Peculiar Treasures

by Robin Jones Gunn

  “That’s very good news.”

  They got out of the car and walked into the ornately decorated restaurant where they were seated in a sequestered booth. It was the perfect spot for a private conversation.

  Rick took a quick look at the menu. Katie took a long look at Rick. He put down the menu and caught her gaze. His eyes fixed on hers, and for an intense moment neither of them spoke.

  A grin slowly tugged at the corners of Rick’s mouth. He said, “You decided you’re ready to trust me, didn’t you?”

  Katie blinked in surprise. “How did you know?”

  “I see it. I can tell. You’re different. You’re looking at me like you believe in me.”

  “I do. That was going to be my big announcement. You can really tell just by looking at me?”

  “You’re an open book, Katie.”

  “That’s right. You think I have no bile, don’t you?”

  “Guile,” Rick corrected her. “You have no guile, Zing.”

  The busboy stepped up to their table and filled the water glasses. As soon as he stepped away, Katie said, “Zing, huh? So, where did you come up with that nickname?”

  “Is it growing on you?” Rick asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “When I was in Tempe, I was telling my brother that you and I were having some challenges. I didn’t go into any detail, but I asked what he would counsel me to do at this point in our relationship.”

  “And what did your brother say?”

  “He asked, ‘Does she still make your heart go zing?’ And I thought ‘Yeah, even in the middle of all this stuff, Katie still makes my heart go zing.’ ”

  Katie smiled.

  “You do, Katie,” Rick said. “Even if I’m an enigma sometimes and even when these challenges come at us, you make my heart go zing.”

  A clever twist of words came to Katie. She narrowed her eyes. “You know, an enigma is like a maze.”

  “Okay,” Rick said, as if not following her logic.

  “So maybe I should call you, a ‘Maze.’ ”

  Rick didn’t look too thrilled with his potential nickname.

  “Because if you’re a ‘maze’ and I’m a ‘zing,’ all you have to do is put us together, and we become ‘amaze-zing!’ ”

  Rick laughed. It was so good to hear laughter that came from his heart all the way out. He reached across the table and said, “Katie . . .”

  He didn’t finish his thought. Instead, he leaned forward, looked her in the eye, and gave her a fabulous wink. She was sure it was the most romantic and memorable wink any woman had ever received anywhere on planet Earth at any time.

  If Rick shouldn’t, couldn’t, or wouldn’t give her affirmation of their relationship in the form of kisses, she willingly would take his flowers, his words, or his heart-melting winks. Yes, she would take it and be thankful. Very thankful.

  The waitress stepped up to their table. Katie could feel herself blushing.

  “Have you had time to decide?” the waitress asked.

  “I think so,” Rick said. “More than enough time probably. But we both needed time to be sure.” He closed his menu and leaned forward. “I’ll have whatever my girlfriend is having.”

  Katie froze.

  This was it. Rick had just changed lanes in the middle of a Thai restaurant with very little warning. Or maybe the truth was, he had been turning the blinker on and off for months, but this time he was ready; he moved effortlessly over to the boyfriend-girlfriend lane. The way it should be when the timing is right.

  In response, Katie closed her menu, looked at Rick and said, “I’ll have whatever my boyfriend is having.”

  The waitress lowered her pad. “Okay, then. I’ll come back when you two know what you really want.”

  As she slipped away from the table, Rick said, “I think we both know what we really want now.”

  “Smooth lane change, Doyle.”

  “You like that?”

  “I like you.”

  “I like you too. More than ever.”

  Rick reached across the table and took Katie’s hand in his. With a gesture more romantic and gallant than she had ever imagined, Rick lifted her hand to his lips. He lowered his eyes and kissed the back of her hand.

  This kiss, given with all the true affection and most sincere intent of a valiant heart, was their fresh-start kiss. Katie smiled. At that moment, she had every reason to believe that when it came to “make-my-heart-go-zing” moments with Rick Doyle, this was only the beginning.

