Right Where I Belong

by Krista McGee

  But faced with “little Brian,” Natalia’s courage faded. So many “what ifs” floated through her mind.

  “Natalia?” Brian broke into her thoughts. “I think I know what you want to talk about. I want you to know that I’m fine with it.”

  Brian spoke so matter-of-factly. And he still sat all the way on the other side of the couch. This was not at all how she had imagined this exchange.

  “Really?”

  “I knew you weren’t made to never date.” Brian shrugged. “That was just a coping mechanism because of all you’ve been through with your parents.”

  Natalia swallowed hard. Brian sounded like he was discussing a business transaction. Did he not realize how vulnerable she was making herself? Was he that unromantic? Natalia didn’t expect him to fall at her feet and thank her, but this . . .

  “What’s wrong?” Brian’s eyes softened.

  “I didn’t expect it to be like this.” Natalia wanted to run out. This was terrible. What was she thinking?

  “Natalia, we’re friends. Nothing will change that. I know it’ll be different. It has to be. But we’ll still be working here together. I’ll still bug you for help in math.”

  Her heart sank. She couldn’t bring herself to look into Brian’s eyes. Was he saying he knew she was interested, but he wasn’t? He just wanted to be friends?

  “Spencer is not the same guy he used to be. I’m seeing that firsthand.”

  Natalia finally looked at Brian. “Spencer?”

  “Yes, Spencer.” Brian’s eyes widened. “We are talking about Spencer, aren’t we?”

  “No.” The pieces were falling into place. “I have been rethinking my commitment not to date. But not because of Spencer.”

  Brian turned to Natalia, his back against the arm of the couch. “You’re not interested in Spencer?”

  She tried not to laugh—the idea was so preposterous. “He’s a friend. We have a lot in common. But, no, I’ve never been interested in him.”

  “But Costa Rica . . . ?”

  Natalia stood and walked the length of the room. “Spencer was working through all that God was doing in his life. I was just helping him.”

  “You were helping him?” Brian was beside Natalia, his hand on her shoulder.

  “What did you think?” Natalia’s heart beat faster. She could feel the warmth of Brian’s touch all the way to her toes.

  “I thought that Spencer Adams had everything now—money, looks, Jesus. He’s the perfect catch.” Brian folded his arms and sat on the edge of one of the new tables.

  “I’m sure there are some girls who think that.” Lexi’s face popped into her mind. “But I’m not one of them.”

  “Really?” The hope in Brian’s voice gave Natalia goosebumps. “Why?”

  “Because.” Natalia heard her pulse in her ears, felt it racing through her body. She sat next to Brian and laid her head on his shoulder. “Spencer’s not you.”

  Chapter 51

  Woo-hoo!” Brian raced into his house. He pulled his mother up from the couch and swung her around in a huge hug.

  “Brian.” Mom pulled herself out of Brian’s grip. “What is going on?”

  “Natalia Lopez is what’s going on.” Brian put his hands on his mother’s shoulders. “With me.”

  “Really?” She hugged Brian, gentler this time. “Oh, sweetie. I’ve been praying for that.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes. Your father and I both felt like this could be the girl for you.”

  “She sure is.” Brian still couldn’t believe the events of the last hour. “Spencer’s not you,” she had said.

  For days Brian had been preparing himself for the inevitable. Natalia was interested in Spencer. Of course she was. Why wouldn’t she be? Brian still couldn’t believe that all this time, Natalia had been fighting an attraction to him. As they talked on the way home, she confessed just that—that from the first time she saw Brian she liked him.

  “It was that hair,” Natalia had said. “I came down the stairs the day you came to help assemble our things, and there you were. The tallest, whitest boy I’d ever seen, with the reddest hair and bluest eyes I’d ever seen.”

  “So I’m just a novelty?” Brian joked. “If I’d looked like Spencer Adams, you might not have been interested?”

  Natalia held his hand, and Brian thought he understood how people felt when they were having an out-of-body experience. He couldn’t think about anything but Natalia’s hand in his.

