Coming Attractions (3 page)

If Katie had one regret about the past few months, it was that her consistent efforts to get Eli and Nicole interested in
each other had failed. Katie couldn’t understand why. She thought Nicole was wonderful and amazing. She thought Eli was fantastic.
Why didn’t the two of them see in each other what she saw in them?

“I’m going to go.” Eli stepped over to Katie’s bed, closed his eyes, and lifted both his arms to the ceiling.

“What are you doing? Reenacting a scene from
The Lion King
?”

“Hush. I’m praying for you.”

“Praying for me? Okay, sure, as long as this isn’t like in the movies where they give the dying patient last rites.”

He didn’t respond. Instead, with his palms open to the heavens, reaching up like a child, he spoke in a calm, steady voice,
asking God to heal Katie, to comfort her, and to give her body the strength she needed.

Katie was so caught off guard by Eli’s actions that she didn’t close her eyes. Instead, she watched his face, feeling her
rattled spirit calming as he prayed. It seemed as if he felt every word before he spoke it. He wasn’t just repeating a bunch
of phrases. He was really talking to his heavenly Father, and what he was saying sounded just the way it would if one friend
were asking a highly honored friend for a special favor.

Katie’s throat tightened. Not because of the swelling from the virus. This tightening came from swallowing tears before they
made it all the way to her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she had prayed with that kind of closeness to God. She
knew what it was like to feel an intimate sort of connection with Christ, but not until this moment had she realized how far
from that closeness she had drifted over the past weeks and months. Here she was, a senior at a Christian college; yet if
she had to rate her relationship with the Lord right now on a scale of one to ten, she would have to give it a two. Maybe
a two and a half.

On the heels of Eli’s “amen,” Katie added her “thank you” in a calm voice.

Eli gave a humble sort of nod and started to leave, but Katie reached out her hand. Not princess-style but as a friend reaching
to clasp the hand of another friend. Eli paused and then awkwardly took her hand and gave it a conciliatory squeeze. She had
never realized what rough, carpenter sort of hands he had.

“Hey,” Katie said, still holding onto his hand, “you have no idea how much I needed that. And I don’t mean just the wild cherry
juice. When you prayed, I — ”

Before Katie could finish her sentence, her half-closed door burst all the way open, and in strode Rick with another bountiful
bouquet of red roses, announcing, “Your valentine is here at last.”

Eli quickly let go of Katie’s hand.

“Eli? What are you doing here?”

“I brought Katie some stuff for her cold. I have to get back on duty. I’ll see you guys later.” Eli exited swiftly.

Rick leaned back and looked down the hall, watching Eli walk away. Turning back to Katie, Rick said, “What was all that about?”

“Like he said, he brought me some stuff, and I was thanking him.”

“Thanking him for the cold pills?”

“Yeah, and also thanking him for praying for me. As he was praying, I realized how I’ve been — ”

“That’s why he was holding your hand? He was praying for you?”

Katie swallowed, and her throat felt raw again. She reached for the spray bottle and gave her mouth another squirt while taking
the easy way out and answering Rick with only a nod.

Rick was already onto other things, striding over to her desk. “You have another vase, don’t you? These need some water.”

“There’s one on the top shelf of my closet, but can’t you just add the roses to the other bouquet?”

Rick reached up to the top shelf with ease and stuck the roses in the vase. Carrying them to the desk, he picked up the bottle
of water Eli had left there and unscrewed the cap.

“No!” Katie squawked, and her voice cracked.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not that water. That’s my New Zealand water.”

Rick looked at her as if she were speaking another language.

Katie’s hand went to her throat. It hurt to talk. “Rick, do not use that water. I mean it.”

“Fine. I’ll be right back.”

He removed the roses and strode out of the room with the empty vase in hand.

Katie closed her eyes, and put her hand over her forehead. Her eardrums pounded. She thought about how she liked Eli’s “valentine”
to her a whole lot more than she liked Rick’s bold gesture of another bouquet, not that anyone was asking her to compare.

