by T. K. Chapin
Famished. She laughed and headed to the kitchen. He was right about it feeling odd to pick through a dead man’s food supply, but she obliged regardless of the awkwardness of it. Searching in the pantry, she found some rice. In the fridge, a bottle of soy sauce. Then in the freezer, a freezer-burned piece of chicken. She pitched that in the trash near the kitchen’s back door. She did some more rummaging and found an unopened bag of tater tots in the back of the freezer and then some sugar-free pudding cups in the fridge on the lower shelf that she hadn’t seen on her first peek inside when she found the soy sauce.
Tyler came out from the bathroom and down the hallway. He looked like a new man, being all clean. Upon approaching Olivia and the kitchen table full of a random assortment of food, he started to chuckle.
“What’s so funny? This is what I could find.” Her eyes fell on the sugar-free butterscotch pudding cup and a laugh broke through her lips, curving them into a smile.
They took a seat at the table, their light laughter subsiding. Tyler bowed his head and held out a hand, palm-up, for Olivia to grab hold of, but she refused.
“No, thanks. You go ahead.”
Olivia started in on her rice and watched as Tyler prayed. She was fascinated that a man so gorgeous and intelligent could be so blind. She hadn’t met someone who believed like Tyler did. Not even her own parents were devoted the way Tyler appeared to be. Her parents often missed prayer at meals and rarely put their faith into action. They weren’t like Tyler. He seemed to be different. After they ate, he offered to clear the plates and do the dishes since she’d put the food together.
“I’m going to step outside for a few minutes and make a phone call.”
He nodded, scooting his arm across the table to pitch the empty pudding cups into the trash can he had at the end of the table. She walked out of the kitchen, through the living room, and out the front door. Stepping out into the crisp cool air and onto the porch, she slipped her phone out and dialed her mother.
“Hey. How’s Molly?”
“Still good, Olivia. You still with Tyler?”
“Yeah. I’ll be home soon though. I have to work in the morning. I’m sorry I’m being weird about Molly. I just worry.”
“That’ll never change. We always worry about our children.” Her mother’s words tugged at the memories that Olivia had buried deep below the surface. The drug years, then the Bruce years. Every time she had been in a bad place mentally and making the wrong choices, she’d pushed her mother and father away. Now that she had a child, she felt so much remorse for what she had done earlier on in life to her parents. She knew it had to be terribly hard on them all those years.
“You’re right, Mother. I’d better get back. Thanks for the update.”
She turned and went inside. As she walked in and shut the door, she was surprised to see Tyler was in the living room and in the recliner with a book laid out in his lap.
“What are you reading?”
He peered up at her, then smiled, flashing her the cover. It was the Bible.
“Of course, the Bible. I should’ve recognized it and known we were going to have a Bible study during some part of this date.”
He laughed as he shook his head and closed it. He leaned forward and set it down on the coffee table. “If there’s a Bible handy and I’m not busy, I read after dinner daily. It’s a habit that I enjoy. I wouldn’t have done it if you were still in here.”
“What magic did you read about in there tonight? Did God tell the Israelites to rape and murder a bunch of innocent people?”
Tyler’s lips pursed into a thin line and he frowned as his eyebrows furrowed. “You seem to have a lot of animosity toward God, Olivia. I won’t let you speak accusations though. He never commanded anyone to rape anyone, ever. He also never commanded people to murder innocent people. He did, however, use the Israelites to judge nations by wiping them out, so maybe that’s why you’re confused.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start a whole thing. I really need to work on my mouth.” She sat down on the couch next to the recliner.
He let out a short burst of laughter. He said jokingly, “No, not you.”
She laughed.
“Well, you about ready to head home?” Tyler put the foot of the recliner down and stood.
“Yeah, I’m getting tired and I still need to get my baby. Oh, dang it. The car lot is locked up. I can’t get my car until tomorrow.” Sitting back against the couch, she pressed a hand against her forehead. Stress rose within her as her thoughts spun around how she’d get home and how she’d get Molly.
“I will give you a ride. You have a spare car seat?”
