by Gail Sattler
While he peeled his shirt off and wrapped Lacey’s purple sweater around his shoulders, Lacey rummaged through his car until she found a plastic bag he’d used for garbage and shoved under the seat and forgotten to throw out. She emptied the garbage into a receptacle, and spread the bag on the passenger seat. “Sit on that. It will save your upholstery. Hurry up. We might still be able to make it on time.”
Randy complied, but he felt like a complete misfit all the way home. From the car, through the underground parking and into the lobby, he trailed little dribbles of water behind him. Lacey insisted he stand on the plastic bag in the elevator, but he still left a trail of dribbles on the carpet from the elevator to his apartment door. By the time Lacey caught up to him with the plastic bag, he was already inside his apartment. He ran straight to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
“The service starts in twenty-one minutes!” Lacey called out through the door.
Instead of responding with a comment, Randy jumped into the hot shower. As tempting as it was to stay in the warmth, he was out in three minutes. He tugged on the first clothes he touched, pushed his hair back, and ran back out the door with Lacey right behind him.
They ran into the church at eight minutes to the hour.
“Where were you?” Paul asked. “I called your place and there was no answer. I tried your cell, but I only got your voice mail. I almost…” Paul’s voice trailed off.
“I didn’t hear the phone because I wasn’t wearing it and I had it set to vibrate.”
Someone, probably Celeste, gasped, knowing that he never did anything without his cell phone on his belt. The only time he wasn’t wearing it was when he was home, in bed, and everyone knew it.
“Your hair is wet. What were you doing?” Paul immediately looked to Lacey’s hair, which was of course perfectly dry, then looked at Randy’s clothes, which were not the same he’d worn that morning to the early service.
Randy gritted his teeth. “I hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking,” Randy grumbled, “because if you are, you’re wrong. Everybody’s honor is fully intact. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
He stomped off to the sound room and set the controls as best he could while his friends finished practicing the last song they would be playing for the service.
Lacey’s footsteps echoed up the stairs behind him.
“Do you want to go pray with your friends before the service starts? I’ll be okay to stay here.”
He really didn’t want to, but he knew this was a time that he really should.
“Yeah. Thanks,” he mumbled as he left the sound room.
As usual, as soon as he got there everyone stood, forming a circle. They joined hands and closed their eyes to pray.
“Dear Lord,” Paul began, “please bless our time together as a team, to help the people gathered here to focus on praising You tonight.” Paul paused, waiting for everyone to take a turn.
“Thank You for bringing us all together once again,” Adrian said softly. “And thank You for bringing Randy back safely to us.”
Randy suddenly felt all choked up. Adrian knew more than any of them how much Randy hated being late for anything, and it didn’t surprise Randy that Adrian would have been worried about him, especially when he didn’t answer his cell phone when Paul tried to call.
Celeste’s soft voice came next. “Thank You for Randy’s ministry here, for bringing his, uh, friend, Lacey. I also pray that Lacey’s brother-in-law’s mind and heart will be open to seek You and discover Your forgiveness and blessings.”
Randy nodded silently. It didn’t surprise him that Celeste would be praying for Eric. Celeste was the only one besides himself who knew what that side of life could really be like, not the party-hearty escapades, but the anguish and bitter trap that lay beneath what the rest of the world saw.
Bob squeezed his hand. “I know this is changing the subject, but I really feel like praying for Randy. Dear Lord, I think Randy needs Your help and guidance right now. Please point him in the right direction, and show him plainly where You want him to go and what You want him to do.”
Randy’s head spun. He hadn’t told anyone, but Bob didn’t need to be told that Randy’s life was off center. As his best friend, Bob could tell, probably even before Randy had figured it out.
“Lord God, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m on autopilot. I came here to praise and worship You, but I feel like I’ve lost my focus. Even at work, I can only count how many minutes until it’s time to go home. I must be getting fat, because all I can think of is how soon it’s going to be until the next suppertime. My computer isn’t even as much fun as it used to be, and I’m finding it hard to concentrate on stuff.” He gulped.
Everyone’s eyes opened, and everyone stared at him.
He turned and looked into the olive-green eyes of his best friend.
“Well,” Bob said. “It’s finally happened. I think Randy is in love.”
Randy felt himself sway. He almost had to struggle to keep himself upright on his feet. He didn’t want to entertain the possibility, but Bob’s words confirmed what he feared. He’d felt it when he rose out of the water, watching Lacey screaming and waving her arms, frightened for him. As soon as she saw he hadn’t drowned, his life swirled into a time warp—time had stood still, except for the pounding of his heart, as they stared at each other, Lacey on the shore, and him nearly up to his waist in the water. His life changed in that one instant. Coming up out of the water and seeing Lacey’s face washed away all the reasons he’d used to enclose himself in a fishbowl of his own making.
He loved Lacey. He’d probably loved her from the first moment he met her, and he would always love her.
“It’s about time,” Bob said. “Go get ’er, tiger.”
Paul smiled. “And the people said…”
“Amen!” everyone chorused, except Randy, and they all left the small room, leaving him all alone.
