Coming Attractions (6 page)

Her choices were limited though. Jeans or jeans. A white blouse that needed to be ironed or a black V-neck sweater. The sweater
won the selection challenge, even though it was a warm afternoon. She pushed up the sleeves, then lifted the sweater and squirted
her stomach with a spritz of kiwi-coconut-lime body spray just in case she did perspire to death. At least she would smell
slightly fruity in the meltdown.

Smoothing her sweater back into place, Katie noticed a string hanging from the side. She gave the wayward strand a tug, and
a half-inch hole appeared.

“Oh, brother! You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She pulled off the sweater to examine the damage, and the yarn continued to unravel. Frustrated, she grabbed her phone and
called Nicole.

“I’m desperate. Please tell me I can borrow anything in your closet.”

“Of course you can. Help yourself to the shoes and jewelry too. Whatever you want.”

“You are a peach. And a lifesaver. Thanks, Nicole. Tell Rick I’m almost ready.”

“I will. Don’t rush. He’s catching me up on all the details with the café.”

Katie rushed anyway. She used the master key to gain entrance into Nicole’s room and skimmed through the beautiful, clean,
hungup assortment of tops in Nicole’s orderly closet. After trying on two different tops, she decided on the first one.

Right before dashing back to her room, Katie spotted a pair of stylish black shoes. Nicole had said to borrow shoes as well.
Katie tried them on and thought they looked great with her jeans. Viewing herself from several angles in Nicole’s full-length
mirror, Katie thought it was about the cutest combo she had put together all semester. She definitely needed to go clothes
shopping with Nicole as personal consultant.

With the shoes in her hand, Katie hurried back to her room and finished getting ready. Her hair didn’t need too much tweaking.
She shook it twice and let the silky red strands land in their usual happy-go-lucky tumble. Makeup would be a nice touch.
She untwisted the top of her mascara tube and thought,
When was the last time I opened this?

Her eyes fell on a green stone necklace that had been curled up on the corner of her dresser top for as long as the mascara
had been sitting beside it twisted shut. Rick gave her the necklace months ago. She wasn’t exactly sure why. He said he saw
it when he was in Arizona and the color reminded him of her eyes.
Green, yet changing in the light.
Or something like that. Katie had never been one to wear much jewelry. Tonight, though, she was glad she noticed the necklace.
Rick would like that she wore it.

Katie slipped on the black heels and took one last look in the mirror before dashing down the hall. That’s when she realized
going fast in Nicole’s shoes was a challenge. A lady didn’t dash in such heels. She had to take it slow. No matter. Rick said
he wasn’t going anywhere. He said he would be waiting for her.

M
aking her grand entrance into Crown Hall’s lobby, Katie wasn’t surprised to see that Rick was on his cell phone and had stretched
out on one of the couches. He spent a lot of time on his phone. His head was turned the other way, so he didn’t notice her
arrival.

Katie casually seated herself on the sofa’s arm at the opposite end and waited for him to notice.

Rick turned toward her, and when he did, it happened.

Katie got the look she had longed to receive from Rick — the crinkles-in-the-corners-of-the-eyes look that made his lips turn
up in a smile and made it clear that he saw — really saw — her.

Katie wanted to mark this moment. She had waited for this since junior high. She was pretty sure Rick Doyle at long last realized
he was in love with her. It finally, truly had happened. She saw it in his eyes. She saw it in his expression. Never again
would she question if his heart was turned toward her.

It was. She knew.

Rick immediately ended the call, closed his phone, and took a long look at Katie. All he said was, “Hi.”

Katie loved that “hi” was the only word to come out of his mouth.

She responded with an equally small, “Hi.”

Rick took her hand in his. “You look gorgeous.”

“Thanks. It’s Nicole’s top. Did she tell you I called a little while ago in desperation?”

“No. Hey, come here.” He made room for her beside him on the couch. Katie slid in, under his waiting arm. He wrapped both
arms around her and drew her close.

“I’ve missed you.”

“Not as much as I’ve missed you.”

