It was hard to distinguish what kind of mood Marti was in that evening. Sierra and Christy had dressed according to her instruction, both wearing basic black evening attire. They took their time putting on makeup and talking about Alex and the picnic. Christy urged Sierra to leave it up to her. She would find the right approach with her aunt.
Marti wore a stunning black dress with a string of pearls and black high heels. As the three of them paraded through the hotel lobby, Marti carried herself like a movie star at the Academy Awards. A cab was waiting for them and drove them to the nicest restaurant Sierra had ever been to in her life. The place was small and intimate. The light was golden, and the music from the string trio reverberated off the delicately painted ceiling.
Sierra noticed that everyone was dressed up, and everyone was wearing black. She leaned over once they were seated and softly thanked Marti for the new skirt. Then she asked Marti to please order for her since she trusted Marti’s judgment more than her own at a place like this. Marti was pleased.
Their dinner was cold cucumber soup, with baby carrots that were arranged like a bouquet on her plate, and a swirl of garlicked mashed potatoes. And then coffee and dessert. Sierra thought dessert would be the perfect time to bring up the picnic with Alex. Christy and Sierra nibbled on a rich chocolate torte while Marti sipped her espresso in a dainty cup, which according to Marti was called a “demitasse.”
But Christy didn’t say anything, so Sierra forced herself to wait until Christy decided the time was right.
They took the cab back to the hotel. The alt stadt was lit up beautifully at night, and many people were strolling on the bridge across the Rhine River or walking along the storefronts. Marti paid the cab driver, led the girls back upstairs, and in the hallway said good night to them.
“Oh,” Christy said suddenly. “We haven’t decided yet what we’re going to do tomorrow. Would you like to come to our room so we can talk about it?”
“I thought we would go back to the school tomorrow and meet Mr. Pratt. We only have tomorrow,” Marti reminded them. “The next day we have to leave.”
“Oh,” Christy said again.
“Is that our phone ringing?” Sierra said, pressing her ear to the door. “Hurry up! Open the door.”
“Who would be calling you?” Marti said.
Sierra burst inside and reached for the phone. “Hello?”
“Is this See-hair-a?” Just hearing Alex say her name with his distinctive accent brought a smile to her lips. “Yes, this is Sierra.”
“This is Alex.”
“Yes,” Sierra said, trying to suppress a giggle, “I know.”
“Did you receive my message?”
“Yes.”
Christy was giving Sierra a “Well?” look.
“Who is it?” Marti asked.
“Would you like to go for a hike tomorrow?” Alex asked.
Sierra paused. “Yes, I would. But I’ll need to talk to Marti about this.”
“If it would be helpful, I will speak with her.”
“Good idea.” Sierra held out the phone to Marti. “For you,” she said, biting her lower lip and giving Christy a sideways glance.
“Hello? Who is this?” Marti asked. “Oh yes, Alex.… What’s that?… Tomorrow? I’m afraid we have plans already.”
Sierra’s heart sank.
“Why, yes, we are returning to the school.… No, in the morning.” Then Marti was silent. To Sierra, it seemed like the longest pause in the world.
“Yes, all right then.… Thank you for calling. Good night.”
Sierra watched Marti hang up the phone and felt like diving to grab the phone. Sierra’s stomach sank when she hear the “click” of the receiver.
Christy and Sierra waited with wide eyes.
“Well?” they asked in unison.
thirteen
“DID YOU TWO ARRANGE THIS?” Marti asked with her hands on her hips.
“No,” they said in one voice.
“You’re telling me Alex decided on his own to call and invite you to go on a picnic?”
“Yes.”
“He called earlier,” Sierra explained. “While we were out shopping this afternoon. He left a message and said he would call back tonight. So, in a way, we did know about his invitation, but we didn’t talk to him today.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he called earlier?” Marti asked.
“We’re afraid of you,” Sierra blurted out.