  She scooted closer on the truck’s bench seat, and Brian thought his heart would explode. “I think you’re the best-looking boy I’ve ever known.”

  Brian thanked God for the red light. “You need to sit over there.”

  Natalia’s green eyes widened. “What?”

  “I don’t trust myself right now.” Brian closed his eyes, fighting off desires he had never experienced in all his eighteen years.

  “I guess you’re right.” Natalia moved back to her side of the truck, and Brian’s heart returned to a seminormal state. “You really are a gentleman.”

  She wouldn’t think that if she could see inside his head right then. “I am trying. But you sure don’t make it easy.” Brian had to tear his gaze away when the light turned green.

  Natalia smiled. “Addy was very right.”

  “About what?”

  She sighed. “God gives good gifts to his children.”

  “Don’t rush,” Mom warned, snapping Brian from his memories. “You need time.”

  “I know, I know.” Brian sat on the couch. “Believe me, I know. But could we postpone that talk just a little? I just want to enjoy this for now.”

  “Of course.”

  “Oh no.” Brian sat up, the joy of the moment suddenly shattered. “Spencer.”

  “Spencer?”

  “He asked me about Natalia the other day. I gave him the green light to go out with her.”

  “What do you mean, you gave him the green light? She’s not a commodity to be traded.”

  “I know, Mom.” Brian rubbed his temples. “But he knew I was interested, and he asked if I would be upset if he went out with her. I assumed she returned his interest, so I said sure. What else was I going to say?”

  “You need to talk to Spencer.” Mom picked up the phone from its charger. “Now. This news will be all over school tomorrow. You need to be the one to tell him.”

  Thirty minutes later Brian stood in Spencer’s driveway. This was not something he wanted to discuss over the phone.

  “You and Natalia?” Spencer asked after Brian gave him a brief account of his conversation with Natalia—doing his best to make it sound as unromantic as possible.

  “Are you mad?”

  Spencer looked out over the pond beside his house. “A little. But not at you.”

  “Really?” Spencer’s jaw twitched. Brian understood. He had felt the same way when Spencer spoke with him a few days before. Natalia was one in a million.

  “What am I supposed to say, ‘You can’t have her, I want her’?”

  Brian stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You could.”

  “I want to.” Spencer smiled. “But I kind of guessed. She talks about you a lot. You guys work together. You have the same interests. It makes sense.”

  She talks about me a lot. Brian still felt like he was in shock, that he would wake up very angry from the best dream ever. “I was sure she was into you. I still don’t know what she sees in me.”

  “Look, man. You’re better than you think you are.”

  “So we’re good?”

  “We’re good.” Spencer nodded once. “But don’t ask me on any double dates with you guys for a while, okay?”

  Chapter 52

  Did I tell you how good you look?” Brian laced his fingers through Natalia’s as they walked the long driveway to Spencer’s new home, decorated with lights and balloons for the homecoming celebration.

  “I can’t remember.” Natalia squeezed Brian’s hand. “Tell me a
gain.”

  “You look good,” Brian whispered in her ear, sending shivers down Natalia’s spine. “And I love that you’re wearing heels. Now you’re only a foot shorter than me.”

  “Hey.” Natalia laughed, standing straighter. “I am ten inches shorter now, thank you very much.”

  “Oh, excuse me.” Brian gazed down in Natalia’s eyes. “You ready for this?”

  Although everyone at school knew Brian and Natalia were an “item,” in the month they’d been together they had made a point to continue the way things were. They didn’t want to rush into anything or to neglect their friendships for their budding relationship. Because of the sparks that flew every time they touched, they had committed not to be alone together, and they each had a friend keeping them accountable to that promise. This relationship was far too special to mess it up by letting their passions overrule their better judgment.

  Tonight, though, they were coming to the homecoming party as a couple. Their first “official” date in front of the whole school. All the girls in the Bible study had been talking about it, helping Natalia pick out a dress and hairstyle. Her school in Madrid hadn’t had homecomings, so this was new. The football game a few hours before had been fun and loud. Afterward she went to Lexi’s house to change. Brian picked the two of them up in a borrowed convertible.

