First Date (20 page)

The crowd cheered again, and Addy tried to stop laughing long enough to appreciate it.

“And we want you to know that you are the winner in our ‘Book of Love.’”

Two more children came up on the stage with a bouquet of flowers and a crown.

“And you are our prom queen.”

Balloons dropped from the ceiling, and everyone in the bleachers ran up to the stage, throwing confetti and shouting. Addy accepted the flowers and the crown from the children with tears in her eyes.

Oh yes
.
It’s good to be home
.

Chapter 33

H
e wanted to drive the boat,” Lexi said.

Spencer Adams was walking down the dock toward her.

“You can drive the boat,” Addy whispered.

“But I’m not nearly as easy on the eyes as Spencer.” Lexi laughed.

“Hey, Addy.” He grinned. Not as perfect a smile as Jonathon’s, Addy noted.
Even Spencer Adams looks plain after spending time with Jonathon
.

“Thanks for letting me come.”

Addy, Lexi, and Spencer put on their life jackets as Eric and his crew set up their cameras on the shore of the lake.

“Nice place,” Eric said. “What do you call those trees?”

“Cypress,” Addy answered. Having grown up around this lake, she knew she took its beauty for granted. The green water sparkled as the sun hit its surface, and the large trees surrounding it looked like their branches and trunks were melting into the ground.

“Want to try?” Addy asked Eric, lifting up a ski.

“Not a chance.” Eric looked through the camera lens. “There are alligators in that lake, right?”

“Sure,” Lexi said. “But they don’t bother us.”

“That’s a relief,” Eric said.

“They’re too scared of the boats to come near us. They like to stay near shore.”

Eric’s eyes widened and Lexi laughed.

“Lexi, stop scaring him,” Addy said. “Don’t worry, Eric. My uncle always says the alligators are just as scared of us as we are of them.”

“Well, that’s good.” Eric leaned on his camera. “Because I am very, very scared of alligators.”

Spencer started the boat. “Do you want to start on shore or in the lake, Addy?”

“In the lake.”

Within minutes, Addy was jumping out of the boat into the water.

“Cold?” Lexi asked.

“A little.” Addy worked her feet into the plastic boots on the water skis, grabbed the handle at the end of the rope, and positioned herself behind the boat.

“Ready?” Lexi asked.

Addy put her thumb up and Spencer hit the gas. Addy leaned back, knees bent, letting the rope pull her into a standing position. Moving outside of the wake, she easily jumped the waves the boat made. Another thumbs-up sign, and Spencer knew Addy was ready for more speed.

Addy pulled on the rope and within seconds was beside the boat.

“Show-off,” Lexi yelled.

Addy pulled back, crossed the wake behind the boat, then pulled up on the other side, this time dropping one of the skis and positioning her right foot in front of her left.

Addy and Lexi had spent hours on this lake, and waterskiing came as naturally to Addy as walking. Lexi wasn’t quite as accomplished, and the running joke between the girls was that Addy took pleasure in her superior abilities.

Lexi moved Spencer out of the way, and Addy knew she was in trouble. The boat made a sharp turn to the left, and she bent her knees in response, following the curve of the boat. Lexi looked back and pushed the boat even faster. Knowing she had no chance to win this battle, Addy waited until she was right in front of the dock, let go of the rope, and the momentum carried her back to shore.

“That was amazing.” Eric came out from behind the camera. “How’d you do that?”

“How’d I do what?” Addy removed the ski and sat on the shore to catch her breath.

“You just came right back here,” Eric said.

“I don’t like falling in the lake,” Addy said. “When I was little and I’d fall, I’d hear the humming of the boat’s motor under the water, and I thought it was a snake. It scared me so much I didn’t even want to keep skiing. So Mr. Summers taught me how to get back to shore when I was done so I didn’t have to stay out there. That’s how I’ve come back ever since.”

Addy waved Lexi and Spencer back to shore. “Except when Lexi makes me crash.” Addy laughed.

Eric packed up. “I’ll meet you at the beach in the morning, Addy.”

Spencer pulled up next to the dock and stood. “Ready to get Lexi back?”

With a gleam in her eye, Addy ran to the boat, ready to do just that.

Chapter 34

T
hat was a bad fall.” Spencer watched Lexi limp back to her house.

“She really wiped out,” Addy said.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t go with her?”

“No way.” Addy draped a towel around her shoulders to protect herself from the chilly April breeze. “Lexi hates for anyone to see her hurt. She’ll patch herself up and be back in just a few minutes.”

Spencer sat beside her. “I was actually hoping for some time alone with you, Addy.”

She looked at Spencer’s profile. His olive skin, dark hair, and ebony eyes revealed his Hispanic heritage. Until recently, Addy thought Spencer was the best-looking boy at school.
And until now, he never even gave me a second glance
.

“I know you’re getting a lot of attention and all that. And I have no doubt you’re going to win that competition.” Spencer turned to look at her, leaning closer.

Nice cologne
, Addy thought.
But not as nice as Jonathon’s
. “I don’t think that’ll happen. But I’ll stay on as long as God wants me there.”

“That’s what I’ve always admired about you, Addy. You have such a strong commitment to God.”

“Thanks.”

“Listen.” Spencer paused for a minute, looking out over the lake. “Like I said, I know you’ll be going to prom with Jonathon Jackson. But I was wondering if . . . maybe . . . you’d go to our school’s prom with me.”

I did not see that coming
. She leaned away from Spencer.
Seventeen years without any boy giving me a second glance, and now the cutest boy in school is asking me to prom?

“You are going down, Addy Davidson.” Lexi ran up from behind Addy, lifted her up, and carried her over her shoulders down the dock. Addy’s thin frame was no match for Lexi’s bulk, so Addy surrendered and prepared herself for the inevitable.

