I Promise (21 page)

Christy decided to answer him with the same forthrightness he had asked the question. “Homework.”

“Homework, huh? What's that?”

“Oh, be nice!” Christy turned away from the cash register since she didn't have any customers at the moment. “Have you already forgotten what it's like for the rest of us who aren't yet college graduates?”

“Yes.” Lowering his voice, he added, “I miss you, Kilikina.”

“I miss you more,” she countered.

“Not possible,” he said. “Hey, do you think you can ignore your homework for one night and go out to dinner with me?”

“You tell me when and where, and I'll be there.”

“Don't laugh,” Todd said. “But I'd like to go to The Golden Calf and eat at our table by the window. I miss meeting you there.”

“Okay, what time?”

“Five-fifteen if you want me in my painting clothes. Six o'clock if you want me clean.”

“I'll take 5:15,” Christy said.

Eager to make sure no one snatched their table, Christy left the bookstore immediately when she got off at five. She went directly to their table and waited only a few minutes before she spotted Todd coming toward her. It was all she could do not to jump up, dash across the cafeteria, and throw her arms around her beloved. He was wearing his grungy paint clothes and a smile on his face broad enough and bright enough to start a small forest fire.

One thing was certain. His presence lit a blazing fire in the hearth of her soul. She rose to greet him with a kiss and a tight hug.

“Good thing this paint is dry,” Todd said.

Christy pulled away and checked her clothes. Todd was right. His speckled work clothes hadn't transferred any paint onto her.

“Have you already eaten?” Todd asked.

“No, I came a little early to wait for you.”

“I'll get your food for you,” he offered. “What would you like?”

“Anything. I'm not even hungry. I just want to talk with you.”

“We have a lot to talk about, don't we. I'll be right back.”

Christy watched Todd move through the line, greeting friends and getting their food. She thought again
about the similarities between having a relationship with the Lord and falling in love. The parallels seemed to be everywhere, now that she was watching for them.

What would my relationship with the Lord be like if I set a time to meet with Him every day? Would I show up early just because I couldn't wait to talk with Him?

After Todd returned to the table, Christy said she wanted to pray for them before they ate. With a full heart, she thanked God for Todd and for the chance to be together during their busy week. She told Jesus she wanted to grow more in love with Him so that she would find a fire lit in the hearth of her soul every day and that she would meet with Him there with an open heart.

“Amen!” Todd said.

“As you wish,” she said to conclude the prayer. Looking up, she smiled at Todd.

He smiled back.

“I wish I had understood love sooner,” Christy said. “I wish I had known when I was younger what it meant to be in love like this. If I had, I think my relationship with the Lord would be so much deeper than it is now. I just didn't understand.”

Todd nodded. “Hey, I talked to your uncle today, and he said Marti is really opening up to the Lord. He said you had a talk with her on Saturday that she told him about.”

Christy gave Todd a summary of what had gone on all weekend. He told her about the backpacking trip.
She told him about going to The Dove's Nest on Friday with Sierra and that reminded her of Rick's message about the tux shop.

“I thought I told you I was going to ask Rick to be one of the groomsmen,” Todd said.

“No, I think I would have remembered if you had. It means we now have three groomsmen and only two bridesmaids.”

“Four.” Todd speared a piece of broccoli with his fork. “Doug, my dad, Rick, and David.”

“David? My brother? When did you ask David to be a groomsman?”

“A couple of weeks ago. I know we talked about that one.”

“I remember us talking about whether or not we wanted to have a candlelighter, and how David could do that.”

“Right,” Todd said.

“But then we decided we didn't want a candle-lighter because we were getting married outside,” Christy said.

“Right. So I asked David to be a groomsman. He was pretty happy about it. I think he'll feel like he's included in the wedding more, don't you?”

So that was Todd's logic. That was the way his mind worked. Deep down, he was considering the welfare of others. David would feel included. That was important to Todd.

Christy knew then that for the rest of her life, no matter how organized she would be, the unpredictable
factor of Todd's logic would always come into play.

For the next ten minutes, they discussed what Christy labeled the “random factor.” She knew this quality of Todd's would be with them on the long journey ahead, and she was determined to make peace with it. She gave Todd examples of when it already had affected their relationship, such as when he stopped under the freeway in Carlsbad to share his breakfast with the homeless man. Todd didn't see his pattern of thinking as anything unusual, but he said he would try to remember to run decisions past Christy before he acted on them.

“So, do you think you can live with it?” Todd asked. “Me, I mean. My logic. This ‘random factor.' Will I drive you crazy?”

“Probably,” Christy said with a grin. “No more than I'll drive you crazy with my tidiness issues.”

“I think we're getting better at this, don't you? We're learning how to keep each other balanced.” Todd returned her wide smile.

Christy noticed he had tiny flecks of beige paint across his forehead and a small piece of broccoli stuck between his front two teeth.

Okay, this is starting to get pretty real here!

Christy motioned to Todd he had something in his teeth and remembered one of their earliest dates. They had taken Uncle Bob's tandem bike to Balboa Island, and Todd had bought her an ice cream dipped in chocolate. On the bike ride back, the chocolate had somehow smeared across her face, but Todd hadn't said
anything to her, even though she found out after he left that she looked ridiculous.

It wouldn't be like that now. We've come a long way in our relationship. Todd would tell me if I had chocolate on my face. Or broccoli in my teeth. We're a team. A good team. We balance each other, just like he said.

“Did I tell you about the trip to Mexico this weekend?” Todd asked.

“What trip to Mexico?”

“Several of the men from church want to go down to work on the orphanage. They plan to leave Thursday night and come back Saturday night. Do you want to go with us?”

Christy tried to remember what she had just told herself about their being a good team, but the thoughts escaped her. “Todd, I'm swamped this weekend. I have classes Friday, and I work until six. There's no way I can change things around to go to Mexico with you!”

