Out of the Blue Bouquet (Crossroads Collection)

by Amanda Tru

  “Oh, come on…”

  “No, really. I was panicking all afternoon. But it worked out so right. I don’t know how I would have tried to tell you anything. So…”

  This time, she looked at him—really looked. “Yeah. Okay.” A sigh, ragged and pain-filled. Reid ached to hold her again, but his brighter-self told him to take it easy.

  One at a time, Kelsey took back her hands and reached for her guitar. Reid wrapped his fingers around the handle and gave her his best excuse for a smile. Is this it? Awkwardness? Okay. Maybe three months after all. Just don’t let her hate me. Or Wayne. It’s not his fault, I guess.

  They walked to her car without a word. As usual, he settled her case in the front seat and shut the door. This time, she had the driver’s door open, ready to go. Reid scrambled for something to say, but nothing seemed right. Instead, he just asked, “See you tomorrow?”

  “Yeah.”

  Reid stepped away from the car, hands shoved in his pockets, glad he hadn’t taken off his coat. Kelsey started to climb in but backed out and peered over the top of the car. “Reid?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why do you carry my guitar out here every day?” She waggled a finger at him before adding, “And don’t tell me because it’s dark. We both know it’s safe. This is Fairbury! A cop could be here in less than a minute—on foot.”

  Reid pressed himself against the passenger side of the car, only the vehicle separating them. “It’s a few minutes with you—outside The Prayer Room. I don’t have to be quiet out here. I can just be… me.” He dropped his forehead to the top of the car. “Yeah, I know. It’s not the whole treating you like a sister like I said I would, but it was as close as I could get and still try to show that someday I hoped…” Oh, the words sounded so cheesy. Still, he couldn’t think of anything better. “Well, I hoped you’d be more than just a sister.”

  “I see.”

  “Kelsey…”

  She climbed up on the edge of the door opening and reached one hand across the top of the car. Reid caught it in his. Embarrassment still hovered in her features, laced her words, made her hand tremble. But Kelsey finally met his gaze and sighed. “Well, three months isn’t that long if you decide you still need to wait.”

  And as on every day, Reid stood there watching as her taillights disappeared around the corner and into the night. You’ll wait. Wow.

  Not until he’d been inside for a good twenty minutes did Reid realize he’d forgotten to thank the Lord.

  And that Kelsey had forgotten her flowers.

  As his mother negotiated around a tractor just a couple of miles from the Brant’s Corners turnoff, she gave him another curious glance, and again, said nothing. This time, Reid couldn’t stand it. “What?”

  “Reid, you haven’t said more than a word or two since you got in the car. Just because you wrote me a nice note today, doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Talk. What’s bothering you?”

  The reminder of the note sent him digging for the replacement. And as he handed it to her, he told the story—all of it. “Mom… I thought…”

  “But she intimated that she’d wait?”

  A grin formed before he could hope to repress it—just as it had every time he’d remembered her saying, “Well, three months isn’t that long.”

  “And that’s why you’re taking her the flowers? Did she leave them behind on purpose?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, but I think she was just so embarrassed that she wanted out of there. Forgot them.”

  She didn’t say it, but Reid could hear her thoughts as loudly as if she’d shouted them. “You keep thinking that.”

  The turn at Brant’s Corners meant he’d have to direct her to a house she knew he’d only been to once. And I could do it blindfolded.

  His mother only looked at him.

  “Turn right at the first street after the market. Left at the first street after that. Third duplex on the right.”

  “And you’ve been here once?”

  “Yep.” Physically. A hundred times in my head.

  As she pulled up to the house, his mother caught his arm and stopped him from bolting from the car. “Reid?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Ask her out. I think waiting now would just be stubborn. You’ve fought it this long. Fighting it when she knows is only going to hurt you both.”

  “But—”

  His mother cut him off again. “No, Reid. Listen to me. The point was to concentrate on your faith for a year, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, now you’re concentrating on her already. At least you can work on your religious stuff together. That’s good for relationships. Look at Uncle Mark and Emily. They’ve got the best marriage I’ve ever seen, and she always says its ‘the Lord.’”

