Betting on Love (13 page)

“Drew, I wasn’t innocent. I knew how to make you mad, and I enjoyed seeing you get angry. I’m sorry, too.” She placed more bait on the hook. “As far as me being a Christian,” she said as she cast out her line once more, “it is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

She shifted in her chair so that she was sitting on her left foot. “I can’t stop reading my Bible. It’s the funniest thing, because I hate reading. I’ve started with John because that’s where Aunt Renee told me to start.”

“Where are you in John?”

“Oh, I’ve finished it. I’m in Acts now.” She pointed to her rod. “But isn’t it interesting that Jesus was all about the fishing, and here we sit—fishing.”

Drew chuckled. “You’re right.”

“I don’t know why it took me so long to give my heart to Jesus.” She cocked her head. “Actually, yes I do. I have a really hard time giving up control of anything, and that would include my life.”

Her bobber dipped under the water again. She pulled back against the tug on her line. “I’ve got another one.” Reeling in again, this time she pulled in a much larger bass. Grabbing its bottom lip with her left hand, she yanked out the hook with her right. “Look at that!”

Drew lifted his eyebrows. “Now, that’s a keeper.”

“It sure is.” She waited while Drew opened the cooler so that she could place the fish inside.

“We’ll have to have a cookout with the fish we catch.”

She studied Drew for a moment. Once they’d said their piece, she was really having a good time with him. “That would be great.” She bit her bottom lip. The urge to tease him welled inside her until she simply couldn’t hold back. She elbowed his arm and winked. “You
have
realized I’ve got two fish to your none.”

Drew leaned back and howled. “Yes, you have. And Melody Markwell”—he reached over and pinched her cheek as if she were a little child—“tonight I might just let you catch them all.”

“Oh you
might
, huh? You want to make a bet?”

Drew was absolutely, one hundred percent, over-the-top smitten. Melody Markwell was everything he never realized he wanted in a woman. She was naturally beautiful. He remembered how gorgeous her amazingly long and silky brown hair looked blowing in the wind while they were fishing. Even pulled back in a ponytail, it was gorgeous.

And her eyes. Deep, dark brown. They were filled with such intensity and depth. So much truth. And when she teased him about her catching more fish, they had sparkled with delight. He could stare into those depths all day if she’d let him.

And her lips. Well, her lips were just downright difficult for him to be around. Thick and almost pouty, he had to stop himself from kissing her on more than one occasion the other night.

But more than her perfectly sun-kissed skin and her tiny frame, he was falling for who she was. Her inner strength drew him, as did her competitive nature. They’d always have fun battling over one thing or another.

But now with her zeal to know more about Christ and her honesty about what she understood and felt and thought, she inspired him to be a better Christian. She encouraged him to learn and study God’s Word more.

I’m falling for her, God.

There was no use denying it or trying to dissuade it.

He didn’t want to push it away. He’d spent too much time worrying about pride and winning. He didn’t want to waste another moment on any of that.

Needing to talk with his friend, he’d driven to Mike’s house. He knocked on the front door. Joe, Mike’s little brother, answered it. The teen wasn’t so little anymore. He was nearly as tall as Drew and as broad as his big brother, which didn’t say a whole lot, as Mike was quite a bit smaller than him or Nick or even Wyatt. Still, the kid had grown up a lot.

“Hey, Drew.” Joe grabbed Drew’s hand in a firm handshake.

Drew was surprised at how strong Joe had become. If he remembered right, the boy was going into high school this year. He was probably a great help on the farm now. But then Drew wondered why the kid was standing in the door barefoot in shorts and a T-shirt. He obviously wasn’t helping Mike and his dad at that moment. “I’m looking for your brother. You know where he is?”

He pointed around the back of the house. “In the back with Dixie.”

“She have her pups?”

Joe nodded, but he turned his head toward the baseball game that was on the television.

Now that Drew came to think of it, the reason he’d been surprised at how much Joe had grown was because he hadn’t seen Joe at church in a while. He frowned as he wondered what could be going on. He knew Joe played for a traveling baseball team that took him away from church some Sundays, but it had been quite a few weeks since Drew remembered seeing him. Drew waved. “Okay. Thanks.”

Joe didn’t respond. He simply shut the door, and Drew walked around the house and toward the shed. He spied Mike leaned up against the door, one leg crossed in front of the other. He was such a softy when it came to the animals having their babies. Mike was a good balance to him and Nick and Wyatt. Not the strongest in any physical way, Mike was the one with a good head and a tender heart.

“Hey, Mike.”

Mike turned and put his finger up to his mouth. “Not too loud, man. You’ll make Dixie nervous. She just settled in to nurse her brood.”

Drew peeked in the shed door and saw the dark lab with several babies fighting for their spot to feed. Dixie saw him and let out a low growl.

Drew lifted his hands. “I’ll move, Dixie girl. Don’t get mad.”

Mike pulled the shed door closed then looked at Drew. “She’s just a little protective of her pups.”

“How many did she have?”

“Six. Four boys and two girls.” Mike studied him. “So what’s up?”

“I need to talk to you about Lacy.”

Mike rolled his eyes and blew out a breath. He walked away from Drew toward the barn. “I’m not talking to you about Lacy.” He lifted his hand. “Just because you’re dying to win that bet since Melody’s been showing you up doesn’t mean you need to hound me to ask that girl out on a date.”

Mike’s words stung, and part of Drew wanted to lay into him with both barrels. But he knew he couldn’t fuss at Mike. His friend was right. Drew had been especially hard on Mike when it came to Lacy, and it probably had a lot to do with the fact that Melody kept kicking his tail every time they competed against one another. He’d been spending a lot of time learning to be on the losing side of the stick over the last few months.

