flowing hair, pointing his finger or something like that—but I knew she wasn’t talking
about that. She was talking about the Lord’s plan. It took a moment for me to answer.
“Sure,” I said. “Sometimes, I reckon.”
“Do you ever wonder why things have to turn out the way they do?”
I nodded uncertainly.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.”
Even more than usual? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t. I could tell she had more to say,
and I stayed quiet.
“I know the Lord has a plan for us all, but sometimes, I just don’t understand what
the message can be. Does that ever happen to you?”
She said this as though it were something I thought about all the time.
“Well,” I said, trying to bluff, “I don’t think that we’re meant to understand it all the
time. I think that sometimes we just have to have faith.”
It was a pretty good answer, I admit. I guess that my feelings for Jamie were making
my brain work a little faster than usual. I could tell she was thinking about my answer.
“Yes,” she finally said, “you’re right.”
I smiled to myself and changed the subject, since talking about God wasn’t the sort of
thing that made a person feel romantic.
“You know,” I said casually, “it sure was nice tonight when we were sitting by the
tree earlier.”
“Yes, it was,” she said. Her mind was still elsewhere.
“And you sure looked nice, too.”
“Thank you.”
This wasn’t working too well.
“Can I ask you a question?” I finally said, in the hopes of bringing her back to me.
“Sure,” she said.
I took a deep breath.
“After church tomorrow, and, well … after you’ve spent some time with your father
… I mean …” I paused and looked at her. “Would you mind coming over to my house for
Christmas dinner?”
Even though her face was still turned toward the window, I could see the faint
outlines of a smile as soon as I’d said it.
“Yes, Landon, I would like that very much.”
I sighed with relief, not believing I’d actually asked her and still wondering how all
this had happened. I drove down streets where windows were decorated with Christmas