by Liwen Ho
Jeremy chuckled. “I’m afraid I’m at a disadvantage since I can’t read your expressions. But they are definitely better than my dancing skills, that much I can tell you.”
“Oh hey, the Macarena!” An image of Jeremy swaying his hips awkwardly in a circle popped into her mind. “Your comment just reminded me of that one game night at church. Remember the one where we played Pictionary, boys versus girls?”
“How could I forget? You girls had some telepathic thing going on. One of you would barely draw a straight line and someone would guess the right answer.”
“I know, the boys didn’t stand a chance! But you were all such good sports about losing that I almost felt bad we made you guys dance. But it was so entertaining to watch.”
“Well, how about this. If you agree to dinner, I’ll see if I can show you some of those moves. You wouldn’t want to miss this twice in a lifetime event, now would you?”
“Really? Now that’s an offer I can’t refuse.” Ashlynn smiled as she realized he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Maybe his offer wasn’t merely out of obligation. A girl could only hope. “Sure, dinner sounds good. It would be fun to catch up with you.”
“Great. How about tomorrow?”
“Sure, I’m free.”
“Why don’t you text me your address and I’ll pick you up at seven?”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“See you then. Bye.”
Ashlynn hung up the phone and ran downstairs, excitement bubbling up within her. She popped into the living room just as her brother jumped up from the couch with both hands in the air.
“Yes!” Ben yelped in triumph. “Thirty-six points!”
A petite woman wearing white sweatpants and a tie dyed T-shirt sat next to him. She stared at the Scrabble board and shook her head, her black ponytail swinging from side to side. “What in the world is whizzbang?”
“Don’t you know? It’s the sound of fireworks when we…” He wiggled his eyebrows at his wife who playfully hit him on the arm.
“Ew guys, get a room.” Ashlynn wrinkled her nose as Ben and Melanie laughed. “It’s been four years and you’re still acting like newlyweds?”
“Come on Ash, aren’t you the romantic here?” Ben smirked. “As I recall, you were the one who watched 23 Dresses about twenty-three times.”
“It’s 27 Dresses and I only watched it seven times. Anyways, I just don’t like imagining my stinky brother … no offense, Mel,” Ashlynn said with a shudder. “I’m sure you’d no sooner want to think about me doing you know what.”
“Oh, no no no,” he retorted. He shook his head as he considered the possibility of such a scenario. As her older brother by eight years, Ben had always been more of a parental figure to her, but even more so in the past decade. He still had a hard time admitting that Ashlynn wasn’t a little girl anymore. He saw the way guys checked her out, which made him all the more eager to do whatever it took to protect her. “Any guy who lays a finger on my baby sister’s going to have to deal with me.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet, Ben.” Melanie heard the genuineness behind Ben’s words, but she also knew her husband had never been in a physical fight in his life. “It’s a good thing I know a doctor who can tend to your, I mean, the poor guy’s wounds after you get through with him.”
“Hey, if you need to practice your medical expertise, Dr. Peters, I’m your man,” he said to Melanie. They exchanged a smile before he turned to Ashlynn. “But you, young lady, should take note that I’ve been working out.” He flexed both arms to allow his biceps to peek through the short sleeves of his green V-neck.
“Please, Ben. I’m twenty-four, not fourteen,” Ashlynn said with an exaggerated eye roll. “Besides, you don’t have to worry about the next guy I’m going out with. He’s a perfect gentleman.” A gorgeous, perfect gentleman in her opinion, but her older brother didn’t need to know that.
Melanie clapped her hands in delight. “Ooh, do tell. Who’s the lucky guy?”
“Do you remember Jeremy Adams from First Pres.?” She directed her question at Ben. She filled Melanie in on their history. “We went to the same church before he moved away during high school. Well, he’s back in the area and he came into the store last week. I sold him a set of my jewelry for his mom and apparently she loved it. Now he’s taking me out tomorrow to thank me.”