“That’s not exactly why I’m here.” Drew shifted his feet. “Actually, it
is
sort of why I’m here.”

Mike lifted his eyebrows and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Drew spread open his arms. “Look, man, I’ve fallen for Melody. I’m crazy about the girl. I came over here to tell you to ask out Lacy anytime you want. I’m throwing in the towel and going after Melody. You win. I lose.”

Mike furrowed his eyebrows and stared at Drew for a moment. Then he smiled and punched Drew in the shoulder. “It’s about time you came to your senses. That girl is perfect for you.”

Drew sucked in his breath at the thought of asking Melody to go on a date, on a real date with him. It made him nervous as the worm being baited on the hook, but Mike was right. She was perfect for him.

“I know.” Drew extended his hand to Mike. “I can’t stay. I just wanted to let you know I’m out. You win.”

As he walked back to his truck, he imagined talking to her, fighting with her, kissing her soft lips. And now, he could worship with her.
God, a year ago I would have laughed if someone had said I’d want this, but Melody has changed my mind and my heart.

The wheels in Drew’s mind churned as he tried to think of the best way to tell her how he felt. As much fun as they’d had the other night fishing, he was sure she’d give him a chance. Still, he’d never asked a girl out before, and Melody was special. He had to do it right.

Since the day they’d planted it, Melody realized she loved working in her aunt’s garden. She pulled another weed from the cucumber row she had planted almost two months before. Just as her aunt said, the plants had grown big and sprawled out along the ground. She had to pick up and dig around stems and leaves to find all the weeds.

She thought about how she had dug huge craters and nearly buried the poor things. So much had changed since that day. Drew and Addy returned home from their honeymoon. Uncle Roy had a stroke and amazingly was almost fully recovered. Baby Wyatt had gotten two teeth. She’d accepted Jesus.

Her heart swelled. It was the best, most exciting change she’d ever experienced. She still didn’t understand a lot of things, and Aunt Renee warned her that God’s Word promised she’d still have a bunch of problems to deal with and the world would still have a lot of bad things happen in it, but she felt such peace. She prayed God would give her faith no matter what happened in the future.

Finished pulling the weeds, she stood up, wiped her hands on her blue jean shorts, then grabbed her Bible off the back deck table. She walked along the small stone path her aunt had built. It led to a good-sized flower garden that surrounded a large shade tree. She sat down on the bench and watched as a small cardinal flew up above her and perched on a branch.

God’s creation amazed her. With a slight sigh she picked up her Bible and opened to where she had a bookmark. She’d been reading about these two guys, Paul and Barnabas, who were traveling all over the place telling people about Jesus. She didn’t understand all of it, but apparently some of the believers who were Jews didn’t like the idea of “other” people being able to accept Christ.

The thought baffled her a little bit. Aunt Renee tried to explain that she’d have to study the culture of the time, and how different groups of people didn’t associate with each other. She just didn’t quite understand why some of them wouldn’t want everyone on the planet to be able to accept Jesus.

She wanted to tell the whole world about Him. She’d probably driven Gracie crazy talking about all she was learning about Jesus. She smiled at the thought.
It would serve her right for all those days she drove me nuts talking about God.

More than anything, she wanted her mom to know Jesus. She still hadn’t called Melody back. It stung, and a part of her wanted to wash her hands of her mother. But when she thought of how much she’d changed since accepting the Lord, she couldn’t help but want the same thing for her mom.

She shifted to get more comfortable on the bench. She’d really liked the part in Acts where the guy—if she remembered right, it was Paul—talked about how after he’d stopped persecuting Jesus and accepted Him, this other guy came along and touched him, and then something that looked like scales fell off Paul’s eyes. Then he could see, and he went to tell everyone about Jesus.

Melody had instantly felt a connection with that man, Paul. Not only did scales fall off her eyes so that she could see that she needed Jesus, but now she could also read His Word. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t read at all. She’d learned the basics, and she’d been forced to sit through plenty of “special” classes in school to help her along. But she just couldn’t read very well.

Since she fell in love with Jesus, she couldn’t seem to put her Bible down. She read it all the time. She didn’t understand everything, and she had to ask a lot of questions of Aunt Renee and Gracie, but she was starting to get it. A lot of things were beginning to make sense.

She peered down at her Bible and began to read again. The two guys she’d been reading about, Paul and Barnabas, had a disagreement and decided to go their own ways. It made her a little sad, and she wondered why Paul didn’t want to give Mark a second chance. Evidently, he’d skipped out on them when the pressure got hot in another town.

“Hey, you mind if I interrupt you for a second?”

Melody gazed up at Drew. He was already enormous compared to her, but with her sitting on a bench and him standing, he really towered over her.

She patted the empty side of the bench. “Only if you have a seat. I’ll strain my neck trying to look up at you.”

Drew chuckled, and she noticed that his neck and cheeks turned red when he sat beside her. She also realized he smelled pretty good, like a light, woodsy cologne. And he’d gotten a haircut. She could see a white line along his neck where his hair had guarded it from the sun.

He cleared his throat and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He clasped and unclasped his hands. Why was he so nervous? His acting that way was making her feel squeamish.

He finally spoke. “So have you enjoyed vacation Bible school?”

She sat up. “It has been a complete blast. Those senior ladies in the kitchen are a hoot. I was a little nervous when Audrey asked me to help out in the kitchen.” She elbowed his arm. “We both know I’m not the best cook.”

He chuckled.

“But those women have been so kind to me, and they’ve all promised to teach me how to ‘find my way around the kitchen’ as they put it.”

Drew swiped one hand through his hair. He gazed out over her uncle’s fields then looked back at her then back at his hands. “They’re all wonderful. That’s for sure.”