Nickels (42 page)

Most of the conversations were the same.  He still
apologized for leaving without telling her.  He missed her.  She missed him. 
Everything was good.

Only it wasn’t.  She couldn’t sleep at night from worry. 
When she told Marcy about the background noises she heard on one of the calls
with Kyle, Marcy suggested he was maybe on an aircraft carrier.

Why would Kyle, now a civilian, be on an aircraft carrier? 
If he was, where were they?  Was he in danger?  He avoided the question when
she tried to ask one time.

It wasn’t just her worry over Kyle that wore Niki down.  It
was also the increased attention from Justin at work.  She’d tried to make it
perfectly clear on more than one occasion that she had no interest whatsoever
in him.  But, he pursued her anyway.  Twice now, he orchestrated a “business”
dinner that only Niki showed up to.  Then he asked her to come out to one of
the area lakes for a boat ride and business meeting this weekend.  He assured
her his dad and mom would be there.  Thankfully, she needed to help Marcy with
wedding plans, so she had a legitimate excuse to get out of that one.

She stood there, arms held out parallel to the ground as the
seamstress tucked and pinned fabric, thankful for the busy Saturday with Marcy
and Tori.  It was a good distraction from her worries.

“You look lovely, Niki,” Marcy said, obviously pleased with
the bride’s maid dress she picked for her.  “The maroon makes your skin glow
and your hair shine.  I think Kyle’s going to have a hard time walking down the
aisle next to you with you in that.”

She allowed a half smile to flit across her lips.

“You must miss him,” Tori said, waiting her turn in a
matching maroon gown.

“I do.”  The gloom threatened to pull her down.  “Can we
talk about something else?”

“Bridal shower,” Tori suggested.  “When are we doing that?”

“I don’t need a bridal shower,” Marcy stated.

“Of course you do,” Tori said. 

Niki stayed out of the discussion, having heard this all
before.

“I don’t want people to bring me… Um…  Anything for the
wedding night.  That’s what all the girls at work are talking about.”

“Why not?”  Tori countered.

“They have some racy ideas about what I might need.  I’m
just not comfortable with that.”

Tori rolled her eyes.  “God made sex, Marcy.  And once
you’re married to Chad, the two of you can rock it.”

Marcy’s face went red.

“Careful, Marcella,” Niki teased.  “That shade of red
clashes terribly with my dress.”

They all three laughed.  Tori dropped the subject and Marcy
mouthed a “thank you” to Niki.  She knew Marcy was nervous about her wedding
night.  Her innocence was sweet and Niki hoped Chad respected that.  She would
honor Marcy’s desire not to have a bridal shower, if that is what her friend
wanted.

“You turn,” the short Korean woman pointed to Tori, waving
her hand in a shooing motion to get Niki to step down from the raised stand
where she stood for her fitting.

“What color is Alana’s dress?” Tori asked.

Niki stiffened.  She should expect the subject to come up,
since Alana’s mom confirmed she would be in the wedding.  She still wished Kyle
would have explained everything before he left.

“Maroon seemed too grown up for a six year old, so I picked
a lavender.  I sent her mom a picture of the style I was looking for.  Kelly’s
going to try to find something like it in Colorado Springs, that way they can
just bring the dress when they come.”

“Do you have a picture of her?”  Niki asked.

Marcy hesitated.  “Has Kyle talked to you, yet?”

Niki shook her head.

“I swear, sometimes I just want to wring my brother’s neck,”
Marcy said raising her hands up in the air then letting them fall to her side
in frustration.

She turned her back to Marcy for help unzipping the very
fitted dress.  She had to admit, she looked good in it.  She, too, wondered
what Kyle would think.  She tried to picture him in a tux.  The image in her
mind’s eye was nice.

An unbidden tear slid down her cheek.  She missed him, no
matter how insane it sounded.  She’d only been dating him for a few months. 
Silly.  She was being silly.

“Oh, honey,” Marcy said, noticing the tear before Niki
ducked behind the curtain to change.  “I’m sorry.  I know you miss him.”