Ben looked less than impressed. “Jeremy Adams? Yeah, I remember him. Isn’t he the one who had all those girls staring at him with googly eyes?” He batted his brown eyes so his lashes fluttered like butterfly wings. “Every time I came back home from college, I saw him surrounded by girls. He seemed to love the attention, too. I don’t know, Ash. He sounds like trouble to me.”
“He sounds cute.” Melanie winked at Ashlynn. “Not cuter than you, of course.” She reached over to stroke Ben’s hand.
“He was cute before, but now he’s whizzbang!” Ashlynn held her hands to her chest as she pictured Jeremy’s face. “That’s the perfect word for him. He swept me off my feet with his baby blues … whizz … and I almost fainted when he smiled at me … bang!” She held up one hand to her forehead and fell back against the couch, laughing at her own silliness.
“Whoa now.” Ben raised his hands up as if trying to deter cupid’s arrow from piercing Ashlynn’s heart. “Is he picking you up here?”
Ashlynn nodded.
“Good. Then I can make sure he understands the rules.” Ben held up an index finger. “Rule number one: No whizzbanging of any kind allowed on my watch.”
FOUR
Jeremy glanced over at Ashlynn sitting in the passenger seat. She looked beautiful in a cream colored spaghetti strap dress that fell to just above her knees. He liked how she had pulled her hair into a loose braid which rested over her left shoulder.
Ashlynn saw him smiling out of the corner of her eye and turned to face him. “Hey, I’m glad you weren’t phased by Ben.” She rolled her eyes as she thought of her brother’s stern expression earlier. “He’s usually not so overbearing, but I think he’s under the impression you have a reputation with the ladies.”
“Is that so?” Jeremy frowned. “This is the first I’ve seen of him in over a decade. Why would he think that?”
“He just remembers how all the junior high girls used to like you.” An amused look crossed her face.
“Ah, that.” He glanced over to read her expression. “All the junior high girls? Did that include you as well?”
The hopeful tone of his voice bolstered her confidence. “You flatter yourself.”
Jeremy laughed at the sight of her cheeky grin.
“Anyways, he was just being silly and overprotective,” she continued. “But I think you gained his trust by the time we left the house.”
“Good thing I figured out he likes to talk about math.”
“And since no one else I know does, that puts you in really good standing.” Her dimple flashed as she smiled. Her eyes happened upon Jeremy’s right arm as he reached over to turn up the air conditioning. She noticed several long and raised scars on his tan skin. “How did you get those? I don’t remember you having them before.”
Jeremy cleared his throat and dropped his arm down. “Oh that, I had a run-in with a cat a while ago.”
“Ouch! It must have been one mad cat. Those look like they were really deep scratches. What happened?”
“Ah, well, you know how sharp their claws can be. It’s not a big deal, really. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He went to work unrolling both sleeves of his white checkered dress shirt before Ashlynn could ask any more questions.
Soon after, he directed her attention to the passenger window as they turned into the parking lot of a seafood restaurant. “We’re here.” He stopped her as she reached for the door handle. “Hold on, I’ll get that for you.” He stepped out of the car and made his way to the passenger side to open the door.
Ashlynn reached up to take hold of the hand Jeremy
offered her. She smiled in appreciation of his chivalrous act. “Thank you. I don’t think any guy’s ever opened the door for me before, besides my dad.”
“There’s no other way to treat a lady.” He led their way into the restaurant. She beamed when he opened the door for her as they walked in. Two open doors in less than two minutes? This had date written all over it.
They sat down at a candlelit table and made small talk as they ate some house bread with butter. When their meals arrived they settled into a comfortable conversation.
“How do you like your salmon?”
Ashlynn looked up from her plate. “It’s delicious. You picked a great restaurant. I’ve been wanting to try this place out.”
Jeremy breathed an inward sigh of relief that he had chosen the right place to take her. “My coworker Bobby recommended it. I wasn’t sure if you were a big seafood fan though.”
“I’ll pretty much eat anything. Unless it’s moving of course, that’s where I cross the line.” Ashlynn’s eyes twinkled.