Marti let a rippling laugh escape. “Afraid of me? Why?”
“We really wanted to go,” Christy explained. “We thought you might not agree unless we asked when you were in a good mood.”
Marti lowered herself into the desk chair. “Is that what you think of me?”
“You haven’t exactly been crazy about Alex,” Sierra said.
She gave up all hope of seeing him again. Marti had responded so coolly on the phone that Sierra was certain Marti had ruined any possibility Sierra and Alex would get together.
“Your view of me is about to change.” Marti slapped the top of the desk with her open palm. “Tomorrow morning at eight, we will meet downstairs for breakfast. At nine, Alex will take us to the school. After our meeting there, Alex will drop me off at an art festival in a small town not far from the school. He will then take the two of you out for a picnic lunch.”
Sierra’s heart soared. “That’s great! Thank you!”
“See? I’m not such an old party pooper, after all. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day.” With a swish, Marti left.
Sierra danced around the room. “I can’t believe it! Your aunt has a streak of human kindness in her after all. This is going to be so great! A picnic in the hills! Is this going to be romantic, or what?”
“With me along, it’ll probably be ‘or what,’ “Christy said. “I’m glad it worked out, though.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sierra said, reaching for her pillow to throw at Christy. “No thanks to you! When were you going to bring up the subject? On our plane ride home?”
“No,” Christy said, ducking as the flying pillow came her way. “I was scared, just like you said. I’ve never admitted it before, but my aunt scares me sometimes. I like the way you get right at the heart of an issue and speak up truthfully. I have a hard time doing that.”
“It gets me in lots of trouble,” Sierra said.
“Not tonight, it didn’t.”
“Christy,” Sierra said, flopping onto her stomach across the bed, “do you think it’s right for me to be so excited about seeing Alex?”
“Of course. Why do you even ask?”
“Because I don’t usually get all hyper about seeing a guy. It’s weird. I mean, where could this relationship possibly lead? I probably won’t ever see him again after tomorrow.”
“Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.” Christy slipped off her shoes and grabbed her pajamas.
While Christy was in the bathroom, Sierra let her thoughts fly freely. When Christy returned in her pajamas, Sierra asked, “Did you ever go out with a guy only one time and that was it? I mean, was there ever an Alex in your life?”
“Sort of.” Christy fluffed up her pillow and got comfy on the bed. “I was a counselor at camp one summer, and this guy, Jaeson, asked me to go out with him one night. Well, he didn’t exactly tell me where we were going. He just asked me to go to a movie. I went, but once we had left our camp area, he took my hand and said he was going to teach me how to paddle a canoe.”
Sierra let out a hoot. “Now that’s an original line! Did you like this guy?”
“Yes, sort of, I think. Now, it seems unbelievable that I ever liked him, but I know I had strong feelings for him then. Looking back, though, I don’t know if I ever really liked Jaeson or if I just liked the attention he gave me.”
Sierra’s emotions began to plummet. What if she were just after the attention? Earlier that summer, she’d gone through that with Drake, a guy from school. After their first and only date, she had decided she li
ked the idea of being asked out more than she liked actually having a relationship. There were too many complications in trying to define the relationship, especially trying to define it to her friends.
But Christy didn’t seem to have any problem with Sierra and Alex’s relationship. It was strange—when Drake had entered the picture, all of Sierra’s friendships became strained. But now, having Alex around hadn’t changed Sierra and Christy’s friendship at all.
Christy continued. “I’m not saying I’m sorry I went out on the lake with Jaeson. It was beautiful the way the moon rose and shone across the water. Jaeson had set up the canoe with candles and flowers. And he had peanut butter cookies he had saved from the first night of camp. It was all very sweet of him.”
“Did you have permission to be away from the campers?” Sierra asked.
