by T. K. Chapin
At the restaurant, he pulled a chair out for her, then he took a seat. He prayed over his food before eating and asked more than once if there was anything he could do for her. She felt he was waiting on her just as much as the wait staff was doing for the two of them. It made her a little uncomfortable, but also, in a sense, loved. As their meal wound down and they sipped on their sodas, conversations fell into various topics such as Olivia’s child, Molly, her job, her parents, and then finally, her previous failed marriage.
“I can see you really loved Bruce with all your heart, Olivia.”
A flicker of pain penetrated her heart. A light nod followed, and then her voice softened. “I poured my everything into that man.”
“I can tell that. You know, Olivia, I don’t say this often, and I wouldn’t have said it about you after the rudeness at the inn or the other night in Newport, but you truly are a beautiful person. You try to give the love you so desperately crave for yourself to every person you care about.”
At his words, her heart melted. She felt so understood for the first time in her entire life. Sure, Bruce listened and nodded, and the other guys did too, but none of them truly vocalized their understanding the way Tyler did. She grew more comfortable with Tyler as their time together lengthened. Conversation continued, and then, Tyler told Olivia about a pain treatment his brother’s wife had received that had helped.
“Jonathan’s wife Marie had acupuncture done, and it worked amazingly well. She went from seeking death to being able to relax a whole lot more in life.”
“That’s the second time someone has mentioned acupuncture. Maybe I should try it.”
He took a sip of his cola and nodded. “Maybe God is trying to tell you something by having two people mention it to you?”
Her lips curled into a smile. “I was wondering how far into this lunch date we’d have to get for you to mention God again. Too bad I haven’t been tracking the time to know how long it’s been.”
Tyler pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I picked you up at noon and it’s two thirty, so two and a half hours?”
Olivia jumped up, knocking the table with her knee and causing Tyler’s soda to spill onto his lap. “Oh, my goodness! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, I just, I’m late back to work.”
Wiping his pants off with a napkin, he raised a hand, still smiling as he did. He shook his head. “Wow, I am so sorry about your being late back to work. I should’ve kept a closer eye on that for you. The pants are no problem. I promise. The pants will be cleaned and forgotten, but this unforgettable moment together will never be forgotten.”
Her heart smiled at his gentleness. She hadn’t ever seen a man who could keep this calm in a situation that was unpleasant. She was used to over-the-top reactions and anger and selfishness, but never understanding the way Tyler was showing right now.
“You sure you’re not some kind of Greek god?”
He laughed. “What?”
“You save my life, you are dashing and charming, and you keep yourself cool under pressure. There’s something to you I don’t get, Mister.”
A wry smile surfaced on his lips. “I’m merely a sinful man who chooses to follow Jesus. Come on, I’ll take you back to work. I apologize for keeping you longer than intended.”
Olivia didn’t care for his mention of Jesus, but she left it alone. He had every right to attribute his actions to God, and she wasn’t about to try to convince him otherwise. On the drive back over to the car lot, he called his brother, Jonathan, on his car phone’s speaker system.
“Hey, Brother. What’s the name of Marie’s acupuncture guy she saw?”
“Oh, wow. That was a long time ago. Hmm . . . let me take a look around and I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Bro.”
Hanging up with Jonathan as they pulled into the dealership, Tyler put the car into park and turned to her. “I’ll need your number. You know, so I can let you know who the acupuncturist is.”
Olivia glanced down and blushed. “Sneaky way of getting my phone number, eh?”
He laughed.
“I’m just playing. I was going to give it to you anyway. Let me see your phone and I’ll put it in there.”
Tyler slipped his phone out from his pocket and handed it over. Olivia made the entry in his phone contacts and gave it back. “Thanks for lunch. I had a lovely time.”
“We’ll have to do it again.”
“Soon.” Olivia opened the car door and stepped out. She shut the door and headed back through the doors into work. She might’ve had pain in her hand today, tiredness in her body, and be in a little hot water with the boss after taking such a long lunch break, but she didn’t care about any of it. She had finally met and gone on a date with someone who could possibly be different from all the wrong men she had met and dated before. Thinking of her little girl, Molly, she hoped it wasn’t just a hunch but that it was true, that he was everything he was leading her to believe thus far. However, she knew he could be putting on a show, similar to the way she had been doing to those closest to her about her pain.
Chapter 14
ARRIVING AT WILLOW DESIGN’S OFFICE in downtown Spokane that afternoon, Tyler had a bounce in his step as he strolled in just past three o’clock. Tossing his jacket across the room to the chairs in the lobby, he promptly went to his brother’s office doorway and leaned in with a grin on his face.
“She’s fantastic, Jonathan.”
Jonathan laughed and pushed himself away from the desk and put his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his office chair. “Yeah? You going to marry her?”
