As You Wish (17 page)

“Makes you eager for heaven, doesn't it?” Todd whispered in her ear. “Can you just imagine what it's going to be like to sing with the multitudes in the courts of heaven? Man!”

Christy slid her hand into Todd's and whispered, “I know!” She looked past Todd and noticed Matt had just come in and was slipping into the open space on the other side of Katie. He looked over at Christy, smiled, and waved.

Christy smiled back.

Glancing at Katie, Christy examined her friend's profile. Katie's face was more complex than Sierra's. Her expression was open and energetic like Sierra's, but Katie had an outdoorsy sort of beauty to her. She was solid, like an oak tree, yet rounded and defined in all the right places. The new haircut framed her face like the curling petals of a rose.

Katie is a woman.

Christy's thought surprised her. This tomboy buddy of hers had blossomed. Had Matt noticed that, as well?

Katie is a WOG. She's a woman, and she's a Woman of God.

Turning her attention to the chapel speaker who now stood at the microphone, Christy thought about how much she loved being at Rancho Corona. She loved sitting beside Todd, singing together, and being surrounded by their friends. It made her think that this camping trip could be close and wonderful, as well.

That evening, in the cafeteria, Todd presented Christy with a list of what he had worked on so far for the camping trip. Two items were written down:

1. Vehicles
   
2. Tents
   

“Have you arranged for these things, or is this your list of things to do?” Christy asked.

“To do,” Todd said. He showered two scoops of peas over his mound of lettuce and then pressed in the center with the bottom of the salad dressing ladle. After filling the hollow center with blue cheese dressing, he stuck a celery stick in the middle.

“You make the most bizarre salads I've ever seen,” Christy said, creating her usual lettuce, broccoli, and carrot
salad laced with ranch dressing and dotted with raisins.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Todd said.

“Like that beautiful tostada you created yesterday at lunch?” Christy teased. “I've never seen anyone put a layer of pickles on his refried beans and then pour peas over the whole thing.”

“It was pretty good,” Todd said. “I like peas.”

“So I've noticed.”

They made their way to a table where some of their friends were seated. “Does this mean we should put peas on this to-do list for the camping trip next weekend?” Christy asked.

“Great idea. We could buy one of those ten-pound cans. Write that down on the list. Peas and what else?”

Christy gave Todd a tucked-chin, raised-eyebrow look. “Is this your way of asking me to make up the menu and the shopping list?”

“Hey, I'll help you. We already have peas on the list. Peas go with everything. What else do you think we should put on there?”

If Todd weren't so absolutely adorable, Christy would have slugged him.

10
By the time Todd and Christy had eaten their fill of Friday-night cafeteria pizza and salad, they had a complete camping menu figured out. Sierra joined them and was able to help calculate amounts because she came from a family of six children. Twelve students and volunteers would go on the trip, Todd estimated.

The equipment list took a little longer to prepare. Christy wished Matt could have been in on this conversation because he had done a lot of camping with his family and would make sure they didn't forget anything. Matt wasn't at dinner, and neither was Katie. Christy thought Katie would have told her if she had plans with Matt, but then the decision to eat together could have been spontaneous, which happened often with Katie.

After dinner, Christy and Todd drove into town to check out the prices on camping equipment at a sporting goods store.

“We could buy some of the stuff we need, like the camp stove,” Todd suggested on their way. “Then it would be ours.”

“Ours?” Christy asked.

“Yeah, yours, mine, ours. We could use it whenever we go camping.”

“I don't have much money right now.” Christy wondered,
If Todd's savings are as limited as mine, why would we buy camping gear?
A fleeting vision paraded through her imagination of her and Todd living in a lean-to shelter made of palm fronds on some deserted beach. Their framed college degrees served as a welcome mat. Christy was shooing the sea gulls away from their breakfast while she cooked scrambled eggs on the only material possession she and Todd owned—a gleaming, brand-new camp stove.

“I have some money saved up,” Todd said. “We could use it.”

That surprised her. “Did you get your first paycheck from the church?”

“No, I've been saving and making a few investments.”

Christy waited until after they left the sporting goods store and had stopped for ice cream before she asked the questions that were rolling around in her head. They were seated at a cement patio table outside the small ice cream shop near the movie theater. The evening had cooled after an especially hot afternoon, so Christy had grabbed Todd's navy blue, hooded sweat shirt from the floor of Gus and put it on before they went into the ice cream store. She felt that if she could help herself to her boyfriend's clothes and help him shop for camping stoves, she had a right to know about his savings and investments.

Todd took a bite of his top scoop of pineapple coconut.

“I never understood how you could chew ice cream,” Christy said. She had picked one scoop of caramel fudge swirl and was slowly eating it from a cup with a spoon.
“That would give me a headache and a toothache at the same time.”

“You still seem to find my eating habits fascinating, don't you? First the salad and now the ice cream.” He didn't sound upset. He actually sounded flattered that Christy would notice all these things about him.

“No, but as long as we're talking about some of the more specific, little-known details of your life, you said you have some money saved and that you've been making some investments.”

“I've been trying to keep the balance in my checking account low and put everything I can into savings.”

Christy wasn't sure what Todd's answer meant. She had been thinking a few days earlier that part of her hesitancy to verbalize her commitment to Todd was because, if he knew she was ready to take the next step, that would launch them into specific conversations about their future. And if they decided to get married right after college, what would they use for money?

