Miss Match (39 page)

"Yeah, it is." My voice is quiet. I change the subject. "Hey, your sister
is letting a strange man put his arm around her," I tattle.

I can hear his smile. "What should I do?"

"What any good brother should do. Come over here, take him outside, and knock his lights out."

"Uh-huh."

I finish my coffee and toss the cup in the trash can. "And I'll cheer
from the sidelines and Ruby will gasp dramatically and then when Nick
gets a swing in on you, I'll nurse you back to health."

"That part sounds nice, but what happens to Ruby and Nick?"

"They move to Alaska. Raise five kids on a fishing boat and teach
them all how to crab."

"A crabbing boat," he says.

"What?"

"It would be called a crabbing boat."

I frown. "I didn't know `crabbing' was a word."

"I saw a special on National Geographic. They're called crabbing
boats."

Long pause. "Hey, Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"You have way too much time on your hands."

He starts laughing. "Says the woman who can quote Pride and
Prejudice verbatim."

"But I can do that with an English accent."

"So?"

"So National Geographic has the same man doing all the voice-overs."
I make a face. "A man with a really boring monotone. You'd put me to
sleep if you quoted National Geographic."

"Wow. Compliment."

I distinctly hear kids in the hall.

"I'd love to keep the compliments coming, Ry, but my doom
approaches."

He laughs. "Laurie, you're going to have a blast and you know it."

"I'm nervous."

"Relax. It'll be fine. I'll give you a call later on."

I smile tightly. "Bye, Ryan."

"Bye, Laur."

I close the phone, leave my stuff, and walk into the hallway. A dozen
or so girls mill around, talking, laughing, sitting, smiling.

I hand the phone to Ruby and look around. "I can do this," I mutter
quietly, gathering my courage.

She grins at me.

Faster than you can say, "Uncle Walleye ate my trout," thirteen big-eyed
junior high girls sit in a circle, with Ruby and me at one side of it.

"I think the first thing to do would be to introduce ourselves. I'm
Ruby Palmer. I'm a photographer along with my friend Laurie here, who
will introduce herself now."

I clear my throat. "Right. So. Uh, I'm Laurie, like Ruby just said.
Urn." Might as well be honest. "And I'm a little nervous because I've
never taught anything before."

The girls smile together.

A little Hispanic girl with gorgeous brown eyes raises her hand.
Ruby nods to her.

"I'm Tawnya. And I'm just wondering what you guys think about predestination and election. My mom said those are big topics in Romans."

I start blinking. This class might be deep.

Ruby nods. "They are big topics, Tawnya. We'll be covering that as
we go along. Particularly how they relate to God's sovereignty." She stops
and looks at the group. "Who knows what sovereignty means?"

A dark-haired girl who is built like a soccer player answers. "Doesn't
it mean, like, God's in control over everything?"

Ruby looks at me and I start nodding. "Mm-hmm, that's right. Good,
bad, ugly, God has ordained all of it." I see a few frowns. "Ordained
means designed, basically." I look at Tawnya. "Does that answer your
question?"

She nods.

I let out a small breath of relief.

Ruby and I take turns teaching on apostleship, and after we pray,
smile, and dismiss, I have to admit it went better than I could have
hoped.

Ruby nudges my knee with her foot as the girls leave to go find the
chocolate chip cookies someone brought.

"Good job." She replaces the cap on her pen.

I close my Bible. "Same to you. I think it went well. This should be a good year. The girls are really cute!"

"Confidence restored?" She grins at me.

"For the most part. Predestination?"

She stands and stretches. "They grow up younger now. We'll have to
be on top of our game."

I stand as well. "Guess I know what I'll be doing on my trip."

"Studying?"

"You got it." I start gathering my belongings. "So, heading home?"

She nods. "Probably."

We step outside and Nick catches Ruby's arm. "Hey."

She dimples. "Hi."

"Want to go get dinner with me on Friday?"

She stares into his eyes for a moment before answering. She must
have seen something because she ducks her head, blushes, and nods.

"Good," Nick says softly.

Ping! Ping! Ping! My brain screams.

I look to the left of the two of them and there it is. Big, neon lights.

CUPID WINS!

I watch Nick kiss her cheek softly and then go back to his pastoral
duties. Ruby stares after him, twisting her bare ring finger.

Friday.

Nick is going to propose Friday night.

Do I scream? Jump up and down? Dance the Hokey Pokey?

"Excuse me for a second," I mutter to no one in particular. I walk
into the empty women's bathroom and pull my cell phone from my
pocket. Bee-bee-beeee-beeeee! it sings as I turn it on.

I dial quickly. "Ry?"

He laughs. "I was wondering how long it would take. Forty-five
minutes? Come on, Laur. You could have done better than that," he
chides.

"Nick asked you?" I'm fidgeting and my heart is racing with
excitement.

I can now officially hang up my matchmaking cap. My work here is
done. Besides, God is sovereign. He can orchestrate events much better
than I can.

"He asked forty-five minutes ago," Ryan says. "Why are you
echoing?"

