Hometown Promise

by Merrillee Whren

  First, he had to call his grandfather. Picking up his BlackBerry, he sat on the edge of the bed. He listened to the ringing on the other end and prayed that Grandpa would hear the phone. On the seventh ring, his grandfather answered.

  “Hi, Grandpa. How are you this morning? Did you survive the storm?”

  “Well, I am answering the phone, am I not?”

  “You are. So you must be okay.”

  “Doing great. Are you still at Juliane’s?”

  “Yes.”

  “How soon will you get home?”

  “I don’t know. I have to dig my car out. Then I need to check the plant, but I can come by your place first if you need me.”

  “No. That is all right. I am getting along fine. You take care of your business.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you later.” Ending the call, Lukas wondered how much truth there was behind his grandfather’s I’m-okay routine. Right now Lukas had to believe what the older man said. Worrying about it wasn’t going to change a thing.

  Then Lukas called his assistant manager to make sure the plans they’d made the night before were still in place. After a brief reassuring conversation, Lukas grabbed his clothes and hurried into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror. Bloodshot eyes stared back at him. He rubbed the dark stubble on his chin. The image reminded him of the way he’d often looked when he’d had too much to drink the night before. He thanked God that wasn’t the case this morning.

  He started to change but thought better of it and stayed in the sweatpants. There was no sense in getting his good clothes soaked again while he tried to dig out. Maybe when he finished that task, he might get a razor in order to shave. Right now all he wanted was a toothbrush. He hoped Juliane had an extra one lying around.

  As he approached the kitchen the smell of brewing coffee wafted his way. He poked his head around the corner. Juliane and Elise sat at the kitchen table while they ate without talking. A small television on the kitchen counter broadcast the morning news anchor’s reports on the aftermath of the storm. “Good morning.”

  Elise looked up first. “Well, Mr. Sleepyhead has decided to show his face.”

  “Good morning, Lukas.” Juliane’s rather subdued greeting made him remember what he must look like.

  He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Yeah…well, I didn’t intend to sleep in, but I tossed and—”

  “I shouldn’t have made you sleep on the pullout bed,” Juliane interrupted as she placed a hand over her heart. “I feel terrible that you didn’t get any sleep.”

  “It wasn’t the bed as much as the storm. All that howling wind.” Smiling, Lukas shook his head. He certainly didn’t want to confess that his anxiety had resulted in his spending half the night reading one of her romances.

  “Have some breakfast with us.” Juliane hopped up and went to the cupboard. “We have oatmeal, but if you don’t like that I have cold cereal.”

  “Oatmeal is fine, but before I eat I’m in need of some toiletries—toothbrush, razor. I don’t know if you can help me out, but—”

  “Oh, sure. I’ll see what I can do.” Juliane rushed from the kitchen.

  Lukas turned around and looked at Elise. “Is she always this hyper in the mornings?”

  Chuckling, Elise shrugged. “I’ve been gone for six years, so I don’t have a clue.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “My guess would be yes.”

  “I’m going to see what she’s come up with.” Lukas wandered back toward the room where he’d slept.

  Turning down the hall, he saw Juliane going into the office. He entered behind her as she set a brand-new toothbrush, a woman’s razor and a can of ladies’ shaving gel on her desk. She turned to go and ran into him.

  He caught her by the shoulders with both of his hands. When she looked up, he could have sworn just for a second he saw panic in her eyes. “Whoa. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  She lowered her eyes as he dropped his hands. She stepped aside so he could enter and darted into the hall. Looking back through the doorway, she grimaced. “Sorry about the ladies’ shave gel and razor.”

  Picking up the shave gel, he studied the label and chuckled. “I hope the guys at work don’t get a whiff of me smelling like a fruity mango.”

  Juliane burst out laughing, then stared at him wide-eyed. “I’m sorry, but that struck me funny.”

  “No need to be sorry.” Lukas enjoyed hearing her laughter. What would it be like to hear that sound every morning? His mind froze. He needed to stop thinking like that. Her close proximity, mixed with the snippets of the romance novel that floated through his mind, had him thinking things that threatened to derail his plan to concentrate on his grandfather and his job.

  “While you get ready, I’ll fix your bowl of oatmeal.”

  “Thanks,” he called after her as she scurried away.

  A few minutes later, Lukas joined the two women at the kitchen table. He dug into his oatmeal and hoped he wouldn’t have any more crazy thoughts about Juliane. The news station from Cincinnati continued to report on the results of the storm. Lukas watched the reporter who stood next to a snowdrift that dwarfed her.

  “Wow! I hope the drift my car is buried under isn’t as big as that.” Lukas turned to Juliane. “Have you been outside?”

  “No. I tried to get out the front door, but it’s frozen shut. I couldn’t make it budge. And the breezeway is full of drifts just past the storage bin. I wasn’t going to tromp through those.”

  “As soon as I finish this, I’ll see if I can get that front door open.” Lukas ate a spoonful of oatmeal.

  Elise pointed toward the living room. “I looked out the window. I couldn’t even see your car.”

  “Have you talked with your parents? Did they get their power back?”

  “I talked to Dad this morning. No power yet.” Juliane got up and put her bowl in the dishwasher.

