Changing Her Heart (11 page)

Randy smiled hesitantly. “Yeah, I guess so.” They both turned, still hand in hand, and facing the lagoon, watched the ducks together.

“You know,” Randy said, “I should get a picture of this. I don't know if I've ever seen a mated pair like that together, just the two of them, and been so close. In a way, it's kind of romantic.”

“R-romantic?” Lacey stammered. “They're ducks….”

“I know geese mate for life. I think swans do, too. I'm not sure about ducks. I think some do. I'll have to look it up on the Internet when I get home tonight.” Randy pulled his hand away, and immediately Lacey felt the loss. Randy unclipped his phone from his belt and walked to the water's edge. Lacey followed him.

He turned his head and grinned at her. “Watch. This is how it's done.” He showed her the sequence of buttons to push to take the picture, then handed the phone to her.

Following his instructions, she took the first picture she'd taken in more years than she could remember.

She couldn't help but smile. “Maybe it's time I bought a camera. But I mean a real camera, not a phone disguised as a camera.”

Randy smiled as he studied the small screen. “For a phone, it still takes fairly good pictures. I just got a great idea.” He pulled a slice of bread out of the bag, laid the bag on the ground and stepped beside her. “I'm going to feed them. Press this button right here when they take it out of my hand. This model does a streaming video, but it only goes for fifteen seconds, so don't start too soon. Or you can just press it real fast when you want to take a picture. Then it will take only a couple of frames at a time, and I can use those for single photos.”

Lacey stepped back and positioned the phone so she could watch Randy and the ducks on the view-screen at the same time, but the ducks didn't move closer. Instead, they only started to float away. “I can get you and the ducks in the same picture, but from here, they're only little dots.”

Randy stepped forward until the tips of his shoes were nearly in the water. He leaned forward and extended his arm as far as he could, holding out the piece of bread. “Maybe they'll come back,” he muttered.

Lacey stepped back and took one picture that included both Randy and the ducks. “It's okay. I'm sure you'll remember that those dots are the ducks.”

Randy straightened. “Wait. I'm going to try something. I need to get closer.” Cautiously Randy stepped onto one of the large rocks protruding from the water.

“What are you doing?!” Lacey gasped.

He stepped onto the next rock, then slowly, balancing on his toes, turned to face her. “I said, I'm going in closer. They're starting to move away. If this works, it will be great. There's a demo printer at the store that prints photo-quality pictures. For a while I thought about buying one, but that would tempt me to print every picture I took, so I've been storing all my photos on CD's. With a picture like this, especially out of the phone, which isn't as good as my digital camera, I can see how good the printer works because this will be a real shot, not something doctored up from the demo package.”

Lacey shook her head. In a skewed way, she not only followed what he'd just said, she agreed with his logic. It was a scary concept.

He stepped out farther and farther onto the rock, then turned around, looking down as the ducks swam closer to him, probably wondering what a human was doing in the middle of their pond. Slowly Randy bent down until he was squatting. He tore a piece off the slice of bread and held it out.

Lacey shuddered. “Aren't you afraid they're going to bite you?” she called out from her safe position on
the shoreline. “They may be used to people, but they're still wild animals.”

“They're just ducks, not mountain lions. Shh. Here they come.”

Time dragged in slow motion as the ducks slowly approached Randy as he remained motionless on the rock, the piece of bread extended at arm's length.

Lacey felt she should start taking pictures, but she wanted to get the best one, which would be of a duck actually taking the bread from Randy's hand.

“You should see what this looks like,” she said softly as she concentrated on the viewfinder. “It looks like you're standing on the water.”

“It almost feels like I am,” he said softly, but not softly enough. The ducks stopped their approach. Just in case they didn't come any closer, Lacey pushed the button for her second picture of the day.

“Here, ducky ducky,” Randy whispered melodically, reaching farther over the water with the piece of bread. “I have a yummy snack for you.”

Lacey pressed the button, meaning to take a few frames, but suddenly the male duck spread its wings, causing the female duck to do the same. With the unexpected movement, Randy jerked back.

