Coming Attractions (34 page)

Christy grinned. “For one thing, I’m pretty sure your appetite would come back.”

“And you’re saying Eli and I would go live with the giraffes and lions and end up happily ever after.” Katie could hear the
quiver in her voice.

Todd and Christy looked at each other with soft smiles.

“It can happen,” Todd said.

Katie felt like a hundred kernels of popcorn were going off inside her head. “I can’t believe you guys are telling me it’s
okay to just pack my bags — ”

“Your bags already are packed,” Christy interrupted.

“ — and buy a one-way ticket for Kenya tomorrow.”

“Why not?” Todd asked. “Wonders of the modern world. You can buy a plane ticket to anywhere right from the comfort of our
apartment. And if you don’t have enough to cover the cost of the ticket, Christy and I will help you out, won’t we?”

“I think she has enough.” Christy kept her blue green laser beam fixed on Katie. “She has enough of everything she needs to
make this decision, including all her immunizations and malaria pills. As a matter of fact, I think you made this decision
awhile ago, Katie. You’ve just been waiting for someone like us to give you a little kick out the door.”

The room went still. Katie didn’t look away from Todd and Christy.

Todd’s calm voice rode across the silence. “Katie, what are you afraid of?”

A little covey of tears clouded her vision. “I invested so much in Rick. So many years. So many emotions. So much of myself.
It seems I should wait longer. Not be vulnerable again so soon. It would be safer to wait, don’t you think? It’s better if
I hold off and not get emotionally connected to anyone. Especially not to someone on the other side of the world. It’s too
much, too soon, too far.”

“It hurts when you fall off a cloud,” Todd said. “Even if you jumped off. We all understand that. So does that mean you’re
going to lie on the ground and play dead?”

Katie thought about the dove tumbling from its floral cage yesterday and lying without moving on the grass.

“No.” Katie’s voice was barely a whisper. Then again, with more certainty, as if her soul was starting to flutter upward,
she emphatically said, “No!”

“Then do it, Katie.” Christy’s eyes sparkled. “Get on that plane tomorrow and see what God has for you and Eli together in
Africa. You can always come home. We’ll be here for you. But if you don’t take this chance now, you might miss the next surprising
God-thing he has waiting for you.”

Katie and Christy exchanged a deep-hearted expression of understanding.

“Okay.”

As soon as Katie spoke the golden word, Todd stood up. “Okay,” he repeated matter-of-factly. He opened the laptop sitting
on the kitchen table. “Eli’s flight goes out of San Diego at 6:30 tomorrow morning.”

“How do you know that? Are you giving him a ride?”

“No. Eli gave his car to Joseph. I heard them talking about what time Joseph needed to pick him up. I also heard Eli say he
had a layover in London. All we have to do is find a 6:30 flight to Nairobi out of San Diego that connects in London and see
if God saved you a seat.”

“Start sorting out your things,” Christy said. “We’ll keep what you don’t need here in our storage closet. If you want any
extra toothpaste or shampoo, you can take whatever I have.”

Katie set to work packing once again, this time simplifying her life down to what she could fit in one large duffle bag and
a carry-on tote. Todd found the flight that matched the criteria and booked Katie a window seat.

“Or would you prefer aisle?”

“I don’t care. I can’t believe we’re doing this. The two of you are accomplices, you know. If this whole thing blows up, you’ll
have to admit your involvement. Could get messy.”

“Love tends to be messy,” Todd said.

“And inconvenient,” Katie added, remembering what Eli had said at Strawberry Peak Lookout. “Do you guys really think this
is love? Do you think I’m in love with Eli, and I just haven’t admitted it to myself?”

“Whatever it is, you’ll have lots of time to figure it out on your way there. Your flight is twenty-seven hours,” Todd responded.

“With a four-hour layover in London,” Christy added. “Do you want to take a shower?”

“In London?”

“No, now. It’s 1:45 in the morning. If you’re supposed to be at the airport two hours before departure for international flights
and if it takes us an hour to drive to the airport, that means we should leave in an hour.”

