She hadn’t understood the 2.1 part until they got inside the fast-food restaurant. One of Tommy’s friends from the basketball team was working behind the counter and Tommy steered them to his line. When it was their turn, Tommy gave her a soft nudge. “Go ahead… place your order.”
A laugh caught her off guard. Whatever this was, Tommy’s friend had clearly been expecting them. There was a line forming behind them. Annalee tried to compose herself. “I’ll have a 2.1… I think.” She looked at Tommy. “Right?”
He shrugged at his friend. “The princess wants a 2.1. My treat, of course.”
Tommy’s friend had Annalee’s meal ready. Grilled chicken and a side salad. Her favorite. He handed her the food. “There’s the two.” He chuckled and pulled another pink envelope from beneath the counter. Annalee’s name was written across the front. “And here’s the one.”
When they were back in his Jeep, she opened the card and found another poem. The journey led them to a pottery craft store where they made matching mugs and then left them to be fired in the kiln. Next was a stop at her favorite coffee shop, where they shared a pair of pumpkin spice lattes.
“You don’t even like pumpkin.” She had given him a funny face as they got into the Jeep again. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing things from your side of the fence.” He took a sip and shuddered. “Just this one time, anyway.”
Here in the tube she relived each moment.
At each stop the cashier was ready with a pink card, and each card held another poem, another hint for the next stage of their adventure.
The next poem led them to a custom cookie store. Behind the counter an older woman seemed to recognize Tommy as soon as they walked in. Tommy grinned at her. “My princess has an order, I believe.”
Annalee was getting used to this. “Yes… I’d like a 2.1 please.” She laughed. “Whatever that means.”
“Well…” The woman giggled. She had to have been in her eighties. This must’ve been the highlight of her week. “Today only… a 2.1 is this.” She lifted a small pizza-sized box from beneath the counter and opened the lid.
Pink writing on a pair of enormous chocolate chip cookies read:
Princess lovely
Girl so fair…
I think we make
A lasting pair!
Tommy winked at her. “Pair… get it? Two cookies. Because we’re the perfect duo!”
Again Annalee laughed. The woman gave her yet another pink envelope, and this one directed the two of them to the Fishers Topgolf, twenty miles northeast of Indianapolis. On the ride there, Tommy played Broadway show tunes. Hits from Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen and The Lion King.
They sang at the top of their lungs and laughed at how they had been in the school musical together fall of their freshman year. He had been Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun and she’d been Annie. That was how they met.
A “showmance,” they had called it.
The noises in the tube were louder now. Annalee squeezed her eyes more tightly shut.
Don’t think about it. You’re at Topgolf now.
Topgolf turned out to be the last stop on their list of adventures that night. A few times a year, Tommy golfed with his dad and uncles. But Annalee had never done more than miniature golf. That night nearly every time she took the club and tried to hit the ball, she made some mistake.
First, she had accidentally tipped the ball, causing it to roll off the platform in slow motion and down into the scoring area below. As if the wind had blown it off the putting surface. For her next turn, she hit the ball straight at the course map directly in front of her. It had ricocheted off the hard surface and barely missed her face as it settled into the wasteland below.
Both of them had collapsed in a hug of giddy joy, holding each other up so they wouldn’t fall to the ground laughing. When Tommy could finally breathe again, he had looked at her. “You’re the only one who needs a helmet at Topgolf.”
Noises from the scan grew louder again.
Focus, Annalee told herself. Stay with the memory.
On the drive home, she and Tommy sang again and talked about musical theater, their love for it and the reasons neither of them had stayed with it. Annalee had shifted her attention to choir. And Tommy played basketball. Which meant neither of them had time for school musicals.
Still, it was one of their dreams to spend a weekend in New York City. Walk the insanely busy streets and catch a few shows. Tommy was going with his family for the anniversary of 9/11, but that was a different sort of trip.
Annalee could still see Tommy’s profile as he pulled his Jeep in front of her house late that night. He put the car in park, then turned to her. “And that, Annie, is how a princess should be treated.”
Annie.
The noise around her faded, and her heart was filled again with the sound of Tommy’s voice. Calling her Annie. For her, it was a silly nickname, the one Tommy used when he wanted to make her smile.
He was the only one who ever called her that.
Tommy had helped her carry the cookies and her handful of pink cards as he walked her up to the door. He faced her and took hold of her hands. The night air had been chilly, so he stood close. As if he might shelter her from more than the cool evening, but from anything that would ever dare come between them. Whatever might try to hurt her.
They set their things down on the nearest rocking chair and Tommy took her in his arms. “All night… I kept waiting for this. You and me, alone.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her.
Just long enough to tell her what he wouldn’t dare say with words.
Because they knew better than to let a moment like that linger. Instead she had watched the muscles in his jaw flex, something that happened when he was making a difficult shot on the basketball court. Whenever he had to work extra-hard.
Like he had to work to not keep kissing her. His breath had been warm on her face, and when he said goodbye he leaned close. Ever so slowly his lips touched hers once more. Only that.