Rick kissed the tip of her nose. She cuddled up next to him, not comfortable with the thought of his kissing her a lot here
in the dorm lobby. Not that she didn’t want him to kiss her. A lot. But she had the feeling that people were watching, and
her and Rick’s expressions of affection were a private thing.

“So where do you want to go to eat?” Katie hoped to steer the conversation down another path for now.

Rick kissed her again, this time on the side of her head. He leaned his head down and with his free hand, tilted Katie’s chin
up toward him so he could kiss her on the lips. She eagerly received his kiss, but still had the funny feeling that other
students might be watching them.

Rick kissed her one more time on the lips. This time with firm intention. He pulled away slightly and whispered, “Did I tell
you how much I’ve missed you?”

“Yeah, you did.” Katie was surprised that she felt a bit agitated by his persistent attention. Hadn’t they already gone over
that they had missed each other? Why was he so set on being cuddly and kissy now? Did her spiffed-up appearance affect him
that much?

Rick’s arm remained around Katie’s shoulder. He pulled her closer. “I’ve missed holding you like this. I’ve missed being with
you. You smell really good.” He kissed her again.

Now Katie definitely was uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to Rick’s responding to her like this and pressing forward with his
expressions of affection. Katie knew that Rick was a “lover-boy,” just as she knew he was a smooth talker. Their relationship,
for the most part, in the past long months had been more on the playful, cuddly side. They had held off on even kissing each
other until after they had been dating officially for almost a year. They had never had a make-out session, but Katie suspected
that was where they would be heading if they were alone right now.

She received another kiss from him before pulling back and giving him a smile instead of a kiss. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he echoed.

“We should decide what we’re going to do tonight. Do you know where you want to eat?”

“Anywhere. You pick.”

The next few hours were a continuation of the Katie-Rick teeter-totter relationship tipping in Katie’s direction. That too
wasn’t normal.

Katie went with the power suddenly given to her, as if she were the one with the remote control and no one was complaining
about her choices. That never happened.

She chose where they went to dinner — a not-so-high-class Italian restaurant — and where they went next for dessert — a chain
ice-cream shop — and what music they listened to in Rick’s car as they headed back to Rancho. All evening Katie kept the conversation
running with details of what had been happening in the dorm and in her classes. Usually Rick was the one with all the news
on his cafés. Tonight he kept saying, “What else has been happening?” and “You have no idea how cute you look when you talk
fast like that.”

For Katie, all the focused attention felt wonderful in an alternate-universe sort of way. This just wasn’t the way things
usually were with Rick.

Is this what it feels like for Rick to be truly in love with me?

Katie felt a strange nervousness at the thought. Convincing Rick to decide he was crazy about her had been a goal for almost
half her life. But what happens when such a long-term goal is achieved?

At Katie’s suggestion, Rick drove to upper campus. He parked his new car and told Katie to wait. She stayed in the passenger’s
seat while Rick hustled around and opened her door, offering his hand as she exited. The black heels she had borrowed from
Nicole made her footing wobbly on the gravel.

“I have new sympathy for Cinderella. I can see how she lost her shoe.” Katie reached for Rick’s arm as she tried to steady
her steps. “Actually, Cinderella isn’t alone on the shoe loss thing. I stumbled out of my shoe in this parking lot last May
at Todd and Christy’s wedding, remember?”

“No. When did you lose your shoe?” Rick wrapped his arm around her, steadying her steps.

“When I was running after the limo. Right after I found out about the prank you and Doug played on Christy and Todd.”

“Oh, right.”

Katie knew Rick didn’t really remember. Now that she thought about it, Eli was the one who had kept an eye on her that evening.
He was the one who picked up the wreath of flowers she had been wearing as a bridesmaid. The one who said she had lost her
halo. Then he proceeded to hang the mangled wreath on the rearview mirror of his beat-up Toyota. He said it reminded him to
pray.

Rick and Katie headed for one of the benches along the walkway under the palm trees. As soon as they sat down, Rick kissed
her.

Katie pulled back and looked at him before he could draw her close again for another kiss. “What’s going on? You’re, like,
off-the-chart nice and ultra-affectionate this evening.”

