Coming Home (12 page)

Amy grinned, "You can do it now. God is
everywhere."

Susan pulled her brows together, "I'm not sure how to
do it."

"Do you want me to lead you in a prayer?" Amy
offered.

Susan just nodded her head, unable to speak because of the
huge decision she was making.

Amy took both of Susan's hands in hers and bowed her head,
"Father God, thank you so much for my dear friend, Susan, and thank You
for her desire to follow You." She looked up at Susan, "Repeat this
prayer after me, okay?"

Susan nodded her head again and as Amy prayed she repeated
it after her, "Dear Jesus, I pray that You will come into my heart and
forgive me of all my sins. I believe that You died on the cross, were buried
and rose again on the third day so that I may live for eternity with You in heaven.
Thank You, in Jesus Name, Amen."

Susan sucked in a deep breath as she felt a wave of
refreshing peace rush through her. She felt as though something inside of her
that had been dead was now alive. She looked up at Amy, "What did I just
feel?"

Amy chuckled, "Your spirit has been made alive by the
Holy Spirit. You are alive in Christ my dear friend."

Susan wiped the tears from her cheeks, "I've never
felt anything like this before. I feel free."

"That is exactly what you are. The chains of sin have
been broken and you are free." Amy pulled Susan into a quick hug.

Susan was surprised, but gave her a little hug back. She
wasn't used to people hugging her. She pulled away a little awkwardly.

"I'm sorry," Amy said. "I like to hug
people.

Susan shook her head, "It's okay. I’m just not used to
it."

Amy opened her briefcase and pulled out a book, "I
brought this for you."

Susan read the title, "Daily devotions for New
Believers?" She looked at Amy questioningly.

"It is a really good book to help you get into the
habit of reading the Bible every day." She looked at Susan questioningly,
"Do you have a Bible?"

Susan shook her head with a sheepish smile, "I never
had the need for one."

"Well, we will have to fix that." She reached
into her briefcase again and pulled out a small book. "This is just the
New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. You can use this until you get a bigger
one."

"Thank you, Amy."

"If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate
to ask me, okay?"

Susan nodded her head, "Okay."

"Are you heading back to the restaurant now?" Amy
asked as she closed her briefcase and prepared to get up.

Susan shook her head, "No, I think I'm going to hang
here for a little bit and try to soak in the decision that I just made."

Amy smiled at her, "I understand, I'll talk to you
soon."

Susan watched as Amy walked away and then looked down at
the Bible and devotional book that she was holding. "God, I don't know if
You can hear me, I am really new at this. I just wanted to thank You for Amy,
though. I don't have any close friends, but I would call her one." She
looked out across the park and a picture of Craig's smiling face came into her
mind's eye and she wondered what he would think about her decision.

Saturday morning dawned bright with a brilliant blue sky -
a perfect day for a beach clean-up. Susan was ready to go when Craig rang the
doorbell. She grabbed a light jacket and they walked to his car.

"What exactly do you do for a clean-up day?" She
asked as Craig drove to Pacific Beach.

"We basically just pick up trash. If we find any
bottles or cans we place those in separate bags and give them to the homeless
people that are inevitably hanging around the beach."

"Why were you cleaning up around Hillcrest that day
when you brought the kids to the bakery?" She asked.

"Oh, a member of the community requested us to come
there for a clean-up day."

"You go wherever people ask you to go?"

He chuckled, "No we don't have enough time for that.
But there are other groups that do this also."

"Oh," she said and wondered if she should tell
him that she had accepted Jesus as her Savior. Just then he parked the car and
they were climbing out to meet the rest of the group that was going to help.

The junior high pastor was organizing everyone into groups
and giving them specific places to clean up. Susan was placed in Craig's group
along with about five junior high kids. The pastor said there would be a prize
for the group who picked up the most pieces of trash. He handed each group a
bunch of bags to hold the trash and sent them on their way. Craig gathered the
kids that were in their group and motioned for Susan to follow them.

Susan followed listening to the kids laugh and joke around
with Craig. He had such a knack with kids of this age group. She wondered what
had prompted him to get involved with kids in the first place. Watching him
made her think what a wonderful father he would make one day. She quickly forced
her mind away from that train of thought.

They reached their section and Craig sent each of the kids
off with a bag telling them to stay where he could see them. They all ran off
with their bags picking up trash as they went along. Craig walked over to stand
by her, "I'm glad you came today."

