“How’s my girl?” He asked, as soon as their lips parted.
Her animated response seemed to flow like water. “I’m great! But I’ve missed you so much. How are you? How is school? How’s work?”
“Whoa, whoa!” He put his hands up in protest. “Too many questions. Too fast.”
“I’m sorry.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and they entered the restaurant together. “I just feel like we have so much to talk about and so little time.”
“Yes, well –” He drew in a deep breath. “Less time than you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have an appointment at noon,” he explained, “then I’m supposed to meet my study group at three.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Wish I was. But let’s don’t let that stop us from having a good time while we’re together.” He told hold of her hand.
“I just miss you,” she pouted. How could he schedule a study session on my weekend at home? Doesn’t he know how much I need to be with him? And why did he have to have a meeting today, of all days?
Nathan gave her a curious look just as the server appeared. “Well, I miss you too, Jess.” His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “But I’m not the one who moved away, remember? And I still have things to do, things that can’t wait.”
She followed in numb silence to a table at the rear of the room. Suddenly, everything she had wanted to say seemed to vanish from her mind. A distance seemed to have grown up between them. What’s happening here?
Jessica immediately determined to narrow the gap as best she could. Instead of telling Nathan any of her stories, she listened attentively while he shared all that had happened at college over the past two weeks. She held her tongue when he told her of an idea his mother had given him regarding the wedding reception. She nodded in agreement when he talked about the upcoming honeymoon to Germany.
In short, she kept all of her excitement inside, in the hopes that this feeling of sadness would disappear. And yet, as his conversation shifted to less appealing things—the stock market, his latest accounting classes and the advantages of lower interest rates—all Jessica could think about were her own tales. She tried to push them down, but they would not go away.
By the end of the meal, Jessica felt as if she could hardly remain quiet any longer. She quickly shared a few details of the past few two weeks and Nathan listened intently. He is interested. He seemed especially curious to hear about her neighbors and their antics, asking on more than one occasion if Kellie had corresponded with Kent. By the end of the meal, Jessica felt safe and secure once again.
They parted with a quick embrace, and Nathan assured her of his love. He just misses me. But everything will be all right as long as we get some time alone together. She would make sure that happened. Somehow. In the meantime, she would stay focused. That would certainly help.
The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Jessica thumbed through dozens of invitation samples, but couldn’t seem to settle on anything she thought they would both like. Sunday morning arrived quicker than she could have imagined and she attended church with her family. Then, before she even had time to think about it, Jessica found herself on the road, once more. All the way back to Dallas, her mind reeled. She tried to concentrate on wedding plans, but found her thoughts drifting to the opera, and especially to the children awaiting her at home.
Home. Hmmm.
So many exciting adventures lay ahead and she had a lot of plans to make. Thank goodness, she wouldn’t be alone in any of them.
Jessica smiled, as she thought of Colin. What a wonderful, godly man he had turned out to be. His love for the opera was surpassed only by his love for the Lord. And the children. He seemed to be completely taken with each one. She fully understood and appreciated his dedication to them, especially the ones who came from underprivileged families in the inner city. Many would never have received an opportunity to be trained at no cost if he hadn’t implemented this program.
Thank You, Lord, for giving Colin this idea. How wonderful for these children to get the chance to sing in front of a real audience. And thank You for letting me participate. I’m so excited, Father.
Jessica consumed herself with thoughts of the upcoming week. Though she already missed Nathan terribly, she would see him very soon. In fact, he would be flying up next Saturday afternoon to escort her to a lavish fundraiser dinner for the new children’s program. She could hardly wait. In the meantime, she still had rehearsals with the children and her audition for Madame Butterfly.
With so many thoughts tumbling madly, Jessica could barely keep her mind on the road. By the time she arrived back in Dallas late Sunday evening, she felt fully awake and alive with excitement. Tomorrow simply couldn’t come soon enough.
***
Colin checked the time on several occasions Sunday afternoon. He knew Jessica would be driving back today and prayed for her safety. As he headed off to church for choir practice, he planned the week ahead. There were so many details to attend to. Thank You, Lord, for giving me someone to share that responsibility. Somehow, just knowing Jessica would be back on the job tomorrow morning made everything fine again.
As he steered his car into the church parking lot Sunday evening, Colin’s cell phone rang. He reached to grab it then glanced at the number. “Oh no. Not again.” For weeks, he had been fending off calls from one of the girls in the company. Katie Conway. She had expressed more than a little interest in him. He didn’t want to be rude to her, but…
Would it be wrong to simply ignore the call?
On the fourth ring, he answered. Might be something urgent. After all, she was a key player in the upcoming opera and needed to be assured, even pacified, a lot. He didn’t really mind. For the sake of the show. “Hello?” He spoke hesitantly.
“Oh, Colin, I’m so glad you answered.” Katie immediately dove into a lengthy discussion about a problem she appeared to be having with a particular vocal number in the opera. “Would you mind, I mean – you don’t have to. . .But would you mind coming by my place later this evening?” she asked. “I’m having such a difficult time with this one section of music and having you here to sing along with me would be so helpful.”
