Right Where I Belong

by Krista McGee

Brian patted the hard hat. “What’s under here is priceless. Gotta protect it.”

  “Priceless. Right. And how’d you do on that English test yesterday?” Spencer knew Brian had gotten a C.

  “We don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Mr. Adams walked around the room. The effort caused him to break out in a sweat. “I just wanted to show my boy here. Got to get him ready to go into business, know the ropes. I’m trying to hook him up with the new girl at school so he can get an internship with her dad’s company.”

  Spencer’s face turned red. “Dad, I told you I don’t want to do that to her.”

  Brian’s stomach clenched at the plea in Spencer’s voice. He really likes her.

  “It’s a great opportunity.” Mr. Adams shrugged. “For you and for him. I can bring him a lot of business. I’ve tried to contact him, but his secretary says he’s out of town for an extended vacation.”

  Brian had never talked to Natalia about her parents. What were they like? What kind of childhood did she have? Did she miss her parents? He felt guilty for not thinking of these things sooner. All he could think about when he was around her was how pretty she was. But she needs a friend, not another guy drooling over her.

  “Spencer, see if you can get Natalia to give you her dad’s cell number.”

  Spencer’s eyes closed.

  “He’ll thank you.” Mr. Adams put an arm around his son. “She may too.”

  “Dad.” Spencer sighed.

  “We’ll talk about it over dinner, all right?” Mr. Adams guided Spencer to the entrance. “Gary’s Steakhouse?”

  Brian looked at the door as the pair exited. Gary’s Steakhouse was one of the most expensive restaurants in town. And they go there like it’s no big deal. We go once a year—maybe. Natalia’s life had to be like that. She had no idea what Brian’s world was like. What makes me think she’d even really want to be friends? Maybe Spencer is better for her all around.

  Brian was glad to be able to start pulling down the drywall. He surprised even Mr. King with the force with which he tore into it.

  Unfortunately no amount of external destruction could calm his internal turmoil.

  Chapter 26

  Natalia stared at the computer screen.

  The computer screen. Her father didn’t even bother to return her phone call.

  Natalia,

  My daughter does not give up. Your stepmother needs you. And you need this year. It is good for your résumé. It is much easier to get into an American university when you have a degree from an American high school. Think about your future. Victoria and I are going to spend another week in Australia, then we will come back and we will start our new life at home. She needs some time to adjust to that. I’m coming to New York on business in a couple of months. You can come up and join me. If you still want to come home, we can talk about it then.

  Papa

  Natalia slammed her laptop shut. She couldn’t even go home. Her father didn’t want her. Her mother had been offered a more lucrative position at a new television station in Barcelona. She had written to say that since Natalia had moved away, she decided she would too. But Natalia could visit when she came home.

  Right. Because Barcelona is right around the corner from Madrid.

  Carmen’s family would let Natalia stay with them. But where? They had a spacious apartment, but no one left a room open so a friend whose parents had no time for her could live with them.

  Natalia threw herself down on the bed and cried. Her parents were too busy for her. Her stepmother was too depressed to notice her. Her friends were moving on. Even Carmen’s e-mails and phone calls were slowing down. Her life went on without Natalia in it. And her friends here . . . Addy and Lexi were great, but they already had such a close bond. Natalia felt like she was interfering in their friendship. They were just being nice, letting Natalia hang out with them.

  Her phone rang and she wiped her eyes. Brian’s name scrolled across the phone’s face.

  “Hello?”

  “Natalia?” Brian’s voice sounded unsure. “I’m sorry to bother you. But my dad insisted I call and invite you over to lunch after church tomorrow. I understand if you’re busy, but—”

  “No, I’m not busy.” Natalia tried to convince herself that she was excited simply because she would get to ask the pastor some questions. “I’d love to have lunch with your family.”

  “Really?” Natalia could picture Brian’s smile. “I’ll meet you after the service. Maureen can come too, of course.”

