A Chance at Love

by T. K. Chapin

  Delivering a pizza later that night to an apartment building over on the South Hill, I was surprised when I was hit on by a girl that answered the door.

  “You’re cute,” the girl about my age said while I pulled their pizzas out of the delivery bag.

  I laughed a little. “Oh yeah? Thanks.” I handed over the pizzas to her and said, “Here’s the pizza. It’ll be $27.07.”

  “Let me get my wallet,” she replied, letting the door swing open as she disappeared.

  “You have a girlfriend?” she asked when she came back over to the door to pay me. She was attractive, but I found myself without any interest.

  “Um . . .” I replied as I counted her change. “I do,” I said, handing the money back to her.

  “Shut your mouth, Nikki!” a blonde girl appeared at the door next to her. “Sorry about that . . . she just got out of a relationship and she’s really drunk right now.”

  “It’s all right. Have a good night.”

  Walking away from the door as it shut, I thought about Emily. She had a hold of my heart more than I knew. My worry soared as I thought about the information she was holding back from me. Why would she purposely hide something? And what could it be? The questions kept pressing against my mind, torturing me.

  When I got back from the delivery to Pilo’s, Mike had shown up for his late shift. Knowing he was Christian, I approached him.

  “What you grinning about?” he asked as I tossed the delivery bag onto the top of the others on the counter.

  “I’m saved.”

  His eyes went wide. “Like Jesus saved?”

  I grinned. “Yep.”

  He wrapped his large, burly arms around me and gave me a hug. “That’s great news, Kyle! Or should I say, brother!”

  “Thanks!” I managed to squeeze out as he expelled all the air from my lungs. Releasing me, he said, “When did this happen?”

  “When I was at my grandma’s house for those weeks.”

  “That’s where you were?”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry if you ever felt offended by anything I said previously. I know I was a little harsh with the Christian faith.”

  He shook his head. “It’s all good. We’re family now. You are washed by the blood!”

  I smiled. “Thanks, man.”

  “Can you two get back to work instead of making out over here?” Jessica scolded from the cutting table a few steps away.

  “We’ll go fold boxes,” Mike said.

  We both left and went back to fold boxes out of earshot of her. As we arrived to the cardboard that was stacked in the back, I said, “Man, she’s so difficult to work for!”

  He laughed as he handed me a stack of cardboard. “Forget her, man. She’s powerless over us.”

  “Can I ask you an honest question?”

  Mike tipped his chin and asked, “Is there such thing as a dishonest question?”

  I laughed. “I don’t know.”

  “Go ahead. What’s your question?”

  Glancing over my shoulder toward the front where Jessica was, I asked, “How come you stay here?”

  He stopped and looked at me. “I like the time I have driving around. Gives me time with the Lord.”

  “I don’t want to offend you by asking you something.”

  He started folding boxes and stacking them. “Pretty hard to offend me. Go for it.”

  “Don’t you want to do more with your life than . . . delivering pizzas?”

  “I do more than this,” he replied.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I run a men’s ministry full-time out of my home church. It’s to empower men to be more godly.”

  “Why do you stay here?” I asked as I folded boxes along with him.

  “The ministry is rather small . . . I don’t make a whole lot from it.”

  “You’re okay with that?”

  “Of course. I’m not concerned about living comfortably here on earth, man. I’m investing in my future.”

  “Future?”

  He nodded. “Eternity. Our life on earth is so small in the grand scheme of things. I’m more focused on the beyond. Glory. That’s what I’m working for, and I’m fulfilled.”

  “I’d love to come check it out sometime.”

  “We meet at the abandoned grocery store off Francis on Thursday nights at seven. We’d love to have you.”

  “Toss & Save?”

  “Yep.”

  “I thought that burned down in that crazy fire a few years back.”

  “It did for the most part, but there was part of the structure that stayed intact. We were able to get an electrician to sign off on it, and it’s rent-free since the owner is part of the group and volunteered the space. Before that, we were in a school’s gymnasium.”

  “Wow.”

  He smiled. “God’s doing a great work with those men there.”

  “That’s really neat.”

  Mike’s perspective on life was like nothing I had ever come across before. He was fully invested in the afterlife, not this earthly life. Mike made me realize that an eternal perspective was more important.

  “Hey, man,” Mike said, stopping again.

  “Yeah?”

  “I know you’re all worried about school, work and so on. But if you just commit that stuff to the Lord, He will provide. You won’t be slinging pizzas forever. I know that. You gotta trust that God will provide.”

  I nodded.

  “Stick that nose of yours in the Bible and keep praying. God will lead your steps.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The next morning, I spent a half hour playing video games, but I kept thinking about what Mike had said the night before. Shutting off the TV, I went over and pulled my grandpa’s Bible down from my bookshelf and opened it up.

  Sitting on the end of my bed, I began flipping through the pages and came to the book of Proverbs. Mike mentioned it last night, and he said it was the book of wisdom in the Bible. Starting in chapter one, I began to read through the highlighted verses and jumped all around. My grandfather had highlighted much and written notes on every page.

