Changing Her Heart (8 page)

“Don't give me that nonsense. I knew I was in trouble when the first thing you did was go straight to the diving board and do a double flip with that spinny move. You barely made a splash with your entry. I've seen it on television, but I've never actually known anyone who could do that.”

Lacey knew
she
was in trouble the second they had entered the restaurant and been escorted to a cozy and private table for two that had a reserved sign on it. She also saw the owner, who would have been Randy's friend Tony, at the front counter, grinning when they walked in together.

“But I told you I could swim
very
well.”

Randy snorted softly. “Up until today, I would have said that I swim very well, too. After all, I have a pool at my disposal all the time. I used to swim every day, but lately I've only had time to go once or twice a week. Still, when I asked you earlier if you wanted to race, I was just kidding. That
‘very'
of yours was apparently a little understated, don't you think?”

“I don't know what you mean. You won twice.”

He arched, and pressed his fists into the small of his back. “Yeah. Two out of seven, and I think you just let me win at least one of those two times before you graciously refused to do any more racing.”

Lacey tried not to smile, and failed. “That's how I got my college scholarship. I was on my college swim team. We won the national championship that year. I don't like team sports, but racing is more a test of individual endurance. Today, when we started racing, I discovered I still have a bit of a competitive streak left in me.”

“You didn't tell me that before.”

Lacey set her coffee cup onto the saucer. “I could very easily remind you of something important that you didn't tell me and you probably should have.”

She waited for an explanation, but instead, a silence hung in the air between them. As the silence continued, if it hadn't been for the soft music in the background to ease some of the tension, Lacey might have run away screaming.

When he finally spoke, Randy's voice came out in a husky whisper, and he stared down into his coffee cup, not looking at her. “The past is past. I wish it could be changed, but it can't.”

Lacey's stomach rolled. “I know.”

She wanted nothing more than to believe with all her heart that Randy would never, ever again pick up a drink and sink to the depths he once came from. But after watching Eric for years, she knew that it was difficult, sometimes impossible. She'd also seen some of Eric's drinking friends, and they were no different than Eric.

She couldn't understand the compulsion that kept a person drinking even though they knew it caused so much destruction to their own lives, as well as the lives of those around them. She wanted to understand the reason Randy had felt the need to let alcohol deaden his senses to the point where instead of controlling the alcohol he consumed, the alcohol controlled him. Except the thought terrified her that his reason for drinking might be something he'd done that would cause her to hate him.

Yet for the entire time she'd known Randy, he'd done nothing to cause her to doubt his faith, his sincerity, or his character.

She stared up into his face, into his beautiful eyes—eyes that shone with trustworthiness and something else she didn't want to acknowledge.

Randy sighed. “I don't want to get bogged down with past garbage, especially not tonight. But if you must, then ask me one question, just one. I'll answer honestly, no matter what, and then let's move on to something more pleasant.”

Lacey didn't know what she would do if he told her that he drank because of the guilt from doing something terrible before he let the drinking get so bad it became an issue. Maybe she was in denial, but she couldn't believe Randy could have done anything so awful that it would cause a person to drink himself out of control. Therefore, she wondered if the
reason he drank was because of something that someone had done to him.

It would almost make it acceptable if his reason for drinking was because he'd been a victim of something horrible, although she didn't want to think that he'd suffered. However, it would be best for her to know, as she knew people who could probably help him.

“Did someone do something to you that you're ashamed of?”

“No.”

She waited for him to say more, but he didn't.

“Did you have an unhappy childhood?”

“That's two questions. Sorry.”

Lacey gritted her teeth. Her next question would have been: Had someone broken his heart? Although, right now she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that one.

Randy leaned forward on the table. “Do I get to ask you a question now? You asked me a question, and I answered.”

She folded her hands in front of her and swallowed hard. “Fair is fair, I suppose. Go ahead.”

Randy raised one hand and rested his index finger over the top of his upper lip. “Do you think I should grow a mustache?”

“What?” Lacey sputtered. She stared at his face. When they first met, she thought he was quite attractive, especially when he smiled. Not only did his
dark blue eyes mesmerize her, the beginnings of laugh lines at the corners of those striking blue eyes made him more handsome than any man had a right to be. More than anything, those laugh lines were a visual indication of the most prominent parts of his personality—his optimistic outlook and his charming sense of humor. She didn't want him to change anything, including the way he looked.

“No. I don't think you should grow a mustache.”

“Why not? Don't you think it would make me look more dignified?”

She didn't want him to grow a mustache because when the day came that he would kiss her again, she didn't want it to tickle.

Her breath caught as she realized the direction of her thoughts.

“That's two questions. Sorry.”

Randy laughed just as the waiter arrived to take their orders.

Randy rested one finger on the menu. “I'll have the
Polla alla Parmigiana.
” He leaned forward to her and lowered his voice to a whisper. “This is my absolute favorite. Tony makes it even better than his mother.”

Silence hung until Lacey realized that the waiter was waiting for her to give him her choices. Unfortunately, she'd been too busy checking out the decorating and not paying enough attention to the menu.
“I think I'll have this one.” She pointed to the
Linguina Frutti di Mare,
recognizing the name from the supermarket, although she'd never tried it before.

“I'll be right back with some fresh bread for you.”

The waiter picked up the menus and left.

“You could have taken more time if you weren't sure what you wanted.”

“I know, but that one did sound good.”

“It's all good. Whether Tony makes it or Mrs. Delanio.”

While they waited for their meals to arrive, Randy filled her in with some tales from Bob's mother's kitchen. When the waiter finally delivered the food, Lacey's sides were beginning to hurt from so much laughing.

She wiped her eyes. “I think you should say grace. I'm not together enough.”

