an apron that made her look like a busy housewife from the 1960s.

“What have you been doing?” Amy asked.

“Cooking something messy. I’d like to give you a hug, but I don’t want to get anything on you. Come into the kitchen.”

Amy could see splotches of brown, green, and yellow on the apron.

“Where did you get the apron?” she asked as she followed Natalie through the family room with its large flat-screen TV and fancy speaker system. A separate part of the family room was arranged for people to sit and talk.

“It belonged to my grandmother. I found it when I was cleaning out my mother’s house and couldn’t bear the thought of throwing it away. When I was a little girl, my grandmother would wear it when we made sugar cookies or brownies.”

“What are you making today?”

“I hoped it would be a treat for our lunch, but it’s turned into a science experiment.”

They entered the kitchen.

“Walk softly,” Natalie whispered.

“Why?”

“I don’t want the soufflé to fall.”

Amy glanced at the wall-mounted oven.

“What kind of soufflé?”

“Herb. It’s got basil, rosemary, thyme, nutmeg, fresh mustard, Monterey Jack cheese, and more eggs than a doctor would recommend for a lumberjack to eat in a month. I bought a bunch of fresh stuff at the new organic market.”

“Sounds like fun.”

A buzzer went off.

“That’s it,” Natalie said.

Natalie gingerly took a pair of oven mitts from a drawer and cautiously opened the oven door. She raised one of the mitts to her mouth.

“Uh-oh,” she said.

She reached into the oven and took out the soufflé and held it so Amy could see it. The dish was golden brown with generous green sprinkles, but it was as lopsided as a ski slope. One side towered over the other, which had completely collapsed.

“It looks like a volcano erupted and blew off half the mountain,” Natalie said with a frown as she set the casserole dish on a blue trivet. She pointed at the collapsed side. “And the people who lived on this side were buried alive under a molten egg-and-cheese mixture.”

Amy laughed. “I bet it tastes scrumptious.”

Natalie took off the apron and hung it on a hook beside the stove.

“I wonder why it does that?” she said, inspecting the soufflé from another angle. “The one on the cooking show was as flat as an airport runway.”

“You’re inspiring me,” Amy responded.

“What do you mean?”

“The way you describe your soufflé is more entertaining than some of the scenes I write in my books.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better. At least it’s you. I’d hate to serve something like this to a group of women from the church.”

There was a small antique cherry table against one wall of the kitchen with a vase of fresh flowers in the middle. Natalie scooped out a serving of soufflé from the fluffy side for Amy and another for herself. It was steaming hot.

“It’ll cool in a jiffy,” Natalie said. “Let’s eat.”

Amy put a tiny bite in her mouth. The hot soufflé instantly melted, leaving a marvelous combination of flavors on her tongue.

“This is amazing,” she said.

Natalie looked skeptical but sampled a bite herself. Her eyes lit up.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good.”

Nibbling the soufflé occupied the next few minutes. Amy didn’t want conversation to distract her from savoring the dish.

“I won’t forget this lunch,” she said, placing her fork beside her plate. “I expected a nice salad. This is so much more fun.”

“If I can’t experiment on you, who would be my guinea pig?” Natalie asked.

“I ate like a pig. Are you going to feed this to Luke for supper? I think it would taste good warmed up. The boys might even try it.”

“I’ll fix a plate for Luke so he won’t see how lopsided it is, but I can’t count on the boys. They’ll need a backup dish, something I know they love, like ravioli from a can. Do you want some hot tea?”

“Sure.”

Natalie filled a kettle with water and put it on the stove before returning to the table.

“I haven’t been able to get your warning about Noah’s field trip out of my mind,” she said.

Amy flinched. She’d hoped they’d get through their time together without the subject coming up.

“Tell me more about the dream that made you believe he might be in danger.”

Amy took a deep breath. “Like I said, it was a quick image that came back to me when you mentioned the fire station.”

“So, if I hadn’t said anything, you wouldn’t have brought it up on your own?”

Amy hadn’t thought about that aspect of the experience.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Your words triggered it.”

“Then I’m glad I mentioned it,” Natalie said. “Is that the first time that’s happened to you? You know, seeing something that might happen in the future and warning someone about it?”

“Like that, yes.”

“But you’ve had other dreams?”

“A lot,” Amy admitted. “Ever since I was a little girl.”

“I knew it.” Natalie clapped her hands together. “I’ve always thought you were hiding a big piece of your heart from me. I didn’t want to be nosy, but there was something going on with you I couldn’t quite put my finger on.”

The teapot whistled, and Natalie left the table to make the tea. She had her back to Amy, who looked at her friend and debated whether to open up to her about the living room. Natalie returned to the table with tea bags steeping in two cups.

“The titles and themes for both of my books came to me in dreams,” Amy said.

Natalie’s eyes widened. And throwing caution to the wind, Amy told her about the living room. There was a surprising sense of freedom in baring her soul. Natalie listened in silence until Amy reached the part about the dreams returning after she committed her heart to the Lord at the summer camp during high school. A tear rolled down Natalie’s cheek.

“What’s wrong?” Amy stopped, fearing she’d overstepped her bounds.

“Nothing. It’s so beautiful. The way God has shown his love to you is unbelievable.”

