Betting on Love (18 page)

“Mike’s little brother, Joe. He was boating at the lake with some friends yesterday. The kids stayed out too late, swimming when it was too dark. They couldn’t find him until this morning. He drowned.”

Melody felt like she was in a daze as she moved forward with Aunt Renee and Uncle Roy in line at the funeral home. She didn’t know Mike’s family very well, and of the three of Nick’s good friends, Mike was the one she knew the least. Still, to have his little brother, only fourteen years old, die so suddenly. It was awful, and her heart broke for the family.

She waved to Drew, Nick, Addy, Wyatt, and Gracie, who all stood at the far corner of the room. Baby Wyatt wasn’t with them. She assumed Gracie’s mom was taking care of him.

They moved a few more steps forward. A large man still blocked her view of Mike, but she could see his mom and dad. Their faces were red and puffy from probably having cried for days. The man moved forward, and Melody saw the exhaustion and sadness that etched Mike’s face. He had his arm around his mother’s shoulders, and she knew he tried to be strong.

They moved forward again. Her aunt wrapped her arms around Mike’s mother. “I’m so sorry.” She patted the woman’s back. “So, so sorry.”

Uncomfortable and unsure what to say, Melody simply mumbled her condolences and shook Mike’s parents’ hands. She reached Mike and shook his hand as well. She wished she knew what she could say to ease some of the hurt he felt, but what could she say? If she were in his place, there wouldn’t be words to make her feel better. She whispered, “I’m sorry, Mike.”

Mike’s expression remained blank as he looked past her. “Me, too.” He paused for a moment and took a deep breath as he scanned the long line of people still waiting to give their condolences. He patted her back. “Thanks for coming.”

Melody made her way to Drew and their friends. Gracie grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

Melody didn’t know what to say. She simply nodded.

“Mike said he wasn’t supposed to be out there.” Wyatt’s voice was low. “Their dad told him they didn’t need to be out swimming that late.”

Nick shook his head. “I guess Joe had been giving them a hard time lately. It can be awfully difficult being a young teenager.”

“Yeah. We did some stupid stuff that could have landed us hurt—or worse,” Drew added. “But God protected us,” said Nick.

Melody furrowed her brows. Then why wouldn’t He protect Joe? She needed to go home and search the scriptures, to spend some time in prayer. Aunt Renee told her things would still happen that she wouldn’t understand, but now that something
had
happened, she wanted to understand why. She looked up and saw that Drew was staring at her. He knew what she was thinking.

Drew hadn’t been able to have Bible study with Melody for a week. He’d spent a lot of time working, praying, crying, or simply being there for Mike and his family. They supported one another and spent a lot of time trying to bask in God’s comfort, but they still struggled with Joe’s death. He also spent a lot of time listening.

Today she was coming over. He’d missed seeing her, and he worried that Joe’s sudden, unexpected death would cause her to stumble in her new faith. She already struggled with wondering why God allowed bad things to happen. Truthfully,
he
wondered why some bad things happened. Joe wasn’t where he was supposed to be, but Drew couldn’t count the times on all his fingers and toes that he and his buddies had gone swimming after dark, not to mention the times they’d disobeyed their parents.

“For the wages of sin is death….”

He closed his eyes, remembering when he’d learned that
wages
didn’t mean “penalty.” It meant “payment.” Growing up, he’d always thought the verse in Romans was saying that the punishment for sinning was to die, but that wasn’t what the scripture said. It said the payment he received for sinning was death.

“But the gift of God is eternal life.”

But instead of letting him die for all eternity, Jesus had saved him. In terms of eternity, he was saved. God could have taken him the night he fell out of the fort he and his buddies set up when they were eight, after his mom had told him not to climb up in it. Nick could have died when he was a teenager and was driving his dad’s pickup too fast in the rain. He hit a slick spot and slammed into a tree. They could have and should have died, but God had chosen to spare them.

He’d chosen to take Joe.

Drew let out a long breath and sat on the bench. He picked up his Bible and held it between his hands. Peering out over the amazing creation God had formed, he whispered, “I don’t know why, but I have to trust You.”

He placed the Bible back on the bench and stood and walked to the edge of the pond. He bent down and picked up a few smooth stones and skipped one across the top of the water.

He was nervous about Melody’s reaction to Joe’s death. For all Drew knew, she may not even show up for their Bible study. He feared she’d decide the whole faith thing wasn’t worth it, because bad things still happened, and she couldn’t control them.

Listen to me, God, I sound just like Melody. Here I am stewing about her. You’re big enough to handle my worries and her worries, and the whole wide world’s problems if we’d only give them to You.

He skipped another rock. It had been a hard week. It hurt to let Joe go. It hurt to watch Mike and his parents in so much pain.

But the week also confirmed for him that he loved Melody. He didn’t just care for her. She wasn’t solely his friend. She was the woman he wanted to marry. He wanted to sit on these benches and read and study God’s Word with her every night. He wanted to hold her close and to have her work hard alongside him. If she’d have him, he’d pack her up in his truck and take her wherever he could to marry her tonight.

He looked at his watch. Melody was nearly a half hour late for their usual Bible study time.
Then again, she may not show up.