Randy nodded. “Thanks, Lord, for this food, this time to get together and for the great day we've had so far. I pray for Your blessings on the rest of the evening—my time with Eric, and Lacey's time with Susan. Amen.”

Lacey began to eat, immediately savoring the delicious meal. “Remember that we can't take too long here. What time does this evening's meeting start?”

“Seven o'clock. We'll be okay.”

“Are things still going okay with Eric?”

“You know I'm not supposed to talk about that.
Anything you hear has to come from him. But I suppose I can say that he's doing about average, although I have mixed feelings about him leaving his own church and coming to mine while he gets his head together.”

“Why?”

“Because he needs his nondrinking friends right now. I don't know if I could be where I am today if it wasn't for Bob, Adrian and Paul.”

“Actually, I don't think he has any nondrinking friends left.”

“That's too bad. No matter how stupid I was, Adrian, Bob and Paul were always there for me. I don't know what I would have done without them.”

“It's great that God has blessed you with such good friends. Have you known them long?”

“We pretty much grew up together, and we do everything together, or at least we did until recently.”

“Oh, dear. I hope you didn't have some kind of disagreement after all this time.”

“It's not that. It's just that now Adrian's married and about to become a father, and Bob is about to get married. Paul is still single, like me, but he's been getting busier and busier with other stuff. I guess I have, too.”

Lacey wondered if one thing Randy had been busy with was helping others the same way he was now helping Eric. If so, she considered that quite admirable.

They ate quickly, and Eric was ready and waiting when they arrived. As Eric and Randy left, Lacey walked into the living room to wait for Susan. When she sat on the couch, Kaitlyn climbed onto her lap.

“Auntie Lacey, will you tell me a story before bed?”

Lacey smiled. “Of course.” Since she knew she was genetically predisposed to be a bad judge of male character, she wasn't likely to ever get married, which unfortunately meant she would never have children. But she loved both Shawn and Kaitlyn with all her heart, and they were the next best thing to a family of her own. “Go get a book you haven't seen for a while, and we can do that.”

“I don't wants one of my books. I wants you to tell me a story with no book.”

Lacey shuffled in her seat. “I don't know any stories without a book.”

Kaitlyn threw her arms around Lacey's neck. “But I don't wants an old story. I wants a new one. I loves you, Auntie Lacey.”

Lacey hugged her little niece back. “Okay, how's this then? Once upon a time, there were three little pigs.”

“Auntie Lacey, that's not a new story.”

Lacey pressed one finger to her lips, and Kaitlyn quieted. “Who were friends with a giant who was big and green and loved vegetables.”

“Oh!”

“So the pigs introduced the giant to a princess. But some of his peas got under her mattress, and she couldn't sleep. So then—”

“I know! I know! The giant had a friend who was a frog, and the princess kissed the frog and he turned into a handsome prince. And then she married the prince!”

“Well, that's not exactly the way I would have ended the story, but I guess that works.” She couldn't believe she'd put together such a mismatched story. It wasn't in her nature to do so such things. But it was something she could see Randy doing. She didn't want to think that Randy's convoluted ways were rubbing off on her.

Lacey patted her niece's head. “Come on, now. It's time to go to sleep.”

She carried Kaitlyn to bed while Susan helped Shawn pick up some of his trucks that were in the living room, before putting him to bed.

“Let's say prayers.”

“Auntie Lacey, has you ever kissed a frog?”

Gently Lacey pulled the blanket up and tucked it under Kaitlyn's chin. “No, sweetie, I've never kissed a frog.” The last thing—or person—she had kissed was Randy. His kiss had been so gentle and sweet, and far too short.

She quickly pushed the thought from her mind. She shouldn't have been thinking about kissing Randy.

For a fleeting second, thinking about the princess kissing the frog who turned into a prince made her want to believe that such things could happen, that by kissing Randy, it would somehow have made him different.

But such things only happened in romance novels and fairy tales. Randy wasn't a perfect prince—he had been an alcoholic, with all the troubles and problems and risks that went with such an unstable background.

Lacey had seen too much of that in a man already in the lives of her mother and her sister, none of it good.

“Enough talk about kissing frogs. It's time to say your prayers.”

Kaitlyn said a short but heartfelt prayer thanking God for her family, even her brother, and expressed her wishes that soon she would get a puppy. Once Kaitlyn was asleep, Lacey tiptoed out of the room to go sit on the couch.

Finally, Susan returned to the living room. “Sorry I took so long. Shawn didn't want to go to sleep until Randy got back. He's really taken a liking to Randy.”

Lacey forced herself to smile. “I know. That kind of thing happens all the time.”

Susan sighed. “I can see that. Everyone likes him. It would be easy for a woman to get stars in her eyes over him. I can't remember it ever being that way with Eric before we got married.”

Lacey could certainly understand. Even back then, Lacey had seen Eric's potential problems, and he'd certainly lived up, or rather, down, to that expectation. Lacey hadn't liked Eric then, and she liked him even less now.

“No,” Lacey said, “but you've got to remember that Randy is different from Eric.”

Suddenly, something Randy said the day she found out about his history of alcoholism roared through her head, cutting off everything else she was going to say.

“You've got to remember that I'm different from Eric,” he'd said.

She just said the same thing to Susan.

It was bad enough she was starting to tell stories Randy-style. She didn't want to start quoting him, too.

Lacey rose quickly from the couch and walked toward the kitchen. “How about if we make ourselves some tea before the guys get back?”

“Okay.”

Susan didn't say anything while they flitted about in the kitchen, which Lacey found frustrating. Since Randy hadn't told her anything worthwhile about Eric's progress, or lack of progress—she didn't know which—she'd expected her sister to at least say something.