She sighed as she slipped on her denim capris.  Through the
curtain she said, “Let’s do something fun tonight.  Let’s have everyone over
for a BBQ.”

“Sure.”

She heard the faint beeps of Marcy typing a text message.

Niki finger combed her hair back into her ponytail and
opened the curtain as Marcy looked up from her phone.  “Chad says he’s on it. 
I told him six.”

She nodded.  She needed to be around friends right now.

“You help bride,” the little Korean woman said wagging a
finger at Niki.

“You heard the woman, Marcy.  Time to get you in that
dress.”

Marcy changed into her wedding undergarments behind the
curtain before asking Niki to step in and help her with the dress.  The
changing room was small and it wasn’t until they stepped into the fitting room
that Niki saw the full effect.

“It’s lovely,” she whispered.  It didn’t look like the
simple, but elegant, dress would need many adjustments, as it already clung to
Marcy’s curves perfectly.

“Chad is going to faint when he sees you in that,” Tori
said.  “You’re gorgeous!”

Marcy flushed.  “It’s not too simple, is it?”

“Are you kidding?  On you it looks like the most elegant
dress in the world,” Tori replied.

“It is perfectly you, Marcy,” Niki said when her friend
looked to her for confirmation.

“Okay.  Mom said that too, but you know how Mom can be.”

“In this case she’s right,” Tori said.

In a few minutes, with only a few pins in place, Marcy’s
dress was ready to be handed over to the skilled seamstress.

“You come back.  Two week before wedding,” the Korean woman
instructed.  “Make sure no gain weight.”

Niki smiled.  She was pretty sure any woman about to get
married would stop eating for a month if she thought she might gain weight
before her wedding day.  Marcy was no exception.

After another hour of wedding errands, the three ladies
arrived back at Niki’s house.  Twenty minutes later, Chad arrived with a ton of
food.

He dropped some on the counter then swept Marcy into his
arms.  “I’ve been thinking how gorgeous you must have looked this morning in
your wedding dress, I can hardly wait to see it,” he said before kissing her
soundly.

Niki backed away quietly, walking out the front door to see
if Chad left anything else in the car.

Is that what she looked like with Kyle?  Dreamy eyed? 
Forgetting other people were around?

“I’m sure that didn’t help with your loneliness,” Tori said,
reaching for a bag on the back seat of Chad’s car.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if I could just pick up the phone and
call him,” she lamented.  “I don’t know where he is.  I don’t even know exactly
when he’ll be back.  The rare times we get to talk are not much longer than—”

“Niki!”  Marcy shouted, running out of the house with Niki’s
phone.  “It’s Kyle.”

She  swiped the phone from Marcy’s hand and shoved the
grocery bags towards her friend.

“Hey, beautiful.”  Just the sound of his voice brought
moisture to her eyes.

“Kyle,” she managed around the lump in her throat.

“Don’t sound so glum, Nickels.”

She hurried down the hallway to her room, wanting complete
privacy.  “Sorry.  Just miss you.  A lot.  Sound crazy?”

A heavy sigh translated across the phone lines.  “Not crazy
at all.  I’m feeling it too.”

“Seems odd that you’d miss yourself, seeing as you’re right
there.”

The blessed sound of Kyle’s chuckle reached her ear, lifting
some of the heaviness from her heart.

“You make me smile, Niki.  And I needed that today.”

Niki picked up a muffled voice in the background.  “Time’s
up…”

“I gotta go.  Love you.”

“Love—”

The line went dead.

“You.”

 It was nothing.  Just a teaser.  Like having half a bite of
an appetizer just before the server swoops in and steals the tray from your
table.  Which was worse?  Not hearing anything at all for days on end, or a
quick snippet of a conversation?

She tossed her phone on the bed as a soft knock sounded on
her door.

“Niki?” Marcy said, cracking the door open.  “Everyone’s
here.”

She glanced over her shoulder, tears streaming down her
face.