Melody couldn’t believe she was running so late. She’d missed seeing Drew something fierce all week. His friend and family needed him, and she’d never do anything to keep Drew from helping someone in need.

He probably thinks I’m not coming.
She looked down at her greasy coveralls. She knew her hair was an absolute wreck. She’d always cleaned up before going to Drew’s for their Bible study time. She’d even starting dabbing on perfume the last few times they met. Today, she simply rushed out of the shop and headed straight for his house.

AJ told her she didn’t have to stay to help. It was after five, and he’d planned to just tell the woman to bring her car back in the morning. But when Melody saw the lady and her three small children waiting in the lobby and how tired the woman looked in her factory uniform, Melody simply couldn’t make her come back the next day. She’d probably have to call in sick and lose money she most likely needed. All the car needed was a couple of new gaskets. It really didn’t take her that long.

She looked at the clock on the dash of the truck. She was almost an hour later than usual. For all she knew, Drew may have given up on her and left. Her stomach growled.
If he’s not there, I’m running through a fast-food restaurant.

But she wanted him to be there. She needed to see him. A week without him proved to her how much he meant to her. He was more than her best friend. She loved him.

Through a lot of prayer and Bible study, she’d learned that a part of her may always have moments of fear when it came to men being bigger and stronger than she was. It was kind of like a scar from the experience she’d had. It was there, and sometimes she noticed it, but it wouldn’t hurt or bother her unless she allowed herself to focus on it.

She couldn’t change that her dad left her mom. She couldn’t change that the man attacked her in the park. But with God’s help, she could control how she reacted to the memories of those things.

She drove through the thick wooded trees and into the open field. She saw Drew’s log house. He was living in it now, but he hadn’t been able to take her on the official tour since he’d finished just before Joe’s death.

Looking at the tree, their tree, she spied Drew standing beside the pond. He skipped a rock across it. She could tell he’d cleaned up for her, as he always did. He must have heard the truck because he turned, and if she saw right, he seemed to offer her a hesitant smile.

She snuck a peek in the rearview mirror. Just as she feared, she had grease smeared across her left cheek, and stray hairs clung to her temples and forehead from working all day.

God, help me not to be consumed by what I look like. I just want to enjoy seeing Drew and spending time in Your Word.

The night before she’d looked over the chapter they were going to study. It was 1 Corinthians 13. Her aunt had winked at her saying it was the “love” chapter. And it was. It talked of love being about patience and kindness. It wasn’t proud or rude or angry.

The verse that stuck with her was verse seven.
“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
She’d gone to bed repeating the verse over and over in her mind. Drew had shown her that kind of love, and it made her realize just how much she loved him as well.

She parked the truck and jumped out. He was walking toward her, and she looked down at her coveralls once more. She noticed that even her hands were dirty.
I can’t believe I didn’t even wash my hands.

“I thought you weren’t coming.” Drew’s smile had deepened.

She swept her hand down the front of her coveralls. “I wasn’t sure I would make it. A woman came in late needing some gaskets fixed, and I just couldn’t turn her away. I know I look a mess.” She lifted her hands. “I should have at least washed my hands, but I knew I was running so late, and I didn’t want you to worry, and…”

She took a breath, realizing she was babbling. Her nerves were getting the best of her. She wanted to look pretty the first time she saw Drew again.
My thoughts have changed a bit, huh, God?

She bit her bottom lip to hold back a smile. “I’m really glad I made it.”

“Me, too.” He lifted his hand and touched her cheek with the back of his hand. Her heart beat faster. “I missed you this week.”

“I missed you, too.”

At any moment she thought her heart might beat out of her chest. She wanted to scream out just how much she missed him, how much she loved him. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck, and for the first time feel his lips pressed against hers.

He smirked, and for a second she wondered if he could read her thoughts. He picked at a patch of sweat-dried hair against her temple and wrinkled his nose. She noted the gleam in his eye when he said, “Would you like to clean up a bit?”

She lifted her hands palms first in front of him and acted as if she were going to wipe them on his shirt. He flinched, and she laughed. “Do I have to?”

He pointed to the house. “Yes.”

She feigned a pout as she stomped onto his front porch and through the front door. The house looked beautiful. Just as she’d suggested, he’d bought dark brown leather furniture and accented with bits of red in the living room. She made her way down the hall.

“I’ll give you a tour when you get out.”

She turned to see Drew standing inside the front door. She nodded and walked into the bathroom. Turning on the water, she gasped when she caught sight of her full reflection. She really was a mess.

She scrubbed her face clean and pulled the ponytail out of her hair. She didn’t have a brush, but she spied a comb on the counter. She couldn’t get all the tangles out of the mass with just a simple comb, but she could at least make herself look presentable.

Unzipping her coveralls, she wished she’d worn something nicer beneath them. Of course that wouldn’t make much sense when she had to spend eight hours a day working on vehicles. She sighed.
Oh well, the cutoff sweats and T-shirt will have to do.

She sniffed under her arms and wrinkled her nose. She could seriously use some deodorant, and she wished she had her toothbrush. Spying men’s spray deodorant on the shelf above the toilet, she giggled.
Should I use it or should I not?