She paused, thinking for a moment. “Yes, I do. Well, my mother has a car seat in her car, but then I’ll be trapped at my house without a way to drop off Molly at my parents’. You know what? I can just stay at their house tonight and Uber my way to work tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan. Sorry I didn’t think about that before.” He reached out a hand to Olivia and she reached out to join him. As she came up and off the couch, he pulled her the rest of the way in, surprising her with another kiss. Relaxing her muscles, she let the warmth of his lips send radiating crashes of tingles from her head down to her toes. Releasing from her lips, he took a step back, smiling as he did. She knew just as much as he did that they were playing too close to the sun. He didn’t want that, and she resolved in her heart to respect it, like she knew he was respecting her by choosing it.
He grabbed her hand and they walked to the door and out to his car. As he opened the car door for her, he stopped, then ran inside the cabin. Confused, Olivia continued into the car and buckled her seatbelt. A moment later, Tyler returned outside, the pink dress for Molly in his hand. Olivia’s heart melted. He remembered. This man was everything right in the world, but she wondered in the far recesses of her mind how long it would last. How long until he grew bored of her or didn’t want to put up with her anymore? That faint fear was far back in her mind, but she knew it was there. She felt it every time he looked at her the way that made her insides turn to mush. She felt it every time he touched her, and she felt it worst of all when he kissed her.
Chapter 18
TYLER WIPED HIS SWEATY PALMS on his jeans as he walked beside Olivia to the front door of her parents’ house. He hadn’t been this nervous since taking Sandra Finks to the prom in high school. He liked Olivia and desired to make a good first impression with her parents. She had mentioned on the car ride to the house that her parents were stout believers of Jesus Christ, and while that should’ve made him relax, it didn’t. Instead, he worried about how he would come across and the questions they might ask him.
Olivia stopped at the door and turned to Tyler. “You seem nervous.”
He shrugged. “Maybe a little. After all, these two people are responsible for making you.”
She blushed in the low lighting of the porch light. Seeing the red crawl into her cheeks and a smile curve on her lips, Tyler could feel his heart pound and his desire for her grow. He wanted her to feel as special as she was becoming to him. He felt more connected to Olivia in the short span of knowing her than he had with any other girl in his life. The time they spent earlier in the barn working together was nothing short of splendid. Her mere presence cultivated something in him he couldn’t explain. He loved every moment he spent with her. He brought a hand forward in front of him and let his hand glide against her cheek. She leaned into it. Peering into her sea-blue eyes, he came closer and kissed her gently on the lips.
“Let’s go in.”
She nodded and then led him in through the front door. Olivia had called her parents to let them know that he was dropping her off. It was her father’s idea for him to come inside and meet the two of them. At first, she objected, but the phone was on speaker and Tyler agreed to go along with the invitation to have dessert.
Walking into the living room, Tyler was greeted by her father, Dan. Her father came closer and spoke quietly. “H
ey, you two. Come join us in the dining room. Molly is sleeping just down the hall in the guest room and Kora is serving our ice cream in just a moment.”
Tyler followed behind Olivia and her father as they traveled through the living room and into the dining room. The room was large and had a long wooden table in its center. They all took seats at the end closest to the kitchen, and soon, Kora brought in the bowls of ice cream along with spoons and toppings. Tyler grabbed the chocolate syrup and drizzled it across the top of his ice cream.
“So, what line of work are you in, Dan?” He handed Olivia the syrup as she motioned with a hand for it when he had finished.
“I’m in banking. It’s not a very exciting job, but it pays the bills and I’ve been doing it since I graduated college.”
“Wow. It’s great that you’ve been doing the same thing since you graduated. Pretty rare these days.”
Dan nodded, taking a bite of his ice cream.
“What’s your degree in?”
“Communications. I know, it’s not much, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just knew I needed a degree. That’s how I was raised.”
“What about you? I don’t believe Olivia has told us much about your company. Willow Designs, right?”
Finishing a bite of ice cream, Tyler nodded. “My brother is the designer. He’s the one with the architectural eye and I handle the customer side.”