  Natalia swallowed past the lump in her throat before speaking. “I don’t think she wants to be seen right now.”

  “Why?”

  “Were you in the cafeteria on Thursday?”

  “Oh, that.”

  “She refused to go back to school Friday, refused to answer Mr. Lawrence’s phone calls. She is sure he’s going to fire her.”

  “He’s not going to fire her.” Brian’s tone didn’t match his words.

  “What are you not telling me?”

  Brian’s sigh punctuated the silence. “Karen Jordan’s parents are the type who get angry if someone looks at their daughter the wrong way.”

  Natalia recalled the way Maureen screamed at Karen, humiliating the tenth grader in front of the entire high school. “So they are pretty upset, then?”

  “That’s a nice way to say it. But we all understand Maureen just made a mistake. My dad and Mr. Lawrence are on her side.”

  “But?”

  “But she’ll probably get an earful from the Jordans.”

  “Great.” That was the last thing her stepmother needed.

  “Maureen really should come tomorrow. We’re a lot of fun. She can get her mind off all this. She doesn’t need to sit around and feel sorry for herself.”

  Natalia wanted to tell him that’s all Maureen did. But she didn’t want to burden him with her sad stories.

  “Just ask her.” Brian cleared his throat. “So what did you do today?”

  “Nothing, really.”

  “Nothing? On a Saturday. That’s terrible.”

  “I don’t have the most active social life, you know,” Natalia said. “Addy is visiting her friend Kara, and Lexi went on a weekend trip with her dad.”

  “You need to do something fun so you have something to tell them on Monday.”

  “I do have something fun. I’m having dinner with the pastor and his family tomorrow.”

  “Dinner with my family cannot be the highlight of your weekend.” Brian paused before continuing. “Tell you what, how about I pick you up and take you someplace?”

  “But it’s almost eight o’clock.” Natalia looked at her alarm clock. “That’s late for you Americans.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” He didn’t bother to disguise the mocking tone in his voice.

  “The malls close at nine. There’s nothing to do here at night.”

  “You live here a month and think you know everything. Just get dressed. Put on some jeans and lots of bug spray. I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.”

  Natalia loved the idea of getting out of the house. But she worried about getting out with Brian. Would he get the wrong idea? Would she?

  “And I know what you’re thinking,” Brian interrupted Natalia’s thoughts. “But it’s not a date. So no funny business, all right? I’m hard to resist, I know. But it’s for your own good.”

  Natalia did not want Brian to know how close to the truth he was, so she played along with his joke. “Very well, sir. If you insist.”

  Natalia hung up the phone and skipped to her closet. What to wear for a night out on a nondate with a guy she was far too attracted to for her own good? She rifled through her jeans, trying to find the baggiest pair. Then she pulled out a plain blue shirt. No frills, nothing that could be considered attractive.

  “Maureen?” Natalia knocked on her stepmother’s door. She had barely come out for the past two days. “I’m going out for a little bit. Is that all right?”

&n
bsp; “Sure.” Maureen’s voice was soft. Tired.

  Natalia wished Maureen would at least ask where she was going and with whom. Sure, she trusts me. But Maureen’s lack of concern went beyond trust. If something didn’t change soon, Natalia would have to call for help. Maureen couldn’t go on like this.

  The doorbell rang right as Natalia was covering herself with bug spray kept in the garage.

  “Hi, Brian. Sorry it took me so long.”

  Brian coughed. “I think you’re safe from the bugs. I don’t know if I’ll even survive being in the same truck as you.”

  “Those mosquitoes you have here are awful.” Natalia folded her arms as Brian pretended to be gasping for air.

  “Hey, you’re one of us now. They are our mosquitoes.”

  Natalia loved the way that sounded. If only she felt as if she belonged.

  “All right, hop in the truck. I promise to have you back by eleven.”

  “Excellent.” Natalia smiled. “Where are we going?”

