God In The Kitchen (30 page)

            Maria told me about her college life and how she went on to study to be a veterinarian.

            “You always were bringing home strays,” I said, remembering the wet kitten she had found in the alley that one time and the baby bird she had nursed into adulthood.

            “Remember the chicken?” she asked.

            I laughed. Boy did I remember the chicken. She had found her when our group of friends went to the pumpkin patch. Apparently, the mother would not care for her and the farmer thought it was best to let nature take its course. Maria thought otherwise and she took the chicken home. The thing was cute and furry when it was little, but once it grew, it reeked quite a bit of havoc on her house before she turned it back over to another local farm.

            “Remember when Cluck nearly took Ben’s head off when you guys were over playing pool that one night?”

            “He screamed like a girl,” I chuckled, shaking my head.

            I told Maria about my career in radio and she listened with fascination as I told her about the promo drive for Ian.

            “This is going to be an annual event?” she asked.

            I nodded, “That’s the idea. A different reason each time.”

            “There are a lot of animals out there that need that kind of help…” she said with her signature smile.

            The evening passed too quickly and I knew it was official. I wanted Maria back in my life. It felt as if she had never left. I wondered if I would have reached out and tried to contact her before if I had known she was so close by. Given the way we had parted amicably, I figured I would have left it alone. It wasn’t worth thinking about too hard now. The time was lost and all we had was now.

            “Can we do this again?” I asked, wanting to reach across the table and grab her hand.

            “Are you free tomorrow?” she said with a grin.

            “Actually, I am!”

Maria and I picked up seemingly where we left off. We started seeing each other again on a near daily basis. It was a slight drive between our two locations, but it didn’t faze me. If it meant I got to see her dimple grow each time she smiled, I would have driven twice the distance.

            Maria came up to my area for special radio station events and I even had her as a guest on the show once, talking about pet care and how to choose the perfect pet for your family. Luckily, she didn’t bring any pets with her so there were no accidents to clean up once she was gone.

            I visited Maria’s veterinarian clinic and even went out on a few calls with her. I was amazed at her capacity to understand an animal’s ailment from a few simple symptoms and descriptions from the owner. Sometimes, she could tell what was wrong just by looking at the creature without hearing anything. I started to call her the Whisperer. She wasn’t a horse whisperer or a dog whisperer, she could speak to any animal. Simply “The Whisperer” seemed to suffice.

            We often met at the Hole in the Wall and talked for hours at a time. It was nice that the café was open both early and late so that we could fit in as much time as possible with one another.

            It was there that I told Maria the details about losing my father. And it was there that I told her about Evan.

            I hadn’t even really meant to tell her, but when I was talking about losing my father, I simply segued from that story into those that related to Evan. It was hard to tell her about the past few months of my life without including Evan. He had been appearing to me in my kitchen since my father’s death and he had been a key player in my relationships with both Chloe and Abigail.

            At first, Maria narrowed her eyes, but as I continued to talk, I could see her mind opening to the idea.

            “He looks like the pictures of Jesus?” she said, trying to wrap herself around the whole thing.

            “Sort of,” I said.

            “But he says he’s not God?”

            “No, but he does admit to having spiritual authority,” I answered, wondering if the whole thing sounded as crazy to her as it did to me as I spoke it out loud. It was the first time I had told anyone about Evan and I was pretty sure it would be the last. Other than the fact that I am telling you now, that is.

            “What does that mean?” she asked.

            “Beats me,” I said, raising my hands.

            Maria smiled and I continued with my story. I told her about meeting Chloe and Ian by ramming into their car and about the disastrous interview with Abigail on the air. Once I got to the point where I made the first decision, Maria looked thoroughly interested and for the first time since we had reconnected, she was utterly quiet. I went through the details of my relationship with Chloe and skimmed through the part about the promo drive for Ian since she already knew most of that story. Once things ended badly with Chloe, Maria actually looked sad.

            “Don’t worry,” I said, “it ends differently now.”

            “What do you mean?” she asked.

            “I got to do it all again,” I said with a glimmer in my eye.

            She was intrigued and I plowed through the rest of the story. The part where Evan ate more of my food and sent me back in time to make a different decision. I chose Abigail and documented how that relationship had gone and how it had ended for Maria.

            “So,” she said, finally finding her voice again. “You were looking for a family…a wife…and you had two choices and neither of them were right?”

            “That’s about the sum of it.”

            “What would you do now?” she asked.

            “What do you mean?” I questioned, frowning.