Then, because she knew she needed to express everything she was thinking, she tried in a kind way to say, “You realize, don't you, that you're leaving for the second weekend in a row?”

“I know. That's why I hoped you could come with us. I can get out of it, I think.”

“It sounds like you should go,” Christy said.

“What about us? What about our wedding plans?”

“I can work on everything. We have . . . what? Seven or eight more weekends after this one.”

“I'll make sure I don't schedule myself for anything
during the next eight weekends,” Todd said.

Christy leaned forward. “Just promise me you won't schedule anything for the weekend of May twenty-second. That weekend definitely is booked.”

“Got it on my calendar.”

Christy looked at him skeptically. “Do you even own a calendar?”

Todd shrugged. “No, just the one on the back of my checkbook. But I circled May twenty-second on that calendar.”

Christy laughed. A few months ago she might have cried; now she laughed.

Todd watched her laugh with a settled look on his face. “Why did I think we could pull this off in January?”

Christy laughed more. “Sometimes I wish we
had
pulled it off in January. We would be married now.”

“But a rushed wedding wouldn't have been as special as the one you're making for us,” Todd said.

“Do you want to talk about a few of the wedding details?” Christy asked. “It would be good for us to make a couple of decisions tonight, especially since you're going to be gone this weekend.”

“Sure. Like what?”

“Tuxes.”

“Okay, let's go look at tuxes.”

“Now?” Christy asked.

“Sure, why not?”

“Why not?” Christy echoed.

With a few more quick bites of dinner, Todd and
Christy left the cafeteria, jumped into their Volvo, and drove down the hill to Burton's Tuxedo Shop. Todd hummed as he drove.

Christy reached over and gave his arm three squeezes. “Hey, you're getting pretty muscular there.” Todd raised his eyebrows. “Never underestimate the power of moving a paintbrush up and down a wall all day.”

Christy grinned and gave his arm another squeeze. He flexed and she laughed, remembering how her dad used to invite Christy and David to each grab on to his arm muscles when they were little. Her dad would then flex both arm muscles like a strong man and lift them off the ground.

“You're my hero,” Christy said sweetly.

Now Todd laughed. “Need any bars of steel bent? Any tall buildings you want me to leap over?”

“No,” Christy said firmly. “Just stand still and let the guy measure you when we get to this tux shop.”

“Got it.” Todd went back to humming a song Christy didn't recognize.

“What is that? I've heard you hum it before.”

“It's a song I've been working on. I'll sing it for you sometime.”

“Sing it now,” Christy said.

Todd flashed her a big smile. “Naw, it's better with the guitar. Just wait. I'll sing it for you one day. I promise.”

They entered Burton's Tuxedo Shop hand in hand with Todd still humming. The man who stood behind
the counter seemed reluctant to take them seriously. Christy guessed it was because of how Todd looked. They sat down and began to look through the book of selected styles.

On the fifth page, Todd said, “That's it. That's the one. What do you think, Christy?”

She thought she would like to look at the rest of the pages and then go back and look at them again before deciding.

“It's nice. It's basic. The classic tux,” Todd said. “I think this is the one. What do you think?”

“It's nice.”

“So we can go with this one?”

“Sure.” Christy hadn't seen anything she particularly liked on the preceding pages, and she reminded herself Todd would be the one wearing the tux, after all. He should be the one to decide what he wanted to wear.

“Sir?” Todd called across the room. “Would you mark the Spencer-Miller party down for five of these?” Christy covered her mouth with her hand. Having just gone through several formal meetings over the weekend with her mom and aunt, Christy thought Todd's way of handling things was atrocious. He sounded as if he were ordering five tacos to go. “It's five, right?” Todd asked.

Christy uncovered her mouth. “Six. My dad decided to wear a tux after all. I don't know if Uncle Bob wants to wear the same style.”

“Sir?” Todd hollered to the man behind the
counter. “Could you make that seven?”

“Todd, why don't we just go over there and talk to him,” Christy suggested.

They filled out the paper work. Todd put down a deposit. Then the store clerk asked Todd to stand in front of the mirrors so he could be measured. Todd stretched out his arms and fortunately kept his comments to a minimum.

Within ten minutes the process was complete, and they were back on the road to school. Christy wondered if some of Todd's carefree approach to life would rub off on her after they were married.

Until that happened, she still had some less-than-carefree topics to discuss with him, starting with the wedding party. They stopped at an ice-cream shop on their way back to campus and ate at a corner table.

Todd didn't seem to grasp the problem of having four groomsmen while Christy only had two attendants. “I don't think it should matter if the sides are uneven.”

“It matters to me,” Christy said. “I should ask two other friends to stand with me.” She thought about whom she would ask. It had been so simple when it was just Katie and Tracy. Neither she nor Todd had any sisters or close cousins to include.

“I could ask Doug and Rick just to be ushers. They wouldn't have to stand with me,” Todd said.

“No, I don't think the answer is to uninvite any of the men. It would be better if I chose two more women. The only problem is I don't really have any
other friends I'm especially close to, or at least close enough to ask them to be in our wedding. Sierra is the only one I can think of, and I wouldn't feel right asking her now. She would know she was an afterthought.”

Christy had always been a one-best-friend kind of person. Paula had been that best friend all the way through elementary and junior high. The two of them always said they would be each other's bridesmaids; however, they had grown apart when Christy moved to California. Last summer Paula got married, and Christy received an invitation but wasn't able to attend.

Then she realized how much her year in Switzerland had chopped up her relationships. She had friends in Europe, but it was unlikely any of them could come to the wedding. Her first few years of college she had lived at home and attended a community college. She hadn't developed any lasting friendships there. Her list of friends suddenly seemed very short.