Part 15 (1/2)
”Wait!” Christy squealed as she heard the camera click. ”The paint goes on the bookshelf, not me!”
”Oh, right. Now what exactly does a bookshelf look like? Oh, here's one.” With that, Todd dabbed a bit of paint on the end of Christy's nose.
”That's not a bookshelf! This is,” Christy said. And with that she dotted Todd's right cheek. ”Oh, that wasn't a bookshelf. That was a dimple. Now where did that bookshelf go?”
”I don't have any dimples,” Todd said, touching his cheek.
”Oh, yes you do. I noticed it the first time we went to Balboa on the tandem bike. Remember? We bought Balboa Bars.”
”That's right,” Todd said. ”And you got a streak of chocolate right there on your face.” He outlined the memory with a stroke of the paintbrush. ”And it stayed on the rest of the day!”
”You asked for it, dude!” Christy teased. ”This is for never writing to me ever!” She painted a stripe up his arm.
Click went the camera.
”Hey, I sent you a coconut!”
”And this is for all the times you've thrown me in the ocean!” Another stripe went up his other arm.
”Whoops!” Bob said. ”That was the last shot. Guess you'll have to call a truce.”
Christy and Todd looked at each other. They each had their paintbrushes poised and ready to strike.
”Truce?” Christy suggested.
”Truce,” Todd agreed, and as if they were slapping high fives, they whapped their paintbrushes together and were instantly showered in a spray of tiny polka dots.
”Look at us!” Christy cracked up at the sight of Todd with paint in his face, hair, everywhere. ”Do I look as funny as you?”
”No, funnier.”
After they finished laughing and wiping the paint from their eyelashes, Todd and Christy set to work. Within an hour they had transformed the bookshelf into a white home for all of Christy's mementos.
Standing back to admire their work, Christy said, ”I don't know. A dusty rose would have been nice.”
”White is good,” Todd a.s.sured her. ”After it dries, you'll see.”
Todd drove the few blocks to his house to shower and change while Christy went to clean up in the bathroom off her guest room. Little flecks of paint clung to her arms and her eyebrows. It was a tedious process, getting herself back to normal, and she needed an extra dose of lotion when she was done. She changed into a pair of jeans and a white cotton s.h.i.+rt, rolling up the long sleeves.
Todd was already downstairs, watching TV with her uncle. ”Did you check on it yet?” Christy asked.
”Check on what?”
”The bookshelf. I want to see if it's dry.”
”It won't be dry until tomorrow,” Bob said. ”Did Marti tell you we're going out to dinner in about an hour? She made reservations at a new place in Huntington Beach.”
Todd rose from the couch. ”Sounds like we have enough time for a walk on the beach.”
Christy smiled at the good-looking, bronzed young man walking toward her. His short, sandy blond hair was still wet. His blue eyes met hers, and he held out his hand, inviting her to take a walk. She slipped her hand into his, and they walked together out the sliding door. Kicking off their shoes, they let their feet sink into the cool sand.
”It's going to be quite a sunset tonight,” Todd said. ”See how the clouds are sort of puffing up there on the horizon? Wait until the sun hits the ocean. They'll all turn pink and orange.”
”The dust beneath His feet,” Christy said.
”You remembered.” Todd squeezed her hand. ”Yeah, those clouds are going to turn into some major mounds of dust tonight. Looks like G.o.d has been busy walking around our side of the earth today.”
They made their way through the sand, hand in hand, down to the firm, wet sand along the sh.o.r.eline and walked together in silence. Todd's thumb automatically rubbed the chain on her Forever bracelet.
That reminded Christy that she had never asked him if he knew who paid for her to get it back. ”Todd, I want to ask you something. You had some stored up questions for me this morning; now I have one for you. I guess the first thing I should ask is did you know that Rick sort of stole my bracelet?”
Todd stopped walking and faced her. ”What do you mean?”
Christy explained how she had taken off her bracelet, left it in her purse in Rick's car, and then thought it was lost. She later found out he had used it as a trade-in on a new bracelet-a clunky silver one that said ”Rick.” Christy figured out he had taken it, and after breaking up with him, she tried to buy it back from the jewelry store where he had hocked it.
”I didn't know any of this,” Todd said, still standing in one spot as the tide rose and lapped up, burying their feet in the sand.
”My next question was if you had been the one who paid the balance so I could get it back. All the jeweler would say was that it was some guy.”
”It wasn't me. I didn't even know. Do you think it was Rick?”
”I did for a while, but the more I think about it the more I doubt it.”
”Your dad maybe? Bob?” Todd suggested.
”Maybe. Although I don't think either of them knew about the whole incident. I guess it'll remain a mystery.”
Todd wiggled his feet out of the sand and started down the beach, holding even tighter to Christy's hand. ”I don't mind it being a mystery as long as you have the bracelet back.”
”I guess I can live with a little mystery too.” Christy said. ”The whole thing only makes me madder at Rick.”
”Wait a second. Wasn't that part of the regrets we tossed out to sea this morning?” Todd motioned out to the ocean. ”You want to try swimming out there and gathering up all the ashes again? It's not worth it, Christy. Let it go.”
”You're right.” Christy nestled her head against Todd's shoulder. Then after a brief pause she added, ”I wish I could let this whole thing with Katie and Michael just go too.”
”That's different,” Todd said. ”You can't let that go. You have to hold on tighter than ever.”
”But when I tell her he's not a Christian and she should drop him, she turns on me. I hate causing all this conflict.”
”So are you going to change your opinion on dating non-Christians?”
”No. I can't. I feel too strongly about it,” Christy said.
”Then what can you change?”
Christy thought. She wasn't sure. When Todd said change, it reminded her of when he had said. ”How do the leaves know when it's time to change?” His answer had been that it's something supernatural that G.o.d brings about in a natural way.