  A verse spoke to my soul and caused me to stop and dwell. Proverbs 16: 3.

  “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

  Praying over it, I lifted my head and read it quietly to myself. This is a promise, I reminded myself. This isn’t just something that sounds nice; this is the Creator of the universe making a promise to me. A quiet peace came rushing through me. God’s truly going to take care of me. A smile grew as I lifted my eyes to the ceiling. “Thank you, Lord.”

  Finding peace and being satisfied with my reading, I took a loose piece of paper and marked the spot in Proverbs, then returned to playing video games.

  My mind began to drift to Emily. Every five minutes, I’d think about her and pick up my phone to text her, but then I’d decide against it and toss my phone back to the floor a few feet away from me. I didn’t want to come off as clingy with her, but without hearing from her last night, I felt worried that something could be wrong. What kept me from texting her was the fact that there was no set in stone schedule on when we’d talk.

  I’m just going to call her, I thought to myself as I took off my headset and set down my controller. Picking up my phone, I went over and sat on my bed to dial her, but I was startled when a knock came from my bedroom door, followed by an open. It was Joanie.

  “Jeez! What’s the point of knocking if you just walk in?” I snapped at her as I set my phone down beside me on the bed.

  She smiled wryly and replied, “What’s the point of living here if you don’t even tell me you’re home?”

  “What?” I asked. “I thought you were in school today.”

  “I had a doctor’s appointment this morning so Mom let me skip. You would know that if we ever talked anymore.” She came and sat down next to me on the bed. “You got home yesterday and left immediately. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Okay, let�
��s talk now,” I replied, looking over at her.

  She fell backward onto the bed and brought her hands to her forehead. “You know I wouldn’t come to you about this if we weren’t close, Kyle.”

  “Okay . . . I know that.”

  She sat back up on the bed and jumped up. “Forget it. I can’t talk about this with you.”

  “Wait, Joanie!” I said. Leaping from the bed, I grabbed the door before she could leave. “Spill it.”

  Her lip tightened as her eyes watered. Coming back into the room, she walked past me and sat down on the bed. My heart ached as I saw the tears welling in her eyes. “I tried talking to Christina and Ella about this, but they don’t get it. They think I should just get with the times and be normal. But if that’s normal, I don’t want—”

  “What are we talking about?” I asked, returning to the bed to sit beside her.

  The tears that were welling in her eyes began to escape, trickling down her cheeks. “You know that Tony guy I’ve been dating?”

  I nodded.

  “He keeps hinting at wanting to take things to the next level or whatever, but I don’t want that.” She shook her head as more tears came running down her cheeks. “I just want to be loved.”

  I put my arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug. “You are loved, Joanie. You have a family that loves you, and Tony probably loves you too. Maybe he’s just not thinking clearly. Have you talked to him?”

  She shook her head and looked at the floor. “No . . . I don’t know how.”

  “Just tell him that you really like him—”

  “I love him.”

  “Okay. Tell him you really love him and that you want to be together, but that’s not going to happen until later.”

  “I want to wait for marriage.”

  My eyebrows rose. “I thought you weren’t into God?”

  She furrowed her eyebrows and pressed her hand against her chest. “I want this for me, Kyle. Not God.”

  I raised my hands, “Okay, okay. He needs to respect your wishes.”

  “What if he gets upset and dumps me?”

  I shrugged. “Was he worth it if that’s all that matters?”

  “You’re right. He’s not.” She smiled and wiped the last of the tears that had fallen onto her cheeks. “Thanks for being such a good older brother.”

  I smiled and gave her another hug. “You’re welcome, Sissy.”

  “How was Grandma? Still nice?”

  Thinking about my conversion up at Grandma’s house, I felt a twinge of fear come over me. I knew Joanie wasn’t going to be thrilled about the change. “I’m a Christian now.”

  She nodded lightly. “Cool.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Cool?”

  “Yeah. Honestly, it fits you.”

  “I thought you hated Grandma’s beliefs?”

  She shrugged. “I did . . .”

  “But?”

  “Well, she taught me to value myself and warned me about guys like Tony. I thought she was nuts for thinking guys were like that—but she was right. Now I’m wondering what else she might have been right about. I’m not going to be a Christian anytime soon, but she got my mind wondering.”

  “She’s a wise old woman, Joanie.”

  She nodded. “Thanks for the talk.” Standing up with a smile on her face, Joanie headed toward the door.

  “Hey. Question for you . . .” I said.

  She stopped and looked back at me.

  “I’ve been talking to this girl, and we usually talk every night . . .”

  “The one from the church or whatever?”

  I smiled and replied, “Yeah. She didn’t call last night like she usually does. Is that a problem, you think?”

  Joanie laughed. “She probably has a life outside of talking to you. I wouldn’t be too worried about it.”

  “That makes sense. What about this? She won’t hang out with me. She has some secret that she doesn’t want to share with me right now.”

  “Eek! Sounds sketch, brother. Do you think she has a boyfriend?”

  I shook my head. “I thought that same thing, but she said she didn’t have one. I think it’s something else.”