Lacey's finger froze on the button as the ducks flapped their wings, beginning the sequence to take flight. At the same time, Randy flailed his arms, but
he wasn't getting ready to fly—he was attempting to regain his balance.

The piece of bread flew up into the air as Randy continued to fail his arms. He started to straighten, then extended one leg to hop back onto the larger rock in an attempt to get more solid footing. He jumped, but with all his movement, instead of landing firm, his shoe slid forward and he toppled backward.

The ducks rose above the surface of the water just as the splash resounded below.

R
andy sputtered as he rose out of the cold water. His clothes stuck to his skin, his hair was plastered down over his head and water streamed down his face, causing him to shudder.

“Randy! Randy!” Lacey screamed from the safe, dry shoreline, her arms waving in the air. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he called out. No, he thought.

He'd done a lot of stupid things in his life, but it had been a long time since he'd done something
this
stupid.

This was even worse than when he had to buy Carol a new pair of panty hose. And that had been in front of Lacey, too.

He didn't know what lesson God was trying to teach him. He couldn't remember praying for pa
tience, or humility, but he was receiving big lessons in both.

He stared at Lacey in silence. She quieted, lowered her arms and stared back.

Neither of them moved until a gust of wind blowing over the water caused Randy to shiver. He gathered his composure and began to make his way back to the shore, wading through the thigh-deep water.

The closer he got to the shore, with the water becoming increasingly shallow, the more it sloshed and splashed around him.

When he reached dry ground, he stood before Lacey. Her eyes were wider than he'd ever seen. She held his cell phone at her side with one hand, and raised her other hand to cover her mouth, which was gaping open.

“That was fun,” he grumbled sarcastically.

“Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?” she asked, her voice muffled from behind her hand.

“Nothing's hurt except my pride.” Not to mention any last semblance of dignity. “I hope you at least got some good pictures.”

“They were just ducky,” she said as she lowered her hand.

Randy stiffened and stared at her. “Ducky?” Another drip of water ran down his face. “Oh, har dee har.”

Lacey snickered.

Randy watched as she thought about her own
words, and it seemed that the more she thought about it, the funnier they became, because she suddenly burst out laughing.

She lowered her voice. “The photos are just ducky, luv,” she said in a very bad fake British accent. As soon as she finished her poor rendition, she started laughing again.

Randy didn't laugh. Instead, he shivered. “I might laugh about this tomorrow, but right now I'm really cold.” He sniffled, then pushed back his wet hair off his face. “And I don't know what's in that water, but I don't smell too good, either.”

Her laughter suddenly faded into a gasp. “I almost forgot! You have a church service to go to! We have to hurry and get you back home!”

He raised his wrist, looked at his watch, with its now-blank digital window. He tapped it, although he knew it wouldn't make any difference. He looked down at his soggy clothes and pulled his dripping keys out of his pocket, along with his drenched wallet. “Maybe you should drive,” he mumbled, then shoved his wallet back into his pocket and handed her the keys.

She held out the phone, but then stopped before he touched it, and stared at his dripping clothes. “I think I'd better keep this for a while,” she said as she dropped the phone into her purse. “Let's go.”

While they walked back to the car, Randy listened politely without really responding as Lacey talked
about the scenery, the path, the traffic, even how much she enjoyed the hot dog. She talked about everything except ducks, which Randy greatly appreciated. It was going to be a long time before he wanted to see another duck.

Besides the annoying squelching sound as he walked, the disgusting feel of soaked socks and the water that seeped between his toes at every step, he wondered if the sensation of the extra weight was similar to what Bob complained about when he talked about what it was like to wear heavy, steel-toed safety boots all day long.

By the time they got back to the car, Randy couldn't stop his teeth from chattering, and nothing he could think about could distract him from how uncomfortable he was in his wet clothes. Worse than how he felt, he didn't want to think of what he looked like. His clothes were sticking to him in some places and hanging in baggy lumps in others. After being completely submerged, he didn't want to think of what had happened to his hair.