She smiled up at him, "Me too." She looked
around, "I guess we should get started."

Craig nodded his head and they picked up whatever trash
they could find as they walked. They didn't really talk about anything as they
went along, Susan was just enjoying being with him. She thought about telling
him about the decision she had made earlier in the week, but the time never
seemed right. She looked over to where the kids were running around. "It
looks like they are playing more than anything."

Craig followed her gaze and smiled, "Oh, they will
have picked up a lot by the time we are done."

"What got you involved with the junior high
kids?" She asked as she bent over to pick up an empty soda can.

Craig shrugged, "I don't know. I never thought I would
be doing something like this, but one Sunday the Junior High pastor was
advertising something the group was doing and he mentioned that they could
always use more adult help because the group was growing so fast." He looked
out over the cerulean blue ocean. "I felt like God was telling me to offer
to help out.” He glanced at her and smiled, "That was about six years ago,
I've been doing it ever since."

"You seem to really like it."

"I know, odd, isn't it?"

She nodded her head in agreement. "Completely out of
character for you."

He flipped her visor off her head, "Not
completely."

"Oh." she said, reaching up to feel where her
visor had left her head. She looked at him then reached up and grabbed his
baseball cap off his head.

"Hey!" he yelled in surprise.

She laughed and ran away from him with his hat. The only
problem was that it was a lot harder to run on sand than on grass or a sidewalk
so she didn't get very far before he tackled her to the ground.

She screeched out a burst of laughter as she started to
fall. He grabbed her and twisted so she landed on top of him.

"Oomph." he groaned as the air left his lungs.

She raised herself up and looked into his face. Her heart
was erratically thumping around in her chest; not only from the exercise, but
also from the proximity to him. He reached up the hand that wasn't trapped
under her and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Susan saw him look at her lips
as she nervously pulled her bottom one between her teeth. Their eyes met again
and she was as sure as the sun rises that he was going to kiss her. Just then
they were at the bottom of a pile of human beings. The five junior high kids
from their group had come and flung themselves on top of the them. Not unlike
football players tackling the person with the ball.

"Ow." She said and glanced at Craig's face. It
was pale and his eyes were glassy with pain.

"Kids, get off." She grunted trying to extricate
herself from the human pile. She heard Craig groan, "I think Craig is
hurt, kids. Get. Off." She said as firmly as she could.

One by one she felt the kids clamor off of the pile until
she was the last one there. She moved as gently as she could, not knowing what
was wrong with him.

She knelt next to him "One of you call 911 and one of
you call Pastor Mike if you have his cell number." She brushed Craig's
hair away from his face, "What's wrong, Craig?"

"My arm. I think it's broken." He moaned.

Susan glanced at the arm that was lying across his chest.
She couldn't tell just by looking at it that it was broken, but she wasn't a
doctor either. "We've got help coming. Just lay there," she said as
he began to move.

Craig settled back into the sand. Susan could see
perspiration beading up on his upper lip and realized that he was really in a
lot of pain.

"Pastor Mike will be here in a minute, Susan."
One of the kids said. She could here another one still talking to the 911
dispatcher. It was difficult for them to determine where they were since they
were on the beach.

"The ambulance should be here, soon. Is he going to be
okay?" One of the girls asked with a quiver in her voice.

Susan smiled up at the kids who were gathered around.
"He's going to be okay. He's tough."

"We didn't mean to hurt him." Another one said.

"I know that and he knows that. We were all just
playing." Susan said, she looked back at Craig and hoped that he would
indeed be okay. She hoped that it was just a broken arm and nothing more
serious.

After what seemed like an eternity the fire truck came and
eventually the ambulance. They said it was just a broken arm, but they put a
neck brace on him before moving him to the gurney and getting him up the beach
to the ambulance. Susan silently prayed that he would be okay as they worked on
him. They told her which hospital they would be taking him to and she watched
as they drove away with him.

She looked around. The junior high kids were all subdued,
but some of their exuberance was returning since they knew Craig would be okay.
Just then someone touched her arm and she turned around to find Pastor Mike
standing next to her, "My wife can take you to the hospital, if you need a
ride."

Susan looked at the petite red-head standing next to him.

The woman held out her hand, "I'm Brenda."

Susan shook her hand, "Susan."

"Let me take you to the hospital, someone can come
bring you back later to get your car."

Susan shook her head, "Craig brought me here."