Rick smiled the same heart-happy grin he had given her earlier when she entered Crown Hall’s lobby.

“I have something I’ve been waiting to give you.” Rick pulled from his pocket a small jewelry box.

Katie held her breath.

Is this it? Now? No! I’m not ready. I thought I was, but I’m not. Please, Rick! No! Not yet!

Rick didn’t drop to his knee. He remained seated on the bench next to Katie and handed her the jewelry box. Once the box was
in her hand, she realized it was too large for a ring. And too flat.

“What’s this?”

“Open it and see.”

Katie opened the box. The only light around them came from the strings of white twinkle lights wrapped around the palm trees.
She was pretty sure the treasure in the box was a piece of jewelry, but she couldn’t tell what it was.

Faintly making out the shape of what might possibly be a small medallion, she said, “Did you win a gold medal in the Olympics
and not bother to tell me?”

“No, and don’t ruin this by trying to be funny.”

“Ruin what? I can’t tell what this is.”

“It’s a brooch.” Rick made the declaration with such finality Katie knew he thought the identity of the object should have
been obvious to her. But it still wasn’t.

Her confusion escalated. “A brooch? What exactly is a brooch?”

Rick removed the piece of jewelry from the box and held it up so Katie could see the way the inset stones sparkled in the
faint light. The brooch looked like a round sunburst with many small stones that seemed to be winking at her.

“This belonged to my grandmother.” Rick’s voice had turned tender again. “She gave it to my mom. Right before Valentine’s
Day my mom asked if I would like to have it made into something for you.”

“So this is what you were going to give me on Valentine’s Day?”

“Yes. I planned to surprise you, but then I realized I couldn’t have anything designed and completed in time for Valentine’s
Day. So I thought I would give it to you then, and you could think about what you would like to do with it. I’m giving it
to you now so, once you decide, I can have it ready by graduation. It won’t be a surprise, but it will be something you like,
and that’s more important.”

“Rick, you don’t have to give this to me. It was your grandmother’s. It’s too valuable.”

“That’s exactly why I want you to have it.” He put the brooch back on the cotton in the box and placed the box in Katie’s
hand. “This is important to me. To us. I’ve wanted to give you a piece of jewelry ever since we became a couple. It’s just
that with money being so tight from opening the cafés, I couldn’t put aside enough for anything of value. When my mom gave
me this, it meant a lot to me. That’s why I was so eager to see you on Valentine’s Day. This brooch meant I had something
to work with, you know? I could use this to make a piece of jewelry for you, and you would be able to wear something more
than that simple necklace I gave you.”

“I like this necklace.” Katie touched the green stone on the end of the chain.

“I wanted to give you something more.” Rick reached over and fingered the ends of her hair. “Something that expresses the
importance of our relationship. We’ve done everything right, Katie. This is working. Our relationship, I mean. We’re good
together. I want you to have something you can wear all the time that symbolizes our success.”

A smile clung to Katie’s closed lips. She knew what Rick meant, but his word choice struck her as funny. The guy’s heart was
definitely in the right place. She just never expected Rick Doyle to present her with an antique brooch and say he wanted
it to symbolize the success of their relationship.

“What?” Rick leaned closer, trying to read the meaning of her mirthful expression.

“This is really, really sweet, Rick. It is. I don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you’re glad I’m your boyfriend and that you’ll decide in the next week what you want to have made out of the brooch
so I can have it finished by graduation.”

“Okay. I’m glad you’re my boyfriend, and I’ll decide as soon as I can.”

“Good. And if you need any help, Nicki might have some ideas.”

Katie pulled back. She still wasn’t used to hearing Nicole referred to as “Nicki.”

“She’s seen this, hasn’t she? Did you show her the brooch?”

“No. She knew about it because my mom told her. I wanted to show it to you first.”

Katie leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Rick. This is really sweet of you. I’ll come up with a suggestion
as soon as I can. And I’m sorry about Valentine’s Day and my confusion over what was going on.”

“No apology needed.” He kissed her before she could protest again. Pulling back and taking her hand in his, Rick said, “Do
you remember what you said last Christmas?”