Coming Home (5 page)

Susan, I think you might want to come out here," Jean
said over the intercom. It was Saturday morning and one of their busiest times
in the restaurant.

"Is there a problem?"

"Not exactly."

Susan rolled her eyes. That could mean anything. "I'll
be there in a minute."

A few minutes later Susan found herself looking at a sea of
young people. Junior high kids if she didn't miss her guess. She wondered why
they were all here. Then she saw Craig and her heart did somersaults all the
way across her chest and back again. Was he here with all these young people?
Apparently, because they kept calling to him and teasing him. Then he looked up
and a slow smile spread across his face. He patted the shoulder of the boy he
had been talking with as he straightened up and walked toward her. Susan felt
as though everything was moving in slow-motion like in a movie. Except in a
movie the noise would fade away, but here it just got louder. When he got close
enough to hear her she asked what he was doing there.

"I brought the troops," he said with a smile.

"I see that, but where did they come from?"

"My church. We had a clean-up day in this area and I
promised them all a treat from this famous bakery I knew about."

Susan's mouth shaped an "o" as she nodded her
head.

"I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, it's fine," she looked around and figured
there were about twenty or so kids and a couple college age people with the
group.  "That was very nice of you to treat them."

He shrugged, "Well, I had an ulterior motive."

She looked at him, "Oh, really? And what was
that?"

"I wanted to see you again."

Susan could feel her face flush. It had been about a month
since their last conversation in her office and even though she wouldn't admit
it to him, she had missed him. She cleared her throat, "For any particular
reason?"

"Nope, just wanted to see you again."

"So you brought the whole junior high from your
church?"

"Nah, this isn't the whole junior high. These are just
the ones who like to hang out and do stuff. I don't think the whole junior high
would fit in here," he said looking around.

"Okay, well, I'm glad you brought these guys
here."

He looked at her and smiled, causing her knees to grow
weak, "Me too."

One of the boys called Craig over. He touched her shoulder
before moving away but the warm sensation stayed with her for a long time
afterwards. She silently hoped her staff was up to handling this boisterous
group; they usually didn't get such large groups in here.

About a half hour later Susan was saying good-bye to the
group of kids. She could see why Craig liked to hang out with them. They were
great kids from what she had observed.

"Thank you, it was delicious," one of the girls
said as she walked past Susan.

"You’re welcome. Come again, any time." Susan
said with a smile. She had enjoyed watching Craig interact with the different
kids. He really seemed to have a knack with them. She saw him coming toward her
and she sub-consciously smoothed down her blouse.

"Susan, you have made their day."

She smiled, "I think it is you who have made their
day. They really seem to like you."

"You sound surprised."

She lifted her shoulders, "I've never seen you
interact with kids before. It was interesting."

"Interesting?"

She nodded her head, "I always knew you wanted kids, I
guess I just didn’t know how good you would be with them."

"Well, these kids are awesome."

"Yes, they do seem to be a great bunch."

"You could come hang out with us sometime. We do
bonfires at the beach every Tuesday night," he looked at her hopefully.

"I don't know. I'm not much of a bonfire person."

"Well, you are more than welcome, just give me a call,
or just show up if you want. We meet at the first fire ring in Ocean Beach
around four and stay until we get cold."

She nodded her head, "I'm not going to make any
promises, but thanks for the invitation."

"I hope you come. It is a lot of fun."

Susan just nodded her head as she watched him follow the
group of noisy kids out of her restaurant. She wondered why he had wanted to
see her today, but wondering just made her head hurt. It was probably nothing
more than him being friendly. He seemed to have that down to a T whereas she
felt her heart melt every time she had looked at him today.  She almost wished
he had stayed away. Almost. She knew that she wouldn't go to the beach. That
would just cause her heart to hurt more than she could bear. She couldn't put
herself into a position of being around him when she knew they could never
return to the relationship they had once had.  She just wished she didn't want
to.

Craig laughed at the antics of the junior high kids as the
two teams raced to carry one of their teammates in a blanket to a spot further
down the beach. They were making quite a ruckus, but were obviously having a
blast.

He turned around and his breath caught in his chest.  Susan
was standing there looking like she wished she could disappear. Two weeks had
passed since he had invited her to join them here. He had hoped that she would
come, but when she hadn't showed up at the last two, he didn't think she would
ever come. He loped up to her, "You came."

She nodded her head, "I thought it would be a good way
to get out of the daily grind."

"I'm glad. They are just finishing up a game," he
said as he nodded toward the group of laughing kids.

"I saw. I don't think I've ever heard of that game
before."

"I made it up."

She just smiled at him.

They walked to the bonfire as the kids all gathered around.
"Are you hungry or thirsty? We have lots of hot dogs and sodas."

She shook her head, "No, I'm fine, thanks."

"Come on, when was the last time you had a hot dog
roasted over a bonfire?"

She shrugged, "I don't know."

"Jim," Craig called to one of the boys coming
toward the bonfire. "Will you roast a hot dog for Ms. Johnson?"

"Hey, you’re the lady that owns the bakery," a
girl said as she walked up to Craig and Susan.

Susan just nodded her head.

"I've told my mom and dad that they have to go there
sometime. It was awesome."