  “Wait and see.” Brian walked to Natalia’s side of the truck and opened the door for her. She lifted herself into the truck and sat as Brian made his way back to the driver’s side. His cologne permeated the air in the vehicle, and it smelled wonderful.

  No. We are friends. He’s just taking me out because I haven’t had anything to do all day. Nothing more.

  The door groaned as Brian opened it and sat down. Natalia tried to force her heart not to race when she looked at Brian’s profile. So kind. So handsome. So not for you.

  Brian drove outside of the city, beyond where there were even streetlights.

  “Good thing I trust you, Brian Younger.”

  “I like the way you say that. ‘Brian Yung-ah.’ So proper.”

  Natalia wanted to tell him she liked the way he said her name, the easy way it rolled off his tongue. But she couldn’t. He might get the wrong idea.

  “Almost there.” Brian pulled off onto a dirt road that led into the woods.

  “All right, seriously. Where are you taking me?”

  Brian pointed to a tall structure directly in front of them. “There.”

  “What is it?” Dusk had set in, so the structure seemed to blend into the surroundings.

  “It’s an old lookout tower.” Brian opened his door and walked around to her side. Natalia had never experienced such gentlemanly behavior. She found it quite enjoyable. She jumped out of the truck, and Brian reached into the glove compartment to pull out a small flashlight. “It’ll get dark quick out here.”

  Natalia looked up. The tower was wooden and very tall. Steps wound around the circular base all the way to the top, which had a walkway all around it.

  “Is this safe?” Natalia was sure the structure was several decades old.

  “Of course.” Brian clicked his flashlight on and shone it on the ground in front of them. “This is the place I go when I need some one-on-one time with God.”

  “You come all the way out here to pray?” Natalia followed Brian on the steep stairs.

  “You’ll see why soon.”

  Natalia felt herself getting winded halfway up. They were already above the tree level. And there were still many more steps to climb.

  Brian stepped to the side when they reached the top so Natalia could stand at the rail and look out. The full moon cast a silvery glow on the trees, and out in the distance was a river, its still waters reflecting the moon and framing it with plants Natalia had never seen before.

  “This is lovely.”

  “I know.” Brian leaned on the rail next to her. “My dad brought me here for the first time about three years ago. I had just hurt my knee pretty badly. Dad actually had to half carry me up these stairs.”

  “Oh no.” Natalia looked at Brian. “What happened?”

  “I was really into martial arts. Used to compete and everything.”

  “I thought you weren’t athletic?”

  “Most people at school didn’t know. I always said I wouldn’t play school sports because I wasn’t any good.”

  “Why didn’t you want people to know about your martial arts?”

  Brian shrugged. “Being a pastor’s kid, I get watched in everything I do. People are always expecting so much from us. But in martial arts, I was just Brian. No one knew who my dad was or where I went to school. It was nice. I wanted to keep it like that.”

  “What happened?”

  “I blew my knee out, doing something stupid.”

  “What?”

  “I was playing around with some buddies before class, flipped one of them over, and my knee just ripped apart.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “You’re not kidding.” Brian blew out a long breath. “Just like that, my martial arts days were over.”

  “Couldn’t you go back after your knee healed?”

  “No.” Brian looked out at the river. “Doctor’s orders. I was so angry.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “That was the one thing in life I really loved, and God had to go and take that away from me too.”

  “You were mad at God?” Brian always seemed so confident in his relationship with God.

  “You bet I was. Furious. I’d sit in church and stare at the baptistery. Refused to listen to the sermons. I told Dad he could ground me, spank me, do whatever he wanted. But I was done with God.”

  “What did your dad say?”

  “Nothing.” Brian smiled. “He brought me out here. I thought it was my punishment, that he was going Survivorman on me and I’d have to find my way home.”

  Natalia laughed. “But that wasn’t it?”

  “No. He took me up here and had me stand right there and said, ‘What do you see?’”

  “And then what?”