            “If Evan came back to you again and said you could go back and do it all over yet again, what would you do? Who would you choose?”

            I pondered the question. It was not one I had asked myself. After a few beats of silence, I was sure of my answer. “Neither,” I said.

            Maria nodded. “That makes sense. It didn’t work out with either of them so why would you choose one over the other a second time around.”

            “No,” I said, “That’s not it. I wouldn’t choose either of them because they aren’t you.”

            The shock on Maria’s face was quickly replaced by her deepening smile as her dimple grew.

            “Do you mean that?” she asked, her hand shaking a bit on top of the table.

            “Ask and ye shall receive,” I said, covering her hand with mine.

            “What?” she said, confusion clouding her smile.

            “Nothing,” I said, not wanting to talk about Evan anymore. “I just mean that I got what I was looking for in the end. I went through a lot of hurt to get here, but I got what I wanted.”

            Maria tilted her head and I remembered the day she did the very same thing on the marching band field. A base drummer had lost control of his drum and had gone plummeting head over heels over drum down the hill by the field. The entire band had laughed hysterically, but Maria had just tilted her head, as if to say ‘how did that happen?’

            “It’s obvious to me now,” I continued. “You’re the one for me, Maria. You always have been. You were a great friend in high school and you know what they say. The best relationships start as friendships. I think we can have one of the best relationships in the history of the world.”

            “The history of the world, really?” she said, a glimmer returning to her eyes.

            “Marry me,” I said, surprising myself with the declaration. I didn’t have a ring. I hadn’t planned this. I was just following my heart. And the prayers that had led me there. What Maria didn’t know was that ever since we had reconnected, I had spent a lot of time with her, but I had spent even more time talking about her…with God. And I felt more strongly every time I brought up the topic of her with Him. She was the one. There was no doubt in my mind. And there was no reason to delay any longer.

            “I love you,” I continued. “I’ll move two towns for you. I’ll move across the country for you. Just tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”

            I felt like it was time for me to let her answer, but I couldn’t stop myself from laying it on thick. “I could never take my eyes off you in high school and that hasn’t changed. I could never bring myself to ask you out, but once you took the initiative, I couldn’t have been happier. I am forever indebted to your brother for getting us back together again. I wish we had never parted in the first place.”

            “Why did you let me go?” she asked softly, tears brimming her eyes.

            I had thought about that very question a lot in the past few months as we got closer and found ourselves back in a relationship, much like we had been in high school.

            “I was young,” I started. “I was immature. It simply wasn’t the right time for us. If we had gone to the same school and continued to date. Things probably would have ended badly. But now, Maria, now is the time.”

            Maria nodded. “I know,” she said. “And the answer is yes.”

            The Hole in the Wall café would never be the same. It was now not only a quaint little café on the middle of Main Street in a tiny suburb. It was now also the place where Maria and I got engaged. It was the place where I had finally found “the one.” And it was all thanks to Evan, God, and the advice they had given me along the way.

            Maria and I got married in a small ceremony at her brother’s church, which also became my own church. My family flew in and it was so nice to be back together again, though my heart ached for my father, who I just knew would have charmed Maria’s family with his laugh and stories.

            We decided to have the reception at the only place that made sense…The Hole in the Wall café. After the wedding, we were going to spend a few days at a local bed and breakfast and then I was going to take the rest of the week off in order to move.

            It was going to be a longer commute for me to make it to work every day. But with my hours, I wouldn’t have to fight rush hour traffic and it made more sense for me to move to Maria’s town than the other way around. She was established in the animal world in her town and as a veterinarian, she often got called out at odd hours of the night so she needed to be close. I was never called in to the radio station and could judge my schedule pretty well. Plus, it was only a 30-minute drive. For Maria, I would do anything. I had already told her that.

            Even though my father was physically missing from the ceremony, I felt his presence throughout the festivities. I also saw Evan for the very first time in a location other than my kitchen. Once we made it to the Hole in the Wall café, believe it or not, he was sitting behind the cake table, eyeing the icing as if he hadn’t eaten since the last time I saw him. He gave me a wink and then disappeared before anyone else saw him. It was enough to know that he had been there, since I felt he had a large part in orchestrating my happiness to begin with. I hoped that even though I had what I wanted, the beginnings of a family of my own, that I would see him again so I could tell him in person how much I appreciated what he had done for me.

            I got my wish the week after the wedding, as I boxed up my house. Maria had been called away to an ailing horse on the outskirts of the area and I stayed at my house to get a little more packing done.