“You deserve the world, Annalee.” He handed her the cookie box and searched her eyes. “The least I could give you was a Super Surprise Saturday.” He was a few steps down the walkway, then he looked back and grinned. “Oh… and next time we might skip Topgolf!”
The memory lifted. There. She had done it. The scan was nearly finished, and because of her father’s advice Annalee had avoided thinking about it all this time. Thinking about the possible reasons the internist had ordered it. She blinked her eyes open and then closed them again.
This is nothing. It has to be nothing.
There was high school to finish and college to conquer and people to help. She had Tommy Baxter to spend her whole life loving. This health situation was just a reminder for her to take better care of herself. In a week or so she’d get the results. Mononucleosis. And she’d rest up—as long as she needed.
Then she would get on with her life.
The machine made a loud thumping, like someone was trying to jackhammer their way into the cylinder. She held her breath. How much longer did she have in here? And why was she having trouble breathing? When could she get back to Tommy in the waiting room?
She had no answers, no way of knowing how much longer she had to stay in the suffocating tube. But she knew what to do about it. And just like that she could feel herself climbing into Tommy’s Jeep and he was sliding behind the wheel, smiling at her.
“You ready for your Super Surprise Saturday?”
6
Tommy’s stomach hurt. He stood and walked up to the receptionist. “Annalee Miller?”
This time it was a guy behind the counter. He didn’t look old enough to work at a hospital. “I’m sorry?”
“Annalee Miller.” Tommy forced himself to stay calm. “She’s been in there thirty minutes. Do you know how much longer?”
The guy checked something on his desk and then on the computer screen. “Uh… looks like she has another half hour or so.�
� He hesitated. “There’s a cafeteria and a coffee shop on the fourth floor.”
Coffee. That would help. Tommy nodded. “Thanks.” He had to get out of here before he shouted at someone. What possible reason could there be for a scan to take this long? He walked out the office door and headed down the hall.
Already he could breathe better.
A cup of black coffee and ten minutes later, Tommy was back in the waiting room. This time he wasn’t alone. An older man sat on one side of the room, eyes downcast, wringing his hands. A carved wooden cane leaned on the chair beside him.
Tommy studied the guy. Was he here for himself or waiting for someone he loved?
The man glanced up and nodded as Tommy took a seat against the adjacent wall. The look in the man’s eyes said this wasn’t about his own health. He was waiting for someone. Maybe the future hinged on whatever news the man might hear today.
Same as Tommy.
From the floor beside him, the man lifted a thermos, unscrewed the lid and took a sip. “Still hot.” He set it down again.
Tommy nodded. He didn’t feel like talking. What was taking so long? A magazine, that’s what he needed. He sorted through the ones spread out on a long coffee table separating the rows of chairs. The one on top said: CLIMATE CONFUSION? GLOBAL WARMING OR AN ICE AGE?
Tommy thumbed to the article. Something about a Greenland iceberg gaining size over the last few years, and temperature readings cooling in the depths of the ocean. He closed the cover. The last thing he wanted was to read about the climate while Annalee was a few doors away sliding in and out of some metal tube. Poor girl. She hated elevators. The scan must’ve made her feel terrible.
Scripture. That would help. He pulled his phone from his jeans pocket and opened his Bible Promises app. A quick scroll and he found what he wanted. Love. Bible verses on love.
I have loved you with an everlasting love…
For God so loved the world…
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God…
Every line, every word spoke to him. God loved him… and He loved Annalee. Tommy’s breathing slowed and he settled into the cushioned seat. This was mono, nothing more. Everything was going to be fine. The doctor was just being thorough, making sure he didn’t miss anything. God wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.
She was too good. She had too much to do for Him.
Tommy stretched out his feet and laced his fingers behind his head. The man across from him looked up. “You waiting for someone?”
“I am.” Tommy looked at the waiting room door and then at the man. “My girlfriend’s getting a scan.”
A crooked smile tugged at the man’s lips. “Mine, too.”
The old man had a girlfriend? Something about that put Tommy at ease. He leaned forward. “How long have you two been dating?”
“Oh… we’re married.” The man winked at Tommy. “Fifty years. She’ll always be my girlfriend.”
Tommy chuckled. “I like that.”
The smile faded from the man’s face. “Etta’s fighting cancer.” He clenched his fists and relaxed them again. “This scan… it’s her last chance. If the cancer is worse, then… there’s nothing more they can do.”
“Oh.” Tommy had no idea what to say. “So it could be… good news today?”
“That’s the hope.” The man glanced at the waiting room door. “It’ll take a miracle.” He crossed his fingers and tapped both hands on the wooden arm rails of the chair. “Hoping the stars line up for her.”
All his life growing up, his parents had taught Tommy and his siblings to pray for divine appointments. They didn’t need to go to a foreign country to be smack in the middle of a moment only God could set up.
A moment like this one.
“I’m Tommy Baxter.” He stood and shook the man’s hand.
“Ernest Jones.” The man gripped his knees. “You can call me Ernie.”
“Okay.” Tommy didn’t have to ask God for the words. He knew from experience the Lord would give them. “Mister Ernie, you mentioned it’ll take a miracle. Are you a praying man?”
