Part 5 (2/2)
”I like it.” Christy quickly defended the cla.s.sical music.
”Are you serious?” Katie asked.
”Of course I'm serious. I love this kind of music. Don't you?”
”Sure, in an elevator or at the dentist's office!”
”I like it too.” Todd reached over and gave Christy's arm a tender squeeze. ”This is music to touch the heart.” He smiled at Christy, and she smiled back.
”Do you kind of get the feeling these two might want to be alone?” Katie said to Doug. ”We could always take our dinner plates up on the roof. What do you think?”
Doug seemed to have sobered quickly after all the laughter. Instead of answering Katie, he lifted another bite of chicken to his mouth. ”Good dinner.”
”I made the rice,” Katie said. ”Well, actually I boiled the water.”
No one seemed to think that was as funny as Katie did. They ate quietly, aware of Marti's ever-watchful gaze. She seemed pleased that the music had apparently tempered their silliness, and she tiptoed in and out as she served dessert.
The quiet must have been too much for Katie, because when the brownie with a cloud of whipped cream on top was served to Doug, Christy spotted a mischievous glint in her friend's eye.
”Eww,” Katie said, looking at Doug's dessert and then at hers. ”Can you smell that?”
”What?” Doug asked.
Katie daintily sniffed at her whipped cream. ”I don't think we should eat this. Can't you smell it?”
”Smell what?” Doug sniffed his dessert. ”I don't smell anything.”
”Then smell mine.” Katie lifted her dessert plate with one hand on the bottom and held it up for Doug to smell. Doug leaned forward. Then Katie let loose with her sweet revenge and shoved the whipped cream and brownie into Doug's unsuspecting face.
”Gotcha!” Katie squealed with delight as Doug peeled the goo off his face. ”That's for flipping Christy and me off the raft the first day. Now we're even.”
Doug licked at the whipped cream and felt the table in search of his napkin.
”Here you go.” Todd removed his bow tie and offered it to Doug. ”I knew these things would come in handy.”
Katie was still laughing. Marti hurried outside to see what was going on. ”What happened here? How did this happen?”
”Just a little accident.” Doug said good-naturedly. Half of his pretend mustache had been wiped off by Todd's bow tie. The other half of his face still sported chunks of chocolate and whipped cream. ”Could we order one more dessert and maybe a few paper towels out here?”
Katie had dropped her fork during her attack, and as she bent down to pick it up, Doug lifted his empty plate to hand it to Marti. Somehow, the moment Katie's head came up, Doug's long arm swung out, connecting with Katie's face. The plate and his hand slammed into Katie's nose. The plate crashed to the ground, and Katie let out a wail and grabbed her nose. Christy sprang from her chair.
Doug, still wearing his dessert, jumped up and frantically said, ”I didn't mean that, Katie. It was an accident. Really. Are you okay? You guys, tell her it was an accident!”
Katie seemed to be trying not to cry, but the tears came and so did a gush of blood from her nose.
”Don't tilt your head back.” Todd jumped up and grabbed a corner of the tablecloth to apply to Katie's nose. ”Here, put your hand on this and press right here.”
Christy stepped back and let Todd take over. The sight of blood on Katie's white T-s.h.i.+rt made Christy feel kind of woozy. It all had happened so fast. The cla.s.sical music still played in the background in cruel contrast to the frenzied activity around the table.
”Don't hold your breath,” Todd said, his voice calm and steady. ”Try to breathe normally through your mouth. Christy, could you bring me some ice in a plastic bag?”
”Sure.” Christy sprang into action and slid past her aunt, who seemed to be frozen in place next to the screen door. Christy grabbed a plastic bag from the cupboard and filled it with ice cubes. She was glad Todd knew what to do. He had probably seen lots of b.l.o.o.d.y noses during his years of surfing.
”Everything okay back there?” Bob called from the captain's seat at the front of the boat.
”Nothing major.” Christy called down the hallway. ”Katie got a b.l.o.o.d.y nose. It's under control. I think.” She slipped out to the deck and handed the bag of ice to Todd. ”Can I do anything else?”
”No. thanks. This ought to do it. Hold this ice right here. Katie, with one hand. Good. Now give me your other hand.” Todd guided her finger to a pressure point on the gum under her top lip. ”Press here. That's good. It should stop bleeding in a minute.”
Todd was right. Within a few minutes the crisis had pa.s.sed. Doug wiped the rest of the brownie off his face and said, ”Hey, it was totally an accident, Katie. Honest. I didn't see you there.”
Katie said in a garbled voice, ”That's probably because you had brownies in your eyes.”
Everyone let out a short, relieved spurt of laughter. Everyone but Marti. She seemed completely undone. They had ruined her plans for a perfect evening.
”Do you want to share my dessert?” Christy asked, not sure what to say to Katie.
”I'm not exactly hungry anymore.” Katie wiped her cheek. ”I think I'd better go change.”
Even though no one told them to clear the table, the three remaining dinner guests started to gather up the dishes and tear down the romantic dinner for four. The moon was now high above them as Christy blew out the candles and wadded up the soiled tablecloth.
The bella notte had not exactly turned out the way she had hoped.
”No, it's me,” Katie whispered to Christy in the darkness. ”I know it is.”
”No, it's not,” Christy immediately responded. ”It's the circ.u.mstances, or the guys, but really, Katie, it's not you.”
The two of them had traded sleeping quarters with the guys for their final night of the trip and were lying in their sleeping bags on the roof of the houseboat. Nothing was above them but the inky sky flung with thousands of diamonds. The moon had taken its curtain call for the night and slipped behind Mount Shasta.
”I know you're saying all this to be nice to me, Christy, but I'd like to think our friends.h.i.+p is past the point of us lying to each other in the interest of being polite.”
”I'm not lying. You don't have a boyfriend, but not because of anything you're doing or not doing. The *right guy just hasn't come along yet. That's all.”
”In almost eighteen years not one right guy' has come along, and you think it's not because of me? Think again.”
It was silent for a few minutes except for the lulling sound of the water lapping on the houseboat's sides and a few late-night crickets and frogs saying good night to each other.
”Maybe we should pray about it,” Christy suggested meekly.
”You mean the way you pray for your future husband and have a shoe box full of letters to him stashed under your bed? I don't think so, Christy. That's not me. I could never write a letter to someone I don't know. And what am I supposed to pray? *G.o.d, bring me a man-now'? I thought really spiritual Christians prayed for patience and stuff like that. Not for boyfriends.”
”But, Katie, if G.o.d knows all about us and if He cares about everything that happens to us, then of course you should pray about everything. Even about a boyfriend. G.o.d already knows what would be best for you too.”
”I hope you know how easy it is for you to say all that,” Katie said quickly. ”You have the perfect boyfriend of the universe. Of course you believe G.o.d is giving you His best. It's harder to believe stuff like that when you're like me and no answer to your prayers is sitting next to you holding your hand. I mean, what if G.o.d's best for me is that I don't get a boyfriend?”
”G.o.d still cares, Katie.”
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