  Dear Peculiar Treasure,

  That’s what you are, you know. You are God’s Peculiar Treasure. His love for you is deep and abiding and filled with “mercy moments.” He reveals his mysterious ways to you every day. He never stops loving you. You are his first love and he always wants you. You are God’s Peculiar Treasure.

  I have to tell you something. When I first started writing this book about Katie, I was very emotional. For a variety of reasons, it had been seven years since I’d last written about these characters. I felt like I’d been given a gift. The gift was the chance to spend many weeks inside a corner of my imagination where Katie, Christy, and the rest of the God-Lovers gang gathered and told me what they’d been doing since I was last with them. I love being with all these characters again. It feels like a tender privilege. I can’t wait to start writing the next story about Katie.

  The verse I was pondering when I started writing this book comes from Galatians 6:4 in The Message:

  “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

  I think the words “creative best” are what captured me when I first read this verse. God certainly did his creative best when he designed each of us and ordered our days. We are given the opportunity to take responsibility and do our creative best with our lives. What a privilege!

  My question for you, dear Peculiar Treasure, is what do you see God doing in your life right now? Are you hot on his heels, seeking him and eagerly getting as close to him as you can? Oh, how I pray that you are! Keep trusting in the Lord with all your heart. You’ll never regret it.

  With a full heart,

  Robin Jones Gunn

  www.robingunn.com

  Read the first chapter of On a Whim, Book 2 in the Katie Weldon Series. Coming in 2008!

  1

  Which button do I push?” Katie stared at the panel of options on her best friend’s microwave.

  “The one that says ‘popcorn.’ ” Christy’s voice from the bedroom of her apartment carried enough emphasis to communicate that Katie should have known the obvious answer.

  “Oh. Got it!”

  Katie pressed the popcorn button and flipped her swishy red hair behind her ears. She was ready to work up some serious snackage for their Girls Night In. Opening the door of the freezer, she called out, “Is it okay if I use all the ice? You don’t have much in here.”

  “Use all of it,” Christy called back. “You can always go down to Rick’s apartment if you need more.”

  “Rick is in Arizona. I told you that, didn’t I?” Katie stopped filling the blender with ice as Christy walked into the kitchen. She had changed into baggy flannel pj shorts and one of Todd’s hooded sweatshirts. Her long, nutmeg brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and her face was green.

  “Whoa! That’s more minty green than I had remembered,” Katie said. “Does it feel tingly yet?”

  “A little. My skin is feeling tight.”

  “That’s what it’s supposed to do.”

  “Then I guess it’s working.” Christy picked up one of the frozen strawberries thawing in a bowl on the kitchen counter. “What did you say this was made from?”

  “The smoothies?”

  “No, this facial mask.”

  “Green tea powder, bee pollen, honey, egg whites, and
some other organic stuff.”

  “And tell me again who gave this to you and said it was so great?”

  “Nicole. She uses it all the time, and you’ve seen her skin.”

  “Her skin is flawless,” Christy said. “But Nicole probably exercises regularly and eats right, so I’m guessing she has additional advantages going for her than you and I do.”

  “We’re working on the healthy eating even as we speak.” Katie scooped some frozen strawberries and blueberries into the blender to go on top of the low-fat yogurt and ice cubes.

  “Did we have enough ice?” Christy opened the freezer door. “I think our icemaker is broken.”

  “We have enough. It helps that the fruit is still frozen.”

  “If you do want more ice, I was serious when I said you could go down to Rick and Eli’s apartment. Eli is probably there. As a matter of fact, he might be happy to be the one to give you the ice for a change.”

  “Very funny.”

  “So is this.” Christy tried to open her mouth in the shape of an O and patted the side of her face. “Am I cracking?”

  “Yes. And I won’t add any further comment. I also won’t add any comments to the topic of how supposedly rude I am to Eli. I hear enough about that from Rick. The guy makes me nervous, okay? That’s all I’m saying. That’s all I’ve ever said about him. Eli is . . .”