The expression on Ernie’s face changed. “There was a time. In my younger days.”
“Oh.” Tommy took his time. “What changed?”
“Life.” The older man narrowed his eyes. “People get sick. They die. It makes me mad.”
“Yes…. My grandma Elizabeth died way too young. Cancer.”
The spark faded from Ernie’s eyes. “See what I mean?”
“Right.” Tommy nodded. “I remember something my aunt Ashley told me. She lost her third baby at birth. But the few minutes she lived, everyone in the family gathered around the hospital bed and prayed over that little girl. We sang and celebrated her.”
Ernie’s face softened. “That’s sad.”
“Before the birth, my aunt knew her baby was sick. She and my uncle were ready.” Tommy kept his eyes on the man’s. “My aunt had come to believe the miracle was even getting to hold her little girl at all.”
“Yeah. That’s what people tell themselves.” Bitterness colored the man’s tone. “I say the little girl should’ve lived. That is… if God was watching over her.” He looked off. “If people were praying.”
Tommy thought for a moment. “I guess it’s all in the way you look at it. If God isn’t real… then what?”
The door opened and a different tech wheeled an older woman into the waiting room. She had shoulder-length silver hair and her eyes immediately turned to Ernie. Tommy hurried to hold the door. At the same time Ernie was on his feet, moving to her wheelchair. “Was it better this time… less scary?”
Tommy wanted to watch the two of them, love personified. But he had an idea. He grabbed a piece of paper and pen from the receptionist and scribbled down his email address. Then he waited not far from where Ernie was still helping his love, Etta, get situated.
The man started to push her wheelchair toward the door when he seemed to remember Tommy. He turned to him. “I take it you are a praying man, then?”
“I am.” Tommy handed the slip of paper to Ernie. “I promise to pray for your wife… if you’ll let me know how the test comes out.”
The man hesitated at first. But then he found that lopsided grin again. “I’ll do it.” He took the paper and patted his wife’s shoulder. “Etta, this is Tommy. My new friend.”
“Hello.” She looked back and smiled. “You seem like a good one.”
When they were gone, Tommy did what he’d told the man. He asked God to give Ernie and Etta a miracle. For two reasons. So Ernie would know that God was real and that He cared about every person, every prayer.
And so that the man might have a little more time with his girlfriend.
Tommy checked the time on his phone. Still another fifteen minutes before Annalee’s test would be finished. If he married her the way he planned to, one day they might be back in an office like this and Tommy might be talking to some young gun about his girlfriend of fifty years.
His Annalee.
He had never planned to have a serious girlfriend through high school. Tommy had been too focused on sports, too busy with his peers and his family. Back in middle school, guys his age with girlfriends always seemed to be pretending. Acting older than they were. Back then the girls towered over the boys and no one could drive.
Made more sense to spend his free time dribbling a basketball.
But all that changed his first day at Northside High.
Tommy leaned back in the waiting room chair. He had taken theater class because it counted as a music elective. That and two of his buddies from the team had also signed up. The rowdy social kids sat in the front that day. Ms. Elmer told them they were going to do a production of Annie Get Your Gun, and she expected everyone to participate.
Singing was something Tommy had gotten from his mother. They sang church songs and country favorites around the family piano. But that was it. Tommy was just okay—not the sort of gifted it would ta
ke to make a career. Which was why most of his friends didn’t know he could sing at all.
Not until the first day in theater class.
That morning, his group flirted with a few girls, all of them joking about being the leads. Ms. Elmer taught them the first verse of one of the songs. Then she asked students interested in being a lead to sing the verse solo at the front of the room, one at a time.
Tommy had never been afraid of much, so he was the first to raise his hand. If he was going to be in musical theater, he might as well let the teacher know what he could do. He sang that day with the confidence of someone who had been performing all his life.
His buddies gave him a standing ovation, high-fiving him and hollering over the fact that Tommy could do more than shoot baskets. Ms. Elmer nodded her approval. “Very nice. We have some real talent this year.”
The girls in their friend group took turns singing for Ms. Elmer and then his guy friends sang for her. Only a few could even remember the words.
That’s when it happened.
Ms. Elmer called on a girl from the back of the room. When she came forward a sort of hush fell over the class. None of them had ever seen her before. Blond hair spilled over her shoulders and when she turned and faced the class, her green eyes took his breath.
Most beautiful girl Tommy had ever seen.
“Class, let’s welcome Annalee Miller from Ohio. She and her family just moved to Indianapolis.” Ms. Elmer’s smile told everyone she knew more about what was coming than they did. “Annalee?”
What happened then was something Tommy would remember as long as he lived. Annalee began to sing and the sound filled the room. They might as well have sold tickets for the performance she gave that morning. Hers was the voice of an angel and when she finished, the other girls knew they were competing for second place.
Tommy’s teammates hurried him along when class ended, but just once he looked back at Annalee. She was gathering her things from the last row of seats and for the slightest instant their eyes met.
From that moment on, Tommy had been in love with Annalee Miller.
Truly, Madly, Deeply Page 5