The electronic switch to unlock the door wouldn't work after being submerged, so Lacey had to insert the key and turn it.

“Do you have a blanket or towel or anything in the car? Or better yet, a plastic bag?”

“I don't know.” Randy tried to control the chattering of his teeth long enough to answer.

At his words, Lacey turned to him suddenly. Randy didn't move as she raised her hands and pressed her palms to his cheeks. “Oh! You're freezing! You should take off all that wet stuff.”

He shook his head. “No. It's not that bad.” A sudden chill racked his body from head to toe, completely negating his words.

Lacey shrugged out of her sweater. “Quit trying to be brave. Take off your shirt and put this on. Or at least wrap it around you. You might look a little silly, and I can't do anything about your jeans, but this is better than nothing.”

While he peeled his shirt off and wrapped Lacey's purple sweater around his shoulders, Lacey rummaged through his car until she found a plastic bag he'd used for garbage and shoved under the seat and forgotten to throw out. She emptied the garbage into a receptacle, and spread the bag on the passenger seat. “Sit on that. It will save your upholstery. Hurry up. We might still be able to make it on time.”

Randy complied, but he felt like a complete misfit all the way home. From the car, through the underground parking and into the lobby, he trailed little dribbles of water behind him. Lacey insisted he stand on the plastic bag in the elevator, but he still left a trail of dribbles on the carpet from the elevator to his apartment door. By the time Lacey caught up to him with the plastic bag, he was already inside his apart
ment. He ran straight to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

“The service starts in twenty-one minutes!” Lacey called out through the door.

Instead of responding with a comment, Randy jumped into the hot shower. As tempting as it was to stay in the warmth, he was out in three minutes. He tugged on the first clothes he touched, pushed his hair back, and ran back out the door with Lacey right behind him.

They ran into the church at eight minutes to the hour.

“Where were you?” Paul asked. “I called your place and there was no answer. I tried your cell, but I only got your voice mail. I almost…” Paul's voice trailed off.

“I didn't hear the phone because I wasn't wearing it and I had it set to vibrate.”

Someone, probably Celeste, gasped, knowing that he never did anything without his cell phone on his belt. The only time he wasn't wearing it was when he was home, in bed, and everyone knew it.

“Your hair is wet. What were you doing?” Paul immediately looked to Lacey's hair, which was of course perfectly dry, then looked at Randy's clothes, which were not the same he'd worn that morning to the early service.

Randy gritted his teeth. “I hope you're not think
ing what I think you're thinking,” Randy grumbled, “because if you are, you're wrong. Everybody's honor is fully intact. Now if you'll excuse me.”

He stomped off to the sound room and set the controls as best he could while his friends finished practicing the last song they would be playing for the service.

Lacey's footsteps echoed up the stairs behind him.

“Do you want to go pray with your friends before the service starts? I'll be okay to stay here.”

He really didn't want to, but he knew this was a time that he really should.

“Yeah. Thanks,” he mumbled as he left the sound room.

As usual, as soon as he got there everyone stood, forming a circle. They joined hands and closed their eyes to pray.

“Dear Lord,” Paul began, “please bless our time together as a team, to help the people gathered here to focus on praising You tonight.” Paul paused, waiting for everyone to take a turn.

“Thank You for bringing us all together once again,” Adrian said softly. “And thank You for bringing Randy back safely to us.”

Randy suddenly felt all choked up. Adrian knew more than any of them how much Randy hated being late for anything, and it didn't surprise Randy that Adrian would have been worried about him, espe
cially when he didn't answer his cell phone when Paul tried to call.

Celeste's soft voice came next. “Thank You for Randy's ministry here, for bringing his, uh, friend, Lacey. I also pray that Lacey's brother-in-law's mind and heart will be open to seek You and discover Your forgiveness and blessings.”

Randy nodded silently. It didn't surprise him that Celeste would be praying for Eric. Celeste was the only one besides himself who knew what that side of life could really be like, not the party-hearty escapades, but the anguish and bitter trap that lay beneath what the rest of the world saw.

