Coming Home (10 page)

"I'm not sure I know the song right off the bat. Let
me check into it and I will get back to you, okay?"

"Okay, no need to hurry, don't go to too much trouble,
okay?"

"Susan, it's no trouble for me to help you. I'm glad
you called. I'll get back to you as soon as I know."

"Thanks, Craig. I really appreciate it."

Craig looked at the phone after he hung it up and said a
prayer of thanksgiving. Susan went to church. That was nothing short of a
miracle and he knew it. He was well aware of how she felt about religion.
Lord,
first she comes to the beach and now her Nana has her going to church. You are
awesome, I pray that you will continue to work in her heart and bring her to a
saving knowledge of Jesus. And thank You that she felt comfortable enough to
call and ask me for help We needed something to get us talking again..
As
soon as he was finished praying he picked up the phone to make some phone
calls.

Susan rolled her head to get some of the kinks out of her
neck. It had been a stressful day and she was so glad it was finally over. The
remodel was coming along, but so incredibly noisy and painstakingly slow. At
least to her. She really wanted to get Nana’s Bakery open for business again.

She closed her office door and locked it and made sure
everything was put away for the evening and ready for when she came in in the
morning. It was three-thirty and she was so ready to go home. She went out the
back door that led to the parking lot for her restaurant and was surprised to
see a man standing by her car. It was broad daylight out, but there were still
plenty of weirdoes around. She wondered if she should go back into the
restaurant when the man turned toward her and she recognized Craig.

Her heart did a little happy dance in her chest and she
couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. She was certainly relieved
that it was him and not some weirdo looking to do her harm. He started walking
toward her and she waived at him. He waived back.

"How are you doing?" He asked as they drew nearer
to each other.

"Fine." She looked around then back at him,
"What are you doing here?" She held up a hand, “I’m sorry, I know I
always ask you that, but you have a weird tendency to show up when I least
expect it.”

He chuckled, “I like to keep you on your toes.”

Susan felt her heart melt at the smile he gave her.

"I found the song that Nana wanted."

"You did?" She asked in surprise, "That's
great, but you didn't have to come all the way over here to tell me."

"I wanted to, plus I have something to give
Nana."

Susan looked at him curiously, "what could you want to
give Nana?"

He held up a CD which he had been holding behind his back.
Susan looked at it, but didn't recognize the names of the artists or the
pictures of the three men. She looked at him blankly.

"This is the group that wrote the song Nana
likes," he explained.

"The one about the lamb?"

"Well, yeah. It's called the Revelation Song and it
was written by Philips, Craig, and Dean."

"Oh, so you wrote it... I didn't know you could sing
though." she said teasingly.

"I don't think I could write a song like this, but my
singing isn't half bad," he said with a smile.

"How’d you find it so fast?"

"Oh, well, most of the time it's not what you know,
but who you know."

"And who do you know?"

"Someone who is friends with someone on the worship
team."

"Ahhhh."

"Can we take it to her now?” Craig asked with an
excitement that made Susan smile as a shiver travelled up and down her spine at
his use of the word "we".

"Right now?" She asked a little incredulously
remembering how he used to feel about going to see Nana.

"Sure, why not? No time like the present and all that.
Unless you're busy, or..." He let his words die away.

Susan shook her head, “No, I'm not busy. I would actually
like to see her face when you give it to her."

He just stood there smiling at her for a minute and she
began to fidget under his gaze. "Umm, do you want to follow me to her
house?" She asked gesturing toward her car which they were still standing
next to.

"What?" He asked looking at her car for a second.
"Oh, no. I'll drive then bring you back here to get your car later."

"Oh, okay. I guess that will work, if you don't
mind."

"I don't mind, I will get to spend some time with two
of my favorite ladies. My car is around the corner."

As Craig drove, Susan watched the scenery, not sure what to
say to this man who she used to know so well, but was now wondering if she ever
really knew him at all.

