Don't Kiss Him Good-Bye (14 page)

Chapter 27

“So is everyone ready, then?” Joe gathered us all into a small room off the main youth area. I could smell the coffee brewing on the barista cart, but I didn’t dare have any caffeine before playing. Didn’t want my hands or my voice to shake.

“I’m ready,” a kid named Jacob said. He could juggle up to seven balls at once and was going on first to get everyone pumped up.

We prayed together and then filtered to the back of the room so we’d be able to enjoy watching the other performances while waiting to do our own thing. Juggling Jacob went first and, as promised, got everyone worked up and hooting and clapping. I watched him and clapped, but I had to admit that I had at least one eye on the door most of the time.

“Who are you looking for?” Supriya asked.

I shook my head and whispered, “I’ll tell you later.” Part of me hoped that Rhys would come because it’d be good for him to hear the message at the end and also to get a better picture of the Christians he liked to put down.

Next up was a group of guys lip-synching. Then someone played a piano song to chill everyone out before a few slower acts came on.

Just as Supriya was about to take the stage and recite in her beautiful, exotic-sounding Hindi, I glanced back at the door.

“He’s here,” Supriya whispered.

He was here all right. But it wasn’t the
he
I’d expected.

It was Tommy.
Oh no!

I looked away so I wouldn’t have to catch his eye as he made his way through the crowd toward his friends. I tried really hard to listen to Supriya’s poem, I really did, but it was hard to focus. I asked the Lord to calm my shaking hands. And then it was my turn to go on stage.

Chapter 28

Joe introduced me from the stage and asked me to tell a little bit about my charity.

“I chose Be@titude.” My voice was shaky at first, but it smoothed out as I warmed up to the topic. “The shop is in Wexburg, where I—where some of us in this church—are from.” At that I involuntarily glanced at Tommy. “Anyway, she’s trying to help single mothers get back to work at something they enjoy so they can support their families. The Lord has always been about helping those who need it, and I thought it’d be a good ministry to support.”

I took just a second to tune my guitar. “Anyway, here’s my song. It’s by an American singer and songwriter, Taylor Swift. I think it’s cool that she’s not much older than me and writes her own music. She writes about things we can relate to.” I kept my voice very even here, betraying nothing, I hoped.

“The song has a number of different meanings for me. I hope you enjoy it.”

I started to play and sing, and I lost myself in the words—and the double entendre known, I hoped, only to the Lord and to me.

I didn’t snap out of the zone till I sang the very last words in the song:

“Have you ever thought just maybe

You belong with me.”

The crowd applauded loudly, and I heard one whistle. I smiled and bowed and met Supriya’s supportive gaze. Then I headed off the stage, guitar in hand, to the back room.

Chapter 29

Sunday morning I sat in church, trying to focus on the words the pastor was speaking from 2 Corinthians and not be distracted by the kid in front of me who was picking his ear and then eating the harvest. In order to keep my mind off him, I started to doodle on the back of my bulletin. I was nothing like Penny in drawing, I knew. But it kept my mind busy.

“So what does the Lord mean when He says, ‘Do not be yoked together with unbelievers’?” Pastor said. “No sharing eggs with heathens?” We all laughed.

“Does that mean we shouldn’t have friends who are not Christians? By no means. We are to show God’s love to those who do not understand it, to invite them into an understanding, to do good deeds for them so that our Father may be glorified. Jesus showed us the way. He befriended many, but those with whom He shared His heart—His closest friends—were believers.”

Pastor coughed a little and took a drink of water before continuing. The kid ahead of me had fallen asleep and was now leaning on his mom’s shoulder, so it was safe for me to look up again as Pastor finished talking. “According to this passage, we do not unite that which is sacred with something that is not. Your heart, your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, your soul, your work and ministries—all are sacred.”

As he was asking us to bow our heads again and pray, I looked down at my drawing. My sumo cows didn’t look like they had a yoke on them. Rather, one looked like it was strangling the other.

After the service, I grabbed a coffee before heading to the youth group room. Supriya was hanging in the coffee lounge too. On the way to Sunday school, I asked her, “So what did you think of the sermon?”

“It was good. You?”

I nodded. “Back in the States our youth pastor had talked about not dating non-Christians. It’s funny that in a way he was basically saying the same thing here too.” I crunched my coffee cup and made a perfect rimmer into a nearby garbage can. Supriya laughed.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You,” she teased. “Of course the pastor is going to say the same thing here, Sav. The Bible is the same here as it is there. It’s the same everywhere.”

I blushed a little—
thinkpink—
admitting with my coloring that I’d just had a
duh
moment.

The crowd in Sunday school was really thick, and we pretty much stayed close to the door rather than pushing our way through the pack. I closed my eyes, mostly, during worship. I did notice one time when I opened them that Tommy was there lifting his hands in praise.

He belongs to someone else, Sav,
I reminded myself.
Just like Jack and Melissa and Brian and Hazelle.
I’m a girl with ethics. Move on.