Katie dashed through a shower. She put on her most comfortable traveling clothes and snagged a bar of soap from under the
sink. Pulling together some important papers from her portable file, Katie called out, “Chris, do you have a dollar?”

“I think so. Aren’t you going to need more cash than that?” Christy opened her wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill
and some ones.

“All I need is a dollar. Now, can you sign this and mail it for me?”

“What is it?”

“The pink slip on Clover.”

“Clover?”

“My car. I just sold her to you for a dollar. Sign here, and she’s yours.”

“Katie!”

“Don’t make a scene, Mrs. Spencer. What am I going to do with a car? You need one, I don’t. You just bought it.”

Christy and Todd thanked Katie way more than was necessary.

“If this blows up on me, I may buy it back from you for a dollar. Oh, and tell your landlord I withdraw my rental application.
Shred the check for me too, will you?”

After pulling together a few more loose ends, the three of them rolled down the freeway at three o’clock in the morning. The
hazy half-moon slipped behind a rolled-up fist of clouds, and Katie bit her lower lip.

“Tell me again why this is a good idea?”

Christy said. “As soon as Eli sees you, you’ll know.”

Todd and Christy went into the airport with her and escorted her as far as they could through check-in. Eli wasn’t anywhere
to be seen.

“I’m not boarding the plane if he’s not on it,” Katie said.

“He could be running late,” Todd suggested.

“Or he could already be through security and at the gate,” Christy said. “You should go on through security, Katie. You have
your phone; mine is on. We’ll wait out here, and if he’s not there by the time the plane boards, then don’t get on. Call us,
and we’ll figure something out.”

“Okay. Well, ’bye.” The lump in Katie’s throat was too big to swallow as she realized she was saying good-bye to her friends
for a very long time.

Christy’s eyes brimmed with tears, but her confident grin was still in place as she hugged Katie. Todd placed his large hand
on Katie’s perspiring forehead and blessed her. “Katie, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to
shine upon you and give you his peace. And may you always love Jesus first, above all else.”

With a barely whispered, “Thank you,” Katie entered the security line. As soon as she was through security, she hurried to
the gate, watching for Eli. She had no idea what she was going to say to him when she did see him. If she did see him.

This is crazy.

Arriving at the gate out of breath, Katie checked every passenger seated in the waiting area. No Eli. She walked over to the
adjoining waiting area. No Eli.

What if Todd had the wrong day? Or the wrong airport? What if the flight is really at 6:30 tonight? This has to be the most
on-a-whim thing I’ve ever done during my entire career as a peculiar treasure. So what happens to my luggage if I don’t board
the plane? Does it go to Nairobi without me?

The stampeding buffalos were demolishing what she had left of her empty digestive track.

Just then her cell rang. She scrambled to answer.

“He’s here,” Christy whispered. “We just saw him get dropped off at the curb. We’re hiding behind a pillar so he can’t see
us. He’s checking his luggage right now with a skycap. He’s wearing a brown jacket and a baseball cap.”

Katie didn’t know if she should stay there and wait or retrace her steps back toward security to meet him there. “What should
I do: Stay or go back to security?”

Todd’s voice came on the line. “Meet him halfway, Isaac and Rebekah style. Every working relationship is between two people
who are willing to meet each other halfway. Go!”

Katie snatched up her bag, picked up her pace, and ran back toward security. She felt like the woman in Song of Solomon who
ran through the streets trying to find her beloved.

Her stomach hurt. She couldn’t breathe. Slowing her pace, she drew in a breath, and then she saw him. He was picking up his
carry-on from the security scanner and wiggling his right foot into his shoe.

Eli!

She stopped right where she was and waited, her heart pounding like an African drum.

Eli looped his backpack over one arm and lifted his carry-on with the other. He held his boarding pass in his right hand and
stopped at the electronic schedule board, checking his pass and then checking the board once again.

He was only ten feet away. Katie waited for him to see her.

Turning away from the board, Eli walked three steps before looking up. That’s when he saw Katie right there in front of him.
He blinked as if she were a dream. Then he dropped his luggage.

“You’re here!”

“I’m here.”

“Why?”

“I’m…”

“You’re coming to Nairobi, aren’t you?” Eli’s face lit up.