Tyler laughed. “Slow down. I wouldn’t go that far at the moment, but she sure is some kind of wonderful. Each second with her was like a slow-moving masterpiece of enjoyment. She has such a kind soul, Brother.” Thinking about her sadness and the looming sorrow he sensed radiating from her, his countenance fell. “She is a wonderful person, Jonathan, but sadly . . . she’s damaged. She seeks love from horizontal relationships with men that only—”
“Comes from a vertical relationship with God.” Jonathan finished his sentence and stood up, coming over to Tyler. Resting a hand on his shoulder, he smiled. “You’re being used by God here, Tyler. You are possibly the only Gospel truth in her life right now.”
Uncomfortable with the idea of being the sole representative of Jesus Christ, Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know about that.”
Removing his hand from Tyler’s shoulder, Jonathan held out his arms. “Think about it, Tyler. God places people in our lives to help us, to grow us, and to help point others to Christ. This girl is special and God wants her heart. It was evident when you found her in that abandoned field in the middle of the night, and it is evident now in what’s happening.”
Me used by God? Tyler smiled at the thought. “I guess I am a pretty good follower.”
“Don’t become prideful from this, Brother. It’s only by God’s goodness and unyielding grace that you’re involved. Don’t touch the glory.”
Tyler felt embarrassed and immediately repented to God, then apologized to his brother. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Sometimes, it’s just so exciting to see the hand of God at work.”
“This is true, and it’s okay to be excited. We just can’t think more highly of ourselves because we’re involved.” He turned toward his desk and walked over, picking up a yellow sticky note. “Dr. Hall is the acupuncturist she used, by the way. Here’s his phone number. Is this for her?”
“Yes, she still has pain from the wreck.”
“Dr. Hall does good work. I hope it goes well for her.”
Tyler took the sticky note and hugged his brother. “Thanks for being my brother. I couldn’t ask for a better one.”
Finding a few moments later that evening around seven o’clock, Tyler slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and stood up from his desk at work. Walking over to the window, he looked out and down on the city street lit up by cars, street lamps, and business shop windows.
He called Olivia. When she answered and he heard that soft and gentle voice come over the phone, his insides turned to mush. He loved her voice. The way she spoke invoked a deep part of him that made his desire for her burn hotter.
“I have the name and number of that acupuncturist for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” What sounded like some water swooshing came across the phone line. Then a clank sounded.
“What are you up to?”
“Doing dishes.”
“No dishwasher?”
“I have one, but I don’t use it a whole lot.”
“That’s kind of strange. Doesn’t it hurt to do them all by hand?”
“Yes, but I have hope that if I use my hands more, it will somehow repair the nerve damage that’s there.” She was quiet for a moment. “It might be silly, but a girl can hope, can’t she?”
“Absolutely.”
“Can you text me that name and number? I’ll call them tomorrow.”
“I could, or I could use it as an excuse to see you.”
She was quiet for a moment, then in the most beautiful and sweet voice, she said, “You don’t need an excuse to see me, Tyler.”
The flame of desire inside Tyler grew at that moment from a candle wick’s flame to a bonfire.
“You still there?”
He nodded. “I’m smiling all over right now. Wait a moment.”
Pulling the phone away from his ear, he texted her the phone number and name, then returned to the call.
“Thanks, Tyler. The pain has subsided for now, obviously, since I’m able to do dishes, but I hope this works long-term so it stops altogether.”
“I’ll be praying it does.”
“I know you will be.” She was quiet for a moment, then without being prompted, she continued. “I have to put Molly down in a bit. Maybe you can come over once she goes down, around 8:30? I’d love to see you again.”
His insides warmed even more, knowing that his feelings were not one-sided at all. Tyler knew that she felt at least some of what he was feeling, and he couldn’t have been happier in that moment. “Text me the address and I’ll be there.”
After he hung up the phone, he sat back down in his office chair, a smile on his face and warmth still in his heart. He didn’t know what the night would bring, nor what seeing her for a second time in the same day would mean, but he looked forward to it. Knowing he might end up in temptation and be with a woman who not only was very attractive but was lacking a Biblical moral compass, he decided to spend the next hour in devotional time with the Lord. He grabbed his Bible he kept in the office and picked up in his reading in the second book of Corinthians that he had started a few days back on his lunch break. As he read in chapter six, all the excitement and joy at the evening ahead came to a screeching halt.
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
2 Corinthians 6:14
Tyler didn’t like what he read. In fact, it angered him so much that he stopped reading and shut his Bible and pushed it away from him on the desk. He sat for a long moment, eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed. He didn’t say anything, didn’t pray, but just sat brooding over the convicting power of God’s Word. The Bible wasn’t just a book to Tyler. It wasn’t just a bunch of suggestions or guidelines for what you can do if you are a believer. It was the living, breathing Word of God, and each sentence and Word was preciously God-inspired and breathed out as commands for Christian living. He didn’t take what the Bible said lightly in the slightest. His thoughts toward the Bible, coupled with the Scripture he had just read, confronted his feelings for Olivia in a very real way.