Susan smiled, "Thank you."

Susan looked at Craig who was just watching her.
"What?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad you came."

"Craig, can I start playing some songs?" A boy
asked holding up his guitar.

Craig nodded, "I think that would be a good idea, Tim.
We need to get a move-on here."

"Maybe I should go," Susan said, suddenly feeling
a little out of place as she watched the kids start to gather around the
fire-pit as Tim started strumming some chords on his guitar.

"No, you just got here. And it looks like your dinner
is ready," he gestured toward the boy named Jim who was walking toward her
with a rather charred hot dog on a slightly sandy bun.

"Thanks," Susan said as graciously as she could
as she took the less than appetizing item from his hands -- rather dirty hands
at that. She subtly looked around wondering if there was anywhere that she
could get rid of it without offending anyone.

"They taste better than they look." Craig said in
a low voice next to her ear.

Susan was proud of herself for not jumping away from him,
but she hated herself for the shivers going up and down her spine at the feel
of his breath against her neck.

She took a small step back, "Are you sure?"

"Yep. I'll eat it for you if you want," he
offered with raised eyebrows.

She looked down at the hot dog, "It's okay I'll eat it
as long as you have some ketchup, mustard and relish."

He gave her a smile that warmed her down to her toes.
"That's my girl. The condiments are right over there," he said,
pointing to a cooler that was serving as a make-shift table.

Susan watched the group as she put the finishing touches on
her hot dog and took a wary bite.  She chewed slowly trying not to grimace at
the grittiness of the sand and the still cold middle of the hot dog.  She
swallowed as the group began to sing a song that had words like "God"
and "Love" and "Joy" and she really began to feel uncomfortable.
She looked toward Craig and he motioned for her to come sit by him. She almost
shook her head no, but she did come here of her own free will. He didn't force
her to come, and she had known it was with the junior high kids from his
church.  She just hadn't realized they would be doing something like this,
especially on a public beach where there were a lot of people around.

She took a deep breath and trudged her way through the
shifting sand toward where Craig was sitting.

"How's your hot dog?" Craig asked quietly as soon
as she was settled.

Susan swallowed her second bite of the nasty thing,
"Gritty and cold," she answered with what she hoped was a smile.

"That bad, huh?" He gave her a quick pat on the
shoulder, "If you come again, try to come a little earlier and I will make
you one of my gourmet hot dogs, and I mean hot with no grit."

She turned to look at him and their noses almost touched
because he had been leaning toward her to speak quietly. She turned away
quickly and felt her face flush all shades of pink and red – kind of like the
sunset happening on the horizon just behind them.

The group sang a few more songs that Susan had never heard
before, but still with the same message that God loves everyone. Then a young
man in his twenties got up and started to speak as Tim put his guitar away. The
man read a couple of verses from his Bible in the fading sunlight and firelight
then he expounded for about fifteen minutes on what those verses meant.

Susan hoped Craig wouldn't ask her any questions about what
this man was saying because honestly she didn't understand any of it and it was
hard to concentrate with Craig sitting next to her.  She kept glancing his way,
but he was engrossed in what was being said. When it was over the man had them
all bow their heads for prayer. Susan looked around and was surprised that all
of the kids bowed their heads. Weren't they embarrassed that other kids from
school would see them and make fun of them? Didn't they care that people had
been looking at them kind of funny all night long?

She cast a quick glance at Craig and saw that his head was
bowed and he was agreeing with something the man praying was saying. She bowed
her head, but kept her eyes opened and tried to listen to the prayer, but the
sound of the surf behind her and the crackling of the fire in front of her
proved to be too distracting.

When the prayer was finally over everyone started talking
and standing so Susan started to rise when she looked up and saw Craig holding
out a hand to help her.

"Thanks," she said and took his hand. He pulled
her up easily but didn't let go of her hand right away. Her gaze flew up to his
face.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that you came tonight,
Susan." He looked down at their joined hands and he squeezed hers before
letting it go, "If you have any questions about what Mike said tonight,
don't hesitate to ask me. I don't know everything, but I can find the answers
if I don't know them."

Susan racked her brain for something to say. She didn't
even have a clue what Mike had talked about, let alone having questions. 
“Okay," she said lamely.

He looked at her expectantly. She looked around at the
group of kids who were preparing to leave. "Well," she said, "it
looks like the party is breaking up. I guess that is my cue to go too."

Craig glanced around then back at her, "You don't have
to go yet."

"Aren't you leaving?"

He shook his head, "I usually stay until everyone has
left making sure we don't leave anything behind. Then I sit by the fire and
pray for a while." At her shuttered look he added quickly, "But we
could sit here and talk.

Susan rubbed her arms and moved a little closer to the
dying fire, "It's already pretty cold out here."

"I have jackets," he said with a smile.

She shook her head a little, "I don't think so,
Craig." She hated the disappointed look on his face, but she didn't want
to give him false hope either. He was really deep into this religious thing of
his and obviously it wasn't going to change. It had been over twelve years and
if anything he was more into it, not less. "Thanks for inviting me. I
appreciate it."

"I'm glad you came. And remember, if you have any
questions at all, ask me."

"I don't have any, Craig." She turned to walk up
the beach to her car.