“I can’t,” Dawn finally said with a sigh. “I want to, but I can’t.”
“I know,” he told her, kissing her forehead before leaning back. “But it helps to know that you at least gave it some thought.”
Time to change the subject, Dawn thought. “Anyway, I was thinking that I’d pick you up tomorrow around 10:00 a.m., grab a late breakfast, and then I’d show you around some more.”
“Sounds great,” he said.
“Great. I’d better go now.”
The look in his eyes told her that he didn’t want her to go, but he didn’t say it. “Do you really think you should be by yourself? What if Kevin sees you?”
“That’s why I drove Shane’s truck,” Dawn told him. “Kevin will not bother Shane. Shane, like Dad, has promised to hurt Kevin. Shane even went to Kevin’s house to deliver that message. No. Kevin will definitely not bother Shane.”
“Okay. If you’re sure you’ll be all right. But call me when you get home anyway,” he said, pulling her in for a good-night kiss.
“Okay. I will,” she said. Then she got into her brother’s truck and left.
Dawn had every intention of getting up at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, but she must not have set her alarm. Either that or her old bed was just too comfortable. When she woke up and the clock said it was 9:30 a.m., she jumped out of bed. She had overslept and was running late. She hated doing that. Now she would never be able to pick Jeremiah up at 10:00 a.m. It was 10:30 a.m. when Dawn walked into the lobby of the bed and breakfast. Jeremiah was nowhere in sight. The owner, Jackie, was there cleaning up after breakfast. She told Dawn that she hadn’t seen Jeremiah all morning. Dawn went upstairs and knocked on the door to Jeremiah’s room. He didn’t answer after several seconds, so she knocked again. She waited about a minute and still nothing. She had raised her hand to knock again when the door swung open. It was obvious that she had woken him up. His hair was tousled, and he was wiping sleep from his eyes. He had a day’s growth of beard. She realized that she had never seen him unshaven. He was very cute like this.
“What time is it?” he grumbled.
“Good morning to you too,” she said. “It’s twenty minutes until eleven.”
“Sorry. Good morning,” he grumbled again. “But I’m usually a grouch before my first cup of coffee.”
“It’s okay.” She stood there staring at him. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. She had never seen him shirtless before either. She knew that he had a nice tan on his face and arms. Now she could see that his chest was also nicely tanned. He had some dark hair on his chest, but not too much. He had a flat stomach with the beginning of six pack abs. Her gaze wandered lower. When she saw the waistband of his blue boxers, Dawn knew she was entering dangerous territory. Her eyes shot up to look at his face.
He was grinning at her. “Like what you see?”
She couldn’t speak. Unfortunately, her blush spoke volumes. His grin got even bigger. “How long will it take for you to get ready?” she asked when she found her voice.
“Twenty minutes or so.”
“I’ll wait for you downstairs,” she said, right before turning away and running down the steps.
Jeremiah came downstairs thirty minutes later. “Sorry that you had to wait,” he said as he walked up to the table where she was sitting. He braced one hand on the back of the chair and one hand on the table so that he could lean down to give her a good-morning kiss. “I hope that makes up for the terrible good morning I gave you earlier.”
She smiled up at him. “Jackie said there were some donuts left, and I made you some fresh coffee. If that’s not want you want, we can walk up the street to get some lunch.”
“Coffee and donuts sounds good to me,” he told her as he walked over to the buffet to get the last three donuts and a cup of coffee. He walked back to the table and took a seat beside Dawn. “What have you been doing while you were waiting on me?”
“I talked to Jackie for a little while. I just came inside. I’ve been sitting on the swing, watching people and traffic.”
“See anybody that you know?”
“No. Most people I know are at work this time of day. I did see a few tourists walking around.”
“You look really cute today.”
Dawn looked down at what she was wearing. “What’s cute about this?”
“You’re wearing it.” He winked at her as he stuffed the last of the donuts in his mouth. “Let’s go,” he said when he finished.
