Love's Deception (14 page)

Ty woke up in his own bed. With the blinds closed, he had slept as long as he could. There was nothing to do today anyway, at least nothing he was interested in. He could go to the office and find more work, but it wasn’t necessary. He could hit the beach and surf, but the waves would pale in comparison to what he’d rode last night with Mark and Jason. He could go to the gym. He hadn’t done that in awhile.

The ache in his back finally drove Ty to his feet. He made a breakfast of French toast. Bad idea.The memory of cooking the same thing for Cat during a thunderstorm in Oregon ruined his appetite. Would things have turned out differently if he’d told her the truth a month ago, or even a week ago?

In the beginning he hadn’t thought it mattered, figuring he wouldn’t be in Oregon long enough for any kind of relationship. Once he’d realized he had fallen for Cat—hard—he’d feared she wouldn’t think they were compatible if she knew he lived out of state and was a white-collar professional. If she’d realized he wasn’t the country boy she’d fallen for. The fear had kept him from talking. And Cat said she’d broken up with Allen at least partly because he had a professional career and pursued a different way of life.

 Before Ty told her everything, he had wanted to know her better, build some kind of foundation. If she developed feelings for him, he had hoped she’d be more inclined to make a compromise. Not a life without her ranch and her horses—just one with the addition of a husband who wanted to make partner in an accounting firm. He could be content with a rural lifestyle. The Portland area offered the best of country living within an easy commute of the city. Ty had grown up in the country, and although he’d wanted to get away from it, he found the old saying to be true: the grass wasn’t always greener on the other side. He loved California and the hustle of city life, but he couldn’t do this forever. Someday he wanted to settle down and have a family, and what better place to raise children than rural Washington County in Oregon? In the past six weeks, he’d planned it all out, even down to the girl he wanted to marry. But unfortunately, she despised him at the moment.

He spent two hours at the gym, taking out his frustration pumping iron. If he made himself tired and sore, maybe he could keep his mind off Cat. So far, he was failing miserably in his resolve to put their failed relationship behind him and get back to life as usual.

Ashley called his phone while he worked out in the gym. She left a message saying she could come over tonight and talk if he wanted. Ty didn’t call her back. He went to a movie theater and sat through a show that only remotely interested him. That night he fell asleep with the TV tuned to the sports channel, hoping to drown out thoughts of Cat.

Sunday morning, he opened his blinds, letting in the brilliant sunshine, and cleaned his room. The pile of clothes he brought home from Oregon still lay on the edge of his bed. His mother had washed everything. As he grabbed the pile, the blue Book of Mormon toppled onto the floor and fell open to the chapter he was on, marked by a piece of cardboard. Ty tossed the clothes back on the bed and picked up the book. It was all he had left of Cat. He’d never even snapped a picture of her or Danny with his iPhone.

Ty sat on the edge of his bed and read the chapter summary. He was on Alma 32. Part of the summary said, “Alma teaches the poor whose afflictions had humbled them.” Ty scanned the first two verses. “For behold, they were cast out of the synagogues . . .”
I can relate,
thought Ty
. I feel afflicted and cast out.
He continued to verse 3—“Being esteemed as filthiness, esteemed by their brethren as dross, also they were poor in heart.” Dross . . . that didn’t sound so good.Poor in heart—Ty felt that way. His heart ached at the thought that he’d hurt her. He felt like filthy scum. As he read on, the words spoke directly to him. Verse 15 declared, “He that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed.” Ty could use a few blessings, but what exactly was it saying he should do?

“Blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.”
Stubborn
—
I’ve been known to be stubborn before.

“Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.” A miraculous sign would be nice, Ty decided.

“Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it. And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not.”
On the other hand, maybe not.
Ty would pass on being cursed, but what was the alternative?

“If ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen which are true.” Hope.
I can hope,
Ty thought.

He read on to verse 23. “He imparteth his word by angels unto men . . . this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.”
That’s true.
Danny had said things Ty would’ve considered far beyond the child’s years.

Interesting,
he thought, reading verse 27 again. “If ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.” Ty liked experiments. “Compare the word unto a seed.”
Easy enough.
Being raised by a farmer, he was well acquainted with seeds. He carefully read the next verses, making a mental note of the steps in the experiment. First, plant the seed in your heart. Second, if it’s a true seed or a good seed it will swell within you. “It beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me . . . as the seed swelleth and sprouteth and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good.”
That’s obvious,
Ty mused.
A bad seed doesn’t sprout and take root. It rots in the ground.
“If a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away.”