“Ah, he’s not much of a people person, eh? Those creative types tend not to be big on talking.”
“Yeah, for the most part. He has his moments, but for the most part, you’re correct. He is bubbling with conversation when it’s one-on-one with me and him or him and someone he knows, but the second you get a big crowd around him, he shuts down.”
Kora interjected. “I have a brother who works at Microsoft and he’s like that. He was quiet, shy, and non-social all through his younger years, and he still is a little now, but he’s really smart and making the big bucks at Microsoft.”
“Where do you go to church?” Dan’s question came out of nowhere and tripped Tyler up for a second. A long enough second that Olivia hopped into the conversation.
“Dad! Why on earth would you rush conversation to God? You were talking business and just topic-jumped to church.”
Tyler gently touched Olivia’s hand to slow her apparent annoyance. She relaxed in her seat and picked up her spoon. “Thanks for defending me, but I have no problem talking God or church. I go to Crosspoint Community. Where do you two attend?”
“Pines Baptist.”
“Neat. What projects are you guys working on at your church right now?”
Dan leaned forward a little. “What? What do you mean what projects are we working on?”
“Like do you volunteer, lead a Sunday school, or help build a building? I don’t know, just what’s going on?”
Her father didn’t respond to that but instead shoved another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. Tyler could sense her father was upset.
Kora touched Dan’s arm gently and peered over at Tyler. “Right now, we’re in a season of rest. We haven’t been active in serving for a little while now.”
“A ten-year season of rest?” Olivia fired at her, increasing the awkwardness.
“Olivia.” Tyler’s eyes were serious. He didn’t want a fight to break out over their dessert. It was already tense, judging by her dad’s reaction to the initial question.
“She’s right,” Kora admitted, eyebrows raised as she turned her head to look at Dan. “We haven’t done much in a while outside of going to church.”
“We’re old and tired.” Dan leaped back into the conversation. “Plus, we’re helping Olivia with the baby, and the list goes on and on.”
“I didn’t mean to upset or offend you. Just making small talk.”
Dan was quiet for a moment, then his whole posture relaxed as he let out a sigh. “It’s okay. Honestly, I think we make excuses when we know we aren’t doing the right thing.”
Tyler nodded. “You’re absolutely right about that, Dan. I’m guilty of it too.”
“What about you? You’re serving, I take it?” Dan dug into his bowl for ice cream as he looked toward Tyler.
“Yes, I am. I’ve been out of town for the last week, but in a couple of days, I’ll be returning to the church to help out with the youth group. I try to get involved at least a couple of times a month. I used to do nothing at all until last summer when I heard a sermon that knocked the wind out of my sails.”
“Your pastor had a good one that got you?” Dan asked.
Tyler shook his head as he recalled his trip to Diamond Lake, the inn, and the good people he met, Charlie and Serenah. “No, actually, it was out at Diamond Lake. I was staying at The Inn At The Lake, and the inn’s owners run the church out there, so I ventured down that Sunday morning.”
Dan’s face lit up. “Is Charlie still preaching?”
“Yes. That was him!” Tyler felt excited to hear that Dan knew of the pastor.
“That man is a powerhouse for God. Our pastor has gone out there a few times in the past and said the man is talented and he came back with a notebook of notes. Our church has teamed up with that church on occasion to do some outreach stuff in Spokane in the past. We had a cookout a few summers back down at Riverfront Park with them, if I recall correctly.”
“That is so awesome to hear. I need to talk to Crosspoint about doing more connecting stuff with other churches.”
“Can’t hurt to ask.”
The conversation continued to flow easily after that, and Tyler’s nervousness fell away, though Olivia didn’t say much.
At ten o’clock, Olivia yawned widely as she walked with Tyler to go out to his car. As they exited the front door and stepped down the steps in front of her parents’ house, she grabbed his hand. At her touch, tingles and warmth traveled up his arm and into his chest, radiating outward and consuming every part of his being. Her parents had been amazing to him and left an imprint on his heart. While he enjoyed the fact that they had faith, a part of him knew it must’ve been difficult for Olivia to deal with that all her life if she hadn’t chosen to believe.