  “You have to answer that.” Brian turned his blues eyes toward her. “What do you see?”

  Natalia forced her gaze away from Brian. “Trees, a river, birds, plants, mosquitoes.”

  Brian aimed his flashlight down to a path directly below the tower. “See that trail?”

  Natalia’s eyes adjusted to the light. When they did, she saw the slight trail, snaking its way through the forest and to the river, where it ended at a dock. A small boat was tied to the dock. She leaned forward to see where the river went from there. “Is that the ocean?”

  “Very good.” Brian smiled. “It’s hard to see when it’s dark. I’ll bring you back sometime during the day. It’s much more obvious. But, yes, that’s the ocean.”

  “Amazing.”

  “But you don’t see any of that from down there.” Brian once again pointed his flashlight to the trail below them. “When you’re there, it’s just a bunch of trees. And if you’ve never been on that trail, you might think it just goes deeper into the woods.”

  “I doubt I would even get on that trail if I hadn’t been up here. It would seem frightening, just walking into the forest.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “And your dad?”

  “He said our lives are like this. God puts us on paths that sometimes seem very dark and pointless. Sometimes it seems like there’s no way out. And a lot of people get upset at that, and so they get off his path and go off on their own.”

  “But when they do that, they miss what is waiting for them at the end.” Natalia thought of her desire to leave Tampa, of Maureen’s desire to hide away until the pain was over.

  Brian pointed to the ocean. “Through the woods, onto the river, and then into the ocean. From there, you can go anywhere. Possibilities are limitless.”

  A tear fell down her cheek. “But first, you have to get through the forest.”

  Brian stepped closer to Natalia so their shoulders were touching. “That’s right. And sometimes, getting through the forest seems almost impossible.”

  “That’s why we need to trust God.” Natalia looked around. “He sees what we don’t.”

  “You catch on quick.” Brian nudged Natalia.

  “So you brought me up here to give
me a sermon?”

  “No sermon.” Brian laughed. “Not me. But I did think you might benefit from what my dad taught me that day.”

  “I did.” Natalia took in a deep breath. The scent of the forest was fresh and clean, tinged with a bit of the salty sea air. God knew everything. He had a purpose for everything. She just needed to trust him and keep walking through the wilderness. The end may not be in her sight, but it was definitely in his.

  Chapter 27

  And this is Brian when he played one of the wise men in the children’s Christmas pageant.” Mrs. Younger pointed to a picture in the ornately decorated scrapbook. Five-year-old Brian’s red hair was plastered to his head, and he wore a dark blue robe and a deep scowl.

  “Mom, please.” Brian put a hand over the picture. “Don’t you need to work on lunch?”

  Mrs. Younger laughed and turned the page. Little Brian was between his two older sisters, standing in front of the church Christmas tree. The robe was off but the scowl was still there. “He hated having his picture taken.”

  “Seriously, Mom.” Brian’s face was turning red. Natalia couldn’t imagine why he would be embarrassed. His parents adored him. His mother spent hours putting together scrapbooks like this so she could remember every moment of his childhood.

  “Brittany and Brigit are working on lunch.” Mrs. Younger waved Brian away. “Why don’t you join them?”

  He sighed and stood, defeated. “At least promise me you’ll skip past the bathtub shots.”

  Mrs. Younger didn’t look up. “Go work on lunch, dear. Your sisters need you.”

  “You have a beautiful family.” Natalia gazed at a page with the family standing together on the beach.

  “I am blessed.” Mrs. Younger smiled.

  “Your daughters are both in college, right?”

  “Brittany will be a senior, and Brigit is a sophomore.”

  “What are they studying?”

  “Brittany is majoring in elementary education.” Mrs. Younger looked at Natalia, her eyes mirror images of Brian’s, clear, blue, and caring. “She wants to teach kindergarten.”

  Natalia marveled at the pride in his mother’s face.

  “And Brigit?”