A Chance at Love (10 page)

“Oh, jeez.”

“Yeah. I thought we were guys and it wasn’t going to be an issue, but he flipped his lid.”

My mother placed her hand on my shoulder and said, “There’s a whole wide world out there that doesn’t want to hear about God, Kyle.”

“I know. Even you and Dad didn’t tell your own kids.”

She lifted my chin with her finger and looked me in the eyes again. “You’re right. And you know what? That was a mistake. We were young and angry and super liberal.” She smiled. “I’m proud of that commitment you made up there at your grandmother’s house. Your father already started talking to Joanie about salvation. She isn’t very fond of the idea, but he’s trying anyway. We want to start getting right with God.”

“That’s good. There’s no such thing as being
too late
when it comes to God.”

She nodded. “It’s never too late with God.” She stood up and helped me to my feet. “You should let me give it a shot.”

I smiled and took off the bandana and helped wrap it around her head.

“It’s so dark!” she said as I finished tying it.

“That’s the point.” I laughed.

She began walking around my room and touching everything around her as she maneuvered. “This is difficult!” she said over her shoulder toward me. We eventually made it over to the doorway and started down the hallway and into the living room. Joanie even joined in after my mother became weary. It was nice to understand what Emily was going through, even if it was to a very small degree.

L
ater that evening I called Emily. I felt a closeness to her that I hadn’t had previously. It was like learning about her blindness opened us to a new level of intimacy. In a strange way, I felt like it was me and her against the world. Between dealing with Tom at the church and the bit of backlash with my family, I felt like nobody understood.

“Hey . . .” she answered the phone. Her voice was quiet, and I could tell right away that something wasn’t right.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, kicking my shoes off the end of my bed as I put an arm behind my head and held the phone against my shoulder.

She sniffled and said, “My parents. And my stupid sister! They’re being so mean to me about us. I just wish my mother would listen! She’s so unreasonable and rude!”

Remaining silent for a moment, I thought carefully about what I should say. At first I wanted to agree and tell her about my family, but instead I just asked, “What happened?”

“First off, Liv decided it was a good idea to tell my parents about you coming down to the church. She also must have seen you brush my hair out of my eyes and touch my hands, because they found out about all that too. My mom told me we were moving too fast and that she worried about the type of . . .” Emily hesitated.

“What? Type of what?”

“She’s wrong about you, Kyle. I know that. She thinks you’re a bad kid. I defended you and told her about your conversion at your grandma’s house, but she suspects it was all a ploy to get to me.”

I laughed.

“Ridiculous, isn’t it?” Emily laughed. “Anyway . . . she thinks we’re
moving too
fast
and that you’re not right for me.”

“That’s rather judgmental when she hasn’t even met me.”

“I know.” Emily let out a relieved sigh. “I feel so much better talking to you,” she said. I could hear the smile come across in her voice as it fluctuated. “Everything else just seems to not matter when I hear your sweet voice, Kyle Reynolds.”

I grinned as the sound of my name on her lips sent warmth all over my body. I hadn’t done drugs before in my life, but I was pretty sure she was like heroin. “Hey. Do you think you can leave the house ?”

“Uh . . .”

“Forget it. It’s a stupid idea. Obviously it’s not going to happen. You just told me about your mom.”

“What’d you want to do?”

“I wanted to take you up to The Abby, but I don’t think your parents will be willing to let you go anywhere.”

“Awe! I want to go lay under the stars by your side.”

“You think they’d be okay with it? We can just go for a little bit. Just an hour or so.”

Silence came over the line for a moment.

“Just as friends? Maybe they’d let me go if that’s the case? Let me go ask!”

A few minutes later she got back on the phone. With an excited tone, she said, “Yes! They just want to meet you really quick, and they said no more than an hour.”

“How’d you do it?”

“I told them they need to at least try to let me have a life. I totally guilted them into it!” She laughed.

“You lil’ devil!”

“Shut it!” she laughed.

My smile grew as my heart warmed and stirred within me.
Finally able to hang out with Emily
, I thought to myself. Leaping from my bed, I slipped my shoes on and said, “I’ll head over right now.”

“Don’t you need my address?”

“Oh, yeah. That’d be helpful.”

“Ya, doofus!” she laughed.

Standing at the door of Emily’s house, I reached out and pressed the doorbell. My stomach felt as if it were doing summersaults inside of me as I waited for someone to come to the door.

The sound of the deadbolt being undone froze me more than the chilly wintry air that accompanied me that night. I knew her parents were devoted Christians in the church, and my first impression was a vital importance to our relationship.

Opening the door, her father ushered me inside. He was lanky and wore a pair of black framed glasses that didn’t seem to want to stay up on the bridge of his nose. “You must be the
boy
we keep hearing so much about,” he said as we walked through the foyer and into the living room.

“Hopefully I’m the one she’s been talking about,” I said, trying to get a laugh. He didn’t even so much as smile.
Tough audience
, I thought to myself.

Turning around to face me in the living room, he shook my hand and said, “I’m Steve. It’s nice to meet you.”

I nodded. “Same.”

“I thought your name was Kyle?”

I laughed nervously. “Yes. Sorry.” I was blowing it. We sat down on the couch and her mother walked in. Smiling, she came over and shook my hand. “I’m Patricia.”

She took a seat in the recliner across from the couch Steve and I were sitting on. Looking over at Steve, she said, “Are you going to ask him? Or should I?”