Lexi dropped Addy into the water. Bobbing up, Addy said, “Are we even?”

“Maybe.” Lexi held out her hand to help Addy up. Using all her weight, Addy grabbed Lexi’s hand with both of hers and pulled the larger girl into the lake beside her.

Both girls were laughing when Spencer walked down the dock.

“Hey, Addy,” he said. “I have a baseball game tonight, so I need to go . . . unless you’d rather I stay. I mean, I can miss this one game. I don’t mind.”

Addy squeezed the water out of her hair. “No, that’s fine, Spencer. The team needs you—you’re their best player.”

He beamed and waved good-bye. The girls climbed up the ladder to the dock and Lexi handed Addy her towel.

“Spencer and Addy, sitting in a tree,”
Lexi sang.

“Very funny.” Addy slapped Lexi with the end of her towel. “He did just ask me to prom, though.”

“Spencer Adams asked you to prom?” Lexi whistled. “Dreams really do come true. The president’s son and the most popular boy in school. Where do you go from there?”

“Home to get ready for bed.” Addy stood to walk back to her car.

“Wait a minute, young lady.” Lexi walked beside her. “I know you’re a star and all that, but Spencer Adams just asked you to prom. What did you say?”

“Nothing. Right after he asked, you came up and threw me in the water.”

“I saved your sorry behind yet again. First, I get hurt so he has the time to ask you. Then I come back just in the nick of time so you don’t have to answer him. Who’s the best friend ever?”

“Or the worst.” Addy opened her car door and grabbed a dry towel from the backseat.

“What?”

“I can’t go to prom with Spencer.”

“Why not? You’ve had a thing for him since you were twelve.”

“What about Jonathon?”

“Jonathon Jackson? The president’s son?”

“Do you know another one?”

“Addy, you’re on a TV show with him. Even if you win—correction,
when
you win—it’s just prom. But Spencer is . . . he’s Spencer.”

“But, Lex, I really think I like Jonathon.”

“Jonathon Jackson? The president’s son?”

“Lexi, will you stop?”

“Sorry, but seriously, Addy. He’s the president’s son.”

“I know. But I think we might be friends.”

“So be friends with Jonathon and go to prom with Spencer.”

“That just doesn’t feel right,” Addy said. “I don’t date around.”

“You don’t date at all.”

“I can’t lead Spencer on when I like Jonathon.”

“Jonathon is currently ‘dating’ fifteen girls, Addy. You’re just thinking about going to prom with one.”

“But what if Jonathon really likes me? What if something could happen there?”

“And what if nothing happens with Jonathon and you throw away your chance with Spencer?” Lexi leaned against the hood of Addy’s car. “You’ll be one of those little old ladies who never marries and has a houseful of cats. And then you’ll die, but no one will find your body and it’ll just melt into the floor next to the cat carcasses.”

“That is disgusting.” Addy pushed Lexi off her hood.

Lexi spread her hands. “I’m just saying.”

“God is not going to force me to be the crazy cat lady because I choose not to lead one boy on when I like another.”

“You hope.” Lexi grinned.

“You’ll be the one to find the body.”

“All the more reason to talk you out of refusing Spencer.”

Addy laughed. “Good night, Lex.” She pulled out of her friend’s driveway.

God, what do I do? I like Jonathon. But I don’t know if there’s any chance with him. Even if there is, I don’t know if he’s a Christian. And Lexi is right; he is on a show where he’s dating fifteen girls. What does that say about him? Of course, I’m on that show too, so what does that say about me? Oh, Lord, this is so complicated
.

Chapter 35

A
ddy!” Addy hadn’t even entered the trailer when Kara flung open the door to welcome her roommate back to Nashville. “What took you so long? I came from New York and got here two hours ago.”

“My flight didn’t leave until three,” Addy said, trying to hug Kara with her arms full of suitcases.

“So tell me all about your week while you unpack.” Kara took Addy’s smaller suitcase and put it on the bed.

“It was great. Too short.”

“Of course,” Kara said. “By the way, Pop says hi and that you are required to come visit this summer.”

“Tell him hi back, and I’d be happy to.”

“Back to Florida.”

“I went water-skiing, played golf, hung out with my friends.”

“Boring,” Kara said. “Tell me the good stuff. I know you’ve got some good stuff.”

“Well . . . I got asked to prom by a guy from school,” Addy said.

“He must not be just any guy from school.” Kara leaned forward. “Tell me about him. What does he look like? What’s his name? How did he ask you?”

“Slow down.” Addy held up a hand. “His name is Spencer . . .”

“Spencer,” Kara repeated in a British accent. “Very proper. I like it.”

“Actually, he’s Cuban American.”

Kara assumed a Spanish matador pose. “Spencehrrrrrr.
Que bueno
.”

Laughing, Addy continued, “He has dark hair and dark eyes.”

“Is he tall?”

“I guess. Why?”

“Tall, dark, and handsome.
Muy bien
. Go ahead.”

“Anyway, he asked me to prom.”

“Where?”

“By the lake after we went skiing.”

“Romantic.” Kara danced around the trailer with Addy’s brown sundress.

“But I turned him down.”

Kara stopped dancing. “You did what?”

“I just couldn’t.” Addy took her sundress and hung it in the closet. “I like Jonathon.”

“I like Jonathon too, but it didn’t stop me from telling four different boys I’d go to prom with them.”

“What? Four?”

“Different schools, different nights. And don’t change the subject.”

“It just didn’t feel right,” Addy said. “But he understood.”

“Sometimes I just don’t get you, Addy. But I’m glad you’re back. I have been so bored.”

“You mean in the two hours you’ve been back?”

“Yes, in the two hours I’ve been back.” Kara laid a hand on her forehead. “It has been torture.”