Right Where I Belong

by Krista McGee

  “Pulpo, we call it,” Natalia had said. “It’s one of my favorites too.”

  Addy put her napkin down and looked at Natalia. “If you don’t mind my prying, how are you doing? I understood enough of your conversation with the chefs to know you miss Spain. I know you must miss your family and friends. I’ve seen how upset Maureen is. You seem fine with all this change, but I don’t think I would be. Are you really all right?”

  Natalia took a sip of her water and thought about Addy’s question. Natalia had plenty of friends in Spain, but she rarely talked with any of them about how she was feeling. In fact, she couldn’t remember any of them asking how she was feeling. They’d argue and debate and joke, of course. But Natalia had spent too many years guarding herself from hurts that she wasn’t even sure she knew how she really felt about most things.

  “I’m okay,” Natalia said quietly, cautiously. “I miss it, yes, but I know this is where God wants me. And to get to go to a Christian school . . . I can’t even tell you how exciting that is.”

  “I take so much for granted.” Addy tilted her head. “Wasn’t there anyone in your school who was a Christian?”

  “Not that I knew of. Some of my friends believed in God, but not a personal God. They certainly didn’t see any need to study the Bible or pray. My closest friend is an atheist, and she would argue with me all the time about why my faith is silly and I need to give it up.”

  “Wow. What did you say to her?”

  “I defended my faith the best I could and shared the gospel with her every chance I got.”

  “I admire that.” Addy took another bite of the pulpo. “I was around people for a whole month this spring who didn’t know Christ, and I was scared to death to even let them know I was a Christian. God had to really shake me up to make me share my faith.”

  “Maureen told me about that. You talked to the producer of your reality TV show on air, right? That’s bold.”

  “It wasn’t easy, but God used my weakness. And now Jonathon, the president’s son, is really growing. We talk about our Bible studies and share prayer requests. It’s exciting.”

  “So is there really a romance there? Or is that just rumor?”

  Addy’s face turned a bright shade of red, and Natalia knew she had touched on a sensitive spot. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” Brian Younger’s face suddenly popped into Natalia’s mind. I can’t even go to dinner with a friend without thinking of him. What is wrong with me?

  “No, it’s all right. Actually, we are still praying about that.”

  “You’re praying about a boy?” Natalia’s glass clinked against the tiles on the table. “What do you mean?”

  “We are definitely interested in each other, but we want to take things slow and make sure God is honored in our relationship. We’ve got plenty of time to get serious down the road.”

  Natalia smiled. This was the kind of friend she had been praying for. She told Addy as much.

  “I’m glad God brought you here, Natalia.” Addy returned her smile.

  “Me too,” a familiar voice said. Natalia turned to see Brian Younger the younger standing behind her. She strained her neck to look up at his bright red head and smiling face.

  “What, no kiss for an old friend?” He laughed, pulling a chair out to sit beside Natalia.

  “Do Americans not ask permission before invading a dinner table?” Natalia peered at Addy.

  Addy, obviously unsure whether or not Natalia was serious, looked to Brian.

  “I was invited by your stepmother, thank you very much.” Brian grabbed a slice of bread and placed chorizo, cheese, and a tomato on top.

  “What?” Natalia asked, still in shock. Her heart raced as he sat down. What excuse could she invent to leave the restaurant as soon as possible?

  I am not interested. No boys, no dating, no romance. God! Help me. Surely you don’t want me tempted like this.

  “As I was saying,” Brian mumbled as he swallowed the last of his food, “Maureen called to ask me about the ESL program. She said you needed some community-service hours.” Brian paused to take a sip of Natalia’s water. She blinked in surprise. “I told her that was amazing because just this morning I was praying that God would bring someone who is bilingual along who could help me. So many folks come in speaking no English at all.” Brian helped himself to some pulpo. “And all I can say is, Hola, me llamo Brian, y tu?”

  Natalia wasn’t sure which was worse—Brian’s manners or his accent.