Randy stared at the whiteboard, where the Sunday school teacher who used that room had written a verse.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven, Ecclesiastes 3:1.”
He didn’t have the whole section memorized, but the theme roared through his mind, with one section of one verse resounding like a chorus of trumpets in his brain—“a time to love.”
He could take a hint, especially when God smacked him upside the head with it.
It was time to get serious with Lacey, and it was time to show her that he was the man she could love as her partner for the rest of her life, because he certainly loved her and wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.
But for now, he had a church service to attend, and it was time to get behind the scenes and serve his Lord the best way he knew how.
When he slid back into his chair in the sound room, Lacey was counting the effects buttons. “How do you keep track of all this?” she asked, her finger hovering over the last one.
If it were anyone else besides Lacey, he would have given that person a long, complicated technical explanation, knowing they didn’t understand, just to impress them.
He smiled at Lacey’s perplexed expression. “Experience. It’s just what I like to do.”
Slowly he showed her the basics, and then let her refine a few of the settings as his friends played. “You’re a quick learner. You haven’t given yourself enough credit. I remember that Bryce said you were afraid of computers, but that’s not true. You’re just inexperienced, and inexperience can be fixed.”
Her cheeks darkened. “Quite honestly, I’ve been thinking of buying a computer lately.”
His smile widened. “I happen to know just the salesman who can help you get the best one. And I bet he’ll even throw in some free tech support.”
Her cheeks darkened even more.
The pastor didn’t use the PowerPoint displays for the evening service, so at the end of the worship time Randy escorted Lacey down th
e stairs, but they didn’t join his friends. Instead, they sat by themselves, just the two of them. As he listened to the pastor’s informal, evening-style sermon, Randy knew that this was how he wanted to spend the rest of his life—with his friends nearby and Lacey at his side.
After the service was over and the crowds mingled and socialized, he shared the last doughnut with Lacey, ignoring Adrian’s raised eyebrows as he did so.
He didn’t want to hang around, but because Lacey’s car was in the parking lot, she would be going straight home, alone, afterward. Therefore, Randy drew out every moment as long as he could.
He was proud of Lacey as she helped his friends pile all their equipment into the storage room.
Because it took longest to take down the drums, Bob and George were the last ones out of the building, except for Randy and Lacey, and Pastor Ron.
As Bob left, he looked at Randy and coughed a few times. George elbowed him in the ribs, then dragged him outside.
“Poor Bob,” Lacey said. “Do you think he’s coming down with a cold? Isn’t their wedding next weekend?”
“Bob’s fine. Don’t worry about him. I just have to make one last check to make sure everything in the sound room is locked up, and then we can leave, too.”
He walked Lacey to her car while Pastor Ron locked up the building, then drove away, leaving them all alone in the parking lot, everything around them dark.
He waited while Lacey unlocked the door, but he deliberately stood in the way so she couldn’t open it to get inside.
“Lacey, before you go, we should talk. I think—”
His words were cut off as she pressed one finger to his lips.
“Shh. I know what you’re going to say. It’s okay. It was just a dumb accident. Don’t worry about it. But while we’re talking about it, I wanted you to know something.”
As she removed her finger, Randy gritted his teeth, ready to have a strip torn off him for being so reckless for going out on the slippery rocks in his leather shoes, which were now probably ruined.
“If the same thing would have happened to Eric, he would yelled and screamed and blamed Susan. I know, I’ve seen it happen. It wouldn’t even matter if it was in front of the kids. He always makes it clear that whatever happens is Susan’s fault. Even if she started crying, he’d still continue to scream at her. Then the first minute he had a chance, he would go out and start drinking, saying she drove him to it.” She smiled, and her eyes shone in the reflection of the lights overhead. “You only asked about the pictures, and then we rushed off to church—we even made it without being late. Oh! The pictures!” She stopped talking and began to dig through her purse. “I almost forgot to give you back your cell phone.”
Randy accepted it, pressed it to the waistband on his pants, then froze as he felt his cheeks heat up in a blush, which seemed to be happening a lot lately. “Oops. I changed so fast, I didn’t grab my belt. Besides, it was pretty wet. The clip for my phone is still lying on the bathroom floor with everything else.” He simply dropped the phone into his pocket.
“I’m sorry I laughed at you, but you were so funny. I’m really glad you weren’t hurt. That’s too bad about your watch.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I can buy a new one. It’s not a big deal.”
Lacey stepped closer, raising one hand to touch his shoulder. “You are a decent man, Randy Reynolds.”
Before he could respond, she rose up on her tiptoes, leaned forward and brushed a gentle kiss to his lips.
Randy closed his eyes, enjoying the moment, but it was too short. When she lowered herself, Randy couldn’t take the separation. He reached forward and cupped her face in his palms. “Lacey,” he muttered as he lowered his head “I, uh…I…” He brought his lips to hers and finished his sentence, whispering with their lips touching. “I like you a lot.” And then he kissed her with all the love in his heart and soul. She stiffened only for a brief second, then melted into him.