They spent the day going all over the countryside. They started by going up the mountain where Dawn showed him the “Arkansas Grand Canyon.” This was the valley between several of the mountains. It was so green and beautiful on that warm spring day. It was absolutely picture postcard perfect. He had seen some postcards in the gift shop of the bed and breakfast. He’d buy a couple and send one to his mom and another to his dad. Maybe even one for Wes. Dawn had her camera with her and asked another tourist to take a picture of them. When he saw the image on the digital camera, he knew he would have it framed and put on his desk at work. From there, they drove the rest of the way up the mountain and had a late lunch at this little family-owned diner. It was the best hamburger Jeremiah had ever eaten. When he told that to the owner, he proudly told Jeremiah that he used a secret recipe that had been passed down through his family for generations.
Then Dawn took Jeremiah over to the property her family owned. The house her dad had grown up in was still there. Dawn showed Jeremiah the natural spring that ran behind the house and explained to him that the house had never had running water or electricity. The spring was cool enough to keep milk and eggs cold year round. She told him that her dad, with his brothers and sisters, would carry water from the spring to the house. Her grandmother would heat the water on a wood burning stove to be used for everything from cooking, washing dishes, and bathing. Then it was off to bed at dark because there was no electricity to light up the house and because they had to get up before sunrise. Jeremiah had heard that people had lived like this, but he had to see it to believe it.
“There are deer tracks all over the place,” he said as he pointed to the latest set he had found.
“I love to come up here and take pictures of the deer.” She pointed to a window at the back of the house. “You can sit up there all day, and the deer can’t see you. Shane says it’s the perfect hunting spot. The property is posted no hunting because we don’t want just anybody up here. But if you ever want to come up here and hunt, it’ll be okay.” Dawn took several pictures while they were there. A couple of times she caught Jeremiah in a good spot, like when he squatted down to take a drink out of the spring. She took a few scenery shots to show Bryan. He told her that he loved to hunt and was looking for new places to hunt. He might want to come up here when the season was over, too.
Later they went down into another valley onto National Park Service land. They found a good spot on the side of the road. The elk would show up here for their evening meal. Dawn and Jeremiah weren’t the only ones there. She told him that this was a pretty popular place on any warm evening. There were some people from Texas there, and they recognized Jeremiah as he pulled some camping chairs out of the trunk of the car. He signed autographs while they told him they had been at the race at Texas when Jeremiah won there last year. Dawn snapped a picture of the happy family with their favorite driver. She was giving the camera back to the mom when the first of the elk appeared through the trees. “The river is behind those trees,” Dawn explained. “The elk stay back there during the day and then come into the field at dusk to eat.”
“Awesome,” Jeremiah said, never taking his eyes off the creature. The elk slowly wandered into the field, and there were about twenty-five present when the alpha male of the group appeared. It was easy to tell that he was the boss because all the other males gave him space while the females gathered around him. One of th
e medium-sized males challenged the large older male, but it was a short duel. A couple of steps toward the younger male and a long snort was all it took for the smaller bull to see that he was biting off more than he could chew. Jeremiah watched the whole exchange in silence with a look of awe on his face. “This is great,” he said finally looking at Dawn. “This is one of the things I miss about home. Just sitting around, watching wildlife in their natural environment. Thanks for bringing me here.”
They stopped for supper at another local restaurant. It was three different buildings that had been opened up so that they were all connected. One end was a pizza parlor, and one end was a more traditional place with everything from fried chicken to thick hamburgers. The middle was a seating area with a stage at one end where they did karaoke sometimes. You could sit anywhere and order from either menu. Dawn and Jeremiah sat in the middle and ordered pizza. Lawrence, one of Dawn’s lifelong friends, was the main cook at the pizza parlor. There wasn’t anything Lawrence couldn’t cook. He made the best BBQ brisket Dawn had ever eaten. Lawrence brought the pizza out to them and then sat down to catch up with Dawn. He showed her the latest pictures of his kids.