Colin glanced at his watch and started to explain that he was running late for choir practice. Just then, he heard a tapping on his car window. He looked up to see Ida Sullivan, standing with her arms crossed.
“You’re late.” The older woman mouthed the words and pointed to her watch.
Colin shrugged and gestured toward the phone, trying all the while to think of an answer to Katie’s suggestion. “I, uh… I’m in the middle of something right now,” he spoke into the phone. “Actually, I’m at church.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He thought he heard a little sniffle. “I shouldn’t have bothered you. I know you’re so busy.”
“It’s no bother,” he assured her. Ida continued to tap at his window. “But I’m afraid I’ve already got plans tonight, so I won’t be much help to you.”
Katie sighed loudly. “That’s okay. Jessica will be back in town in awhile. I know she won’t mind giving me a hand with the music. She’s great on the keyboard, anyway, and she’s such a good sport.”
She’ll be exhausted.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Katie’s voice lifted slightly. “And thanks so much for being such a great friend, Colin.”
“Goodbye, Katie.” He hung up, feeling like a traitor. Lord, I don’t want to lead her on, but I don’t know how to let her know I’m not interested without hurting her feelings.
Just then, Ida knocked on his window again. Colin opened the car door and stepped outside.
“Talking to your girlfriend?” she asked.
“Nope. Just a business acquaintance.” He began to walk toward the church. She trudged along behind him.
“How am I ever going to get you married off if you won’t settle on a girl?”
“Ida, really.”
&n
bsp; “What sort of lady are you looking for, anyway? Maybe I can be on the lookout. I was quite a matchmaker in my day.”
Is that why you never married? He didn’t dare ask the question. “I’m not looking.” Truthfully, Colin didn’t see the point. When the Lord was ready to bring him a bride, she would magically appear.
He prayed.
“That’s half your trouble.” Ida shook her head. “How can you ever expect to find something if you’re not looking for it?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You sound like my mother.”
The older woman broke into a broad smile and placed her arm in his as they approached the building. “Why, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She paused and looked up at him intently. “Tell you what,” she said with a broad grin, “if neither of us is married in a year, why don’t we just bite the bullet and marry each other?”
“Ida,” he chuckled. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t know if my heart could take it.”
TEN
Jessica sprinted, near breathless, to the baggage claim area of the DFW Airport. She managed to locate Nathan standing in the midst of a crowd of people, his hand tightly clutching a rolling bag. He looked anything but happy. She waved her hand to get his attention and hollered, “Nathan! Over here.”
He shook his head as she approached. “This is the craziest excuse for an airport I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe this mob.”
Jessica couldn’t argue the point. In fact, she had perused the parking garage for nearly half an hour in search of a place to deposit her car. After finally locating a spot, she had walked nearly a good half-mile to get to the baggage claim area.
“I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.” Nathan gave her a forced pout.
“How could I forget about you? I love you.” She reached up to give him a playful peck on the cheek. “I’ve just been stuck in traffic. And the parking situation is terrible. This airport is a mess.”
“No kidding.” He looked around at the throng of people and shook his head.
They walked hand in hand to the parking garage. Jessica tried to lift his spirits by telling him some of her ideas for the wedding. By the time they arrived at the car, he seemed to be far more relaxed. His broad smile let her know everything was right with the world once again.
“So, what’s the plan for tonight?” he asked.
“It’s going to be so wonderful.” Jessica came alive with excitement. “All of the children are going to be there, along with nearly three hundred financial supporters of the program. The kids will be sharing one of the songs from the production. But don’t get your hopes up too high.” She paused as she thought about the anxiety level of the children. “We just started rehearsals a couple of weeks ago and they’re still on a learning curve.”
Nathan shrugged. “Wouldn’t know the difference.”
As they climbed into the car, Jessica continued. “We’ll be going back to my apartment first to get changed. Then we’ll meet Colin and the others at the theater at six-fifteen.”
“Colin?” Nathan gave her an awkward glance.
“Sure. He’s in charge of tonight’s event. Anyway, we’ll be meeting him to finalize some plans for the kids, who will arrive at six-thirty. Dinner will be served at seven. They tell me it’s going to be wonderful.”
“No more buffet lines?”
“Nope. This is a sit-down affair. But even if I get busy, you won’t be completely alone. My neighbor, Kellie, will be there.”
“Really? Why would she come to something like this? I thought she couldn’t stand opera.”
“She can’t. But her sister, Katie sings with the company, remember? In fact, she is playing one of the leads in Madame Butterfly. I’m sure you’ll hear all about it before the night’s over. Katie has a tendency to talk your ear off.”
“Great.”
“When she’s not trying to get Colin’s attention, that is.” Jessica smiled as she thought about Katie’s ridiculous antics to win the attentions of the man she called, ‘Rigoletto, himself!’ Colin was either blind or not interested. He didn’t seem to pay much attention to the vivacious blonde, though she fought with every ounce of strength to be noticed.
