Echoes (18 page)

Sending it off with the push of a button, Lauren eagerly opened KC’s letter.

Lauren froze. She read the last line again. This is what she had been waiting for. Or so she had thought. How many times had he written that P.S. and then erased it the way she had removed similar lines in her letters to him? She decided not to pause to think. As her heart pounded, her fingers tapped to the beat, typing out her response:

Her hands felt clammy as she touched the send button. Was she doing the right thing? If they met in Los Angeles, her brother could join them for dinner. Nothing safer than that.

KC wrote back saying he would be returning from a trip to Chicago that weekend and wouldn’t be able to meet her in LA. He suggested the following weekend in Oregon and asked if she would consider flying to Portland. She wrote back that her frequent-flyer miles weren’t quite at the point she could travel two weekends in a row.

However, just to leave the possibility open, Lauren signed up at work for vacation time that second weekend of August
and all of the third week. That way, if she did end up somehow in Portland, she could fly on to Victoria to see her parents for the week. It wasn’t too impossible. But it was a little scary.

Once she knew her vacation time was cleared at work, she wrote KC that she was considering Portland after all. What did he have in mind?

KC wrote back:

Oh, but Lauren did feel pressure. Lots of pressure. For days she worked through all the pros and cons of this plan. It would have been safer to meet him in a more public situation, like dinner in LA with Brad. Still, she had no reason to distrust this man. Hiking was a good idea. It would make their first “date” casual and more relaxed for both of them. She wrote back that she would like to think about it a little more. KC’s response left her with an even bigger dilemma:

Should she tell him where she lived? Lauren wondered. Then what? Reveal her real name? Give him her phone number? Maybe they should talk on the phone first. Just to break the ice. Somehow that didn’t settle well with Lauren. She realized that part of the reason this relationship felt safe and secure was because the anonymity was a form of protection. She couldn’t give that all up. Not yet, not over the phone.

In a moment of need, Lauren asked Mindy if she could come over after work. It was only a week until Teri’s wedding and two weeks before Lauren might go to Portland. It was time to ask for advice.

Mindy arrived a little after seven with a grocery bag in her hand. “Mint chip and a bag of Oreos,” Mindy announced, handing the bag to Lauren. “I like my cookies crushed on the bottom of the bowl. Should I help?”

“You didn’t need to bring anything,” Lauren said. “But thanks. Why don’t you make it the way you like it and make mine the same way. Do you want anything to drink?”

“Coffee. Black.”

“I hope I have some,” Lauren said, checking her cupboard.

“Don’t worry. I brought some coffee, too.”

“Boy,” Lauren said with a laugh, “this was a casual invitation, and you’ve gone all out. What’s the occasion?”

“I’m expecting you to tell me,” Mindy said with a tilt of her head. “I know something is up, Lauren. Get it out. Go ahead. Just break it to me gentle-like. You’re leaving, aren’t you? You
have a job teaching somewhere, and you wanted to let me be the first to know.”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

“Whew!” Mindy expressed exaggerated relief as she mashed the cookies in the bottom of her bowl with the back of the ice cream scoop. “So this is girls’ night out, and that’s it, right?”

“No, not exactly. I need some advice. I didn’t want to get into it at work.”

“Speak to me. I am a storehouse of opinions.”

“I know.”

Mindy shot her a playfully appalled look.

“It’s like this,” Lauren said, rinsing her rarely used coffeemaker and filling it with water. “I’ve sort of met someone.”

“Really?” Mindy’s eyebrows went up, and a cagey smile spread across her lips. “It’s about time. Where did you meet him? At church? Don’t tell me at Kroger’s. I don’t sanction relationships that begin in the fruit department. That’s where most of them belong!” She looked down at Hawthorne rubbing against her leg. “Can he lick this?” She held up the ice cream scoop.

“He probably would like to, but I’ve put him on a diet.”

“Sorry, baby. Maybe next time. Now, as you were saying …?”