Lawrence and Jeremiah instantly hit it off. They were laughing when Kevin walked in. The laughter instantly stopped as all three watched him. Kevin tried to act like he didn’t notice them, but Dawn saw him looking at them out of the corner of his eye. Jeremiah got up and took a step toward Kevin, but Dawn put a hand on his arm to stop him. “He’s just here to pick up a pizza. Please don’t start anything.”
“He’s in violation of the restraining order. You could have him arrested.”
“I know, but he has a right to be in a public place. You can’t expect him to scope out everyplace he wants to go to see if I’m there. When I’m home, I’ll see him at the grocery store, restaurants, and other places like that. As long as he doesn’t do anything, I’ll let him come and go. I’d rather just forget it and move on.” Jeremiah finally sat back down.
“Good for you,” Lawrence said as Kevin paid for his pizza and left. “I used to like that guy. Now I’d like to see him fall in front of a moving truck. Lord, forgive me for feeling that way, and help me to do better, but I see him and think that if my little boy ever treats a girl the way he treated you, I don’t know what I’d do. If a guy ever treats my little girl like that, they’ll never find the body.”
“Lawrence!” Dawn gasped.
“I mean it,” he urged. “I pray for my kids every day. I also pray that I don’t do something totally stupid if someone ever hurts my kids, because without the good Lord’s help, I will.”
Jeremiah was still watching the door Kevin had just left through. “You’ll have to pray for me, brother, because I’m a new Christian, and I really want to follow that guy and beat him to a pulp.”
“Don’t let the enemy get the best of you,” Lawrence said. “Don’t let the snake win.”
“I know,” Jeremiah said as he finally turned his gaze away from the door. “The old me would’ve met him at the door and dragged him back outside.”
“Good for you,” Lawrence repeated as he patted Jeremiah on the back. “Now, I want you two to try my new recipe for cinnamon sticks, and tell me what you think.”
Later, with some of the cinnamon sticks in a box for Jeremiah’s midnight snack, Dawn and Jeremiah once again sat on the porch swing at the B&B. “I’ve got to get one of these things for the deck of my house,” Jeremiah said.
“That would be nice,” Dawn replied as she snuggled closer. “Do you want to go to Branson tomorrow?”
“Branson, Missouri? Where they have all the country music shows?”
“Yes. It’s just about fifty miles north of here.”
“I’d love to. Mom has always wanted to go there. She’ll be jealous when I tell her.”
“They have great shopping up there. Bryan and Valerie told me they’ve always wanted to go. I promised to bring them some brochures.”
“I’ll get Mom some too.”
“We probably need to get an early start in the morning to beat the traffic, if we can.”
They got on the road right after breakfast the next morning. Dawn went to all her favorite stores. She got a new pair of tennis shoes so that she’d have an extra pair for the garage area. Jeremiah surprised the owners of a store that sold NASCAR merchandise. Jeremiah posed for pictures with the couple and signed a couple of diecast cars. Dawn slipped into a national chain store that sold soaps, shampoos, and such. Jeremiah realized that this was where she got the strawberry stuff that he liked so much. He noted their website on the store window. Now he could buy it for her online.
Then they went down on the lake for a different view of Branson. They had lunch at a gourmet sandwich shop. There is just so much to do in this little town, Jeremiah thought while he ate. It would take a week to do all the things he wanted to do. He got brochures for all the things he thought his mom would enjoy. Then he spotted a store that sold hunting and camping supplies. Dawn had to drag him out of there three hours later. It was Wednesday, and Dawn really wanted to go to church to see all of her youth kids again.