  “How did they survive without any heat?” Lukas took another bite.

  “Thankfully they have a fireplace insert and lots of wood. Mom said they slept in the family room to keep warm.”

  “I remember doing that when we were kids.” Elise joined Juliane in front of the dishwasher. “Do you remember the time when the pipes burst and it took almost a week before someone could fix them?”

  “Yeah, we had to buy drinking water and took our showers at Uncle Dave’s house.”

  While Lukas finished his breakfast, he listened to the two sisters reminisce about past storms. He envied their camaraderie. What would his life have been like if he’d had a brother to share it with, or even a sister? He had to admit that he’d been a lonely child, feeling out of place even in his own family. Much of that had been his own fault.

  After reconnecting with his grandfather, Lukas realized he wanted a family life. Although his grandfather was sometimes cantankerous, Lukas enjoyed being with him.

  He saw this with Juliane and Elise. They might not always agree, but he could tell they loved each other. Even now, when he was getting vibes that some unspoken disagreement was floating between them. Elise’s expression told him that she was trying to get Juliane to do something she didn’t want to do. Did it have something to do with him, or was he being paranoid?

  Shaking the speculations away, he finished eating. After putting his bowl in the dishwasher, he took his coat from the hook by the back door, then glanced around. “Do you know where my shoes are?”

  “Don’t worry about your shoes. I found something for you earlier this morning in the storage bin.” Juliane raced out the back door and returned, holding up a pair of big black rubber boots. “I hope these will fit you.”

  “Even if they don’t, I’ll wear them. They’ll work better than my shoes.” Lukas sat on one of the kitchen chairs and pulled the boots on. “They’re a little big, but they’ll do.”

  With Juliane and Elise behind him, Lukas clomped to the front door. “Let’s see if I can get this door open.”

  Juliane peered out the front window. “I t
hink there’s a big drift right in front of it. That’s why I couldn’t get it open.”

  Turning the doorknob, Lukas pushed the door with his shoulder. He hoped the door would open because he didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of Juliane. As he pushed harder, he felt movement. With a powerful shove, he managed to open the door, pushing aside the frozen mound of snow in front of it.

  He turned in triumph. When Juliane smiled and applauded, his heart soared. How pathetic was he that he wanted her accolades? He wanted to be a hero in her eyes, not the drunk that she remembered.

  “Okay. I’m off to dig out my car.” He squeezed out the opening between the door frame and the door.

  Juliane stuck her head through the narrow opening. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that Dad is going to bring us the snow-blower after they get out. He said that would work to clear the driveway, since we can’t have it plowed because your car’s in the way.”

  “Great.” Lukas heard the door close as he trudged over to the snow shovel that still sat against the front of the house.

  Shoveling a path to his car, he wondered how much progress he would make before Juliane’s dad arrived with the snow-blower. While Lukas worked, images of Juliane invaded his thoughts. Every time she came unbidden to his mind the story line of that romance novel came along, too. He couldn’t let himself think of Juliane in the context of romance, could he?

  For days, he’d been fighting those very thoughts. Spending this time with Juliane and her sister had made him wish for a family. He had worked on becoming Juliane’s friend, but he wanted more than friendship. His wish for family included her. There, he’d admitted it, but would she consider taking a chance on him? Could he make that happen? Despite all his efforts not to let himself want something he couldn’t have, he was falling for Juliane.

  Juliane removed the scarf from around her neck and drank in the warmth of the church foyer. Opening one of the double doors leading into the sanctuary, she let out a deep sigh. She hoped by arriving a half an hour early for her meeting with Lukas that she would have time to prepare herself. The quiet sanctuary afforded the perfect place to pray. Trying to figure out her mixed-up feelings about him required a lot of prayer.

  Lukas had been on her mind at every turn, and she’d stewed about this meeting since he’d requested it two days ago. She still had to fulfill her promise to herself to invite Lukas to Elise’s party. Tonight was the night to issue that invitation. She wouldn’t chicken out.

  Sliding into the back pew, she looked up at the cross that hung high on the wall at the back of the stage, illuminated by a lone spotlight. Darkness filled the rest of the room. A sense of calm surrounded her as she bowed her head. She closed her eyes and absorbed the quiet as it settled into her soul. Be still before the Lord. The words from one of the Psalms echoed through her mind.

  As she let God’s peace fill her heart, someone started strumming a guitar. She looked up. A man sat in the shadows on one side of the choir loft, his head lowered as his fingers moved across the strings. He raised his head slightly, and she caught a glimpse of his face. Her heart raced when she realized the man was Lukas.

  He must have entered from one of the side doors. He clearly had no idea she was here. Should she say something? Before she could open her mouth, he began to sing. His marvelous tenor voice rang out over the empty pews. He wasn’t singing one of the songs that the choir was doing for the Winter Festival, but as he sang, she recognized the contemporary Christian tune she’d heard on the radio. She listened as raw emotion poured out of his voice.

  The words of the song about never being alone washed over her, filling her heart with God’s love. Lukas sang the lyrics as one who had experienced the pain and heartache of being alone and how God had reached down and let him know that he wasn’t alone anymore. She remembered Lukas talking about himself as the shy and lonely teen who had started drinking to overcome his feelings of inadequacy.