"Well, one of the guys can come back to get his car if
necessary. Come on, I'm parked right over here," she started walking
toward a side street with a wave to her husband.

"How long have you known Craig?" Brenda asked as
she drove to the hospital.

"Years." Susan said simply.

"Really? I don't remember seeing you before."

"It's complicated." Susan said not wanting to go
into the history of her and Craig's relationship.

Brenda nodded her head with a smile of understanding,
"Relationships are."

Susan just nodded her head.

A couple hours later Susan was watching Craig being wheeled
out of the emergency room, his right arm in a cast and a sheepish smile on his
face.

She raised her eyebrows at him but couldn't stop the smile
of relief that flitted across her lips. Thank You, Lord. She prayed silently.
The orderly stopped the chair right in front of her. "You will do anything
for attention, won't you?"

"Hey, I didn't tell them to jump on top of us."

She chuckled, "I know. They felt really bad about
it."

"Aw, it's not so bad."

"How long do you need that thing on?" She asked
motioning to the cast.

"Six weeks," he said with a grimace.

She nodded her head, "It could be worse."

"Yes, I'm glad it wasn't you," he said looking
into her eyes.

She smiled at him, "Me too." She looked around,
"Well, are you ready to go home?"

"Yes, more than ready. This was not how I wanted to
spend my Saturday afternoon."

"Well, life has a way of happening." She walked
next to him as the orderly pushed his wheelchair out of the hospital and into
the warm sunshine. "Pastor Mike had someone drop your car off here. Do you
want to drive or do you want me to?"

"You can drive; they gave me some pain killers that
have made me a little loopy."

"Really? I haven't noticed a difference." She
said with a teasing smile.

He just raised his eyebrows at her.

Fifteen minutes later she was parking his car in his
driveway. She got out of the car and turned a slow circle taking in his
beautiful home and the view of the ocean. "Wow."

He walked up next to her, "Would you like to come
in?"

Susan looked at him a moment then nodded her head. As they
entered a black Labrador ran up to greet them.

"Hey, Prince." Craig said patting the dog on the
head with his good hand.

"What a beautiful dog," Susan said as she knelt
down to give the dog some attention which it soaked up with abandon.

"Thanks."

"I thought you didn't like dogs." She said.

"I thought I didn't like them either." He said
looking at the dog then back up at her and swayed a little, "I think I'd
better sit down."

"Yeah, I think so, too," she said hoping he
didn't fall down before he made it to a comfortable place to sit.

He led the way into a room that had a huge picture window
facing the ocean. The view was breathtaking. She watched him get settled then
walked over to the window to get a better look. There were a couple of sail
boats on the water and farther out there was some kind of Naval ship. "You
have quite a view from here," she said turning to look at him. It looked
as though he had fallen asleep. She went over and stood there for a few moments
just observing him. He had changed so much, yet he was the same, too.
God,
this man is amazing, I want...

"Water."

Susan tilted her head, "What?"

"I'm parched, could you get me some water?" He
asked without opening his eyes.

"Oh, sure," she said, wondering if he knew how
long she had been standing there looking at him.

She found the kitchen and got him a glass of ice water. She
carried it back to the room where he was relaxing and set it on a coaster on
the table by him. "Well, I guess…"

"Do you want to watch a movie with me?" He asked,
still not opening his eyes.

"Shouldn't you rest?"

He squinted an eye open, "If I sleep now, I won't be
able to sleep tonight. Besides, you owe me for breaking my arm."

She opened her mouth, "Me? I didn't break it."

He shrugged his shoulders, "You were the one on top of
me."

"Me and five other people."

"They don't count," he said with a smile.

"Oh really?"

"I have a bunch of movies in that cabinet over
there," he said motioning to a corner of the room.

Susan shook her head and headed over to the cabinet
determined to choose a really mushy chick flick. A few minutes later she was
shaking her head, she would choose a really mushy chick flick if he owned one.
She finally pulled out an adventure with Nicolas Cage in it. It was a movie she
always wanted to see, but never had the chance to. She closed the cabinet and
walked over to the TV, put the disk into the BlueRay player and looked around
for the remote.

"I've got it." Craig said waving the gadget in
the air with his good hand.

"Of course," she said as she walked toward
another chair in the room. She kicked off her shoes and curled up in the rather
large chair, surprised at how comfortable it was. All of a sudden the blinds
started going down over the windows and she looked at Craig.