Here I Am. Send Me.--Chapter Twenty-Two

Evelyn and Chris have a chance to speak about their relationship.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

By nine o'clock on Saturday morning, Chris had made an effort to clean all of the areas of his house that could be seen from the front door. It wouldn't pass a white glove test but given that he had to sit and rest after every fifteen minutes, it was passable. Also, until 8:45, he had been working without taking his pain pill, and vertigo was a repeated problem. He would take the pill at the last second to make sure that it would last through most of the trip.

He wiped the cold sweat from his brow, slowly lowered himself onto the sofa, and started mentally rehearsing the upcoming drive. He started with variations on the she-didn't-mean-what-I-thought-she-meant theme. This was followed by the she-did-mean-what-I-thought-she-meant theme, which leaned heavily into daydream. He had to rein those in. He focused on how to escape from the embarrassment of a misunderstanding.

Seeing her car pull up in front of the house started the arduous effort of getting to his feet. He refused to be an invalid anymore, especially now that he was trying harder than ever to give a manly impression. He beat her to the front door and opened it as she was about to step onto the front porch.

Her eyes briefly widened in startlement. "I was coming to help you."

He smiled. "And I was determined not to need help." His smile morphed into a wince, and he looked away to hide it.

She reached up. "Let me help."

"If I'm going to be able to make this trip, I should be able to make it to the driveway."

She left him alone as he made his way down the two steps. With each step, his ribcage felt like it was on fire. Maybe he had waited too late to take the pills. She didn't help him as he scrunched his way into the passenger seat of the small car, but he was thankful that she stayed close to spot him if he tipped backwards. It wasn't graceful, but he made it.

As she got in, he tried to remember all the opening lines he had rehearsed. They were cool and aloof with just a hint of macho. They were also completely forgotten. His mind raced and came up blank. He had to say something.

"Last night. You, um, kissed me." Not the stuff of Lord Byron, but at least the topic was broached.

Shockingly, she leaned over and quickly kissed his lips. "And now I've done it again." She leaned back and started working her phone. "Before we talk about that, we need to get you and Beth on the phone and compare notes on the men who came to my apartment against the ones who attacked you."

The phone started ringing as Evelyn backed out of the driveway and eased out into the street, and Beth's voice came from the speaker. "Okay. I'm here. Let's get this done." She sounded petulant.

Chris smiled. "Hi, Beth. This is Chris."

"Yeah. Hi. So, do you want me to describe the two guys?"

Evelyn nodded. "Yes, please."

"They were both white with brown hair. One was big, like, fifty pounds overweight, and the other one was kind of normal-sized."

Evelyn pushed. "How tall was the big one? Over six feet?"

"I don't know. He was a lot taller than me. Probably over six feet."

"So, he was white, about six feet tall, and about two hundred and fifty pounds."

"I don't know. I guess so."

"What about the smaller one?"

"He was pretty thin and a couple of inches shorter than the big one."

"So maybe, five-ten and one hundred and sixty pounds?"

"Something like that, I suppose."

"What about eye color?"

"I didn't notice, so probably brown."

"How were they dressed? Were they wearing dark clothing?"

"I guess. They were dressed normally. Not like ninjas or anything."

Evelyn glanced away from the road to look over at Chris. "Does any of that sound familiar?"

"I didn't get a good look at anybody. There was one that was bigger than the others."

Beth's annoyed voice came through the speaker, "Am I done, now?"

"Beth, if you remember anything else, please call me, okay?"

"Fine." And Beth was done.

Chris waited a second for Evelyn to say something. When she didn't, he started. "I don't think that proved anything."

"But it didn't disprove anything, either. The possibility that the two men who came to my door were part of the team that attacked you is still on the table."

To Chris, that seemed like a stretch, but there were other things he wanted to talk about.

"Now, about the other thing..."

She laughed, "The other thing?"

"Yes, the... kissing and hair-smelling thing. I think that I was pretty clear that I like you, and now you've kissed me twice, which seems like you feel the same way..."

She laughed again, "I concur with your hypothesis."

"So, what now?"

Her next words were more serious. "We have a couple of hours alone. I guess we talk about things."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that you're a preacher and I'm not religious."

"Is there a reason that you're not religious?"

"Not really. My parents aren't, and we just never went to church. In school, the church kids had their own thing, and I didn't interact with them much. You're probably the first really religious person that I've ever gotten to know."

"And you start with a pastor; you don't do things halfway."

"I guess not. My question is, are you going to be trying to convert me all the time?"

He didn't pause. "Yes, of course."

"That might get annoying."

"I don't know. How has it been so far?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've been trying to convert you since the first time we met. I have something that is the most important thing in the world, and I want to share it."

"It doesn't feel like you're pushing anything on me."

"And yet, here we are having this conversation."

"So, you wooed me into this conversation using your manly wiles?"

"You know who I am and, even though you may not understand the details, you know that my relationship with Jesus is the most important thing in my life. Some form of this conversation was going to happen no matter how our relationship progressed."

"But what if I never believe what you believe?"

"All I can do is follow the leading of the Holy Spirit."

"And you think that the Holy Spirit is leading you to date me."

"I believe so. But I could be subconsciously putting words in the Spirit's mouth because I like the smell of your hair."

"Does that happen?"

"All the time. Just because we're Christian doesn't make us perfect. We can fool ourselves into believing what we want to believe, just like anyone else."

"How do we find out if you're fooling yourself or not?"

"The first step is to go out on a date."

They started a discussion about what that date would be. Within fifteen minutes, the pain pills kicked in and he was asleep.