Randy’s heart pounded and he couldn’t breathe. He wondered if this was what it was like to die and go to heaven. He released her face, and wrapped his arms around her back, kissing her fully, not stopping until the sound of a truck with a bad muffler passed them on the street, reminding him where they were.
They were in a parking lot.
Again.
It seemed the only times he’d ever kissed Lacey had been in parking lots somewhere.
A decent man wouldn’t have been kissing the woman he loved in a parking lot. A decent man would have done something more romantic, especially since he knew that it was going to take a lot of work to show her the man he had become, versus the pathetic creature he once had been. God had pulled him out of the pit, and he had to prove to Lacey that he was going to stay out of the pit.
She looked up into his face, still wrapped in his arms.
Her voice came out in a husky whisper. “I guess I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”
This time he released her and stepped back.
“Yeah. Tomorrow. Work.”
He stood where he was, not walking to his own car until Lacey’s car was out of sight.
Chapter Nine
Lacey stopped and turned around as she left the store. “Good night, Brittany. Remember, if you have any problems, just call me.”
She hadn’t taken her first step into the mall when a familiar, handsome, blue-eyed face greeted her. “Hi, Lacey. Ready for supper?”
She really wasn’t hungry. Actually, she hadn’t been hungry since the end of the church service the previous evening.
“Well, I…”
Her voice trailed off as Randy’s charming smile dropped, and he gave her the saddest puppy-dog eyes. She almost asked if he practiced his expression on widows and orphans. “Yes, of course I’m ready. I was going to say that I haven’t eaten all day.”
“Great. I was thinking that we’d go someplace different this time. You know, steak and seafood.”
“Are you sure? That’s a bit expensive.”
He waved a piece of paper in the air under her nose. “But I have a coupon. I got it off the Internet. Buy one meal, get one free.”
She couldn’t argue with him, because she’d once used the same argument on him. She’d just received her coupon in the mail.
“Okay, but aren’t you going out with Eric tonight?”
“Yes, but we still have to eat.”
They left the mall, and Randy gave her directions to an out-of-the-way restaurant she’d never been to. Judging from his unfamiliarity with the staff, it appeared he hadn’t been there before, either.
A waiter appeared promptly. “Can I get you folks something to drink?” He offered the liquor menu to Randy.
Randy smiled politely. “I’ll just have coffee. Lacey?”
“Me, too, please.”
After they’d ordered and the waiter left them alone with two steaming cups of fragrant coffee, Lacey looked up at Randy.
“Don’t you find it difficult in situations like this? We usually go to family and fast-food places, where they don’t serve liquor. But this place is different. It’s quite nice.”
Randy folded his hands in front of him on the table. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s always easy, especially when I go out with a group of people and I’m the only one not drinking anything stronger than fruit juice, but life isn’t always easy. I simply tell myself that God knows best. He gives good advice, but only if we follow it.”
“God cautions us against alcohol abuse, but there are many instances in the Bible of people drinking wine. Jesus even drank wine.”
“That may be so, but I don’t believe Jesus had a problem with it. That’s one of the reasons it’s so hard for most people to stick to a diet.”
Lacey stared at Randy. “What are you talking about?” She couldn’t see his stomach with the table between them, but she knew he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. “You’ve probably never been on a diet in your life.” Unlike herself. She’d been on more diets than she could c
ount, and none of them ended up with a permanent goal she was satisfied with.
Randy pressed his hands over that very flat stomach. “No. I’m lucky that I have a high metabolism. But as you know, I have had a problem with alcohol. When we have a problem with something that tempts us that’s bad, God says we’re not merely to resist it, we’re to run from it. We’re to resist the devil, but my Bible version uses the word ‘flee’ when dealing with temptation.”
“Does it still tempt you?”
“I’ll be honest with you, and realistic. Most of the time, no, I’m not tempted, but sometimes I am. Most people don’t know my history, so often people who don’t know me well try to cajole me into having ‘just one.’ But it’s a proven fact that an alcoholic can’t stop at ‘just one.’ Maybe they can for a short amount of time, but soon one leads to two, and two leads to three, and three leads right back to the old cycles of total destruction. That’s why the only answer is exactly what God says. Flee from it. Don’t toy with it. Total abstinence. That’s why it’s sometimes easier to quit drinking than stick to a diet. It’s possible to not drink, but it’s not possible to not eat.”
“I’ve never thought of it that way.”
Randy reached over the table and grasped her hands in his. “You’ve got to believe me when I say I’m finished with all forms of substance abuse. God pulled me out of that life and set me onto solid ground. It’s important that you believe me, and that you trust me. If you want, go ahead and talk to Paul, Adrian and Bob.”
“That’s okay. I believe you.”
And it was true. For the first time, she thought she really could believe him. In all the situations they’d been in together, he’d behaved more than admirably. She couldn’t help but compare him to everything she’d ever seen Eric say or do, and in every case, Randy did the exact opposite of everything Eric would have done.
She’d been very honest when she told Randy that he was a decent man.
Except, she didn’t know why she’d kissed him. It wasn’t even a big surprise that he’d turned the tables on her, and kissed her back in the way he had. She had to admit that she’d enjoyed it, too.