Kat and Lorrie were the first to see Dawn as she approached the church a couple of hours later. They screamed and ran to hug her. All the other kids followed: Carissa, Autumn, Katrina—just to name a few. It was so good to see all of her buddies again. There was quite a buzz over Jeremiah too. All the girls who didn’t watch NASCAR thought Jeremiah was a really hot guy. The kids and adults that did follow the sport all scrambled for autographs and took pictures with the cameras on their cell phones. Dawn wondered what Jeremiah would think of the service. In his short Christian life, all he had listened to were the more traditional hymns. Since this service was for teenagers, the music was more Christian rock and other more modern styles. He must’ve liked it because she saw him raise his hands shortly after the music started. Out of the corner of her eye, she even saw him wipe a tear during Chris Tomlin’s version of “Amazing Grace.”
Before the lesson, Lindsey surprised Dawn by asking her if she would like to testify. Dawn stood and spoke, “I want to start by thanking God for the opportunity to come back and see all of you again. As you know, I was in a pretty bad way when I left here a few months ago. Things were not working out in my life the way I had planned, and I had been hurt very badly by someone I loved. I left here to get away from that situation. I needed a fresh start and a fresh prospective. The Lord kept his hand of protection on me while I was gone. He got me a great job and a great place to live. He blessed me with a lot of new friends. I’m happy to say that he has replaced that old, unhealthy relationship with something better than I could have ever imagined or dreamed.” She wanted to glance over at Jeremiah at this point but couldn’t. She could feel his eyes on her. “When I left, I wasn’t really sure that I was in the Lord’s will for my life, but I was so desperate for a change that I went anyway. Now I know that I’ve been in the Lord’s will all along. He never forgot about me. His plans are greater than mine because he loves me so much.” She wiped a tear as she sat back down. Jeremiah’s arm came around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. She took a moment to lean into his embrace before straightening up to listen to the lesson.
“I need to ask you a couple of questions,” Jeremiah said later as they were saying good-night at the door of the B&B.
“Okay.”
“First, in your testimony tonight you said that you loved Kevin. Did you mean that?”
“Yes. If I didn’t love him, I would’ve never considered marrying him. Once I saw the character flaws that he had kept from me, I realized that he wasn’t the person I thought he was. That’s when my feelings for him started to change.”
“Okay. Second question. What did you mean when you said you had been blessed with a relationship that was better than you had ever hoped or dreamed?”
She smiled at him as s
he slipped her hand out of his and slid it around his waist. “You.”
“Really?” He was standing in front of the old porch light, so she couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was smiling. “That’s what I thought, but I wanted to hear you say it.”
“I did love Kevin, but I love you so much more,” she told him as she closed the distance between them for a kiss.
Saturday night, Dawn, Jeremiah, and the other members of Dawn’s family went to her cousin Tracy’s house for BBQ hamburgers. Jeremiah counted nineteen people in the little mobile home. This was the type of big family get together that he had missed since his parents’ divorce. When he thought about it, it was a little odd that her family was so much like his and that he fit in so well. He also knew that she would fit in just as well with his folks in Montana. But then another thought surprised him. It’s not odd, it’s God. It was true. Jeremiah took a moment to thank his heavenly Father for all the little miracles in his life.
After the meal, the kids scattered in all directions to play while the adults sat around to talk. Dawn and Jeremiah decided to go for a walk. They strolled hand in hand down the little country road. “Are you really having a good time?” Dawn asked when they got out of sight of the house.
“Yeah. Why would you ask that?”
“I just think how you have been all over the country and you could be anywhere on your week off, but you chose to come to the middle of nowhere in Arkansas. This has to be boring for you.”
“No, it’s not.” He stopped and turned her to face him. “First of all, you know that I want to spend time with you. Secondly, your family is so much like mine. I grew up in a little town myself. I’m sure that if I hadn’t come here I would’ve gone back to Montana.” He leaned down to kiss her but stopped when he heard kissing noises coming from the woods behind them. They both looked to see Cody, Hayden, and Kaleb watching them.
Revved Up Hearts Page 20
