by T. K. Chapin
“Help me, Lord,” I said. Scooting myself off the bed, I headed back downstairs.
Finding Denise alone at the dinner table in the kitchen, I glanced into the living room to see if Jasmine and Austin were in there. They weren’t. Coming over to the table, I sat down in my seat and Denise looked up at me with tear-filled eyes.
“Where’d they go?” I asked, reaching over to touch her hand on the table.
She pulled it back and shook her head as she wiped her eyes. “They left.”
My lips pursed to form a thin line. “I’m sorry.”
Denise laughed a little under her breath as she nodded. “How could you do that?” she asked as she got up and grabbed a couple of the plates from the table and headed into the kitchen.
“I just needed a moment with God,” I replied, stacking the remaining plates on top of one another.
Denise set the plates she had in the sink and returned back to the table to grab food. Pausing behind the chair Jasmine sat in, she rested her hands on top of the back of it and sighed. “It’s a beautiful relationship you have with God, dear. It truly is, but you can’t just walk out like that. Its hurtful not only to Jasmine, but to me. You left me here in an awkward situation.”
Nodding, I said, “I understand that, and I’m sorry, Denise.” I continued into the kitchen with the plates I had stacked. As I set them in the sink, I turned back to the table and asked Denise, “Where’d they go?”
“Erica’s house,” Denise replied, picking up the pot of leftover pasta that was still on the table. “Erica’s going on a cruise tomorrow with her parents. They planned on going to see her after dinner anyways.”
“Oh, wow. Really? Can she miss that much school? She’s going to be graduating soon.”
“Honey, I don’t know,” Denise replied coming into the kitchen. “I’m sure they figured something out. Don’t worry about them.”
I breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were at Erica’s house. That was Jasmine’s best friend in the world. They were both brand new to the school and church back when we first moved to Spokane, and the two of them became instant friends. Erica’s parents were good folks and had been over for dinner on several occasions throughout the years.
“That was pretty crazy; he said he’s going to transfer to be near her,” Denise said to me over her shoulder as she began rinsing the dishes in the sink. She opened up the dishwasher and set a plate in before turning to me.
I nodded softly as I came over to her. Wrapping my arms around my wife, I looked deeply into her eyes. Smiling, I brought a finger up to her chin and said, “I don’t like it . . . but God gave me peace about it all. He’s in control and we have to remember that.”
“He did put the stars in the sky,” she replied as a smile came over her face. She looked into my eyes and said, “How’d I get so lucky marrying you?”
“Must have been a mix-up,” I replied, mirroring her smile. “Because I sure didn’t deserve a woman like you.”
“Shut up,” she said, blushing as she playfully pushed me back.
I laughed and helped her finish loading the dishwasher before we tag-teamed the rest of the kitchen. Denise and I always worked so well together. It was a great reminder that God had made her just for me.
CHAPTER 5
All consumed in the book of Job the next day, I jumped when Cole said my name as he walked into the dining hall. I closed my Bible and put away my worksheet to fully turn my attention to him.
“What’s up?” I said as I pushed my Bible to the side and brought my hands together on the table.
“You and I have a fun day ahead,” he replied, sitting down. “Hydrant maintenance.”
“Man, I don’t like doing that.” I crossed my arms as my lips pressed firmly together.
Cole laughed. “Chief handed the order down after B-shift broke a hydrant.”
Nodding, I replied, “Seems to be the way it—”
Kane came sprinting into the dining hall. Sweat was pouring off his forehead and he was out of breath.
“What’s wrong?” Cole asked, glancing past him.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his coat sleeve, he said, “My car broke down about a mile north of here.”
“So you jogged the rest of the way? Why didn’t you call for a ride?” Cole asked.
Kane smiled. “She said ‘yes!’ I couldn’t think straight!”
Cole immediately jumped up and hugged him. “Congratulations! That’s great. When’s the big day?”
Kane’s smile fell away. “Day?” He shrugged as confusion washed over him. “I don’t know . . . I guess I didn’t think about that.”
Cole and I began to laugh.
“You didn’t think about when?” I asked, looking at Kane.
He shook his head. “Was pretty focused on hoping she’d say ‘yes’.” Kane squinted and looked at the floor as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Maybe in the summer? June?”
“Talk to your lady,” I said. “She probably has something in mind. Summer is a fun time to get married. Do it outdoors.”
Kane nodded. “Hey, before I forget: I’m going to get wood in the next week or so. Did you still need some?” he asked.
My eyebrows shot up. “Oh, man. Definitely. That’s a little random, though.” I laughed.
He laughed. “I’ve been meaning to mention it, but I keep forgetting. Anyway, I’ll make sure to drop a truckload off for you after I get it.” Kane pulled his cellphone out and began dialing as he left the room.
Cole turned around with a smile. “The kid sure is growing up, huh?”
I nodded. “I remember when he was just a young punk.”
Cole sat back down. “Yeah. Times have changed quite a bit. Little Jasmine is graduating; my boys are going into elementary school.” Shaking his head, he smiled and looked at me. “Just like Sherwood said . . . blink of an eye and our lives keep changing.”