One year, his father had bought a bag of corn seed. He’d planned to stagger the crop—plant a few rows each week and spread out the harvest—to maximize how long they could sell fresh corn at the farmer’s market. Ty and his sisters had helped plant the first three rows. Anxiously, they’d waited for the first green shoots to break through the earth. The next Saturday, they’d gone out to the field to plant another three rows. Ty slid the strap of a seed bag over his shoulder and set to work.

“Hang on, Son,” his dad had said, propping his hands on his hips to stare at the rows they’d planted the week before. “Last week’s seeds haven’t sprouted.”

Anxious to meet Larry when his chores were finished, Ty replied, “Dad, you said it takes seven to ten days for the seeds to come up. It’s only been seven. Come on. Let’s plant the next rows.”

His father had opened a pocketknife and used it to probe the soil. Out popped two seeds, moistened but still intact. There was no pale green sprout lurking under the surface, waiting for the next warm day to coax its head above ground. No small white root beginning its downward journey into the earth. There was nothing but that swollen pink seed.

Ty and his sisters watched him dig up seed after seed, all with the same result. Finally, their father stood, frowning. “Ty, you go dump those seeds in the woods. Maybe the critters can eat ’em. Girls, let’s go to town.”

“But Dad, that’ll take too long. Can’t we plant these?” Ty had argued. “Maybe they’ll come up this time.”

“Son, we’ll not waste our time on a bad batch of seeds.”

Ty hauled the seed bag to the edge of the woods and threw handfuls of kernels in every direction.

Now, the word of God would be his seed. Ty would plant it. Seven to ten days to germinate, and then he’d cast out the seeds and be done with it. Like his father, he had no intention of wasting his time on a bad batch of seeds.

Seventeen

Ty parked his Mustang at Hopewell Frozen Foods’ headquarters, then grabbed his briefcase and suit coat from the passenger seat. He locked the car and dropped his keys in his pocket. It would be another hot day. Hopefully they had good air conditioning. If not, he thought, smiling to himself, he could always ask to inventory their cold storage.

All his staff arrived on time. The client’s accountants were well prepared, with their statements and documents in order. Ty  reviewed his staff’s work throughout the morning. Everything tied out, with only immaterial differences. As was his custom on the first day of a new engagement, he treated his staff to lunch, courtesy of Hansen & Kaplan’s budget for meals and entertainment.

They were leaving the restaurant before Ty got a chance to speak with Dave Larsen, the senior working under him. On a typical audit engagement there was a partner, a manager, and at least one senior assigned to the job, along with several staff members. The staff generated every workpaper, which was then passed along to the senior for review, then to the manager, and ultimately, to the partner, who signed off on the engagement and issued the financial statements and the letter to the shareholders.

Although they were close in age, Dave had started working for the firm four years after Ty. The two of them had a similar style of leadership, and they had developed a friendship over the years as they worked together on different projects. Dave regularly sought out Ty for advice. Ty considered himself Dave’s unofficial mentor, much like he considered Ray Hansen his. Like Cat, Dave was a Mormon. More than once, Dave had tried to give Ty a copy of the Book of Mormon. Each time, he had refused to take it, and he had also turned down Dave’s multiple invitations to attend church with him and his wife. When they had their first child and Ty was invited to the baby blessing at their ward meetinghouse, he had finally succumbed. He liked what he saw at church with Dave that day, but he hadn’t done anything about it. When Dave’s second child was born less than two years later, Ty went to the blessing. This time the missionaries spoke with him, wanting to make an appointment, but he politely declined. Perfectly content with his life at the time, Ty hadn’t needed whatever they were offering. But now he felt anything but content.

“Dave, can I talk to you today before you leave?” Ty said, his tone more serious than he’d intended.

A concerned look crossed Dave’s face. “Sure. Is something wrong? Do we have a problem with the client?”

Realizing Dave would spend the afternoon worrying about the job he was doing, Ty replied, “It’s personal.” He paused, looking across the parking lot of the restaurant. “I want to talk with you about your religion.”

Dave let out a sigh and smiled. “Wow, boss, you had me thinking I was getting fired.”

Ty grinned back. “No. You’ve got nothing to stress about there.”

It was almost six when they finished for the day. Ty and Dave left the Hopewell building together. “So boss, you ready to start coming to church with me?” Dave asked with a chuckle.

Ty blew out a breath. “I don’t know. As much as I hate to admit it, I might.”

“Really? Why the sudden interest?”