“I didn’t meet him at the grocery store or at church. Actually, we met more than a year ago.”

Mindy dropped the scoop into the sink and spun around to give Lauren a warning look. “If you’re about to tell me it’s that guy from the bank picnic last year, I’m going to lose my appetite right here and now.”

“No, of course not! Didn’t I tell you? I heard he moved to Seattle or some place. He moved a long time ago.”

Mindy slipped a coffee mug under the stream of java coming from the coffeemaker and said, “Do you have any sugar? I need sugar.”

“In the cupboard by your head.” Lauren picked up her ice cream bowl and headed for the couch. She felt nervous about finally telling someone, especially Mindy, about KC.

“Let’s start over,” Mindy said once she was settled on the easy chair with her mug of coffee and bowl of ice cream. She tilted her chin toward the vent in the ceiling and said, “Oh, that air feels good. So tell me. What’s his name?”

“Well,” Lauren cautiously took a bite of ice cream mixed with the smashed cookies and said with a full mouth, “This is good!”

“You’re stalling.”

“His name is KC.”

“Casey? Casey what?”

“No, it’s the initials, K.C.”

“Which stand for …?” Mindy did little loops in the air with her spoon.

“I don’t know.”

“Okay. Let’s try an easier question. How did you meet him?”

“Well, my brother sort of introduced us.”

“Elaborate for me, if you don’t mind.”

Lauren put down her bowl of ice cream and leaned forward. She took a deep breath and spewed out, “Okay. We met on the Internet a year ago in July when my brother was here. Remember when he brought me the computer? And, well, we’ve sort of been corresponding all this time, and don’t worry—he’s a Christian. So now we both thought we’d like to see each other, and I’m considering going to Portland in two weeks to meet him at a waterfall.”

Mindy’s mouth dropped open. She plopped her spoon
back into her bowl and stared at Lauren. “A year? You’ve written to this man for a year, and you never told me?” Her look of hurt was genuine.

“I couldn’t tell you, Min. I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t. It’s such a bizarre thing. I never guessed it would get this far. We just started writing one letter after another and before I knew it—”

“You fell in love,” Mindy finished for her.

“Maybe. Yes. No. I mean, I don’t know. How can I be in love with someone I’ve never seen?”

“You love God,” Mindy answered.

“That’s different.”

“Not always,” Mindy replied. “When one heart opens to another heart, it usually results in love.”

“So what should I do?”

A
re you asking me if you should meet this guy?” Mindy asked.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No!” Mindy spooned a scoop of mint chip into her mouth. “No way should you put yourself at risk like that. Where did you say he wanted to meet you? At a waterfall?”

“Multnomah Falls. It’s near the airport in Portland.”

“Probably nice and remote. Just the right place for an ax-murderer to make mince meat out of you and hide the evidence.”

“Oh, Mindy, he’s not like that. You know he isn’t.”

“No, I don’t. And neither do you. Listen to me, Lauren. There are men who work the Net regularly, luring women to meet them, and those women never return. Don’t you read the papers?”

“I feel as if I know him, Mindy.”

“Right.” She snorted. “You don’t even know this guy’s name!” She shook her head and took another scoop of ice cream. “You’re crazy, Lauren. Crazy to even think about it. Does he know your name or where you live?”

“No.”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

A silence enveloped them before Mindy said, “I’m serious about this. Things happen to you, Lauren. Remember that homeless guy who stole your purse?”

“That was a fluke.”

“You’re too trusting! You need to realize that people in this world aren’t as innocent as they used to be. You’ve been duped more than once. This one sounds like the biggest dupe of all. I can’t believe you even considered it!”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew him the way I do.”

“Oh, please!” Mindy rolled her eyes. “I just have one question for you: Since when did God need an electronic dating device to get two people together? If you’re meant to be with him, you two will end up somehow, some way, meeting someday. You need to stop trying to be in control and let God be in that position.”