“Is everything okay?”

“He’s fine, if that’s what you mean.”  Her hoarse voice
croaked.

“I mean with you, sweetie.”

Niki shook her head.

“Oh.”  Marcy pouted for her friend.  “Only six more weeks. 
Then you’ll get to see him all decked out for my wedding.”

She snorted.  “Six weeks.  We’ll have been dating for what,
almost five months by then?  But I’ve only actually seen him for less than half
of it.”

Marcy sat down next to her on the bed.  “You have a longer
foundation than that and you know it.  All those months before you officially
dated, you were building a friendship.  Even the time from high school is part
of that foundation.  Maybe this time apart is a good thing.”

“How?”

“Well, as an outside observer,” Marcy cautioned, “it seems
like there’s a lot of sparks between the two of you.  Maybe this is a good
thing.  Helping the two of you keep your hands off each other.”

“You mean, like not being tempted to have sex?” she asked
bluntly.

Marcy’s face went red.  “Um…  Yes, that’s what I mean.  You
know God wants you to save that for your husband, right?”

“I know you believe that.  I’m just not sure I understand
it.”

“If you want, I’ll show you some verses about it later.  It
will explain why I believe that.”

“Sure…  Kyle and I have never really talked about…  Any of
that.”

“But, you will.  Maybe this time apart will give you a
chance to think about what other things you and he should talk about when he
gets back.  I think it’s important to know what you believe and why you believe
it before you’re in a situation where you’re tested.  Not knowing—well, that
can lead to regrets.”

Niki sighed.  As if she didn’t have enough on her mind
already.

“Can I pray for you?” Marcy asked.

Prayer.  She’d completely forgotten about that again.  She
hadn’t prayed in awhile.

Niki nodded.

Marcy said the most beautiful prayer for her, asking God to
give her peace and to help her trust Kyle to Him.  She asked that He would
guide Niki in understanding His design for her relationship with Kyle and that
He would use this time apart for both Niki and Kyle’s good.  By the time Marcy
finished the prayer, she didn’t feel quite so bad.

Five weeks later, Niki joined Marcy at her family’s house
for Thanksgiving dinner.  She hadn’t been to the Jacobses since right after she
and Kyle started dating.

Brenda and Rick both greeted her warmly as she entered their
home.

“When’s the last time you’ve heard from Kyle?” Brenda asked.

“Two weeks, now,” Niki answered trying to keep the
disappointment from her voice.

“Oh, that’s good.  We haven’t heard from him in over a
month.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling bad that she was upset he didn’t
call her more.

“It’s okay.  We understand he’s saving those few calls for
you, as he should,” Brenda said, smiling.

“Well, you haven’t missed much.  We don’t get to talk for
more than a minute.”

“When is he due back?” Rick asked.

“He said right before the wedding.  He promised more than once
he’d be back for it,” Marcy answered.

“Did you get your dresses last week?” Brenda asked as she
started setting out the Thanksgiving dinner.

“Yes.  Though looking at all this food, Mom, I’m worried
about still being able to fit into it next week.”

Brenda set out a stack of plates, having already warned them
they would be sitting outside to enjoy the perfect Arizona weather.  Marcy
started loading hers up with goodies, followed by her dad.  As Niki picked up a
plate, her phone rang.

She quickly set down the plate and ran to dig her ringing
phone out of her purse.  “Hello?”

“Hey, beautiful.”  The sound of Kyle’s voice brought
softness to hers.

“Hey.”

“Are you having a good turkey day?”

“It would be better if you were here.  I think your mom
would agree with that.”

“You’re at my parents?”

“Of course.  Even if I wasn’t dating you, they’ve
practically adopted me as their daughter.”

Kyle chuckled.  “Listen, I don’t have much time left. 
Please let everyone know I’ll be in on Friday, sometime before the rehearsal. 
I may even be a little late.”

“Oh, you’re coming in
that
day?  Not earlier in the
week?” Niki didn’t try to hide her disappointment.