“That’s what my ticket says.”

“When? When did you…”

“Last night. This morning. A few hours ago. I don’t know. Todd and Christy made me.”

Eli’s stunned expression relaxed into a grin. “Did you tell my parents you’re coming?”

“No. I should have emailed your dad, but everything happened so fast.”

Eli reached over and smoothed the back of his fingers across Katie’s cheek. “It’s okay. It doesn’t matter. I think they know.”

“How?”

“My mother told me you might be coming.”

“Your mom? How did she know?”

Eli dipped his chin and looked at Katie with one of his rich, mesmerizing looks. “My mother is a praying woman.”

Katie felt her eyes tear up. Everything inside told her this was right. This was true. A place had been prepared for her even
before she realized it. Even while she was being obstinate and fearful. All the hesitancy was gone. Katie knew she was right
where she was supposed to be, doing what she was supposed to be doing.

Her stomach rumbled, and she knew her appetite was back. So was her deep and humble amazement of God and his intricate design
for her life. Love had come to her on its own schedule, and it had been inconvenient and organic. She had every reason to
believe this was very real.

Releasing her breath, Katie took one step back. She lifted her arm and opened her hand. With her gaze fixed on Eli, she tapped
the palm of her open hand against her heart three times.

Eli’s expression made it clear he had received the message. He reached for her, took her face in his strong hands, and looked
into her eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Then I’m going to kiss you.”

And he did.

Eli kissed Katie with all the astonished tenderness of a man whose prayers have just been answered.

Katie received his kiss, feeling as if a magnificent dawn were rising inside her as vivid and transforming as the mountain
sunrise they had experienced together. The darkness was gone. She could see wide-open possibilities ahead of them.

This man was a warrior. A prayer warrior.

He pressed his forehead against hers and then pulled back far enough to look her in the eye. What Katie read in his gaze was
deep and mysterious, like a midnight meteor shower, shining with tiny shivers of light.

Eli took her hand in his and led the way to the departure gate.

Katie knew right then and there that the Author and Finisher of her life story was about to start a new chapter in the book
of her days. This chapter would be filled with everything she had dreamed of — adventure, mystery, hope, and love. Yes, most
definitely love.

She gave Eli’s hand a squeeze. “I guess this means we’re going together.”

Eli grinned. “Yes, we are. We’re going together. And you know what that means, don’t you?”

Katie remembered the African saying Eli had spoken to her in the cafeteria. “It means we’ll go far.”

As soon as she spoke the words, Katie was aware of the sweet sense of peace that had been weaving back and forth between them.
And that’s when she knew. God’s Spirit was doing his work. He was knitting their hearts together.

At last.

Dear Peculiar Treasure,

Okay, so I know Katie isn’t a real person.

But I felt so close to her as I was writing this story that I woke up several mornings realizing I’d been dreaming about her.
When I wrote the last few pages, I cried because I felt so happy for her. At last the door of opportunity she had been waiting
for ever since she first appeared at the sleepover in the second Christy Miller book had swung wide open.

What will happen to Katie now? I don’t know. To be honest, I never know what will happen when I start a book. That’s one of
the ways I’ve always felt connected to Katie and the rest of the gang. The possibilities are endless. The next step is always
a surprise. God keeps us wondering about what the next “coming attraction” will be. And that’s one of the many reasons I love
him so much. What an adventure!

With each of the Katie books a portion of the sales has gone to ministries. This time the ministry is Media Associates International
(www.littworld.org). MAI is committed to training writers and publishers in difficult places in the world. As you might guess, one of the locations
for MAI training is in, yes, Nairobi, Kenya. Lord willing, I’ll be at the next training session, and you can be sure I’ll
catch myself looking around for Katie and Eli.

What are the “coming attractions” God has just around the corner for you? Be assured that you have been set free to soar.
I love the way this thought is expressed in Isaiah 44:21b–22 “I, the Lord, made you, and I will not forget to help you. I
have swept away your sins like the morning mists. I have scattered your offenses like the clouds. Oh, return to me, for I
have paid the price to set you free” (NLT).