Blue Like Elvis (11 page)

Chapter 16

“Sorry I’m late,”
I said a few minutes later, taking a seat across from Tucker.

“No problem. I’m
off duty so as soon as we finish here, I’m heading home to crash for a few
hours.

The waitress took
our order and I straightened my silverware, waiting for him to say something.

“You look nice
today, Moonpie.”

“I should have
known I’d have to re-train you after having Jimmy in town last night.”

He quirked a look
at me, confused.

I leaned forward,
whispering, “Remember? We were going to dispense with the whole nickname thing?”

“Oh!” He laughed. “My
apologies. Old habits are hard to break.”

“Yeah, well, try
harder,” I teased.

“It was great seeing
Jimmy again. He seemed to really enjoy his party last night.”

The waitress
brought our beverages. Coffee for him. Iced tea for me.

“It was nice, wasn’t
it?” I said, emptying a packet of Sweet ‘N Low into my glass. “Thanks for
getting all the guys to show up. I think that was his favorite part. Seeing all
the old gang again.”

We continued the
small talk until the waitress returned with our meals. I was surprised when
Tucker asked if he could pray before we ate.

“Sure,” I said,
bowing my head.

“For Your
blessings, for Your mercy and Your love, we thank You, Lord. And thanks for new
beginnings.”

“Amen,” I murmured
wondering what in the world that meant. It didn’t take long to find out.

“So, I was
thinking about what Jimmy said last night.”

“What’s that?” I
reached for my club sandwich.

“About you and me
being in the same boat.”

I’d just taken a
bite but stopped chewing and stared at him. Was this a joke? Was he teasing me?
I slowly resumed eating and waited to see what else he might say.

“Anyway, I thought . . .
y’know, he’s got a point. You’re no longer in a relationship, and as the whole
world seems to know, I’m no longer in one either. So I was thinking . . .
well, I wondered if you might, uh . . .”

Oh no.

“. . . like to go
out sometime. Y’know, just something simple. Dinner. A movie. Something like
that?”

I tried to swallow
but it wasn’t easy. When I finally managed the deed, I stalled by taking a sip
of my tea. Then I wiped my mouth with the linen napkin. Then I’m pretty sure I
gave him a really lame smile.

“I know, it’s kind
of weird,” he jumped in.

“You could say
that,” I croaked.

“But it doesn’t
have to
be
weird. We’re both grown now. I’m not that irritating punk
anymore—”

“You sure about
that?” I said, smiling.

“And you’re not
that irritating kid sister always begging to be pranked anymore—”

“
Begging
to
be pranked? Oh, please.”

“Anyway, it just
seemed like something we could do. No pressure, no expectations, just a chance
to go out and have some fun. What do you say?”

My heart thundered.
There was something so wrong about this. It was awfully soon after his breakup
with Cassie. As in only a few days? And I wasn’t really interested in dating
right now. Still, I couldn’t help it. I wanted to say yes. The thought of
dating him wasn’t completely foreign to me, even if I didn’t want to admit it.
But would I ever be able to think of him as someone other than Chubby Tucker?

I wasn’t sure. I
just knew I wanted to try.

“I’d love to,
Tuck.”

“Really?”

“Sure. That sounds
fun. Just promise you’ll leave the Ex Lax at home.”

He smiled broadly.
“I promise.”

“Well, well, what
have we here?”

We both looked up
as Dr. Love approached our table. “Two of my favorite people. Isn’t this nice
and cozy?”

Tucker stood,
stretching his hand to our pastor. “Dr. Love. Nice to see you.”

“Have a seat! I insist.
How are you, Miss Colter?” he asked, taking hold of my hand.

“Fine, thank you.
Would you like to join us?”

“Oh, thank you for
the offer, but I’m meeting with the family of one of our members. He’s not
expected to make it much longer, and they wanted to discuss arrangements for
his memorial service. So you two have a nice lunch. How’s the clam chowder, Dr.
Thompson?”

“Excellent.”

“Shelby? I’ll see
you Wednesday?”

“I’ll be there.”

He gave me a
thumbs up and a wink, then made his way to a back table.

“Well, then.”

“Well, then?”

“It’s settled.”

“What’s settled?”

“Dinner and a
movie. How does Friday night work for you?”

“Perfect,” I said,
“as long as I get to pick the movie.”

“Uh oh. I was
hoping we could go see the sneak preview for
Smokey and the Bandit.”

“And I was hoping
to see
Annie Hall.”

“Hmm. Let me see. Action
packed comedy with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field . . . or another
goofy Woody Allen oddball movie. Tough call.” He turned his head to the side as
if in deep thought. “Oh, okay, fine.
Annie Hall
it is. Is it a date?”

“It’s a date,
Tucker.”

“So, are you and
Dr. Thompson an item now?” Dr. Love asked as he took his seat across from me in
his office, his face beaming with expectation.

“What? Oh, no.
No! We’ve known each other for years. He and my brother were best friends
growing up.” I blew out a raspberry to punctuate how silly I thought his
misconception was.

“That’s nice,
but the fact that he and your brother were friends growing up doesn’t
necessarily prevent you and Dr. Thompson from being an item. You sure looked
nice together at lunch the other day.” He took a sip of his coffee, his warm
eyes crinkling along with his mischievous smile.

“No, Dr. Love.
We are not ‘an item.’”

“And why not? He’s
a nice-looking young man, good family, good future . . .”

I pursed my lips
trying to convey my insistence. “Just friends, thank you very much.”

“Well, that’s
too bad.”

“Why’s that?”

“I think it’s
time you move on. You’ve made a lot of progress just in these past couple of
weeks, Shelby. You’re a lot stronger now. Much different from the young woman I
found crying in our church library that morning.”