“No. And I’ve always felt bad about that part. It wasn’t right that we sneaked out. No one found out, but it didn’t matter. Leaving the main meeting was against the rules, and we could have gotten in trouble. It bothered me for a long time. I asked God for forgiveness, and then I even wrote a letter to the camp dean to confess. He wrote me a very nice letter back, but to this day I still feel bad about breaking the rules.”
Sierra was glad she hadn’t sneaked out to see Alex. She didn’t have to, because everything was working out. She knew what Christy meant, though. Sierra would have felt bad for a long time, too.
“Can I ask the big question?”
“You want to know if Jaeson taught me how to paddle the canoe correctly? Yes as a matter of fact, he did.”
“No,” Sierra laughed, “you know that’s not what I was going to ask.”
Christy’s lips turned up in a smile. “Did Jaeson kiss me?”
“Well, did he?”
“No.” Christy looked off toward the ceiling with both arms behind her head. “I remember being so nervous. I thought he was going to kiss me, and then he reached over and brushed my cheek. But it was only because I had cookie crumbs stuck there. I must have looked like such a loser to him.”
“I’m sure that’s not what he thought.”
Christy turned onto her side and propped her head up with her arm. “You know what I think? I think a lot of things aren’t about what we think they’re about. Like the canoe ride. It wasn’t about Jaeson, our relationship, or our kissing or not kissing. What I remember most about that night—besides that big, fat, yellow moon and the way it came over the mountain—was that Jaeson asked me what my dream was. That’s what that whole night was really about.”
Christy sat up and gave her full attention to Sierra. “Jaeson asked me, ‘What’s your dream?’ and I told him something I’d never told anyone else before.”
Sierra too sat up and waited, feeling honored to share Christy’s secret.
“Wow,” Christy said in a moment of sudden revelation, “I haven’t thought of this in ages. I told him my dream was to go to Europe. I said I wanted to visit a real castle and go for a gondola ride in Venice.”
“That’s what you told him?”
Christy nodded. “Isn’t that wild? I had no idea then that I’d go to Europe twice in one year, or actually live in a castle like we did in England.”
“Guess all that’s left is the gondola ride,” Sierra said. She could feel her sunburned cheeks tightening as she flashed Christy a big smile. “Kind of a God-thing that you remembered your dreams of Europe tonight, when you have to decide about the school.”
Christy nodded solemnly. “I know. It is. Maybe God has been preparing me for this school for a long time, and it isn’t such a whim after all.”
They shared a comfortable silence before Sierra spoke up again. “Do you think your relationship with Jaeson was about your dreams and not about building a lasting friendship?”
“Something like that,” Christy said slowly. “That night was about being brave enough to open my heart and tell my dream to Jaeson. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter now whether or not I kissed him. As long as it was only a quick, innocent kiss. It would have mattered if we had, you know, done more. Then I would have been giving away part of my passion, and I want to save all my passion for just one man.”
“Todd,” Sierra answered for her.
“My husband, whoever he will be. I haven’t given my passionate, intimate self to Todd—or to any guy. I’ve only kissed a few guys, but to me a short, tender kiss is way different from a passionate embrace and prolonged, heart-and-soul kissing. You know what I mean?”
“Not from personal experience, but yes, I think I understand. I never thought of it that way before. I thought the goal was not to kiss at all until you’re standing at the wedding altar, like Doug and Tracy did.”
“That’s what was right for them,” Christy said. “Doug is such a loving and affectionate guy. You know how he is, always hugging everyone. I think it would have been hard for him to only give a girlfriend a short, sweet kiss. And I think he knew that, too. He set a very high standard, and I totally admire him for sticking to it.”
“So, what you’re saying is that you and Todd have a different standard, but you think that’s okay?” Sierra was trying to understand.
“Yes, I do. Todd and I have drawn the line at light kissing. We hug and hold hands, too. But that’s it. And that’s all it’ll be for me until I marry, no matter whom I end up with. Todd told me one time that his goal was to give me his affection but not his passion. That made sense to me and that’s where I draw the line, too. For us, affection can mean brief kisses. For someone else, that might be too big of a temptation or something.”
