The Prince Charming List (26 page)

I thought that Prichett would be a quiet place to listen to God reveal His plan for my life. Was it possible that Prichett
was
the plan?

When my cell phone rang, I’d just finished winding the swing up like a top, giddy with the knowledge that Tony was right about God turning things upside down.

“Hello?” I managed to flip it open and gasp the word into it as I spun myself dizzy.

“Go home.”

“How do you know I’m not home?”

“Because I’ve been sitting on your stairs for the last hour, waiting for you to show up.”

“Dex? You’re right. I’m going to stay. In Prichett. At least until Bernice and Alex come back in December. It makes sense right now.” One step at a time, that’s what Marissa had said. I wanted to say more, but I couldn’t. Something had changed between us and I wasn’t sure what it was. Whatever it was, it felt so fragile I didn’t want to damage it with hasty words.

Dex mumbled something.

“What?”

“Tony asked me to go back with him. I’ve got ninety percent of my support raised and Faith Community is going to supply the rest.”

“You’re
leaving?
” I planted my feet and the swing lurched to a stop. He was going to disappear again but this time, it was for good. My stomach wobbled—and it wasn’t because I’d spun myself dizzy on the swing.

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh. Tomorrow. I’ll be praying for you.” Ugh. Everyone said that. It was the Christian equivalent of the “have a nice day” the rest of the world handed out. But I
meant
it.

“What are you going to pray?” Dex read between the lines of Christianese, pushing me. He was more like Tony than he thought. His faith made me want to be more faithful.

I closed my eyes and recited the blessing that Annie had said for Greta. And I didn’t feel weird doing it, either, because this was Dex. And Dex—for all his quirks—understood. “God bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”

There was a soft click. He’d hung up on me. Again. But this time, I thought I heard him say goodbye. I ran all the way home but when I got there, Dex was already gone.

“I
can’t believe you pulled this off.” Bernice linked her arm through mine as we stood in the shade of the Cut and Curl’s awning and watched the park fill up with people.

“There is quite a turnout.” I smiled, inwardly twirling and shouting out a
praise you, God
. The things I could control—like Ed wearing a red silk bow tie and removing the plastic Roman columns Denise had positioned around the statue of Junebug—had turned out fine. The things I couldn’t control, I refused to obsess over. And it looked like I didn’t have to.

Art in the Park wasn’t officially scheduled to start until noon but Main Street was already packed with cars and people. The August day was sunny and warm, with puffs of white clouds in the sky and enough of a breeze to keep everyone comfortable. As close to perfect as a day could get.

“I’m not talking about the turnout. People are so starved for something to do around here they would’ve shown up if the PAC announced they were holding an apple-bobbing contest. I’m talking about the way you got the committee to do something
different
. I’ve been trying for ten years to push them out of their rut.”

“We did things pretty much the same but added a few twists.”

“Twists are your specialty.” Mom smiled at Bernice over my head and the two of them shared The Look. I grabbed Mom’s hand and gave it a squeeze. This should have felt weird—like we’d been sucked into a movie on the Hallmark Channel—but it didn’t. Mom and Bernice weren’t anything alike but they liked each other. And they both loved me. Mom had said that that was the only common ground they needed.

Mom and Dad had come to Prichett the night before and stayed at Charity O’Malley’s bed-and-breakfast, affectionately called The Lightning Strike Inn by the locals. After they’d settled in, I gave them the official behind-the-scenes tour of Prichett. They both fell in love with it, which surprised me, because Dad was raised in the city and Mom knows the employees at Bloomingdale’s by name.

Over pie and coffee at the café, I’d told them I’d decided to turn down the job in Minneapolis and stay in Prichett longer. That kind of news I had to tell them in person. I was worried they’d be upset, but the parental radar must have indicated I’d been leaning this way even before I knew it myself.

“Interested in checking out the dunk tank?” Bernice whispered.

I tried not to smile. Prichett had its own unique way of making sure people stayed humble. Jared’s statue may have been the reason the town was celebrating, but Jared had been given the seat of honor in the tank.

“I think I inflicted enough damage on Jared,” I said, still feeling a twinge of guilt about my imitation of a Samurai warrior. “I already gave him a new hairstyle. I probably shouldn’t dunk him, too.”

“You don’t have to dunk him.” Mom smiled innocently. “You can just watch.”

“You two are terrible.”

“Uh-huh.” Bernice grinned. “Let’s go.”

“All right, all right.” I rolled my eyes and let them tug me across the street.

Annie saw us and waved both arms to get our attention. She and the twins were sprawled on a colorful blanket spread out under a tree. Elise and Esther Crandall were sitting with her.

“Where’s Bree?” I looked around.

“I think she and Riley mentioned something about the dunk tank,” Elise said.

I gulped. “I’ll be right back.”

“Go ahead, honey. We’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.” Mom was already cooing at Joanna and Bernice was reaching for Nathaniel.

I wormed my way through the crowd and suddenly came face-to-face with Junebug. The
real
one. As coordinator for the event, I knew she wasn’t on the guest list. But at least she was on a lead rope—which Lester was holding.

“Lester? What is Junebug doing here?”
And did the town’s insurance policy cover cow attacks?

He looked confused at the question. “She’s the honorary guest.”

Jared might disagree with that, but okay. “Lester, Junebug has a reputation for being…”
How to put this in a nice way?
“Unpredictable.”