If Todd was planning for their future the same way he was planning for the camping trip, they were in big trouble. She could see why she subliminally had avoided taking the next step. If she opened up her heart to getting married only to discover that, to be practical, they would have to wait another five years before Todd could afford to even buy her an engagement ring, she would be frustrated to pieces.

Carefully, Christy asked, “How do you have money left over to put in savings after school bills?”

“My dad's paying for college.”

Christy put down her spoon. “I didn't know that. Then why have you been working two jobs like a crazy man for the past year?”

“I've been preparing for the future.”

Christy's hopes began to soar. “You have?”

“Of course.”

As she let the ice cream melt on her tongue, Christy wondered if this might be one of those areas in which Todd would blow her away with his careful attention to detail. He had shocked her more than once with his perception of life's realities.

“What do you think? Should we go back to buy the camp stove?” Todd asked.

“I guess so,” Christy said. “Unless the church has any equipment you could borrow.”

“They don't have a camp stove. I checked around. We can use all the pots and pans from the church kitchen, as well as dishes and silverware, if we wash and return everything in perfect condition. But they don't have a camp stove.”

Christy noticed a bunch of people coming their way. Apparently the movie had just ended. She expected to see some students from school in the crowd, and she guessed right. Katie and Matt were headed toward them.

“Hey, how's it going?” Todd greeted them.

“That was the worst movie I've ever seen,” Katie blurted out.

Matt chuckled.

“What did you see?” Christy asked.

“Something about baseball,” Matt said.

“See? We can't even remember the name of it,” Katie said. “It sounded like a great idea when Wes suggested it this afternoon, but then he ditched us, and the movie turned out to be a loser.”

“Want to go with us to buy a camp stove?” Todd asked.

Christy held back a smile. Todd was so excited about this big purchase. It would be their first purchase together, unless she counted the bookshelf she bought years ago at a garage sale while Todd circled the block in Gus because no parking was available.

“Are you going to Bargain Barn?” Matt asked.

“Bargain Barn?” Todd said. “Where's that?”

“It's a warehouse of all kinds of surplus stuff. They have everything from patio furniture to piñatas. You'll get a good price there, if they have any stoves.”

Todd's expression lit up. “Let's go.”

“I don't think they're open this late. We could go tomorrow.”

“Cool,” Todd said. “I wonder if we could buy some of this other stuff on our list for the camping trip.” He proceeded to tell Katie and Matt about his big plans for the youth group outing.

“Hey, if you need more help, I'm available,” Matt said.

“You counted me in, too, didn't you?” Katie asked. “Baby Hummer loves the desert. I take it you're going to announce all this to the group on Sunday morning.”

Todd nodded.

“Kind of short notice,” Katie said. “How many do you think will actually go?”

“I'm not sure.”

“We planned food for twelve,” Christy said.

“Better make it fourteen,” Todd said. “I don't think we had Matt and Katie on the list yet.”

“What list?” Christy asked.

“The list we need to start with the names of all the people who are going.”

Christy looked at Katie and, with a playful oh, brother
look, said, “Right now the four of us are the only names on this so-called list.”

“That's okay,” Todd said. “If we plan it, they will come.”

Katie burst out laughing. “I'll be nice and not comment on that one, Todd. But boy, could I.”

“What did I say?” Todd asked Christy.

She smiled at her charming, take-the-next-wave-as-it-comes boyfriend and calmly said, “What time should we go to Bargain Barn in the morning?”

By eight-thirty the next morning, the chummy foursome was on its way to Bargain Barn in Todd's van. Christy had pulled back her long hair into a braid and wore a blue bandanna she had bought in Switzerland. She took a notebook with her, ready for the role of safari assistant.

Within the first ten minutes at Bargain Barn, they found a perfectly good camp stove still in the box for half the price of the one they had looked at the night before. Christy checked it off the list, and they moved on to tarps, folding camp chairs, and ropes. Everything they needed they found, and everything was a better price than they could get anywhere else. Christy thought Todd would be ready to go after she checked the last needed item off the list.

But Todd was still shopping. He seemed to be on a treasure hunt, going through bins of closeouts and examining shelves of broken and mismatched merchandise. He could think up a use for just about anything they saw. He didn't buy any of it, but he seemed to take great
delight in imagining what he would do with the stuff if he did buy it.

Christy wandered off and found a rug for her room. She picked up two and showed Katie. “Do you want one of these?”

“No, I think I've reached my limit with this stuff.” Katie showed Christy her three sets of pillowcases still in plastic bags.

“Do you know how old those must be?” Christy asked.

“I know. Aren't they cool? Collectors' items. Look, Winnie the Pooh, Minnie Mouse, and my favorite, the Little Mermaid!”

Christy laughed. “She looks nothing like the statue in Copenhagen.”

“She's about the same size,” Katie said. “Now I can lay me down to sleep and have sweet dreams of the
Lille Havfrue
anytime I want.”

“As long as you wash them first,” Christy said.

“Yes, Miss Tidiness. And I'm also getting this.” Katie motioned toward a goldfish bowl that Matt was holding for her. “It's only a quarter.”

“What are you going to use it for?” Christy asked.

“A fish, of course. We need a pet.”

Christy was about to protest, when she saw Todd starting down the plumbing aisle. “Why don't you guys wait in line? I'll grab Todd so we can get out of here.” Fortunately, very few of the faucets and sink stoppers prompted creativity in Todd's imagination, and the plumbing aisle was a quick trip.