“How were things growing up for you? Like, with your parents being believers?”
She grimaced.
“That bad, huh?” Tyler stopped at the sidewalk and turned to her. He looked her up and down, from head to toe, trying to read her body language, trying to understand her perspective and heart. He was moved with compassion, and he raised both of his hands to hold each of her arms. “Olivia, look at me.”
She peered up into his eyes. It was obvious now to him that she was fighting back tears.
“Your parents love you. They’ve always loved you, and I don’t know what your childhood looked like, but I imagine they were critical and strong and firm with you. But that’s because they love you so much. Imagine for a second if Molly were about to get hurt. Would you want to stop her from being injured?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“That’s what they were doing.”
She pulled away. Sniffling, she wiped her eyes as she turned her gaze toward her parents’ house. “I know . . . but they could’ve gone about it differently, though, Tyler.”
“You’re right, but they did what they could and did the best they knew how. I think you know that.”
Olivia turned back to Tyler and nodded, then took a step closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his body. “You’re right, and I’ve been seeing the truth of that more and more since Molly came into my life. You know, there’s something about you, Tyler. I feel like you can see right through me.”
She laid her head gently against his chest, and he kissed the top of her head, then rested his cheek against her hair. They held each other for a long moment. Tyler didn’t want to let go of her, let go of this moment in time. He wanted it to last forever, to never let it slip away. Sadly, though, he knew he had to let go. Gently releasing from her, he kissed her softly on the lips.
“I had a great time today. Let me know when you want to do it again.”
“What about tomorrow?”
He smiled. “I’d like that, but I have to work on a few big-ticket items that will take me into the evening. Wednesday, I’m helping with the youth at church.”
“Maybe later in the week?”
“Yeah. Let’s plan for that.”
He grabbed her and pulled her in for one last short kiss, then left to his car.
When he arrived home at the bowling alley that night, he was pleased to see a large stack of moving boxes lying on his living room floor. Knowing that his brother was the only one with a key at the moment, he smiled. Walking into the kitchen, he saw a handwritten note on the counter from Jonathan. You’re welcome. ~ J
Later that night, after packing a few items from the bookshelf, as he lay in bed saying his prayers, a thought surfaced to his mind that was unsettling but true. She doesn’t believe. It was a cold reality that Tyler tried not to dwell too much on. He knew he had no power or strength to save Olivia’s soul. It was up to God to do the saving. While it comforted Tyler to know he had no control over that aspect, it also terrified him. What if she never chooses to believe? He tossed and turned that night as the fears and the what-ifs tormented his mind. He tried for hours to sleep, then finally, at 2:30 AM, he rose from his bed and went out to living room.
Opening up his Bible, he began to read in Romans, eventually stopping in chapter three.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:22-24
Tyler’s eyes welled with tears as his heart swelled with an overabundance of sorrow and joy. Sorrow because he knew that Olivia could say ‘no’ and joy because Tyler saw God, over and over again, chasing after that broken girl’s heart. He saw it that night on the side of the road out in the country where she almost died. He saw it in God’s gift of a precious baby girl that softened Olivia’s heart. He saw it in her parents’ love for her. Tyler saw God’s love written all over the pages of her life, and yet Olivia hadn’t come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. Will she ever have faith? He wondered grimly. Tyler didn’t have answers, but he knew who did. He wiped his eyes and set his Bible on the coffee table. Pushing the coffee table in front of him a few extra feet, he got down on his knees and prayed to God. I’m drawn to this girl, Lord. I love spending time with her, and I like her parents, and I like the way she makes me feel, but You already know all of this. What I’m getting at, Lord, is this . . . I want You first and foremost in my life. I know a healthy relationship with a woman requires You at the top for both of us. Not just one of us. Lord, I pray that You reveal Yourself to her and bring her to a place of repentance. A place of coming to You. You are not optional, but she is. Let me never forget that. Amen.