  Joanie came and sat next to me. “You know what you gotta do?”

  “What?”

  Raising her hands, she did air quotes and said, “Run into her.”

  “That seems deceptive.”

  “It is. But so is her not telling you what’s going on! There’s got to be something holding her back. It’s not normal . . . unless she’s just not into you.”

  “We like each other. I know that much.”

  Joanie nodded. “Run into her and see if you can figure it out.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Sis.”

  Later that day, I decided to go ahead and call Emily. My heart raced as I waited for her to answer.

  “Wondered when you were going to call me.”

  “Really?” I replied. “I’ve been waiting for you to call. You’re the one who usually calls me every night.”

  “I left the ball in your court, Kyle.”

  “Ahh . . . is that what you were doing?” I laughed.

  “Yep.”

  “What are your plans today?” I asked.

  “Well, this afternoon we’re practicing for a Valentine’s Day skit that will be coming up next month.”

  “Valentine’s Day skit?”

  “Yeah. The skit I wrote is basically a love story between God and humanity and a boy and a girl. It’s cute.”

  “Sounds neat. When’s the big show?”

  “It’ll be Valentine’s Day evening.” She paused for a moment. “I want you to come. I’m in it.”

  “Awesome!” I replied. “So next month I can see you?”

  She laughed. “Yep.”

  “All right,” I replied sighing.

  “That a problem?”

  “I don’t get why we have to wait . . . I like you, Emily.”

  She went silent.

  “I feel like I’m falling for you. All the time we’ve spent talking . . . I feel like I know your soul.”

  Silence again.

  “What are you thinking? What are you feeling? Can you give me something? I probably sound like an idiot right now, but I don’t care. I’m an idiot for you.”

  She sniffled and sighed. “I like you too, Kyle. And I want to meet you. I do. I just . . . can’t.”

  “But why?” I asked, straining my words.

  I could hear her crying as she said, “I’m sorry. I can’t keep talking right now. I gotta go.”

  My chest felt like a tightly tangled up knot of rope, and someone was yanking on it, making it more and more painful with each moment. My throat felt like it was being choked in the moment. Painfully, I said, “Okay.”

  After I hung up with Emily, I thought about what Joanie had said about doing a run-in. I knew she was going to be at the church that evening. It seemed like a bit of a dirty tactic, but I couldn’t stand not knowing anymore. Something within me was pressing Emily onto my mind more than ever. Church was only a few days away, but I didn’t want to wait until then. I wanted to go now.

  CHAPTER 10

  That afternoon, I headed down to the church to finally meet Emily. With weeks of conversations and only the sound of her voice in my ear, she had stolen my heart, and I wanted the truth. Part of me felt that I deserved it, while the other part feared what the secret could be. The late January air was still a bit chilly outside as I got out of the car in the church parking lot, but that didn’t keep the sweat from pouring off of me.

  My eyes focused on the front doors of the church. This is it, I thought to myself as I shut my driver side door. Walking across the slushed snow and water mixture in the parking lot, I made my way up to the church doors.

  Placing my trembling hand on the handle, I thought to myself, you sure you want to do this? She isn’t going to be happy, and you’re probably not going to enjoy this secret. Giving myself a confirming nod, I yanked open the door and went i
nside.

  Hearing commotion from in the sanctuary, I walked over to the window that looked in. When my eyes fell on Emily, my heart fluttered.

  “Kyle,” a man said behind me, startling me. Turning around, I saw that it was Tom.

  “Hey.”

  He looked behind me over my shoulder and smiled. Looking back at me, he said, “I didn’t expect to see you again.”

  “What? Why? I’m here to see Emily.”

  “So you’re okay with it?”

  “Okay with what?” I asked, glancing over into the sanctuary.

  He raised an eyebrow and said in a soft tone, “She hasn’t told you—”

  “Told me what?” I interrupted.

  He shook his head and said, “I’m staying out of it.” Turning, he went down the hallway. Following after him, I caught up to his side and grabbed his arm to stop him.

  “Just go into the sanctuary. I’m not going to be the one that tells you.” He shooed my grasp away and left me in the hall.

  My heart began to pound as I went back down the hall toward the sanctuary. What is it? Will I be able to handle it? I began to pray for God to help me with my failing strength.

  Opening the sanctuary door, I went inside and walked the aisle. “I just want to watch.”

  “Kyle?” Emily said from the stage.

  “Hey, Emily . . .” I said with a shaken and worried voice. “I couldn’t wait anymore. I think I love you.”

  Her eyes began to water.

  “Hey, guys, let’s take a break,” one guy said to the other cluster of kids on stage. They all left and went around a wall behind the stage.

  Continuing down the aisle, I approached Emily as she stayed on the stage. “I’m sorry if you’re upset with me. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t want to wait. I’m falling for you, and I have so many emotions that are going through me. Not just right now, but every single day, Emily.”

  As I came up the stage stairs, she interrupted me. “I’m blind!”

  My eyes immediately focused on her eyes. The room fell completely silent. Her emerald green eyes looked blankly out into the room, but they appeared normal from what I could see. “You can’t see anything?”