Steve squinted over at Patricia as he hesitated for a moment. “I’ll do it.” He turned on the couch and adjusted his posture. “Kyle. Emily has informed us that you recently converted? Correct?”

“Converted?”

“Yes. Converted into Christianity. Right?”

I nodded.

“Okay. Have you made a public profession of faith? In front of a church body?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. I do intend to, though.”

He nodded slowly as he tried to look me over to see if I was lying. “Good. What church do you attend?”

“Well, I don’t. I’ve been up at my grandma’s house up until a couple of days ago.”

Patricia interrupted. “We know that. Where do you plan on attending? . . . Or do you?” She had one eyebrow raised, as if she wanted me to misspeak so she could throw me outside into the snow.

“I know church is important. I’m going to Calvary.”

They both raised their eyebrows. Patricia asked, “Don’t you live pretty far from our church? I think Emily said you live over off of North Freya?”

“I do, but I don’t think that matters. I’ll make the drive. It’d be nice to attend where Emily does.”

“I see,” Steve replied.

They were acting weird. I looked into the foyer where the stairs were. I asked, “Where’s Emily?”

“She’s upstairs getting ready.”

My mind immediately jumped to wanting to understand how that was possible for her, but I tabled that question for a later time, and for Emily.

“What are your intentions with our daughter?” Patricia asked. Her eyes didn’t look mad—they looked fearful. She came across more worried than anything else when she asked it.

“I want to get to know her. I’ve been talking to her for a while now, and I just . . . really love the type of person she is. She has a beautiful perspective of the world.”

Patricia smiled and tipped her head to one side. “She really does have a good perspective, but I worry about her.” She looked at me and her smiled dropped away. “She’s going to be blind her entire life, Kyle. You need to understand that. There’s no cure for her.”

“I get that,” I replied with a nod.

Emily finally came down the stairs. She looked amazing, and she looked dressed to go out on a date, not just up to The Abby. When she came to the bottom of the stairs, I got up and walked over to her and met her in the foyer near the door.

I brought her hand into mine. “Wow. You look absolutely gorgeous, Emily. I feel a little underdressed now.”

She smiled and said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I can see what you’re wearing anyway.” She laughed awkwardly, and I forced myself to join in.

“One hour,” Steve said as he grabbed the front door and held it open for us to walk out.

I nodded to him and said, “One hour.” Clasping onto Emily’s hand, I said, “Do you need your cane or anything?”

She shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”

“All right.”

Walking down the path away from her house, she kept smiling all the way out to the car. “I can’t believe they let me go!”

“Well, you’re eighteen. You could technically leave on your own.”

“True . . . but they know I wouldn’t go against their wishes.”

Parking up at The Abby, I got out of the car and hurried around the vehicle to help Emily out. As I took her hand and helped her up and out of the car, she said, “You don’t have to help me so much. I’m not incapable.”

“I didn’t think you were incapable. I just want to treat you like royalty.”

She beamed.

Coming around the car, we both climbed up onto the hood and up the windshield, arriving on the roof of the car. After getting situated, I looked across the city and then over at Emily. I thought to myself, she’ll never see this beauty. “Is it hard not seeing?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Not very hard, since I never did see. It’s been this way all my life . . . It’s like asking you if it’s hard not flying.”

I laughed. “Good point, good point.”

We laid our backs against the roof and I turned on my side to look at her. Pulling her coat sleeve up, I began letting my fingers dance in circles on the underside of her forearm. “You’re not too cold, are you?” I asked, realizing it was rather chilly out.

“I’m fine . . .” she said in a relaxed and calm demeanor. “How were my parents?”

“They were cool. Glad I met them. I think your mom is just worried about you. I don’t think it’s anything you should fret over.”

“She doesn’t need to worry about me, though. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself. Let’s change the topic.”

“Okay . . .” I scrambled for a topic. “What’s your favorite Bible verse? I don’t think you ever told me your number one favorite.”

“Psalms 119:105.”

“That was a snappy response. You know it by heart?”

“‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’ I’ve been in love with that verse for years. It’s very close to my heart.” She moved her hand so our fingers meshed together as she continued. “Back when I was younger, I went through a struggle with my blindness, and it was really hard. I became super depressed. When I found that passage, I fell in love with it immediately. I love the fact that it says the lamp is for my feet, not my eyes.”

“That’s a really interesting way to look at that scripture.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” She scooted closer to me on the roof of the car. “Tell me about the stars,” she asked, laying her head against my shoulder.

It took a moment for me to think in a way that she might understand. I gazed across the starry night sky. “Spheres of warmth fill almost every portion of the night sky.” I looked over and saw her smiling as she snuggled more into my arm. I continued. “Some of the stars dance with a multitude of colors. Like that of strawberry and kiwi. Others burn with brightness so bright that you could almost feel the heat radiating from it.”

I pulled my arm up and around her shoulders. Pulling her in closer to my chest, I let my lips press above her eyebrow and I kissed her forehead. She smiled and turned her head upwards to me. Raising her hands to my face, she began to slowly inspect my face with her fingertips, starting at the top of my head. She worked her fingers through my hair, and then came to my ears, cheeks, and then eventually my lips. Each touch was delicate, and each movement felt as if it had purpose. When she was done, her face was only a few inches away from mine. I leaned forward and kissed her.