After he sat in silence for a while, Tyler finally uncrossed his arms and relaxed. Lowering himself out of the chair and to the floor, he folded his hands and rested them on the seat of his chair and bowed his head. God? Why wouldn’t you take my desire away when I saw her at the inn? This isn’t a seed in my heart. It’s like a virus. A virus that is feasting now, and it’s only growing bigger. Help me to understand. Help me! I can’t fall in love with a woman who hates You, Lord. I can’t do it. Take this temptation I feel inside me away. Please help. Tyler went on in prayer for close to twenty more minutes, wrestling with God in his heart as he spoke his feelings to the Almighty Savior who was the King of his life. Teary-eyed and broken, Tyler rose up from his knees, but as he did, he felt a presence of calm come over him. Then, a question came to his mind. What is yoked?
Driven with passion to understand the Scripture, he sat down in his office chair and began to research on Google what it meant to be yoked. He found commentaries and floods of information on the topic and on the Scripture. He pored over each article, commentary, and Biblical point of view of what the Scripture meant. Tyler reminded himself he wasn’t trying to justify anything but merely to understand it better. At the end of it all, just shy of ten minutes till when he needed to leave, he came to a conclusion. The lifestyle of a Christian and the lifestyle of a non-Christian are different, contrary to one another. The yoking together with an unbeliever doesn’t work because they run contrary to one another. He also resolved in his heart that he could continue seeing Olivia, because he truly felt he was called to be a light in her life for Christ, but he’d have to be careful and expect turmoil. He was now more aware that not only was temptation at every corner, but at some point, according to the truths of the Bible, they would have to separate if she didn’t come to God. It was fundamentally impossible to continue along the same path and live two different and contrary lives, one who hates God and one who loves Him. He knew if he was to pursue a relationship with this woman, it could be a lot of pain and most likely heartache, but he felt the desire to pursue her nevertheless.
She answered the door and welcomed him inside with a hushed voice. As he walked into the apartment, he noticed three moving boxes near a standing lamp in the corner. She noticed his eyes on them.
“I’m still in the process of moving in, kind of. With work and Molly and school on top of it, I haven’t gotten everything unpacked.”
He raised a hand. “It’s no problem. When did you move in?”
“Few months ago. Have a seat on the couch. I was just making us some tea. Wait, do you like tea? I didn’t even think to ask.”
Tyler let a soft laugh escape from his lips. “Tea is fine if you have sugar.”
“I do! I’ll be right back.”
He sat down on the couch and glanced at the coffee table. There was a Motherhood magazine, a tube of diaper rash cream, and a folded newspaper with a crossword puzzle half-done, a pencil beside it. He envisioned what it had to be like to be a single mother in today’s world, and he became curious how she held a job, went to school, and took care of a child alone. He didn’t grasp how she did it all, but he respected the fact that she somehow did it. As she walked into the living room, he took the cup and container of sugar she handed him.
“You’re amazing.”
A blush crawled into her cheeks. “Why do you say that?”
“I was just trying to comprehend your life for a moment. A kid, a job, and school work. I don’t get how you do it all. I barely have time to manage my work, let alone anything else.”
She smiled and then shrugged. “I don’t know how it all works, but it does. I do have my parents helping. That helps. I won’t lie. It is hard some days, really hard, but I don’t see any other way to do it. You know?”
“Yeah, I hear you. Do you have any dental offices you’re looking to get employed with when you finish up?”
“I haven’t looked around a lot, but I really like my dentist office. Everyone is really kind there and they’re understanding with their patients. It’s Riverside Dental out in Deer Park.”
“Neat.”
“Tell me more about your work. You said your brother and you started it together?” Sipping her tea as Tyler stirred in sugar, she smiled at him while waitin
g for a response.
“Yeah, we started out of our homes and it’s grown from there. I run the business side of things and he does the fancy drawings. We have a steady flow of clients now, and we just opened up an office downtown. It was nice to work from home, but it’s also nice to leave our work somewhere each night.”
As they sipped tea and talked for the next couple of hours, Tyler found that she was scooting closer to him on the couch, raising not only his body temperature and pulse but his appetite for her. Seeing that an eyelash had fallen onto her cheek, he leaned over toward her. “There’s an eyelash on your cheek. Hold still.”
Gently removing the eyelash, he found himself inches from her beautiful face. His eyes were opened to the dangers of temptation, and he could see and sense his mounting desires. He pulled back and glanced at his phone. “I have an early morning. I’d better get going.”
She was quiet for a moment, her desire for a kiss evident in her expression of disappointment. She stood up. “Why didn’t you kiss me right then?”
“You’re forward, aren’t you?”
Olivia shrugged. “I don’t mess around, Tyler. Remember? I have a child and I’m really not into games.”
He came closer, then cupped her cheek. “Let me ask you something. How many of those horrible men kissed you in the beginning of your relationship with them?”
She pulled away, her cheeks reddened, and she looked down. Her voice quieted. “All of them.”
“Exactly.” Tyler brought his hand up and pulled her chin with his index finger to make her look at him again. “I’m not like those other men, Olivia. I want to know you, the real you. I want to know your heart before I do something like kissing you.”
“But it’s just a kiss, Tyler. I know you want to kiss me.”