Ignoring him, Katie turned her attention back to the group of guys that was now heckling Todd, the easygoing groom. Todd had positioned Christy’s garter between his two thumbs in a slingshot position and impishly aimed backwards. If he let go, the garter undoubtedly would land somewhere in the palm trees that bent over the wedding party like gentle giraffes sheltering their young.
One of the guys called out, “Hey, wrong way, dude.”
Doug, a groomsman and the only married guy in the group, stood beside Todd to direct him in the garter launch. Doug turned Todd back around to face the pack. “Just aim it this general direction. It’ll fly off crazy, so you don’t need to have your back to them the way Christy did.”
Todd looked as if he was enjoying this as much as he had clearly enjoyed the wedding and the leisurely paced reception. For all the arguments that erupted among Todd, Christy, her parents, and her eager-to-be-involved Aunt Marti during the planning of the wedding, it had turned into Todd and Christy’s special day. The wedding and reception had only a few touches of Marti’s influence here and there — most of the day had been quintessential Todd and Christy. Katie couldn’t be happier for her friends.
The guys stood back with nonchalant postures, indicating by their expressions they were too cool to go after the garter. But Katie knew this group well enough to realize that the competitive streak in them would spring into action the second Todd launched the ball of lace.
True enough. Todd jutted his determined chin forward. On Doug’s command, he launched the lacy white elastic band into the cluster of too-cool guys.
Mayhem broke out.
Katie noticed that Rick was one of only a few guys who didn’t spring into action. The garter seemed to make a beeline for the guy with the goatee next to her. But before he could secure his grasp on the flimsy, fluttering piece of lace, another hand reached out and snatched the prize.
Katie’s shoulders involuntarily slumped when she saw who caught the garter.
David, the little twerp.
Christy’s fifteen-year-old brother broke into a spontaneous victory dance. Sadly, the dance was too clever for his large feet to maneuver and too painful for Katie to watch. She lowered her head and made her way to the other side of the crowd where Rick had ended up. He was talking to Todd’s dad.
“Great save on the bouquet catch, there, Katie.” Todd’s dad tipped his plastic punch cup her direction and added, “Way to go after what you want.”
“Thanks.” Turning to Rick she said, “I didn’t notice your making any heroic efforts to catch the garter there, Doyle.”
Rick gave her a grin and a shrug. “It wasn’t coming my direction.”
That is such a Rick-Doyle-philosophy-of-life statement!
In the past six months Katie had watched Rick roll through several challenging situations without lurching forward with the sort of aggression he had displayed during their high school years. He had mellowed. Maybe too much.
She gave him a long look. This was her friend. Her “almost” boyfriend, according to their last “DTR” — Define the Relationship — conversation. They had been around each other nearly every day for the past seven months, and yet she felt she didn’t really know who he was or what he was thinking at any given moment.
Of one thing she was sure. She was glad she had “come his direction” on the night Todd had proposed to Christy at the Dove’s Nest Café. Rick was the manager of the Dove’s Nest, and although they had known each other since junior high, their paths hadn’t crossed for several years.
After they reconnected that night, Katie and Rick fell into a steady, side-by-side rhythm of being together. She even took a job at the Dove’s Nest. The past half-year had been the most stable stretch of her life, and she didn’t want anything to change. All she wanted was a label for their relationship. She wanted to be established once and for all as boyfriend and girlfriend.
“Katie!” Christy’s aunt motioned sharply from her staging position next to the wedding trellis. David already was posed, holding up the garter. The photographer was checking the fading light with his meter.
“You’re being summoned,” Todd’s dad said.
“So I am. You want to come with me?” She reached for Rick’s arm.
“You go ahead. I told Doug I’d help him with a little, ah… project.”
“You guys aren’t going to mess with Todd and Christy’s car, are you?”
Rick only smiled.
Todd’s dad stepped away. “I didn’t hear that. I’m not in on whatever you guys are planning.”
“Rick, Christy doesn’t want you guys to do anything to their car. You and Doug know that, right?”
“Katie!” David’s voice interrupted them. “Aunt Marti says to hurry up!”
“Promise me you won’t do anything to their car, Rick. I’m the maid of honor. I’m supposed to protect Christy. Help me out here. Please don’t — ”
“You’d better go.” Rick pointed her toward Aunt Marti and the photographer. “Your flowers are crooked, by the way.”
She took off for the trellis, glancing at the bouquet in her hands. What did he mean the flowers were crooked? They didn’t look out of balance to her. A little fluffed up and missing a rosebud, maybe.
“For goodness sake, Katie, bend your head down.” Aunt Marti reached up and repositioned the headband of white baby’s breath Katie wore as the crowning touch of the bridesmaid’s outfit.