  His mother might not believe… not yet. But she seemed to have a better grasp on the idea than he did. Besides, she was right. Kelsey had been a believer a lot longer than he had. Why shouldn’t he learn with and from her? “Okay, Mom. Be right back.”

  “I’m timing you. If you’re in there for less than five minutes, I’m going to march you right back.”

  You’d do it, too.

  Still, he found himself dragging his feet all the way to the door. As he waited for her to answer his knock, he stared at the folded sticky note in the card fork. Take it out? Leave it in?

  Too late to decide. The door opened with Kelsey standing there looking more adorable than ever. Her face flushed as she glanced down at fuzzy sleep pants and a baggy long-sleeved T-shirt. The sleeping bear on the front was encircled by the words, “Don’t mess with me. I’m hibernating.”

  “Not a morning person?”

  She grinned. “I can’t believe you brought those. Come in! How’d you get here?”

  A pile of unfolded laundry taunted her, but Kelsey had a hot date with a cold pint of Ben & Jerry’s at the other end of the couch. “I just wish I knew if he meant it—I mean, really meant it.”

  “Um, from what you’ve said…” Uncle Mel’s voice teetered on the edge of amusement. “He kind of said it, over and over. Guys don’t do that. Especially guys like Reid. You said he doesn’t talk much.”

  Kelsey snorted ice cream out her nose. “Ew! Ow! I blame you for nostril frostbite syndrome! Ow!!”

  “I studied every single page of your coursework with you. There’s no such thing. Snorting ice cream isn’t illegal, but it’s still stupid. Don’t make a habit of it.”

  “Apparently…” Kelsey giggled as she wiped ice cream on her sleeve. “I already have if you knew what I did so quickly. And Reid talks like anyone if he’s outside The Prayer Room. I just don’t get to see him out there much, and it sounds like it’ll be another three months before I do.”

  This earned her a resounding, “No, Kelsey. No. You ask him out. He sounds like he could use the encouragement now. Just ask him.”

  “But if it’s a commitment to the Lord, is it right for me to do that?”

  “He’s already thinking about you anyway, so you guys think about the Lord together.”

  Before Kelsey could formulate a protest, a knock at the door saved her. “Someone’s here. Landlord, maybe?”

  “I’ll stay on until you tell me you’re good.”

  “Ever the over-protective uncle.” But as she stood on tip-toe and peered through the little window, a burst of sunflowers shone in her porch light. “It’s Reid!”

  Uncle Mel laughed as he said, “And I’m out. Bye!”

  Kelsey dropped her phone on the rickety old stool that served as her entry table and jerked open the door. He swept his eyes over her before grinning. “Not a morning person?”

  Mortification hit hard and fast. Kelsey suspected she stood there grinning like a fool, but tried to cover it. “I can’t believe you brought those. Come in! How’d you get here?”

  “Mom and I are going out to dinner in Brunswick, so she—”

  “Is she out…?” Kelsey saw a silhouette in a running Mazda and shoved h
er feet in her “outside slippers.” “Be right back.”

  “Kelsey, she—”

  But she didn’t wait. Shivering in the cold, night air, she hurried to the driver’s side and pleaded, cajoled, and ultimately bullied his mother out of the car and into her duplex. As she hauled her pile of laundry from the living room to her bed, Kelsey insisted they take a seat. “I won’t keep you long, but I never get company, and when else will I get to meet your mom?”

  Her bedroom mirror mocked her. Sleep shirt—no wonder he’d joked about not being a morning person. Ice cream on the sleeve… And probably a bit of snot, too. Ew!

  She ripped off that shirt and grabbed for one out of the laundry pile—sweater and fuzzy sleep pants. Great. What a way to ensure I look as thick as possible. Ugh.

  Still, it was better than ice cream snot. She hustled down the mini-hall again, chattering as she went. “Can I get you drinks or something?”

  Reid’s mom stood and held out her hand. “I’m Pat. It’s so nice to meet you after all this time.”