"I'm in the bathroom."

"Why?"

"'Cause I didn't want Ruby to hear. He asked you? If he could propose?" I am shrieking.

"Yep. Forty-five minutes ago."

"Will you get off that?" I pace the length of the three sinks, grinning
like an idiot. My nose itches and I can't decide if I should burst into tears
or laughter. Lord, this is so amazing!

"He's asking her Friday," Ryan says.

I wave my hand. "I already knew that."

"How?"

"Nick asked Ruby in front of me."

I can almost hear Ryan shaking his head. "You'd think the man
would be brighter than that by now. Maybe I should've said no."

"Do you know where he's taking her?"

"Halia's?" he drawls.

"Funny."

"He said something about the restaurant at the Marriott. The Land
Down Under, or something like that."

"It's The Golden Sea, Ryan." I giggle. "What are the odds?"

"Of what?"

"Him proposing in a room called The Golden Sea right before I go
fishing for a month?"

Ryan clicks his tongue. "It's a sign."

"I'm telling you." I wait for a second. Ryan doesn't say anything.
"So," I start. "Are you going to ask me or do I have to invite myself?"

"To what?"

"Ryan! The Golden Sea? Friday night?"

He pauses. "You ... cannot ... be ... serious," he stutters.

"I am very serious! I helped arrange this marriage! I want to be there
when he proposes." Call it finishing what you start.

"You're kidding!"

"I assure you, dear man, I am not." I wave my hand to my reflection
in the mirror. "I was there when Nate proposed to Lexi, and I helped
arrange that marriage. It would hurt my track record if I weren't at Ruby
and Nick's engagement."

"You are the most devious, conniving little meddler I have ever
met!"

I grin. "Well, thank you."

He groans.

"Oh good grief, Ryan. We'll be invisible! "That's a huge room."

"You've been there before?" His voice is incredulous.

"Sure." I am matter-of-fact. "That's where Nate proposed."

"I can't win," he mutters.

"No, you really can't. So either ask or I'll go by my lonesome, but I'll
be there regardless."

He sighs loudly. "Laurie."

"Yes, dear?"

"Do you want to go to The Golden Sea on Friday?"

"Sure! I'd love to. Thanks, Ryan." I grin.

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

I laugh. "Bye, Ryan."

I hang up and lean over the counter, grinning at myself in the mirror.

God's sovereign. Divine ordination of everything. Even my matchmaking tendencies. Wow, Lord, this is so neat!

Nick and Ruby. Definitely a physical show of His sovereignty.

Friday morning dawns bright and sunny. A perfect day for an
engagement.

I skip down the stairs and kiss Dad on the top of his head. "Morning,
Dad."

He looks up at me, smiling ear to ear. "Excited about the fishing trip,
Honey? Me too."

I pour my coffee and join him at the table. A yellow legal pad is in
front of him, a pen in his hand. "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Checking off supplies. I think I got them all."

I nod, sipping. "Good."

"We leave in a week, so in six days I'll get the food for the
drive over."

"Sounds good." As long as there are M&Ms, anyway. I look
over at Dad eating his organic whole-grain cereal. Probably won't be
M&Ms. The last trip we took he brought candies-and I use that term
loosely-made from all-natural ingredients and vitamin-fortified. They
tasted like grainy cough drops.

He's still talking. "I called the cabin rental place, and they've got us
ready and confirmed."

"Swell."

"Oh, Laurie, this will be so much fun." Dad smiles, his eyes lighting
in a way that I haven't seen since before Mom died. Maybe Dad needed
a trip like this all along.

I squeeze his hand. "Yeah, it will."

Ryan rings the doorbell at a few minutes before six. If you're male, The
Golden Sea won't let you in without a jacket and tie. If you're female, a
dress and some major heels are required or I've heard they'll feed you to
the piranhas in one of the fish displays.

I recycled the dress from Lexi's wedding.

Ironed, of course.

I open the door and Ryan's eyebrows go up. "Wow, Laur. You clean
up nice."

"Same to you, stud. You mean you've had a comb this whole time?" I
feel my eyebrows climb on my head. He's wearing khakis, a white buttondown, a navy blazer, and a tie that I'd bet money he bought today.

He fingers his combed-down hair and grins. "I think I used too
much mousse. Feels like plastic wrap on my head."

He walks me to the car, opens the door, shoves my dress in, and goes
around. "So I've done a pretty bad thing." He turns the key.

"Time for confession?" Mentally I'm reviewing my list of things
to confess: I arranged the disastrous blind dates; the shoes I'm wearing
are Lexi's and I borrowed them three years ago; I hid M&Ms in my
pillow case.

Ryan keeps talking. "I invited Brandon and Hannah to go with us."
He winces. Smacks his forehead. "I think I suffered a momentary lapse
in judgment."

I grin. "I think it's great. Really? Brandon's coming? And Hannah?"

"Well, I figured my excuse to Ruby will he that the four of us are
doing some kind of send-off before your trip."

I pause. "Won't she wonder why she wasn't invited?"