I smiled at him.
I’d already grown to love this dear man. I’d always had such a different
impression of pastors, assuming most of them were a bit “holier than thou” up
close and personal. Dr. Love wasn’t that way at all. He was down to earth,
humble, and he had such a genuine passion for people. You never felt like just
another pew-sitter or name on the church roll in his presence. He made you feel
like a long lost friend. Someone he cared deeply about. Never once had he made
me feel like I was taking his time. Never once had he rushed me out the door
for another appointment. I wasn’t sure how he did it, with such a large
congregation. I only knew it came very natural for him. I guess that’s what it
meant to be “called” to the ministry.

We talked
through some other issues, including my still-shaky matter of trusting men. I
talked a good talk, but apparently Dr. Love saw right through me.

“At some point
you will be able to accept the fact that your sailor’s deceit was an isolated
case. Not every young man on the planet is a con artist or heart breaker. I
understand that you may still need more time to believe that here,” he said,
thumping his heart. “But the day will come. Hopefully sooner than later.”

“I’m scared, Dr.
Love.” I looked up into his eyes. “Actually, that’s not completely truthful. I’m
positively
terrified
to take a chance on falling in love again.”

“Doesn’t
surprise me in the least,” he said. “In fact, I’d be more surprised if you―”
He paused, then coughed, whipping out a handkerchief to cover his mouth. I’d
noticed he seemed short of breath, but then, he was a little on the heavy side.
Everyone knew Dr. Love had a passion for good food. He was solid, built like a
barrel with a broad waistline. And then there was that nasty cigar habit.

Still, I couldn’t
help be concerned. “Are you okay?”

He waved me off.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Just a little cough. Where was I?” He stuffed his
handkerchief back in the pocket of his slacks. “Oh, yes. Trusting again. You
know the good Lord had a lot to say about trust. Might be a good idea to dig
into your Bible and let Him remind you just how trustworthy He is.”

“It isn’t God I
have trouble trusting.”

“No, but trust
begins with Him.”

I thought about
that for a moment. I knew it was almost time to go. “Dr. Love, did you ever
have your heart broken?”

He blinked at my
question, then smiled. “Oh, of course I did.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I most
surely did.” He paused again, as if debating what to say. Then quietly he said,
“Her name was Magnolia Witherspoon.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s
a name you don’t forget.”

“Oh, I’ll never
forget Maggie. She was the belle of the south. Prettiest little thing you ever
saw. And I was so in love with her, I could hardly function.”

I smiled, trying
to envision a younger version of J. Thomas Love courting a young debutante. “What
happened?”

His gaze was far
off. “I proposed to her the night before I left for England. I was stationed
there during the war. A chaplain with our boys in the Eighth Air Force. We made
plans to marry when I was home on my next leave. The last letter I had from
her, she was busy with wedding plans and dress fittings and what not.”

I waited, anxious
to hear more.

“Then the
letters stopped coming. Not one more . . .” He stared somewhere
over my shoulder, lost in his thoughts. “And I was preoccupied with the troops
under my care. We’d sustained heavy losses. My heart was so heavy for the young
men I served. So many of them not even 20 years old yet, either killed in
action or missing. It was a terrible time.

“When I was
finally able to come home on leave, I was desperate to see Maggie. That’s when
I found out why the letters had stopped.” He looked at me, his eyes misting
over.

“Why?” I
whispered.

He clenched his
jaw, looked down, then continued. “My brother. You see, in my absence, she’d
fallen in love with my brother.”

“But—”

“Oh, they didn’t
mean for it to happen. He was 4-F. Had a bad leg from an old football injury.
So he stayed home during the war, helping in the family business. He’d promised
to keep an eye on her for me while I was away.” He looked straight at me with a
sad smile. “Apparently he did a pretty good job of it.”

“I’m so sorry,”
I said, not knowing what else to say. “How horrible.”

“Yes, well, it’s
made for some awkward moments through the years. But they eventually moved to
Alaska. I haven’t seen them in 20 years, to be honest. Probably just as well.”

“How did you get
over it? Not just her, but your brother. How could you even be in the same room
with them? How could you ever trust anyone again?”

“Shelby, that’s
what I’m trying to tell you. God’s ways are not always our ways. I eventually
learned that the good Lord allowed that whole mess to happen for a lot of
reasons. Not the least of which was because He had someone else picked out for
me.”

“Elsie?”

He smiled again.
“My Elsie has brought the greatest joy to my life. She’s the best thing that
ever happened to me, and I mean that with all my heart. She’s a wonderful mother,
she loves being a part of my ministry, and she makes me laugh. Oh, my goodness,
how she makes me laugh! And there isn’t a day goes by that I don’t thank God
for breaking my heart with Maggie and instead bringing Elsie into my life.”

“How do you know
you wouldn’t have been just as happy with Maggie? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Because in the
end, that pretty little debutante struggled with all the attention her beauty
brought to her. She’s remained married to my brother, but she’s broken his
heart over and over, finding it all too tempting to ignore the attention men
have always given her. She’s had at least three affairs over the years. And
those are only the ones he knows about.”

I felt like crying.
Why did life have to be so messy? Why did people have to be so unfaithful? So
heartless to those who love them?

“I would never
have wished such a life for my brother,” he continued. “And yet he’s never seen
a need for God in his life—even in the midst of all the drama he’s experienced
in his marriage. He always thought of me as quite the fool for going into
ministry. I’m not saying God’s punished him through Maggie’s infidelities, but
he’s clearly been out from under God’s hedge of protection. Whereas I, on the
other hand, have been blessed beyond measure with the sweetest, most faithful
woman I’ve ever known. Like I said, God moves in mysterious ways.”