  But now they were here. Lexi had run ahead, wanting to give the couple a little time alone before facing the crowd. Natalia enjoyed the peace and quiet, the feel of Brian’s hand in hers.

  Then Brian rang the doorbell. The spell was broken.

  “Welcome.” Spencer answered the door.

  Natalia had dreaded this encounter more than any. Spencer had mostly avoided her in the last month. She understood why, but Natalia still felt bad. She didn’t mean to hurt him. She was impressed, though, that he maintained his commitment to help on Thursday nights. With Natalia taking the children—a group that had already grown to almost twenty—in another room, she and Spencer didn’t have much contact those evenings. Natalia was relieved that Spencer was confiding in Brian more and growing in his faith. The change that began in Costa Rica was real. Natalia was happy for him.

  “Come on in.” Spencer hugged Brian. “Enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

  Natalia looked at Brian. “What?”’

  “I tore this place apart this summer.”

  “Oh, that’s right. I had forgotten.”

  “Yep.” Brian looked around. Natalia followed his gaze. The old mansion was beautifully restored, resembling pictures out of an interior design magazine. “The change is amazing.”

  “Kind of like me.” Spencer smiled, this time meeting Natalia’s gaze. “The old has gone, the new has come.”

  Brian slapped Spencer’s back and walked into the large sitting room. Several couples from school were gathered around tables filled with delicious-smelling food.

  The doorbell rang, and exclamations resounded from her classmates. She turned to see Kara McKormick and Chad Beacon enter. Their new show was boasting some of the highest ratings of any teen show ever. But, Addy had told Natalia, they wanted to come tonight because they wouldn’t get a homecoming. Their school was on set, just the two of them. Kara had come to Tampa the week before to join some of the TCS girls looking for dresses at Lexi’s mom’s shop. Natalia enjoyed getting to know the extroverted star better. Natalia waited until the crowd dispersed before joining the celebrity couple.

  “Hi, Kara.” Natalia hugged her new friend. “Chad, I’d like to introduce you to Brian Younger.”

  The boys began talking about the show, school, and the Bible. Natalia listened for a while and then turned to Kara. “Is Addy with you?”

  “No. She and Jonathon will be here later.” Kara smiled. “They have to wait for Secret Service, you know.”

  Natalia looked again at Brian, so handsome in his double-breasted suit and tie his mother had made to match her tangerine-colored dress. “I’m glad I don’t have a boyfriend who is famous.”

  “Yes.” Kara winked at Natalia. “Tall pastors’ sons are more your style, right?”

  “Definitely.”

  Lexi stepped in between Natalia and Kara. “Kara.” She hugged the new celebrity. “I love the show. It is amazing. I don’t know how you don’t crack up all the time, though. The skits are so funny.”

  “We do crack up all the time.” Kara took a drink from the table. “Whenever the camera cuts away from one of us, it’s because we’re laughing and we don’t want the viewers to see. You need to come to one of the live shows again. You’ll see it all then.”

  “You got it, girl.” Lexi gave Kara a high five.

  Natalia stood to the side and enjoyed the girls’ banter.

  “So who’s your date?” Kara asked. “And I love the dress.”

  Natalia agreed. Lexi had continued with the “Gramps and Gran” diet plan and looked fabulous in her electric blue cocktail dress that enhanced her curves.

  “Thank you.” Lexi twirled around to show off her dress. “And I’m here with Jesus tonight. He’s a great date. Doesn’t care what I look like and loves me unconditionally.”

  Natalia glanced around the room and saw the many girls who, desperate for a date or a boyfriend, had forgotten that truth. “You are the best, Lexi.”

  “I know.” Lexi put a hand on her hip. “Me and Jesus need some more of those little meatballs, though. Catch you later.”

  “They’re playing our song.” Brian returned to Natalia and pointed to the dance floor set up under a white canopy in the backyard.