  “So.” Brian forced Natalia to look him in the eye. “ Que pasa?”

  “What?” His blue eyes momentarily distracted her.

  “I don’t know. That’s all I remember from Spanish class.”

  “I’m not sure.” Natalia stared down at the table—anywhere to avoid his eyes. “Let me think it over a little more. When do you need to know?”

  “We meet every Thursday. So how’s tomorrow sound? That enough time?”

  “No. I’ll see you Sunday at church. I might have an answer then.”

  Brian’s eyes registered shock, and then something else. Natalia thought he seemed intrigued. But that couldn’t be the case. She looked away from Brian’s eyes to her half-eaten chorizo.

  Brian cleared his throat, reached in his pocket, and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. His relaxed demeanor returned. “Thanks for the food, ladies. It was muy bueno!” He winked.

  Natalia sat, her back straight and eyes forward, refusing to watch the young man leave.

  “Interesting,” Addy said as the bell above the door signaled Brian had left the restaurant.

  “What’s interesting?”

  Addy smiled and took a sip of her soda. “That was interesting.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I think Brian Younger may have just met his match.”

  Natalia folded her arms. “I am no one’s match.”

  Chapter 15

  Is there any problem a good day of shopping can’t fix?

  Addy picked Natalia up from her town house at ten the next morning. With school starting the next week, Natalia had lots of shopping to do. Maureen was busy with her lesson planning so Addy volunteered to help.

  Natalia’s father had insisted on sending enough money to cover all her schooling expenses. Maureen wasn’t thrilled to have to accept anything from Oscar, but Natalia explained that she was still his daughter. Maureen might be cut off from her soon-to-be ex-husband, but Natalia was not. Maureen reluctantly agreed, but the less Maureen had to see, the better.

  “So where do we begin?” Natalia buckled into the passenger seat of Addy’s sedan. Shopping had been her favorite pastime in Spain, and she was excited to be heading out to stores, even if it was just for school supplies and uniforms.

  “The uniform store. It’s better to get that over with.”

  “What do your uniforms look like?” Natalia gazed out the window at all the billboards. How do people focus on driving with these everywhere?

  “Nothing special. Plaid skirts or khaki pants and your choice of navy or green polo shirts.”

  “Polo shirts? What are those?”

  “You know, knit shirts with collars and three or four buttons,” Addy said.

  “That seems awfully casual. No blazers? No dress shirts?”

  Addy laughed. “This is Florida. We’d burn up in blazers and dress shirts. Is that what you wore in Spain?”

  Natalia nodded. “Everything was quite formal. We’d get in trouble if our shirts were untucked or our blazers wrinkled.”

  “Wow. I’d be in trouble every day! No school sports and no wrinkles? It sounds awful.”

  “It wasn’t awful at all.” Natalia’s face heated. “Rules build character. Dress for success. A proper uniform reflects a proper student.”

  “Is that what they told you?”

  “That is what my parents say.” Natalia shrugged. “Too bad uniforms can’t tell me what I should be, though. That is what my parents really want.”

  “
They want you to know your major already?”

  “They want me to know my career already.” Natalia didn’t want to continue this discussion. The stress of those thoughts was too much to consider. “But polos and khakis. That’s nothing, I’m telling you.”

  “Most of the TCS students hate wearing uniforms. That’s one of the biggest complaints you’ll hear.”

  “Well, that’s silly.” Natalia shook her head. “Complaining about uniforms. I’ll just have to straighten these Americans out.” She smiled. “They need to know how good they have it—Bible classes, Christian teachers, no blazers or ties . . .”

  Natalia stopped as Addy pulled into a parking space at the uniform store. She was overwhelmed as she walked into what looked like a mini-department store, filled with every kind of uniform imaginable.

  “I thought you said the colors were navy and green?” Natalia asked.

  “They are, but this store houses uniforms for most of the private schools in Tampa.”