Suddenly Goatee Guy’s comment made sense, as did Rick’s. Her halo had slipped. Katie made her own adjustments with the two remaining bobby pins after Marti finished her attack. Smoothing back her silky red hair, Katie asked, “Better?”
“It will do.” Marti stepped aside and gave an irritated snap of her fingers, as if she were in charge of giving directions to the photographer.
David moved closer to Katie and put his arm around her shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked.
“Posing for the picture.”
Katie wiggled out from under his lumbering arm. “Just smile, David. That’s all you have to do. Smile. Like this.” Katie gave the photographer her best, cheesy-faced grin.
The perturbed photographer looked up from behind the lens. “A little less exuberance, if you don’t mind.” He took another shot. “Now give me a casual pose.”
David stretched his arm in Katie’s direction. The scent of his adolescent sweat was strong enough to wilt the flowers in the bouquet — and the trellis that surrounded them. “I’m warning you, David. Keep your paws off me.” Katie’s words leaked out through her closed-mouth smile. David lowered his arm.
“That’s it.” The photographer gave them a nod and walked away with his camera.
Katie tossed out a “thank you” and noticed Goatee Guy standing at the end of the aisle next to Tracy, the other bridesmaid. Tracy was married to Doug, and the two of them were expecting their first baby in a little more than a month.
“Are Christy and Todd preparing to leave?” Katie called to Tracy across the rows of empty chairs.
Tracy nodded, her hands folded on top of her round belly. “I came to find you. They’re in the chapel signing the marriage license, and they need you to sign as a witness.”
Katie scurried across the grass toward the small prayer chapel located on the corner of the university property. The chapel was one of Katie’s favorite hidden treasures on the Rancho Corona campus. This grassy meadow on the high mesa that encompassed the university campus usually was used for long strolls along the trail. Having an outdoor wedding in this gorgeous space had been Todd’s idea, and it was a great one. No doubt the meadow now would become a frequently requested wedding location for other Rancho Corona students.
Taking a shortcut past the palm trees, Katie caught a glimpse in the distance of the flaming sun making its nightly trek into the hazy blue field of the Pacific Ocean. The air was cooling already. Thick, atmospheric layers of peach and primrose hinted at a touch of glory soon to be viewed in the sunset
.
Katie smiled. She found it easy to believe that God, in his not-so-subtle way, was adding his celebration touch to the end of Todd and Christy’s perfect day. In a whisper, Katie said, “Will you bless them, Father God? Bless all their years to come. You have been so good to them.”
With a catch in her throat, she added, “I don’t know exactly what you have in mind for me, but would you bless me too? If Rick isn’t the right guy for me, would you make that clear pretty soon? I don’t want to convince myself that becoming Rick’s girlfriend is one of your God things if it’s really only a Katie thing.”
Arriving at the chapel, Katie paused before she opened the door and added a P.S. to her prayer. “If you don’t want Rick and me to go any further in our relationship, then will you break us up? This unsettled thing of being his ‘almost’ girlfriend is killing me. Especially today.”
KATIE WELDON SERIES
On a Whim
Robin Jones Gunn,
Bestselling Author of
the Christy Miller Series
Ever since high school, Katie Weldon has wondered what it would be like to be Rick Doyle’s girlfriend. As a college senior she’s about to find out.
In the swirl of Katie’s upgraded dating life, she receives an unexplained bouquet, an unexpected call from her mother, an unprecedented girls’ night out with Christy, and an unhappy moment when her beloved car, Baby Hummer, takes its last wheeze. Rick’s new roommate, Eli, complicates things by inviting Katie on a midnight jaunt to see a meteor shower. Under a canopy of stars Katie grasps a new view of the universe — out there as well as up close. As if she had nothing else to do, on a whim, she singlehandedly starts a fund-raising campaign for clean water for Africa.
With Rick caught up in making plans for the future, how will Katie navigate her way through the remainder of her college career with no money, no transportation, no spare time and no idea what God is up to?
On a Whim is the second book in the Katie Weldon Series.
Softcover: 978-0-310-27657-9
Pick up a copy today at your favorite bookstore!
More Fun
with Christy, Todd, & Katie
As Christy, Katie, and Todd head into the tumultuous
years of college, each must make life-changing
decisions about life, love, and God. From a whirlwind
trip abroad to an engagement surprise to a beautiful
wedding, the path ahead for these three friends will see
both happy and hard times.
With important decisions on the line and fun memories
to be made, you won’t want to miss a single
adventure with your favorite friends.
CHRISTY AND TODD:
THE COLLEGE YEARS
Until Tomorrow, As You
Wish, I Promise
About the Publisher
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, newmedia products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan(www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.
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