Jessica continued to fill Nathan in on the details as she drove. By the time they arrived at her apartment, they had just enough time to quickly change into evening attire and prepare to leave once again. Jessica had selected a new gown for the occasion, and could hardly wait to show it off. As she entered the living room in the sage green gown with beaded straps, she awaited Nathan’s response.
“What time did you say we have to be there?” He stared at his reflection in the mirror as he straightened his tie.
“Six-fifteen.”
He turned her direction, but seemed to see right through her. “Well, shouldn’t we be going, then?”
Jessica glanced at her watch. Five fifty-five. They should have just enough time, if she hurried. She tightened a bobby pin to hold a loose hair in place then smiled at Nathan. “I’m ready when you are.”
Jessica drove to the theater on pins and needles. She tried to envision how the evening would go, how she would comfortably work Nathan into all of her plans. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel left out. She would make sure that didn’t happen.
Jessica pulled the car into the parking garage at six-thirteen. “We need to make a run for it.” Hand in hand, they raced toward the beautiful lobby, where carefully decorated tables with elaborate centerpieces had been set up ahead of time. Once inside, Jessica couldn’t help but notice Nathan’s look of admiration.
“This is quite a place,” he said.
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s beautiful here.” She located a place for the two of them to sit and asked Nathan to wait on her while she tried to track down the children. Jessica fought her way through the ever-growing crowd, heading in the direction of the rehearsal room on the south end of the lobby. She found herself distracted on more than one occasion by chatty new friends, who all enthusiastically told her how lovely she looked. She thanked them all and tried to keep moving, though she couldn’t seem to locate Colin anywhere.
Lord, don’t let him be late. I can’t do this by myself. Almost as if in direct answer to her prayer, she spied him. From across the room, she made him out through the crowd. In his sleek black tuxedo, he almost looked like a character from a movie. His dark curls seemed a little less unruly tonight, and his cheeks were flushed with excitement as he talked to a friend. Though she certainly didn’t intend to, Jessica found herself staring. He’s really in his element.
Just then her neighbor Katie approached with a curious smile on her face. “That fiancé of yours is quite a catch,” she said with an admiring grin.
“Oh, you met him?” Jessica glanced back at Nathan, who still sat alone. To be honest, he looked bored out of his mind and for a brief moment she regretting leaving him.
“Sure did,” Katie said. “Interesting first meeting, I don’t mind telling you.”
“What do you mean?”
Her friend giggled. “He thought I was Kellie. Called me by the wrong name.”
“Oh dear.”
“I played along with him,” Katie said. “But do you know what he said to me?”
Jessica shook her head.
“He told me he’d rather be watching CNBC. Wanted to know if I felt the same way.” Katie laughed.
Jessica’s heart sank. “You’re kidding.”
The blonde shook her head. “Nope. Then he made some sort of joke about music. I take it he’s not an opera fan?”
“I’m working on him.” Jessica bit her lip as she stared at Nathan once again.
“Still, he’s a cutie,” Katie said admiringly. “With a face like that, who needs to like opera?”
Jessica looked up to see Kellie approaching her fiancé. What appeared to be a look of relief crossed his face. He immediately dove into animated conversation with Katie’s beautiful twin sister. Why can’t
he light up light that when we’re talking?
“Jess, are you with me?” Katie looked at her curiously.
“Oh, yeah.” She turned her attentions back to her friend. “I’m just a little preoccupied. But I need to stay focused. I need to connect with Colin quickly so that we can get the kids ready.”
“I happen to know right where he is.” Katie’s face lit up. “Let me take you to him. It will give me an excuse to spend some time with him. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Of course not.” Together, the girls pressed their way through the crowd to Colin’s side.
He looked up with a broad smile as they approached. “Wow.” He gave an admiring whistle. “Must be my lucky night. You both look exceptionally gorgeous.”
“Thank you, Kind Sir.” Katie curtsied and he bowed in response.
“And, I might say,” Colin turned in Jessica’s direction, “that shade of green is exquisite with your beautiful auburn hair, Miss Chapman.” He gestured for her to turn around, and she did so with an embarrassed flush.
“You flatter me.” She extended her hand and he kissed it with a theatrical flair. For a moment, Jessica could hardly breathe. Stop it. He’s just play-acting.
Katie cleared her throat and extended her hand, as well. Colin repeated the gesture, though his eyes never seemed to leave Jessica. She felt her cheeks warm, and wondered what he might be thinking. “I, uh, thought we should probably meet with the children soon.” She glanced at her watch.
“You’re right. Let’s get a headcount then take a few minutes to run over the first part of their piece as a warm up.”
She nodded and attempted to stop the butterflies that suddenly seemed to fill her stomach.
“Are you okay?” Katie nudged her.
“Yes, why?”
“I don’t know.” Her friend looked at her, eyes now squinted. “You’re a little flushed.”
“Oh,” Jessica stammered. “It’s warm in here, that’s all. I’ll be better off when we get to the rehearsal room. I’m sure it’s cooler in there.”
Love at Center Stage: Three Theatrical Love Stories Page 23