“So I guess you wouldn’t be interested in eating live shrimp then?”
Her eyes widened in horror. “Are you serious?”
“It’s considered a delicacy in Asia. I didn’t try it myself when I was there, but some of the other guys I was with did. They swore it was the best thing they’d ever eaten, crispy and tender all at the same time.” Jeremy smiled at her uneasy demeanor.
Ashlynn cringed as an image crossed her mind. “Oh, I just can’t imagine having its little beady eyes looking at you when you put it in your mouth.”
“They don’t - you pull their heads off first.”
“What?!”
He laughed at her open-mouthed expression. “Sorry to gross you out. I promise we’ll stick strictly to food that is cooked when we go out.”
Her ears picked up on the message behind his words while her feet did a silent happy dance under the table. So he’s planning to ask me out again? She tried to maintain her composure as she continued the conversation. “So when did you go to Asia?”
“The summer after I finished college I went to Beijing to teach English. I had such a good time there. The students were so friendly and eager to learn. We spent a month just conversing with them, playing games and teaching them songs.” Jeremy spoke with enthusiasm. “It was a good way to build friendships and open the door to talking about God.”
“Sounds like an amazing experience. My sister-in-law is from Hong Kong and it’s so neat to hear her talk about her culture. Plus, she makes the best Chinese food. No live shrimp though.” She breathed a sigh of relief, causing Jeremy to chuckle. “It’s cool you got to go. I always thought you were a good teacher.”
“Yeah? Thanks for the vote of confidence. I think that’s the one time I felt I was doing something really meaningful. It was a good reminder that there’s so much more than the life we know here.”
“It must have taken a lot of courage for you to go halfway around the world to share the gospel.” She gazed at Jeremy in admiration. Handsome, kind, and on fire for God? He really was the whole package. “You really didn’t mind pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.”
“That’s what life is about, isn’t it? Having faith and taking action.” Jeremy straightened in his chair. “You have to be willing to take risks in anything you do in order to be successful. Take, for example, designing your own jewelry. You took a risk in selling them and it paid off. My mom is certainly a fan. Have you ever thought about opening your own store?”
Ashlynn raised her eyebrows. “My own store? No, it’s really just a hobby for me. I love making jewelry, but it won’t pay the bills. That’s why I’m going to school for my master’s degree, so I can get a real job.” She moved the index and middle fingers of both hands up and down for emphasis.
“What are you studying?”
“Educational counseling. I want to be a school counselor.”
Jeremy paused as he cut his steak. “So you’d be the person the kids get sent to talk to when they’re in trouble?”
“Sure, but hopefully not just when they mess up, but also when they need help picking classes, applying to college, that sort of thing.”
He nodded, appreciating her desire to help people. “That’s great. Kids really need adults who will be there for them, especially if their own parents aren’t around.”
“Yeah, that’s so true. When our parents died, Ben dropped everything and came to take care of me.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
Jeremy’s fork stopped in midair and his jaw dropped. “Your parents passed away?” he exclaimed. “When did this happen?”
“Oh, you didn’t know. It happened when I was fifteen. A car accident.” Ashlynn blinked quickly. “Gosh, I can’t believe it’s been almost ten years and I still get emotional when I think about it.”
“I’m so sorry.”
She blotted her eyes with the corner of her napkin. “It’s okay. I just miss them so much.” Her shoulders fell as she sighed. “They were on their way home from a trip to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary. Daddy had planned a surprise getaway to Long Beach. He loved surprising Mama. He was always buying her flowers and leaving them on her car windshield so she’d see them when she went to work and leaving notes all around the house for her.” She took a sip of water from her glass. “After they passed, I found the last note he had hidden for her in a kitchen cupboard.”
Jeremy tilted his head as he listened. “He was quite the romantic.”
Ashlynn smiled fondly. “Yeah, I guess that’s where I got my warm fuzzies from.”
“Warm fuzzies?”
“That’s what Daddy used to say, he had a case of the warm fuzzies and he finally had someone to share it with when he found Mama.”