“Yep. Don’t forget that I’m going to be retiring in just a year, and I’ll have an empty nest.”
“Don’t sound so down about it.” Cole laughed. “I’d love to have a little silence. Boys are ridiculous.”
“Speaking of boys . . . Jasmine’s latest boyfriend informed us he’s transferring to a place in New Jersey to be near her in the fall.”
Cole’s eyes widened.
“Yeah.”
Cole sighed. “Well, does he go to church at least?”
Shrugging, I replied, “I don’t know. Don’t think so, or she would have told me that pretty quickly. She’s a little rebellious, but I can tell she still desires to make me and Denise happy.” I laughed. “To what degree, I don’t know.”
“Was that last boyfriend a church-goer?”
I nodded. “Yep. And it was the first thing she told us about him.”
“Well I know that must be hard to hear; a boy is moving with your daughter. I couldn’t imagine.”
“I didn’t like hearing it, that’s for sure. I had to go pray about it immediately. Sometimes it can be difficult to trust it’s all going to work out.”
“I hear ya on that,” Cole replied. “That’s what we’re called to do, though. God sees the big picture though we can’t. You taught me that.”
“I know,” I replied with a short nod. Glancing over to my worksheet on Job, I said, “I’d better get the rest of this done before everyone else shows, and then we’ll go do the hydrants.”
“All right, Freeman,” Cole said, standing up.
Later that day, around six-thirty in the evening, my wife, Denise, called. Excusing myself from the dinner table with the guys, I headed out into the hallway to take the call. She rarely called when I was on the clock.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hi, dear,” she said. Her words felt heavy. Something wasn’t right.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping farther down the hall.
“Jasmine.”
“What about her?” I asked, walking over to the steps that led down to the bay.
&
nbsp; “She just stormed out of here with that boy!”
“Why?”
“She wanted him to stay here.” Denise began crying. “I don’t know what to do with her anymore, Micah.”
“Wanted to stay where? At our house?” I asked, taking a seat on the top step.
“Yeah.”
Cupping my hand over my forehead, I took a moment to ask God for strength. I kept quiet as I tried to process what was going on when Denise spoke again.
“I guess he got kicked out of the place he was staying.”
“What? How’s this our problem? What is Jasmine thinking?”
“I don’t know.” Denise sighed. “Jasmine didn’t want to talk about anything. She just kept saying we’re supposed to be Christians.” Denise began crying again.
“She’s coming back tonight, right?”
“I don’t know . . .” she replied. “She was pretty upset with me. I did the right thing, right?”
“Yes, dear. You did the right thing.”
“Why does it feel like I did something wrong?”
“You don’t want to upset Jasmine. It’s natural.”
“It’s just hard! I want my baby back.”
Getting off the phone with Denise, I returned to the dining hall and to the table to finish my meal. After eating, I headed down to the bay to mop the floors. Nobody really enjoyed doing the floors, but I volunteered to get a moment of silence. It was a chance to collect my thoughts and emotions and to talk with God.
As I scrubbed along the smooth bay floor, I prayed for God to help me understand how to deal with Jasmine. It troubled me deeply to have her months away from graduating and falling apart like she was. I asked God to help me understand how to do the right thing. As I dragged my mop along the floor over to the fire pole, I heard my name from above.
“Freeman,” Cole said from the top of the pole.
Pulling myself out of the prayer, I glanced up and smiled at him. “What’s up, Brother?”
“You okay?” he asked.
Hesitating for a moment, I looked at Cole and saw his desire to talk in his eyes. I could tell he sensed something was off about me and wanted to return the favor I’d done for him so many times before. “Things are rough at home.”
“Let me grab a cola, then I’ll come down,” he replied and then vanished.
Allowing others into the difficulties I have gone through in the past was easy because the storm had passed and wisdom was able to be gleaned from it. But when it came to a storm I was in, I preferred to be alone with my thoughts and my God. That night my heart softened to let Cole in.
Cole came down the stairs and sat down on the last step. He looked over at me and said, “Come have a seat.” He cracked open his can of soda as I set the mop down and walked over.
“What’s going on?” he asked as I sat down beside him.
“You seem a little eager about getting up in my business,” I replied with a hesitant laugh.
“I care about you and I consider you one of my best friends. You rarely talk about yourself and your own struggles of the heart. You’re always the one helping others out. I’d love to return that favor.”
Shaking my head, I said, “I talk about Jasmine from time to time. I know I’ve told you about some of the stuff that went on with Denise.”
“Yeah, little things here and there, but for the most part you’ve been pretty even-headed. Remember when Sherwood passed away? Man, you were calm.”
His question forced a wave of sad memories to wash over my mind as I said, “I do remember.”
“You were a rock. Not just for me.” He pointed back up behind him toward the stairs, “But for everyone here.”
I nodded, but stayed quiet.
“What’s got you so upset, Freeman?” Cole asked, taking a drink of his soda. “Jasmine?”
“You guessed it,” I replied with a nod. “You know how I told you earlier that her boyfriend is moving across the country with her?”