Sierra was listening carefully to Christy’s words. She knew it was wise advice. Their talk made Sierra think of her friend back home, Amy, who had told Sierra about a first date she’d had with a guy from work. Amy had said proudly that they had made out in his car for a long time.
When Sierra got home from this trip, she planned to have a lengthy conversation with Amy. She wanted to tell Amy some of the things Christy had just said. It would be better to talk with Amy than to judge her, which was the way Sierra had first reacted. Amy had gotten mad and defensive. Their whole friendship seemed to turn upside down in one conversation. Now Sierra was determined to find a way to make things right.
Sierra smiled at Christy. “I really appreciate your sharing with me, Christy. It’s good to be able to talk to someone who has been there and has it figured out.”
Christy laughed. “I wish I had the rest of my life figured out! I’m glad we can talk about all this stuff, too. You help me a lot with your insights—especially when it comes to my aunt. I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t know how well this trip would go.”
“I had my doubts, too,” Sierra said as she started to get ready for bed.
“It’s going much better than I thought,” Christy said, slipping underneath her covers.
“There’s always tomorrow,” Sierra said. She turned out the light. “It’s a fresh new day with more note card racks to send crashing to the ground.”
Christy started to laugh. “I couldn’t believe that happened!”
Sierra laughed, too. “We should be safe in the wide open trails of the Black Forest. You can never be completely sure, though. I’ll probably knock over a cow or something.” Christy kept laughing.
They whispered and giggled like ten-year-olds at a sleepover until they were too drowsy to talk. Sierra never slept better.
fourteen
THE NEXT MORNING, specks of rain dotted the windshield as Alex drove the three women to the Black Forest People’s School. A wreath of frothy mist hung over the green hills before them. Sierra tried hard not to worry that their picnic might be canceled.
Alex seemed to read her thoughts. “It is only the morning dew,” he said, turning on the windshield wipers. “It will be clear before we go on our hike.”
“If it doesn’t clear up,” Marti said, “you can come to the art festival with me. Alex tells me it’s the largest in this region.”
&nb
sp; “It will clear,” Alex said.
They arrived right on time at the school. While Christy and Marti met with Mr. Pratt, Sierra and Alex sat on a cushioned bench in the alcove of the school’s entrance. Sierra decided at once that she liked this romantic setting. The polished wood floor reflected the massive light fixture that hung from the center of the rounded ceiling. The light looked like the top of a tree that had been cut off in winter, bronzed, and then adorned with rows of flickering candles on its frozen, outstretched limbs. The double doors to their left each had an oval in the center filled with a mosaic of clear, beveled glass. The morning light shone through the glass, creating lacy patterns at their feet.
Every word Alex and Sierra spoke echoed off the ceiling. They lowered their voices and spoke in hushed tones.
“We have much to talk of,” Alex said, his deep voice still echoing through the room.
Sierra smiled. “Are you going to ask me about my dreams?”
Alex wrinkled his forehead. “Your dreams?” he questioned.
“Never mind,” Sierra said. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”
Sierra noticed that Alex’s dark hair was less cooperative than usual today. Instead of staying straight back with only one runaway clump, all his hair fell freely. It made him look like an Olympic skier who, upon completing his run, had pulled off his cap at the victory line. Sierra liked the look.
“What will you do when you return home?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know,” Sierra answered. Home was the last thing on her mind. “Work some extra hours, I guess, and get ready for school.”
“This is your final year?”
Sierra nodded. “My senior year.”
“And what will you then do?”
“Do you mean after I graduate from high school?”
“Yes. Then what?”
Sierra shrugged. “Go to college somewhere. I don’t know where.”
“I was told by an American that you must know these things early because some universities are difficult to enter.”
“Some are. But I need to give it more thought.”
Alex nodded his agreement. “More thought and more prayer. Am I right?”
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