“Which is one reason I’ve kept it to myself. Jeff knows about the dreams but doesn’t bug me about them, and my mother never brings them up. I’m sure she secretly hopes they’ve stopped.”

“I’m sorry.” Natalie shook her head.

“Why?”

“That you’ve been hurt over something wonderful that you couldn’t control. You were an innocent child who received a great gift from a loving heavenly Father.”

Now it was Amy’s turn to become teary. She grabbed a soft paper napkin from a holder in the center of the table and touched it to her right eye. The two women sat in silence for a few moments.

“Tell me about the books,” Natalie said.

It took several minutes for Amy to tell her about the role the dreams had in creating her books.

“That gives me chill bumps,” Natalie said, rubbing her arms. “To know that your books are based on Bible verses you heard directly from God is awesome.”

“Don’t get too carried away. My novels aren’t written in red letters.”

“I know, but it’s the closest to that sort of thing I’ve ever known. It makes sense now why what you’ve written could touch me so deeply. It came from a secret place in your heart and can go to the same place inside a reader.”

“That’s exactly my prayer.” Amy smiled. “And you’ve given me more encouragement sitting at this table than I’ve received in my whole life.”

“It’s about time!” Natalie exclaimed. She paused and took a sip of tea. “How often do you go to the living room now?”

“I had a God dream the night before we met at the coffee shop and another last night.”

Amy suddenly stopped and stared at a vase of flowers in the center of the table. It was a colorful arrangement of irises and dahlias surrounded by greenery.

“What?” Natalie asked.

Amy spoke slowly. “Last night I saw a vase of flowers that looked exactly like those and heard the words from 1 Peter 1:24–25: ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’”

Natalie rubbed her arms again. “Quit giving me goose bumps.”

“Were those flowers here when I came by last weekend to drop off the hand-me-down clothes from Ian for Ben?” Amy asked. “Maybe what I saw in the dream was a snapshot memory.”

“That’s impossible. I bought them yesterday. Why do you think you would hear that verse and see a vase of flowers from my house?”

Amy shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve been asking the Lord to give me the idea for a new novel. A story with flowers in it would be—”

“One with a wedding,” Natalie interjected immediately.

“I like that.” Amy nodded, then paused as her face became serious.
“Or a funeral. The verse mentions how the grass withers and the flowers fall. That speaks more about death than life.”

Natalie wiggled in her chair. “That sent the wrong kind of chills down my arms.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I understand a story has to be sad before it can be happy. That’s why people keep reading—to find out how problems are solved, people changed, and dangers overcome. What would the title be?”

Amy thought for a moment. “
Fading
Flowers
might work. Or
The
Flowers
of
the
Field
. That sounds less ominous.”

“I like the second one better.”

“Whether it’s a wedding, a funeral, or both, there has to be more to it,” Amy said. “If these verses have anything to do with my next book, I’m going to need a lot of insight before I start writing.”

“What if the verse and vase don’t have anything to do with a new novel?” Natalie asked.

“Of course, that’s possible,” Amy replied. “Most of the dreams aren’t related to my writing.”

“Exactly.” Natalie leaned forward. “You dreamed about the vase of flowers and then saw it the next day. What if the Lord starts showing you what is about to happen even more clearly than the warning about Noah’s field trip? It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it?”

Amy felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.

“Natalie, I wouldn’t want the responsibility that would come with that kind of information.”

“Which is why God could trust you with it. A person who’s curious might misuse—”

“Stop!” Amy said with more force than she intended. “Don’t say another word!”

Natalie shut her mouth and gave Amy a wounded look.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have cut you off,” Amy said.

“It was just a thought that popped into my head,” Natalie said quietly. “Don’t take me too seriously.”

“And I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Amy said, “but even the possibility of some kind of window into the future terrifies me.”

A somber mood descended on the two women as they finished their tea. The conversation lagged.

“I ruined the soufflé and our lunch,” Natalie said glumly when Amy got up to leave.

Amy stepped forward and gave her a hug.

“No. The soufflé was delicious, and what kind of friends would we be if all we talked about was silly girl stuff? It helped a lot to be able to tell you about the dreams. It was healthy for me to share with someone I trust.” Amy paused. “But please don’t say anything to Luke, okay?”

Natalie crossed her heart with her finger. “I promise. And if you like, the next time we get together the only topic for discussion will be nail polish.”

six

A
s she loaded the dishwasher after supper, Amy looked forward to an evening alone while the rest of the family went to the football game. She put Jeff’s plate of food in the microwave. Megan, who spent a long time in the bathroom after the meal, came downstairs to the kitchen. Upon seeing her, Amy’s immediate reaction was to send her back upstairs to wash her face and start over.

“Why all the makeup?”

“I want to look nice.”

“Don’t you think you overdid it with the green eye shadow and extra eyeliner? I’ve never seen you lay it on so thick.”

“No. I talked to the other girls. We agreed that we don’t want to look like eighth graders.”

Amy couldn’t prevent the transition from middle school to high school, but she didn’t want Megan to rush the process.

“You know how eye shadow fades,” Megan continued. “And it won’t show up when it gets dark.”

“The lights at the football field are bright as day.” Amy paused. “Unless you go behind the stands where it’s dark.”

BOOK: The Living Room
13.32Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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