“Yep,” Cole replied.
“Well, now Denise informed me that they came over to the house and asked her if he could live at our house!”
“Oh, jeez.”
“It gets worse. Jasmine was freaking out and kept asking Denise how we could call ourselves Christians.”
“That’s not good,” Cole said, shaking his head as he looked down at his can between his hands.
“It’s like all those years I raised her in the church and did all this parenting was in vain. She’s just falling apart as she’s about out of my house.”
Letting out a sigh, Cole leaned back. “Life can get crazy. It’s in these times that we need to rely on God to see what His plan is. Like this guy once told me, ‘keep praying’.”
A smile broke from my pursed lips as I recalled telling him that over and over again when he was going through struggles with Megan. “Sounds like someone pretty wise told you that.”
He laughed and pushed my shoulder.
CHAPTER 6
When I arrived home the next day, I was happy to see my daughter’s car in the driveway. I knew she had a late start that day for school because of a teacher in-service day. Looking up to the ceiling of my vehicle, I thanked God that she was home where she belonged. Denise never called me last night, so I figured everything must have worked out since Jasmine’s car was there.
Walking in the front door, I could smell the coffee brewing from the kitchen, and I smiled thinking of my lovely wife taking care of my needs. My appreciation for all she did swelled inside of me as I came down the hallway to the living room and kitchen.
I found Jasmine and Austin sitting on the couch watching TV in the living room, and I about freaked completely out, but the shock paralyzed me.
Denise quickly came over from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand for me. Handing it to me, she said, “Can we talk?”
My eyebrows furrowed as my anger began to warm. This wasn’t the understanding Denise and I had agreed upon the evening before. She grabbed at my shoulder and turned me away from the living room. Leading me into the hallway, I swatted her hand away from me. “Stop it,” I said in a loud whisper.
“They can hear you, Micah. You stop it!”
I shook my head and said, “I don’t care who can hear me, Denise. Answer me one thing. Did he stay the night here?”
“Yes.”
I felt the chains that kept me calm and level-headed explode at her words. As I turned to go back into the living room, she grabbed my arm again.
“What are you going to do, Micah?” Denise asked. Her eyes were fearful.
“Kick him out, of course.”
“What about our baby? Our princess?”
Stopping, I got closer to Denise and looked at each of her eyes. “Tell me. What did they say to you to get you to flip so easily?”
Her lips closed and tightened as she hesitated to tell me. Then she said, “Hailee had a falling out with her daughter and didn’t see her for over five years! I didn’t want to risk that, Micah! Jasmine threatened to write us off!”
I brought my hand to my face and rubbed my chin and over my mouth as I gathered all my patience and strength not to lose my cool in the moment. “Okay . . . but we have lines that cannot be crossed. They have to leave! Jasmine can stay and finish out the school year, but I doubt she will.”
I turned to go down the hallway and Denise grabbed onto my arm, pulling me back. She looked me in the eyes and said, “Don’t be mean, Micah. Don’t sin in your anger.”
“I’m done talking.” I shook my arm free of her hold and went into the living room. Looking Jasmine in the eyes, I said, “Austin has to leave.”
Austin shook his head and stood up. “You think you’re a Christian?” he asked me, looking me in the eye. “You aren’t anything but a hypocrite.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, kid.”
He laughed. “I know Jesus told you Christians to turn the other cheek, help people out. Stuff like that. Not kick your daughter out wit
h nowhere to go.”
“Jesus never said to condone sin, and the Bible—”
Jasmine interrupted. “Dad— don’t. We’ll go. I get it. I’ll finish out my school year living elsewhere.” With tear-filled eyes and a lowered head, Jasmine whooshed past me and up to her room to gather her things.
Austin tried to walk past me, following her, but I put a hand up to his chest and stopped him. “No.”
“What’s your problem? I just want to comfort her after you acted like a jerk.”
“This is my house, Austin. You can go wait for her outside.”
“Fine.” He walked by, pushing his shoulder into mine.
Turning, I looked at Denise as she leaned her head against the hallway wall. Seeing her cry broke me into pieces.
“Yo. Babe. I’ll be outside,” Austin hollered up the stairs before going outside.
As the door shut, Jasmine came out of her room and hurried down the stairs with her backpack and a duffle bag.
“Honey,” I said as she went for the front door.
She stopped at the door with one hand on the doorknob. Releasing it, she turned around. With tears running down her face and swollen eyes, she said in a broken voice, “What, Dad?”
My heart broke as I looked into her big brown eyes. Seeing her in pain tore me up inside. I didn’t see an eighteen-year-old in rebellion; I saw a scared seven-year-old trying to fight for what she felt like she needed. “Your mother and I love you. You’re always welcome to come back here. This is your home. And please, stay in school.”
She wiped her eyes. “I already said I was going to finish, don’t worry about it. I just need to think right now. Clear my head. I’m not even entirely sure if I’m going to attend Rowan University anymore.”
“What?” I asked. “And do what?”
She shook her head as she began crying more. “I don’t know, Dad . . . I’ll be at Jessica’s tonight.”
“With Austin?” I asked.