  To her disgust, Kelsey blushed. A glance at Reid showed him glowing brighter than a cartoon thumb after contact with a hammer. A few stammers, another flush of red—just in case hers had faded or something—and she gave up. Reid came to her rescue. “Mom, do you have to make her convinced I’m nothing more than some obsessed guy? I’m trying to convince her that she should give me a chance, remember?”

  That’s all it took. Just as Kelsey dropped into one of her cute but oh-so-uncomfortable chairs Pat popped up. “Great. You do that. I’ll be in the car. Don’t hurry.” She whispered something to Reid, gave Kelsey a great big smile, and moved toward the door. “It really is great to meet you. I hope… well, I hope to see you very soon.”

  And with that, before Kelsey could even hope to remember to stand again out of basic courtesy, Pat slipped outside and into the night. She stared at Reid. “What just happened?”

  “My mother hinted, not too subtly, either, that she wants you to say yes to our invitation to join us for dinner.”

  “No!” The way Reid’s face fell told Kelsey all she needed to know about his sincerity regarding his feelings. “I don’t mean that I wouldn’t like to. I would. But it’s her birthday, and we’d spend the whole time with “get to know you” kind of conversation. This should be for just the two of you.” A smile formed in her heart and Kelsey let it show. “Besides, call me selfish, but I’d like our first date just to be us. Is that awful?”

  He shook his head. The seconds passed. Reid glanced at the door, at her, and back at the door again. “I should go.”

  As she followed him outside, her heart ordered him to ask him out—even if just for a coffee when he got done at The Prayer Room the next day. “I—”

  “Would—” Reid shook his head. “Sorry, what were you going to say?”

  All courage fled. “I just hope you have a nice time with her. Your mom seems nice—fun.”

  “She is. I just didn’t see it until I’d done my best to ruin my life.”

  “Sounds like a typical teenager to me.” Kelsey gave him a quick hug. “I’m freezing. Thanks for bringing the flowers…”

  His next words came out in a rush. “That ‘get to know us’ thing at The Prayer Room on Saturday. Want to have dinner together first?”

  All shivers stopped as a warm glow filled her to her fingertips. “Definitely want that.”

  Kelsey met him outside The Coventry at five-thirty, her smile and the banana Beetle the only bright spot in an otherwise dreary, miserable day. Headlights flashed him, one after the other as cars poured into the restaurant’s parking lot. Reid hopped inside and pulled the door shut tight behind him. “Whew. I think the whole town is out tonight. Glad I made reservations.”

  “I am under orders from Uncle Mel to make sure Marcello’s isn’t going to put you in trouble with your boss…” She winced. “Or your wallet.”

  “Ramon loves Marcello’s He eats there now and then. And even if it would have been tough, I got a refund on Mom’s flowers for the mix-up, so it’s almost free—sort of.” Reid waffled over telling her about his secret stash, but at her second glance at him under the streetlight, he decided he’d better. “Really. And besides… I’ve been saving date money almost since I met you.”

  The two-minute drive between restaurants passed before she responded. In fact, they made it inside, to their table, and ordered drinks before Kelsey asked what he meant. “Saving date money?”

  Low lighting, a small bowl of full rose blooms, and soft, acoustic music set an ambiance he couldn’t have dreamed of even in his dreams. Pizza and beer—that was my idea of a nice date. No wonder Mom insisted we come here. Gotta redefine my idea of dates. Just need some less expensive ones, too.

  “—can’t always be doing something expensive. Sometimes we just need to be, you know?”

  Reid shot her a curious look before grinning. “I was just thinking that this is nice for special, but we’ll need less expensive things for regular, and you say that. Glad you understand. I’ve gotta pay off my school bills.”

  “Right. But you still didn’t answer about saving date money.”