  “We have a song?”

  “We do now.” Brian pulled Natalia outside. The air was perfect, about seventy-five degrees with a slight breeze coming off the Gulf. Heaven. Until . . .

  “Ours is a Justin Bieber song?” Natalia grimaced as they walked past the impossibly loud speaker. “Really?”

  “Just go with it.” Brian wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

  Natalia laid her head on Brian’s chest, listening to his heart beat and moving in time to the music. She thought back to the day she arrived in Tampa, confused, unsure, wanting to get back on a plane to Madrid. She thought of Maureen’s depression and her struggles with school and the culture, even the language.

  Then she thought of the ESL group, the girls in her Bible study, her trip to Costa Rica. And Brian. Who would have known that one decision to get on a plane with her stepmother would have led to this? God had given her a purpose, a future, and a hope. He had replaced her fears with truth and given her far more than she ever thought she deserved.

  “What are you thinking?” Brian pulled Natalia away and looked into her eyes.

  “I am thinking that God is very good. Look at all he’s done in just the last few months.”

  “It is amazing.” Brian stepped closer to Natalia. “But this is only the beginning.”

  Reading Group Guide

  1. Natalia’s story is loosely based on Ruth. What parts of the biblical story did you see in Right Where I Belong?

  2. Natalia moves from Spain to Florida. What difficulties does she face in making that move? If you had to make a major move, what would you miss the most?

  3. As a pastor’s son, Brian has faced greater scrutiny than some of his friends. Do you know any pastors’ kids? Do they feel that way too?

  4. Some of the girls at Natalia’s school meet weekly to study the Bible together. How does that help them? Are you part of a small group like that?

  5. Divorce has affected many characters in this book. Discuss which characters’ struggles you most identified with and why.

  6. Maureen is struggling with depression through much of the story. Have you ever known someone who is depressed? If so, how did you respond to that person?

  7. Natalia and Brian help with the ESL ministry at their church. Are you involved in any ministries? What are they? If not, is there one you are interested in being part of?

  8. When the group goes to Costa Rica, they spend part of
their time working with missionary kids. Have you ever known any missionary kids? What do you think would be difficult about going with your parents to serve God in another country? What would be exciting about it?

  9. Spencer is an interesting character. What brings about change in him? Do you think he’ll stick to the commitment he made in Costa Rica? Why or why not?

  10. Natalia learns that God gives good gifts to his children. But it takes awhile for this lesson to really sink in. Why is this something some people have a hard time believing?

  Acknowledgments

  I always leave little pieces of myself in my novels. Writers have to do that. We can only write what we know. But in this book, I left huge chunks of me. I’ve been Natalia and I’ve been Maureen. I’ve even had my “Spencer” moments. Our family attended that language school in Costa Rica. A few years later we took a group down there to run a VBS for the missionary kids, just like a group had done for us when we were there. I’ve walked the cobbled streets of Madrid, and I still remember getting on the Metro that last time and crying, praying that God would give me friends as I left that beautiful city and prepared to move back to Tampa.

  And God answered that prayer for me just like he answered Natalia’s prayer. I teach at a school very much like Tampa Christian, where my students give me daily inspiration. They make me laugh and cry and, more than anything, they make me proud. I work with people who love Jesus and encourage others to do the same. I attend a church where God’s Word isn’t just taught, it is modeled. I am part of a Bible study with other women who encourage and challenge me to live a life that is pleasing to my Savior. I can only write what I know. I want to write truth and encouragement. These students, coworkers, and friends breathe truth and encouragement into my life so that, hopefully, I can pass that on to you, my readers.

  I am incredibly blessed to be working with the Thomas Nelson Fiction Team. Amanda Bostic and Becky Monds are fantastic. They give me ideas, help, and hope when I am floundering. Julee Schwarzburg comes in and cleans up all my messes. You’d think an English teacher wouldn’t leave modifiers dangling or use the word look 583 times. And thanks to Julee, you don’t have to know. Except that now you do.