He shrugged off my concern. “She’s in a good mood today. Look at her. Pleased as punch to be here.”

I wasn’t going to argue with the good mood part of his statement. I took a wary step closer. She did look kind of cute. Lester had tied a big blue bow around her neck and given her a pedicure—there was black shoe polish on her hooves. I glanced at Lester, looking for signs of a struggle. He was wearing new overalls, the fold lines still fresh, and the handkerchief around his neck matched Junebug’s bow. And he looked pleased as punch, too.

“I suppose she can stay.” I wasn’t going to be the one who pointed a finger at the No Pets Allowed sign at the entrance of the park and banished them to the farm.

“Heather! Over here.” Bree’s voice was almost drowned out by the sudden cheer from the wall of people I was trying to push through. She flagged me down by waving her cowboy hat over their heads.

“What’s going on?” I called.

“See for yourself.” Several people stepped to the side, giving me a courtside view of the dunk tank. Jared was sitting on the platform, wet and seething. I skirted around a deluxe stroller that looked like a day care on wheels to see who was responsible.

Dex.

I blinked, just to make sure he didn’t disappear. No. He was still there, standing at the line, tossing the baseball up in the air and catching it with one hand.
But he’d left town.
The sudden warmth that spread through me had nothing to do with the sunshine.

“Did Dex dunk him?” I whispered.

“Six times so far. The guy should go pro.”

“Six times…” He really was full of surprises. It could take
years
to figure out someone like Dex.

Splash. Cheer.

“Seven.”

Jared crawled back up the ladder, shaking water like a Labrador retriever during duck season.

“Hand me another one, Candy.” Dex deftly caught the baseball she tossed at him.

I sidled up to him. “Let someone else have a turn, Mr. Ruth.”

Riley winked at me. “I’ll take over.”

Candy dug around in a box and handed Dex a gold elephant that proclaimed he was
THE BESS.
“I believe this is yours.”

“What are you
doing
here?” Was I grinning like an idiot? Because it felt like I was.

“I came back for the weekend. I couldn’t miss the chance to support Junebug’s career.”

He’d come back for a cow.

What did you expect, Heather?

There was no defining my relationship with Dex. And did we even have a relationship to define?

My attention snagged on the subtle differences I saw in him. He looked more relaxed, as if there was a smile lurking just below the surface of his serious expression. I gave him a subtle head-to-toe scan. The faded khakis and white T-shirt he wore weren’t exactly cutting edge but, when added to those nerdy absentminded-professor glasses, he looked
good
. For the first time I noticed the eagle tattooed on his forearm.
Whoa
. I couldn’t take any more surprises.

We stared at each other until Bree coughed. “Riley and I are going to get a hot dog from Ed’s stand. We’ll catch up with you guys later.”

“Did she just say something?” I frowned.

Dex pushed his hand through his hair. “I’m not sure. Walk with me?”

“Okay.”

As if someone had choreographed it, we went straight for the swings on the other side of the park. I sat down but Dex didn’t. He put one hand on the chain of my swing and looked up at the sky.

“Dex—”

He shushed me. “Wait your turn.”

I pressed my lips together and pretended I was turning a key. Dex put out his hand and I dropped the “key” into it. His fingers closed around it.

“The first time I met you—and I swear I didn’t notice you were wearing a bathrobe—this is what I saw. A girl who wore shoes that matched her earrings—” He must have seen the sparkle in my eyes because he rolled his. “Yes, I noticed. I noticed the expensive clothes and the pink lipstick, too.”

“I know…you thought I was shallow.”

He shook the invisible key in front of my face and I pressed my lips together again.

“Maybe for the first five minutes. After that, I thought you were like the best Christmas present under the tree—the one that didn’t have my name on it.”

My throat closed. I wanted to hold those words and study them but Dex kept talking, so I had to keep up.

“All summer long I tried to stay away from you and I think God laughed every time He put you in my path. There was no getting away from you.”

There was no getting away from you.
And here I’d been thinking I couldn’t get away from
him
. But I’d also thought he couldn’t talk and was disconnected from his emotions, which proved when it came to Dex, I knew nothing at all. But I wanted to know more. That amazing thought hit me, knocking every coherent thought out of my head. Even if Dex had given me back the key, I wouldn’t have been able to say a word.

“There are things in my past I haven’t worked through yet. I don’t deserve the life I have now, so I wouldn’t have the guts to ask God for more. Especially someone to share it with. But I had to see you and tell you that your friendship is…important. I didn’t want to leave without you knowing that.”

Forget the key. Fortunately, when something rendered me speechless it was a temporary condition.

“So that’s what we are? Friends?” I tested the word.

“If that’s okay with you.” Dex’s eyes met mine.

“So I’m supposed to write to you while you fly planes somewhere in South America?”

“You could call the headquarters once in a while. They’d track me down.”

“You could call me, too.”

“I could.” The smile was in his eyes now, warming them.

“You’ll be gone two years.”

He pushed his hand through his hair, leaving a row of tousled strands. “I know. It’s a long time.”

Step by step, walking with Him. Listening to His voice. For a girl who liked to jump ahead, it didn’t seem so scary anymore. “A lot can happen in two years.”

Dex’s smile came out in full force.

“I’m counting on it.”