She was grateful her boyfriend cared enough to come bearing more flowers. She knew, thanks to a conversation she had with
Christy, that was how Rick expressed his affection. Katie had learned to “take it and be thankful” instead of trying to change
Rick and his ways of expressing himself. This was how Rick did things. If she loved Rick, and she did, then she needed to
love the things he did for her as well as the way he did them.

Katie felt a single, uninvited tear tiptoe over the edge of her right eye and slide down her cheek. She couldn’t bear feeling
the way she did right now. She wanted Eli to come back and pray for her. Only this time she wanted him to pray longer and
more intently so she could close her eyes and somehow get her heart back into that same sort of close-to-God rhythm she had
heard in Eli’s voice.

Rick returned just then with the vase filled with water. He pushed the roses into the vase. “Nicole said to let her know if
you needed anything.”

“Okay. Thanks. And thanks for the flowers.”

“You’re welcome.” Rick pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down across from her.

Katie offered him a weak smile. She could only imagine how rumpled she looked. Rick looked good. He always looked good. His
chocolate brown eyes were set on her.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I have the flu. I really don’t want to give it to you, Rick.”

“I know. But, Katie, I really want to give something to you.”

Without further warning, Rick pulled a small jewelry box from the pocket of his leather jacket.

Katie propped herself up on her elbow, feeling woozy but ready to protest.

“Actually,” Rick said, withdrawing the box, “I should explain something first.”

“Yeah, like explain why we aren’t waiting until I graduate before we do this? And why couldn’t you just let me be sick and
get it over with? I mean, who cares if it’s stupid Valentine’s Day? This is a really, really bad way to propose.”

Rick leaned back in the chair, looking stunned. “Propose? You thought I was about to propose?”

Katie didn’t move. She didn’t blink. Had she read all the clues wrong?

In a small voice she said, “Yes.”

Rising from the chair, Rick marched to the door. For a moment, Katie thought he was going to walk out, just like that, without
any explanation of what was going on. He turned and came back to her bedside, his face red.

“Why do you do that, Katie? Why? I’ve never understood that about you. You blurt things out at the worst possible moments.
You know you do that, right? Everything is going along great, and then you just blurt out something uncalled for and the whole
thing is…” Rick kicked at the leg of the chair — not hard enough to topple it, but enough to make the chair wobble and to
make Katie wobble emotionally.

“I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know. I thought…”

“You thought I was going to propose. Why did you think that?”

Katie coughed again. She looked away and covered her mouth.

“You know what? Let’s drop it. You’re not feeling well. It’s late.” Rick rubbed the back of his neck and said in a lower voice,
“You were right. We should have rescheduled.”

Katie swallowed again and felt as if she were downing nails. She didn’t say anything.

“I’m going to go. We can get together another time.”

“No, stay.” Katie pulled together all the strength she had left and tried to smile. “You rushed to get here. Stay and talk
to me for a little while. Let’s start over. Tell me about the café. How’s everything coming?”

Rick shuffled his feet and tossed out a few lines about how the electrician had to rewire the kitchen area at the café in
Redlands. As he warmed to the topic, he returned to the chair, and Katie tried to get comfortable. She felt chilled and pulled
her covers up to her chin as Rick talked.

Rick reached over and smoothed out the corner of the crumpled comforter. In an awkward way he seemed to be tucking her in.

“I’m really sorry you’re so sick, Katie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this sick. I thought you might spring back after
you got to your room. It is cold out tonight. I apologize again for making you wait on upper campus.”

“It’s okay.”

“Do you want me to get you anything? I can make you some tea.”

Even though tea sounded good to her at the moment, she said, “No, that’s okay.”

“You sure? I feel like I should do something.”

“Okay. I’ll have some tea, then. My hot pot is on the floor over there by those books. I have some tea in the box next to
it. I have no idea where any of my mugs are.”

As Katie watched, Rick navigated his way around her piles of messes and projects and mounds of dirty clothes to plug in the
hot pot and prepare a cup of tea for her. Somehow, the visual was poignant to her. This was her life. This was how fragmented
and disorganized and embarrassingly scattered her life was at the moment.