  “He’s one of us, Katie. You just haven’t given him a chance. He’s your boyfriend’s roommate, and he was Todd’s roommate when they were in Spain. Eli is going to be in our circle for a while. You really need to make peace with that.”

  The microwave gave a dull “bweep,” and Katie took advantage of the interruption to step out of the current conversational topic. “I think your microwave is in about the same shape as your icemaker. This popcorn bag has barely started to puff up.”

  “It smells like popcorn in here, though.” Christy stepped over to the window by the kitchen table that opened to the grassy courtyard and cement walkway. “Maybe it’s this green mask I’m smelling. Something smells strong.”

  Katie pushed the popcorn button again on the microwave and returned to the blender where she gave the waiting ingredients a whirl. “How blended do you like it?” She shouted over the sound of the ice being crushed.

  “It doesn’t matter to me, just so long as it turns out sweet. I don’t like smoothies that taste more like tangy yogurt than fruit.”

  “Why don’t you work on the perfect blend while I paint my face green?”

  Christy nodded but didn’t say anything in an apparent effort not to disturb her drying greenage.

  Katie slipped into the small bathroom of Todd and Christy’s one-bedroom apartment. The bathroom was the same configuration as the one in Rick and Eli’s two-bedroom apartment a few doors down. The oval sink had the same brass faucets with the same sorts of chipping and fading and lime buildup at the base.

  What made Todd and Christy’s bathroom almost appealing was the matching rug, shower curtain, and towels. Katie had helped Christy pick out the colorful set with credit Christy had at Bath and Bliss after she returned a variety of mismatched wedding gifts. Now everything in her bathroom matched. The beachy shades of pale yellow, blue, and green stripes in the shower curtain were accented by the rug and towels and made the framed waterfall picture on the wall look even more inviting.

  Katie could almost believe this was going to be the relaxing home spa experience she had hoped for when Christy suggested Katie come over. The long hours Katie had been putting in on her studies were beginning to wear on her, as was the round-the-clock availability required of her as a resident assistant at Rancho Corona University.

  This reconnecting time for Katie and Christy was long overdue.

  Pulling her silky hair back with a ponytail holder, Katie made use of some of the bobby pins Christy had left on the counter. First step was to wash her face. Next, she applied the earthy goo with two fingers. The cool, refreshing sensation prompted her to open her eyes and mouth wide and make a funny face in the mirror. She noticed that the green shade of the mask was the same shade as her eyes. With a sniff, Katie agreed with Christy’s earlier comment that something had a strong odor. It seemed to be growing stronger and wasn’t especially pleasant.

  “Christy, is that the popcorn I’m smelling?” Katie’s words were lost in the reverberating whir of the blender.

  Trucking to the kitchen, Katie arrived just as Christy turned off the blender. With one look at the microwave, Katie screamed, “Fire!”

  Lurching across the kitchen, Katie slammed her fist on the off button for the microwave. She grabbed the blender, and opening the microwave’s door, she doused the popcorn bag with strawberry yogurt smoothie.

  “Katie!”

  “It’s okay. Look, it put out the fire. Don’t worry. I’ll clean it up. Man, what happened to this pathetic thing?” Katie pulled a pair of tongs from the top drawer by the stove and lifted out the popcorn bag. She held the scorched rectangular disk dripping with strawberry muck over the sink. Instead of puffing up and rising like a normal bag of microwave popcorn, the flat, unresponsive paper bag had self-combusted and burst into flames.

  “What a mess! It smells awful. Katie, where did that popcorn come from?”

  Without responding to Christy’s question, Katie dropped the barely averted disaster into the trash and reached for a kitchen towel to sop up the pink mess.

  “Do you still have the box?” Christy continued. “Because I’m thinking we should tell the store so they can recall the rest of that lot number.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” Katie avoided Christy’s gaze. “I didn’t buy it at a store.”