  Natalia was surprised to learn that each school had its own uniform requirements, some even had their own plaid. Addy navigated through the aisles and found the Tampa Christian School section. Natalia was not impressed with the stiff cotton skirts, but she found several in her size, along with some pants, and went in line to check out.

  She spotted a mall across the busy street. Natalia longed to spend a few hours in there, catch up on the latest fashions, and maybe buy a few cute pairs of shoes to liven up the dull uniforms. But she promised to live within Maureen’s means. Middle-class living would not be easy. Good-bye, Jimmy Choo. My feet will miss you dearly. “Now for books.” Natalia laid her purchases in the backseat of Addy’s car.

  A few minutes later Addy pulled into the parking lot of the largest bookstore Natalia had ever seen.

  “If they don’t have our summer reading books, there’s a bigger bookstore down the street.”

  “Bigger than this?” Natalia asked, overwhelmed at the selection.

  Addy was able to find one of the books, a Jane Austen novel that had been required reading for Natalia when she was in the ninth grade. The second, a book by C. S. Lewis, was not available.

  “Till We Have Faces isn’t very well known,” Addy said. “But Mrs. Jenners, our English teacher, says it’s his best. We may have to go to a Christian bookstore for that one.”

  Natalia wanted to know about Christian bookstores, but in less than three minutes, Addy had pulled into a Walmart parking lot. Natalia had heard a lot about this store from Maureen and others. She walked in and was relieved to know that, in Spain, they had a store even bigger—Carrefour. That store was two stories tall, with a moving sidewalk that took customers and their carts from one level to the next. At least, this once, she didn’t feel overwhelmed. This Walmart was only one story and didn’t have nearly the variety that Carrefour had.

  Addy had the school supply list in her purse, and the girls made their way to the far end of the building where the back-to-school displays were set up. Again on familiar territory, Natalia made quick work of finding the items she needed and placed them in the cart.

  “All done.” Addy crossed the last item off their list.

  “Is that all?” Natalia smiled. “That was fun. I love shopping.”

  “I can tell.” Addy laughed. “I’ve never seen anyone get so excited about cereal.”

  “You have so many choices. We don’t have nearly so many. Of course, you are lacking in the cheese department. And no Jamón Serrano.”

  The girls walked their cart out to Addy’s car and found Spencer Adams making his way into the store.

  Spencer stopped and smiled at them. “Addy. And, Natalia, right?”

  “Right.” Natalia pushed the cart to the side so an oncoming car could pass. “How are you, Spencer?”

  “Doing much better now that I’ve seen you two lovely ladies.”

  Natalia wanted to groan. But that would not be polite.

  “Shopping for school supplies?”

  “I sure am.” Spencer smiled again.

  He thinks we should just melt over that smile.

  “Listen, I was hoping I’d see you again, Natalia.” He leaned in. “I know you were just being nice the other day, but Brian Younger really is a loser. I mean, he’s nice and all that. But he’s not the kind of guy you want to be seen hanging around with.”

  “Really?” Natalia raised an eyebrow. She knew guys like this, guys who thought they knew exactly what a girl wanted. Arrogant boys seem to be an international phenomenon. “I appreciate your concern, but I do believe I am quite capable of deciding with whom I do and do not want to associate.”

  Spencer walked away, his bright smiled having faded.

  Addy spoke quietly beside Natalia. “That’s twice in two days! And you handle it so well.”

  “What are you talking about?” Natalia reached for the car door.

  “First Brian, now Spencer. Boys are throwing themselves at you, and you just put them right in their place!”

  “What does that mean, ‘put them in their place’?”

  “You know, it means . . . how do I explain it?” Addy slanted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “It means that you let them know you were boss.”

  When Natalia crossed her arms and furrowed her brows, Addy tried again. “Another cliché. I guess I don’t realize how many we use. Okay, what I meant to say was that two boys think you are very attractive and you don’t even give them the time of day.” She caught herself. “You don’t flirt back.”