And there was Rick. Determined Rick, navigating his way around, finding how to accomplish his goals without being thrown off
track, in spite of all the obstacles.

She had to give the man an A for effort. Nothing had been easy or convenient in their relationship over the past few months.
Yet somehow, mostly thanks to Rick, they had managed to carve out time for each other and move forward as a couple. Katie
had convinced herself this was good preparation for the two of them, if they did end up marrying. This was how they would
live. Rick ever the man on a straightforward mission; Katie ever a woman on a less straightforward mission but on a mission
nonetheless. Rick was a straight line. She was a wavy line. If they could keep being themselves and keep finding ways to weave
their lives and schedules together, Katie had great hope for them as a couple.

By the time Rick located a cleanish mug and managed to steep the tea, Katie was finding it nearly impossible to keep her eyes
open. The cold tablet was taking effect.

“Here you go. Sit up, Katie, so you can drink this.”

She took a sip and burned her tongue. “It needs to cool.”

Rick took the mug from her and set it on the edge of her desk. “You’re almost asleep, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Well, I should go then. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He leaned over and barely touched the side of her temple with a peck
of a kiss. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day to you too.” Katie watched as he crossed the room and opened the door. Her eyelids felt ridiculously
heavy.

“Rick?”

He paused.

“Thanks for coming, and I’m sorry I blurted out what I did earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Katie could hear him drawing in a deep breath.

“We can talk about all this later,” he added.

Katie didn’t have the energy to say another word. She felt as if she couldn’t remember what had really happened that evening
and what she had imagined in her cotton-stuffed head.

H
ow long did you have it?” Christy, Katie’s best friend, was seated across from her at the Dove’s Nest Café. The table they
shared was a familiar one. It was here, in this first café that Rick and his brother opened almost a year and a half ago,
that Christy’s husband, Todd, proposed to her. It was also here, while Christy, Todd, and the gang were seated at this same
table, that Rick emerged from the back kitchen and surprised them all since none of them knew he was working there as the
manager. From that night on, Rick and Katie had been together.

When Rick offered Katie a job at the Dove’s Nest, she took it and worked as many hours as she could, not only perfecting her
skills at making turkey, bacon, and avocado wraps, but also perfecting her relationship with Rick. Christy worked in the adjacent
bookstore, the Ark. This was one of those rare afternoons when Katie managed to find enough time to meet up with Christy on
her lunch break.

“I had the flu the standard two weeks, like everyone else,” Katie said. “Although I only stayed in bed four or five days.
I’m sure I was still contagious when I went back to class, but, seriously, I can’t miss anything during these next ten weeks.
I’m on a crazy crash course, headed for commencement, and no flu bug is going to stop me. Besides, I’m certain everyone on
campus had the flu long before I did. As always, I was a late bloomer. Isn’t that what your aunt called me one time?”

Christy shrugged. “I don’t know what she called you. I make it a practice to let go of all Aunt Marti’s little jabs as soon
as I can. Who cares what she said about you, anyway? I want to hear what Rick said. What happened after he left your room
that night?”

“Nothing. I’ve only seen him once since Valentine’s Day. We call and text every day, but he hasn’t brought it up, and neither
have I.”

“So, if he said he wasn’t planning to propose, what was he going to give you? And why could he only give it to you on Valentine’s
Day?”

“I have no idea.” Katie leaned closer and lowered her voice just in case any of the nearby diners could hear their conversation.
Too many people in this café and bookstore space knew Rick and his family. She wanted to keep this private.

“I’ve thought about it a lot since that night — that fevered, awkward night — and I’m ready to say yes to him, whatever sort
of proposal scenario he comes up with.”

Christy raised her eyebrows. “Really?” Her distinct blue green eyes expressed the questions Katie knew Christy wanted to ask.

“Yes. I love him. I know I do. I think we could deal with all the challenges that seem to come with our relationship. We’ve
been working things out for a year and a half now. I think we can get ourselves in sync much easier after I graduate and after
he opens the cafés.”