Bob squeezed his hand. “I know this is changing the subject, but I really feel like praying for Randy. Dear Lord, I think Randy needs Your help and guidance right now. Please point him in the right direction, and show him plainly where You want him to go and what You want him to do.”

Randy's head spun. He hadn't told anyone, but Bob didn't need to be told that Randy's life was off center. As his best friend, Bob could tell, probably even before Randy had figured it out.

“Lord God, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm on autopilot. I came here to praise and worship You, but I feel like I've lost my focus. Even at work, I can only count how many minutes until it's time to go home. I must be getting
fat, because all I can think of is how soon it's going to be until the next suppertime. My computer isn't even as much fun as it used to be, and I'm finding it hard to concentrate on stuff.” He gulped.

Everyone's eyes opened, and everyone stared at him.

He turned and looked into the olive-green eyes of his best friend.

“Well,” Bob said. “It's finally happened. I think Randy is in love.”

Randy felt himself sway. He almost had to struggle to keep himself upright on his feet. He didn't want to entertain the possibility, but Bob's words confirmed what he feared. He'd felt it when he rose out of the water, watching Lacey screaming and waving her arms, frightened for him. As soon as she saw he hadn't drowned, his life swirled into a time warp—time had stood still, except for the pounding of his heart, as they stared at each other, Lacey on the shore, and him nearly up to his waist in the water. His life changed in that one instant. Coming up out of the water and seeing Lacey's face washed away all the reasons he'd used to enclose himself in a fishbowl of his own making.

He loved Lacey. He'd probably loved her from the first moment he met her, and he would always love her.

“It's about time,” Bob said. “Go get 'er, tiger.”

Paul smiled. “And the people said…”

“Amen!” everyone chorused, except Randy, and they all left the small room, leaving him all alone.

Randy stared at the whiteboard, where the Sunday school teacher who used that room had written a verse.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven, Ecclesiastes 3:1.”

He didn't have the whole section memorized, but the theme roared through his mind, with one section of one verse resounding like a chorus of trumpets in his brain—“a time to love.”

He could take a hint, especially when God smacked him upside the head with it.

It was time to get serious with Lacey, and it was time to show her that he was the man she could love as her partner for the rest of her life, because he certainly loved her and wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.

But for now, he had a church service to attend, and it was time to get behind the scenes and serve his Lord the best way he knew how.

When he slid back into his chair in the sound room, Lacey was counting the effects buttons. “How do you keep track of all this?” she asked, her finger hovering over the last one.

If it were anyone else besides Lacey, he would have given that person a long, complicated technical
explanation, knowing they didn't understand, just to impress them.

He smiled at Lacey's perplexed expression. “Experience. It's just what I like to do.”

Slowly he showed her the basics, and then let her refine a few of the settings as his friends played. “You're a quick learner. You haven't given yourself enough credit. I remember that Bryce said you were afraid of computers, but that's not true. You're just inexperienced, and inexperience can be fixed.”

Her cheeks darkened. “Quite honestly, I've been thinking of buying a computer lately.”

His smile widened. “I happen to know just the salesman who can help you get the best one. And I bet he'll even throw in some free tech support.”

Her cheeks darkened even more.

The pastor didn't use the PowerPoint displays for the evening service, so at the end of the worship time Randy escorted Lacey down the stairs, but they didn't join his friends. Instead, they sat by themselves, just the two of them. As he listened to the pastor's informal, evening-style sermon, Randy knew that this was how he wanted to spend the rest of his life—with his friends nearby and Lacey at his side.

After the service was over and the crowds mingled and socialized, he shared the last doughnut with Lacey, ignoring Adrian's raised eyebrows as he did so.

He didn't want to hang around, but because
Lacey's car was in the parking lot, she would be going straight home, alone, afterward. Therefore, Randy drew out every moment as long as he could.

He was proud of Lacey as she helped his friends pile all their equipment into the storage room.

Because it took longest to take down the drums, Bob and George were the last ones out of the building, except for Randy and Lacey, and Pastor Ron.