When they arrived at Nana's home Craig opened the car door
for Susan and she rolled her eyes.  She didn't see why it was necessary for him
to do that.  She didn't think he was a male chauvinist, he showed her too much
respect to fit that category; which left her a little baffled and mentally
scratching her head. Could a religion impact a person's life so dramatically
that you didn't understand the changes you saw in them? She supposed it could,
but while Craig did seem intense in his devotion to his religion, he didn't
seem narcissistic about it. She rubbed her forehead; all these thoughts were
beginning to give her a headache.

"Are you okay?"  Craig asked before he rang the
doorbell.

Susan closed her eyes and shook her head to disengage the
confusing thoughts from her mind. "I'm fine," she said smiling at
this man who had her questioning things she thought she had already made up her
mind about.

Nana opened the door and when she saw the two of them
standing there she folded her hands together in excitement her light blue eyes
shining with joy. "Oh, Susan! You brought your Craig over to see me."

Susan could feel the heat as it suffused her face.
"Nana," she said between her teeth as she glanced covertly at Craig -
he was smiling.

"She sure did, Nana.  How are you?"

"Oh, I am just fine young man. Please come in, it has
been too long since I last saw you. We have so much catching up to do."
Nana said as she took Craig's arm and led him into the living room.

"Yes, we do and I must say you look as pretty as you
did the last time I saw you."

Susan made a face; he had said that same thing to her when
he saw her again. Did he say that to every woman he met no matter how old she
was or how important she had been to him at one time? Maybe he was a male
chauvinist.

"Oh, you are a charmer; I bet you say that to every
woman you meet."

Craig shook his head, "No, just my two favorite
women," he said sending a wink Susan's way.

Susan felt her face flush a deeper red as her heart did a
series of flips in her chest. Well, he definitely was a charmer; there was no
arguing that point.

"Well, you two didn't have to interrupt your date to
come see me."

Susan cast an embarrassed glance at Craig, "We aren't
on a date."

"We don't mind." Craig said at the same time with
another wink at Susan.

Susan looked at him in shock while Nana looked at both of
them with a smile on her face. Susan turned slightly away from her. "Don't
encourage her," she hissed at him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Just trying to be
agreeable," he said with a mischievous smile on his face.

She made a face at him then turned to smile at Nana.
"We aren't on a date, Nana.  Craig has something for you."

"Oh, a present. I love presents," Nana said as
she took a seat and motioned for Craig and Susan to do the same. "Oh,
where are my manners," she moaned as she started to get up again.
"Would either of you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you," Craig said.

"I'll get us all something." Susan said feeling a
sudden need to leave the room. Nana had sat on the chair and Craig had sat right
in the middle of the small couch leaving her the only option of sitting on
either side of him, in which case she knew she would be too close to him for
her own good.

She felt the eyes of Nana and Craig watching her as she
escaped from the room, but she didn't really care. She needed a little time to
get her equilibrium back.  Craig's close proximity was causing her to feel some
things she had thought she would never feel again and to feel other things that
she had never felt before. Like a longing for what he had and now apparently
Nana had.  She shook her head, she just didn't get it. She could hear the low
murmur of their voices as she grabbed three glasses from the cupboard and
filled them with iced tea.  She just stood in the kitchen for a while looking
around, wondering if maybe she should get something for them to gnash on as
well. Then she shook her head, she knew she was just delaying her entrance back
into what was sure to be a very uncomfortable situation. She took a deep
fortifying breath before she carried the tray with the beverages on it into the
living room. She stopped in the doorway and watched the way Craig interacted
with Nana. He used to complain about coming to see her every Sunday and now he
looked like he could sit there all evening just chatting with her.

"I would love to hear about it sometime," Craig
was saying as Susan forced herself to continue the rest of the way into the
living room.

"Hear about what?" She asked as she set the tray
on the coffee table.

"I could tell you now, it wouldn't take that
long," Nana said as she accepted a tall glass of iced tea from Susan.

Susan looked from one to the other, "What wouldn't
take long?"

Craig smiled at her, "Her testimony."

Susan handed him his iced tea. "Her what?" She
asked in confusion.

"How I came to know Jesus as my personal Savior,"
Nana answered.