  Tears welled in her eyes as a pressure filled her chest. She blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand.

  Why had she let that long-ago episode color her thoughts about this man for so long? Even as she asked herself the question, she knew her fears had been less about his past and more about the future. She’d feared Lukas would be like her father—unable to stay sober.

  Her father was never a mean or abusive drunk. He was sad and maudlin when he drank. When he fell off the wagon, he’d drink himself into a stupor every night, then somehow get up the next morning and go to work. Juliane never knew what caused him to drink or what suddenly made him quit. She wanted to know, but she always followed her mother’s example and didn’t bring it up when he was sober. Her mother seemed to think talking about it would send him right back to drinking.

  Initially, she’d feared the same thing with Lukas. But after hearing his story, she’d known that Lukas had an anchor in the Lord that her father had never found. And in his music, she could hear it. The strength of his faith warmed her and silenced her doubts. She’d prayed for peace of mind, and now she knew her prayer had been answered.

  “Lukas.” Even though she’d whispered, her voice sounded loud in the quiet room.

  He looked up. “Juliane?”

  “That was wonderful.”

  “Thanks. I didn’t know I had an audience.” Standing, he set the guitar on the pew where he’d been sitting. “How long have you been here?”

  “Since before you started to sing.” Juliane approached the platform where the pulpit stood in front of the choir loft.

  “Why didn’t you say something before?”

  “I didn’t know you were here until you started to play. I hated to disturb you.” She joined him on the stage. “I had no idea you played the guitar, too.”

  Shaking his head, Lukas gave her what appeared to be an embarrassed smile. “I just mess around with the guitar when I’m singing for myself.”

  “Well, it sounded pretty good to me.”

  “Thanks.” He turned and picked up a folder from the pew. “Should we get started? I’ve got the CD with the accompaniment.”

  “Are we going to use the sound booth?”

  “No.” Bending down, he retrieved a portable CD player from under the pew. He popped the CD into it. “I brought this to use for now. It’s too much trouble to do the sound booth with only the two of us.”

  “You’re right.” Nervous energy buzzed through Juliane as she laid her coat across the back of the pew. Taking a deep breath, she picked up her music and turned to Lukas. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  He punched the play button on the CD player. The lilting sounds of an orchestra broke the silence. After the prelude, Lukas sang a short solo. Then Juliane responded with a solo of her own. After a short interlude, they started the duet. Even though they’d gone through this during the previous choir practice with the piano accompaniment, having the CD orchestra version added so much. Their voices rose to the vaulted ceiling and blended in perfect harmony.

  When they finished, Lukas smiled. That familiar jittery feeling scrambled her insides.

  “Hey, that wasn’t too bad.” Glancing her way, he stopped the CD. “Do you want to go through it again?”

  “Sure.” Maybe this time her stomach wouldn’t feel as though it was on a roller-coaster ride.

  They went through the song several more times. Each time Juliane became more comfortable with the words and more comfortable singing with Lukas. She wanted the harmony their voices made to spill over into their lives. Would inviting Lukas to the party be the first step in creating that harmony? She had to make the invitation before the others arrived.

  “So what do you think?” Lukas popped the CD out of the player.

  “I thought it went very well.”

  “Me, too.” Now what did she say? This was the moment. Ask him. The message sat in her brain, but her tongue wouldn’t work. It felt like a wad of cotton in her mouth.

  “I sure appreciate your dad letting me use his snow
-blower to clear Grandpa’s driveway and mine. Did your parents get their power back?” Lukas picked up the CD player and his guitar.

  “They did. How’s Ferd doing?”

  “Great! He even likes his new hearing aids.” Lukas stepped off the stage. “I’m going to take this stuff out to my car.”

  She had to ask before he left. If she waited, the other choir members, including Elise, would be arriving by the time he returned. Juliane couldn’t make the invitation in front of them. Her heart thudded. “Lukas, wait.”

  “What?” She read the curiosity in his eyes.

  “You know…my parents are having a welcome-home party for Elise this Saturday right here in the church fellowship hall. I know this is really last minute, but she’d like for you to come. And you can bring Ferd, too.” Did her voice sound as high and squeaky to him as it did to her? Oh, well, she’d made the invitation.

  Nodding, he shifted the CD player in his hand. “Yeah. That sounds like fun. I’ll have to see what Grandpa says, but I’ll come, even if he doesn’t. Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Good. Be prepared to meet all my aunts, uncles and cousins. We have a big family.”

  “So I’m beginning to see here at church.” Lukas grinned. “Is this casual?”

  “Oh, yeah. Lots of food, games and probably a little entertainment in the form of karaoke.”

  “Okay. I’d better get this stuff out to the car before everyone else gets here.”

  Juliane watched him go out the side door. She’d fulfilled one promise—to ask Lukas to the party. She was still working on the thing with Elise. That was an ongoing promise to keep. Juliane had to figure out what she was going to do with Lukas now that he’d plowed a hole in her wall of resistance and walked right through it and into her heart.

  Chapter Ten