  “Why should I? I don’t want to date. No use making anyone think otherwise.” Natalia turned the vents of the air conditioner toward her. Standing outside all that time was brutal. “But what do you mean two boys? Spencer was the only one flirting. And I think it is more because I’m new and have a foreign accent than anything else.”

  “Brian Younger,” Addy reminded. “He’s friendly and he jokes with everyone, but he hardly ever flirts. I don’t even think he’s had a girlfriend. But he was flirting with you. Big time.”

  “Don’t be silly. He was just trying to encourage me to help him in his ministry.”

  “If that’s what you want to think, all right.” Addy laughed. “But I know what I saw. And he is a great guy. I would definitely approve of that match. And Spencer—he’s probably the most popular guy in school. He has all kinds of girls lined up, wanting to go out with him.”

  “I’m not interested in dating,” Natalia said, louder than she intended, from the look on Addy’s face. “I’m sorry. I really don’t mean to be rude. I just do not intend to date.”

  “Because you don’t want to get involved with an American?”

  “No, because I don’t want to get involved with anyone. Jesus is the only man I want in my life.”

  Natalia could tell Addy wanted to know more, but Natalia wasn’t ready yet to share the reasons behind how she felt. She was flustered at the thought that Brian might actually be interested in her, and upset that she hoped it would be true.

  What was that verse Pastor Eduardo preached on before she left? Natalia tried to recall. Paul said that the things he wanted to do, he didn’t, and the things he didn’t want to do, he did. I understand that exactly. I don’t want to think about Brian. I don’t want to be attracted to him.

  As Addy pulled into Natalia’s driveway, she turned to Natalia. “I respect how committed you are to Christ, Natalia. You really challenge me to make sure I keep him first in everything. But he wants good things for you. Don’t be afraid to accept the good things along with the difficult.”

  “You think dating is a good thing?”

  “No, it’s not that.” Addy shook her head. “I just get the feeling you have a wall up around you. You’ll let people get just so close, then no more. I’m not talking about boys either. I feel it too. I’d like to be your friend, Natalia. I love having fun and eating and shopping together, but I’d like to know what you’re thinking and how you’re feeling. I want to help you. I know this move can’
t be easy. You miss your friends and your family. I know Maureen is struggling. Let me in. Please.”

  Natalia wasn’t sure how to respond. She was shocked that Addy, who had known her for such a short time, could see into her so easily.

  “Thank you, Addy.” Natalia looked straight ahead. “But I am just a private person.”

  “I understand.” Addy smiled. “I am too. But I’ve learned that even private people need to make some things public. With people they can trust. I hope I can earn that trust with you. I’m praying for you. I see God working in you and it’s exciting. I’m so glad God brought you here.”

  Natalia thanked Addy, then grabbed her packages and walked into the town house.

  Help me, God. Help me to be as strong of a person as Addy believes that I am.

  Chapter 16

  Natalia opened the door to the town house to find Maureen curled into a ball on the couch, a dozen crumpled tissues on the floor.

  “Maureen!” Natalia dropped her purchases and rushed to her stepmother. “What happened? Are you all right?”

  Maureen moaned and blew her nose, her face covered in tears, her eyes so red and puffy she didn’t even look like herself. She was crying so hard that she couldn’t speak. She tried, but the only sounds that came out were sobs. Natalia was distraught, unsure of what to do.

  Maureen lifted a sheet of typed paper and thrust it into Natalia’s lap. Opening the paper—also soaked in tears—understanding dawned on her.

  The divorce was final.

  Maureen had still held out a glimmer of hope that it wouldn’t actually happen, that Papa might change his mind. Natalia knew that wouldn’t happen. In her weekly conversations with her father, he shared that he was blissfully happy with Victoria, his much younger new woman. They had been vacationing in southern France, shopping in Morocco. She was trying to convince him to buy a vacation home in Fiji, but Papa thought someplace closer—the Canary Islands, maybe—would be better.

  Her father was always rushed, always happy when Natalia spoke to him. She, of course, relayed none of her conversations with her father to Maureen. She didn’t want her stepmother hurt any more than she already was.