The two of them walked to stand in the shade of a large tree next to Ty’s Mustang. “While I was home in Oregon, I met a woman, Catherine Lewis, and she’s LDS. She has a six-year-old son named Danny. And, well, she gave me a Book of Mormon and asked me to read it. I’ve read more than half. I went to church with her three times and the missionaries taught me some lessons . . .” Ty wasn’t sure what to say next.

“That’s great. Get baptized, ask the girl to marry you, and live happily ever after.” Dave gave Ty a friendly slap on the back.

“It’s not that easy.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated. I dated her without breaking up with my girlfriend here. Believe me, I intended to end it once I got back, but Cat found out about her.” Ty’s voice rose in frustration. “Now she wants nothing to do with me. I tried to pretend it never happened, to go back to carefree bachelorhood. But I can’t. Cat’s ruined me, Dave. I couldn’t sleep with my girlfriend. I couldn’t drink a beer with my buddies. And believe me, if I ever needed a drink, it’s now. But I think about getting one and I feel sick. I’m a mess, and it all started when I took that Book of Mormon from her and started praying.”

Dave smiled. “That’s the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, warning you not to do something you shouldn’t. He’s trying to protect you and you’re listening. That’s good, Ty. You’re not a mess—you talked to God and He’s talking back.” Dave shook his head in wonder. “You really prayed, huh?”

Ty set his computer bag between his feet and shed his suit coat. The heat combined with the stress of the conversation had him almost boiling. “The missionaries challenged me to pray about it, and I did. Cat’s little boy gave me some pointers on prayer. I tried it. But all I ended up with was a botched relationship and a messed-up life. The only thing I did yesterday was sit and read that book.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Dave said. “You finish the book and then pray about it again. Ask Heavenly Father if the things you read are true, and if they are, what you should do about it. I’ll send you an email tonight with the time our ward meets and the address. Come to church with me on Sunday. If we haven’t had a chance to chat about it between now and then, we’ll talk at church. As far as your relationship goes, trust the Lord. Exercise a little faith. If it’s meant to be, you and Cat will get back together.”

Ty hesitated, then said, “I’ll finish the book. I’m almost done anyway. But I’ll have to see about going to church.”

Dave smiled. “That’s a start. I’ll send you the email so you’ll have the information if you decide to come.”

Ty called Ashley that night and broke it off for good. Like the bad seeds his father had made him throw out, he didn’t see any benefit to staying in the relationship if he wasn’t serious about marrying her. He found it strange that only a week ago he had seriously contemplated marriage. Not to her, of course. It hadn’t taken him long to decide Cat was the one. Now last week seemed like a lifetime ago.

By Sunday morning, he still hadn’t finished the Book of Mormon. He printed the email from Dave and set it on his counter. Church started at noon. Ty picked up the Book of Mormon and delved into its pages. He was in Ether, and the Jaredites were fighting. He’d read a lot of war stories in this book, but he liked that. It made for interesting reading.

Drawn into the story of Coriantumr and Shiz and curious about who would come up victorious, Ty lost track of time. When he came to the final chapter of Ether, he glanced at his clock. He’d missed more than half of sacrament meeting. Maybe next week. He ignored his phone when it rang. Probably Jason or Mark wondering why he wasn’t at the beach.

It was late by the time he reached the final chapter in the book. Someone—he liked to think it was Cat—had underlined verse 4 on the second-to-last page. It read
,
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.” That must be what Dave had been talking about.

Ty sat on his bed for a long time, thinking about praying.
What if God doesn’t answer? How will I hear it if He does?
Nothing miraculous had ever happened to Ty before, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t think the book had divine origins. The weight of God’s power was evident in the words Ty had read, and reason led him to think that if the book was from God, it had to be true.

On the other hand, what if he prayed and actually got an answer? If Joseph Smith had gotten an answer, maybe Ty would. As a child his mother had faithfully taken him and his sisters to church. Since then, he had believed in God and in Jesus Christ. The missionaries had explained that the Book of Mormon went hand in hand with the Bible to testify of Christ. After reading the book, Ty had to agree with them.

If he received the answer that the book was from God, then what? No other church Ty knew of used the Book of Mormon. Should he get baptized into the LDS Church, as Dave had suggested? Ty wondered if he could commit to three hours of church every week—and to every other oddity the Mormons believed in doing. With Cat, it hadn’t been so bad. He didn’t particularly miss the drinking. He knew she wouldn’t be intimate with him, so that temptation was easily managed. And with her next to him, he’d even enjoyed church. But was it worth making that kind of drastic lifestyle change just for himself?

Ty shook his head. He might as well get this over with. He dropped the book and rolled off the bed onto his knees, then folded his arms like he’d seen Danny do. And he prayed.