  Well, here goes. “It probably sounds pathetic to you, but just because I decided to do the year thing, doesn’t mean I remembered all the time. So many times, I’d start to ask you if you wanted to get coffee or an ice cream.” He fiddled with the corner of a menu he hadn’t even opened as he searched for words that didn’t sound quite as pathetic as the ones forming in his mind. “So, to keep myself from going crazy, I’d take the money it would have cost and stuck it in an envelope. If you found someone before I could ask, I figured I’d have a decent savings in there. If not…”

  From behind the menu, Kelsey’s low murmur told him all anxiety over the flower mishap was gone. “I owe Uncle Mel an apology. He told me a guy wouldn’t keep saying how glad he was that everything worked out the way it did unless he meant it.” Her eyes peered at him over the top of the menu. “So, if I get a big bowl of their French onion soup and a salad, will you believe me that it’s what I really want?”

  “Seriously?”

  Kelsey shrugged. “I… well, we’re giving those testimonies and things. I just got really nervous. I don’t think I should eat anything too heavy.” As she lowered the menu, he saw flushing cheeks and her chewing the corner of her lip. “Forgive me?”

  “As long as you don’t hate me for getting a steak. Mom changed her mind last minute last night and wanted Olive Garden. I’d planned on a Santa Fe steak.”

  The server brought bread and took their orders. The music switched to a harp playing some song he’d heard somewhere—at Christmas, maybe. “What’s this song?”

  “‘Greensleeves,’ I think,”

  The name didn’t sound familiar. “Guess I was wrong.” She buttered slices of bread with one eye on him, waiting. Asking. Reid accepted a proffered piece and tried to explain. “It’s just that it sounds familiar—almost like Christmas, but I can’t place it.”

  “It’s the tune from ‘What Child Is This?’”

  “Doesn’t help.”

  Kelsey sang a few lines until Reid caught on. “Oh! Yeah! From the pageant my mom took me to every Christmas. A shepherd always sang it.” Complimenting anyone—akin to torture. Trying to compliment Kelsey—definite torture. Not doing it—inconceivable. “I love your voice.”

  Apparently, he’d said the right thing if the smile and the glow in her eyes meant anything. “Thanks. So,” she began as if in a rush to change the subject. “Tell me how you decided to become a chef.”

  “You’ll hear about that during my testimony. Tell me why you became a nurse.”

  Reid expected her not to want to talk about herself like that, but she did. Eyes sparkling, even in the dim lighting, hands waving, she told of her childhood dream of becoming a wedding planner. “I saw that movie as a kid, you know. But then in my tenth-grade biology class, this girl just dropped from her chair onto the floor. I’d taken all kinds of
CPR classes and first-aid things. So, I’d be ready for any wedding emergency, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  A tap on his leg—not much of a kick but the message was clear. Don’t mess with me, bub. Her wink told him he was already forgiven. “Everyone freaked out, of course. One girl tried swinging her arms around, but I saw this flutter of her eyelid and rolled her onto her side. I was sure it was a seizure, but she never seized. Just lay there with that eye twitch and a bit of drool. The paramedics said I did the right thing.”

  “What was it?”

  “A seizure—absence seizure they’re called. Typical can happen so quickly no one notices. But atypical are longer, so she fell.” Kelsey stared off for a moment before shaking herself. “Sorry. I just never forgot what Mr. Matheson said. He said, ‘You’d be a good nurse, Kelsey. You kept your cool and knew what to do. And you just did it.’ Made me feel so good.”

  That, Reid could relate to. “I get it. That is a good feeling.”

  “When I told Uncle Mel, he said, ‘Sounds to me like wedding planning has a rival.’ And when I asked why, he said, ‘Because that good feeling? You’d feel that every time you helped save a life—every time you made a scared patient or loved one feel better about what was happening.’”

  Before he could formulate any kind of response, their eyes met and held. Her hand squeezed his. When had they joined hands? When have I ever been so comfortable with a girl that I can stop thinking about her even when I don’t?

  The Prayer Room nearly burst its seams with the number of people crowded into the room. Had Terry, the captain of the fire department, been available, they’d have been ordered outside. Of that, Kelsey had no doubt. The director of the ministry, Michelle Tackett, stood before the room, sharing the goal, the purpose, and the short history of just how The Prayer Room came into being.

  “We have people here almost twenty-four hours a day. Even the tourists come in and visit—leave their own prayer requests on the walls.” She pointed at the various clay jars around the room. “Those all have prayer requests, and we never stop praying for them.”