“Your mom must have enjoyed all the attention.”
“She joked at times that it was too much, but you could tell she loved it. She always told me, “Ash, find a man like your daddy who will treat you like a queen.”
Jeremy nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a high standard your dad set for the guy who comes knocking on your door. But a good one.” He paused and reached his hand across the table to cover hers. “I’m really sorry about your parents. I remember how much they helped out with the youth group. No other parents dared to chaperone our overnight events, but they were always excited to be there.”
“I know, talk about a teenage girl’s worst nightmare,” she replied with a bittersweet smile. She flushed at the warmth of Jeremy’s touch and attempted to collect her thoughts. “Th-thanks for listening. It’s nice to talk about my parents with someone who remembers them. How about you? How are your parents? I remember your dad made the best barbeque chicken. It was always a big hit at church picnics.”
Jeremy’s face hardened and he withdrew his hand. “Yeah, he did.” He looked down at his plate before meeting Ashlynn’s eyes. “My folks got divorced.”
“Divorced?” Ashlynn’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry to hear that. When?”
“Right after we moved. Actually, that’s the reason we relocated. My mom found out my dad was seeing someone else.” He surprised himself with how much he was willing to share with Ashlynn. The compassion he saw in her eyes gave him a sense of comfort and peace that he hadn’t felt in a long time. “He used to travel a lot for work and she’d always worry if he was seeing other women. She didn’t say it to us kids, but we knew by the way she talked to him when he would call. And when he was home, he took out his anger and frustrations on her.”
Ashlynn winced. “Did he hurt her?”
“It was mostly verbal and emotional. He said cruel, hateful things to her. My mom didn’t deserve any of it, but she took it for our sake. She didn’t want to break up the family. One night though he came home drunk and accused her of being unfaithful. He would have hit her if I hadn’t gotten between them.” Jeremy’s hand balled up in a fist. “He ended up hitting me instead, gave me a black eye. I think that was when my mom h
ad finally had it. Even though she didn’t try to protect herself, she would do anything to protect us. So she moved me and my sister and brother out to Boston, back to where she grew up.”
Ashlynn bit her lip. “Oh Jeremy, I’m so sorry. I never knew your family was going through so much.”
“Yeah, there was a lot going on that no one knew about.” He cleared his throat and gave a forced smile. “We all agreed it was better for our mom to have a fresh start. It was good to be near our relatives. I have a few cousins there around my age.”
“How is your mom doing now?”
“She got remarried a few years ago. My stepdad’s a good guy. She’s much happier now. I’m thankful to God for that.”
“Oh, it’s great she found love again.” Ashlynn held one hand up to her heart. “That’s like the perfect ending.”
Jeremy’s blue eyes twinkled in amusement. “You are a hopeless romantic, aren’t you?”
“Hey, not hopeless, very hopeful in fact.” She cocked her head and grinned. “I believe everyone deserves a happily ever after.”
Their attention turned to the server who stood before them with a tray of desserts. Jeremy noticed Ashlynn’s eyes grow wide. “I think our dinner deserves a happy ending, too, don’t you?”
“You read my mind!” She studied each plate intently, her nose wrinkled in concentration. “The problem is deciding which one.”
“Why don’t you pick two? We can share.”
“Really? That makes things easier. Hmm, I’m leaning towards the creme brûlée. I love the crispy glazed sugar on top. What about you? What do you prefer?”
Truthfully, Jeremy preferred nothing more than to gaze at the angelic woman sitting across from him. The way Ashlynn’s eyes lit up in childlike delight brought a feeling of contentment to his heart. Their evening together had already been so sweet; he couldn’t imagine any dessert tasting sweeter.
“I’m good with anything. Go ahead and choose. Whatever makes you happy will make me happy.”
“You’re awfully accommodating for a negotiator,” she remarked. “But okay, if you insist.” She pointed to the crème brûlée and a slice of cheesecake, and waited expectantly as the server placed the desserts in front of them.