  Christy handed Katie the whole roll of paper towels and waited for her to finish her confession.

  “I bought the popcorn at a garage sale.”

  “Katie!”

  “I know, I know. You don’t have to say anything. I’m making a note to myself at this very moment: ‘Hey, Katie, from now on, don’t buy food at a garage sale.’ There. I got the memo.”

  Christy dumped the used wad of paper towels into the trashcan and gave Katie a perturbed look.

  With a pinched grin, Katie said, “I guess this means I shouldn’t use the box of Hamburger Helper I also bought at the garage sale.”

  Even though she looked like she wanted to be mad, Christy began to laugh. Or at least try to laugh. Her mouth was drawn back in a tight, unnatural position.

  Katie giggled at Christy’s oddly slanted expression, thankful that her friend was once again extending grace to Katie.

  Just then a loud thumping sounded on the door.

  Katie and Christy stopped laughing and gave each other instinctive “caught” looks. Katie could feel the mask drying and tightening in the creases her laughing expression had just created.

  “Are you going to answer the door?” Katie whispered.

  “Not looking like this!”

  The pounding sounded again.

  “You answer it.” Christy gave Katie a nudge.

  “Me? This is your apartment, not mine.”

  A muffled, male voice on the other side of the closed door called Christy’s name.

  “I think it’s Eli,” Christy whispered.

  “He probably smelled the smoke out the open window. Come on. We should both go.”

  Before Christy could protest, Katie pulled her to the entry and swung the front door wide open. Trying to play down the near disaster, Katie struck a casual pose as if she hung out every Friday night at her married friend’s apartment, painting her face vibrant colors and catching unassuming appliances on fire.

  Eli, or Goatee Guy, as Katie had dubbed him at Christy and Todd’s wedding, stood on the welcome mat holding a large, black trash bag. He was wearing the khaki shirt required for his campus security position. His light brown hair was much shorter than it had been the last time Katie had seen him driving around in one of the beat-up golf carts on campus.

  As soon as the Martian sister
s with their Pebbles Flintstone hairdos opened the door, Eli and his trash bag took an involuntary step back. His exclamation seemed to stick in his throat.

  “Little early for Christmas,” Katie quipped, nodding at the bag.

  Eli put his chin up like a grizzly sniffing for campfires. “Is everything okay? I thought I heard someone yell when I left my apartment. Then I smelled . . . man, that is awful. What burned?”

  “Microwave popcorn.” To Christy’s credit, she was keeping her composure even though Katie knew this sort of moment was more humiliating for Christy than it was for Katie. Although Katie was feeling her face grow warm beneath the mask and realized she was embarrassed. That didn’t happen very often.

  “To be precise,” Katie said, “the package was labeled microwave popcorn, but I believe the actual contents would need a DNA test to determine their true origin and identity. Or maybe the popcorn is a candidate for carbon testing. We have the petrified article in the trash if you want proof.”

  “I believe you,” Eli said, his composure returning. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I knew Todd was with the junior high group tonight, but I didn’t know if you were with him, Christy, or if your place was empty.”

  “Thanks, Eli,” Christy said sweetly. “I appreciate you checking in on me.”

  “As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now,” Katie added with a sweeping gesture of their apparel, hair, and faces, “we’re having an evening of extraordinary beautification since Rick and Todd are both gone tonight.”

  Eli tilted his head. “Rick is here.”

  “No he’s not. He’s in Arizona.”

  “He hasn’t left yet.”

  “Is he at your apartment now?”

  Eli nodded.

  Katie needed no further invitation to blast past Eli and blaze a trail to Rick and Eli’s apartment.

  Thinking through her actions before responding to them had never been Katie’s strength. She was much better going with the flow. At this moment, green face and all, she wanted to see Rick. She knew he wouldn’t be surprised. Very few things surprised him about her anymore, including her on-a-whim spontaneity.