Susan was glad she wasn't holding anything at that
particular moment because she was sure she would have dropped it.  She fell
down on the couch in shock unable to say anything.

"We have some time, don't we, Susan?"

Susan just nodded her head, feeling that somewhere between
locking the door at work and this moment she had completely lost control of
everything that was happening.

Nana smiled at both of them, "It has been so very long
since I spoke about this I am a little rusty."

Susan opened her mouth to say that they could wait to hear
it but before she could Craig was speaking.

"That's okay, we don't mind," he said with a pat
on Susan's knee. "The more you say it, the easier it will get.  So you can
practice on us, right, Susan?"

Susan was so focused on the feel of his hand on her knee
that she couldn't focus on his words so she just dumbly nodded her head. He
took his hand away and she fought the urge to place her hand on the spot just
vacated by his. She swallowed a little convulsively in an effort to get her
emotions under control.

Craig settled back in the couch to listen to the story.
Susan leaned forward to pick up her glass of tea and then leaned back and realized
she was too close to Craig.  She glanced to her other side, but there wasn't
really any room to move away from him. She took a gulp of tea and almost choked
on it when his leg pressed against hers as he leaned to place his glass on a
coaster on the coffee table. She looked frantically around for another place to
sit as her Nana started talking. Short of sitting on the floor there was no
other seat in the small living room. She scooted closer to the arm of the couch
and tried to focus on what Nana was saying.

"I had gone to church all my life, which was the way
it was back then. You went to church or you were a heathen. My mom was a devout
Christian, but my dad only went because it was expected of him. I only know
that because that is what he said every Sunday as we left for church." 
She smiled and shook her head, "I don't know if he ever accepted Jesus
into his heart before he died, but I hope he did. Anyway, I was a little
goody-two-shoe, always doing the right thing because I wanted to please the people
around me. I wanted affirmation that I was a good girl. When I was fourteen I
realized that just being a good girl wouldn't get me into heaven. Just going to
church didn't make me a Christian. I realized that I needed a personal
relationship with Jesus. The verse that really got to me was John 14:16. Jesus
says, I am the way, and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but
through Me."

Susan saw tears gather in Nana's eyes as she said the words
and she wondered how those words could mean so much to her. To Susan they were
gibberish.

"Those words were life to me," Nana continued.
"When I heard my youth pastor say them one Sunday night a light bulb went
off in my head and I just about jumped out of my seat yelling 'I get it!'"
She chuckled at this as did Craig. Susan just took another small sip of her
iced tea in an effort to hide her lack of understanding the joke, if it was a
joke.

Nana shook her head at the memory, "I couldn't wait
for the end of the lesson when I knew he would ask us to raise our hands if we
wanted to accept Jesus into our hearts. I knew he would, because he did it
every single week. When he did I didn't just raise my hand, I stood up. I could
hardly contain myself, I remember having the morbid thought that if I died
before he asked us to pray, I wouldn't go to heaven. Oh, you should have seen
the look on his face. I found out later after we prayed together that God had
been telling him to pray for me every day the previous week. He had been
praying specifically for my salvation. It was an incredible moment in my
life."

"That is amazing, Nana," Craig said with a smile.

Susan just smiled not knowing what to say to this woman who
she had thought to be agnostic just like her. To hear her speak like this was
kind of like knowing the person who was speaking, but listening to someone else
talk.

"What happened, Nana?" Craig asked.

"What do you mean?"

Craig shrugged, "Well, when I knew you years ago, I
didn't know you were a Christian."

Nana nodded her head, "Ah, I was angry with God for
letting my husband die of lung cancer. I spent forty-one years of my life being
angry with God. Forty-one years that should have been spent serving the One who
loves me more than anything were spent spitting in His face." Tears
gathered in Nana's eyes as she spoke.

Craig got up from his seat on the couch and he went to
kneel next to Nana placing a hand on her shoulder, "He forgives you."

Nana gave him a teary smile and patted his hand that was on
her shoulder, "I can't tell you how thankful I am for that. I don't
deserve it, but I am so thankful for it just the same."