The Prince Charming List (19 page)

I rubbed my bruised toe against my calf and studied the thing that had just tried to kill me. It was a sculpture—a large block of clay glazed in browns and blacks that had no distinguishing characteristics. Maybe it was an accident. Or a doorstop.

Then I saw a nose.

“Heather, do you like lemon or honey?” Marissa called.

“Both.” They helped kill the taste of the tea. I knelt down and stared at the sculpture. There
was
a nose. And a chin.

“It’s ready.” Marissa’s voice at my shoulder made me jump.

“I’m sorry, I was just looking.” Looking. Snooping. Take your pick.

“Genesis.” Marissa knelt down and ran her hand over the outline of something that suddenly took on the shape of a man’s rib cage. “I did this one a few years ago.”

“It’s Adam, isn’t it?” One by one the features of the man hidden in the clay began to appear. The slant of his jaw. The slope of his shoulder. It was amazing. Marissa could create something like this, but she spent her days making mugs and plates. Maybe Jared was right about her. Maybe she wasn’t living up to her potential.

“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Marissa sat back on her heels. “God spoke the entire universe into being but He used His hands to make Adam. I’ve lost sleep over that one. Even in the beginning, He wanted that close relationship with us.”

“Have you entered it in a show?” If the sculpture had tugged at me—the person who wanted to appreciate art but usually ended up admiring the jacket on the person standing next to her—there had to be something special about it.

“Come on. Our tea is getting cold.”

I took that as a no. “Has Jared seen it?”

Marissa hooked her foot around a short wooden stool and pushed it toward me. “I haven’t shown it to him.”

“But if you can do something like
Genesis…
” I lifted the cup to my lips. Open mouth, insert tea. It was better than insert foot.

“Then why am I making dishes?” Marissa finished. “Because it’s what I
want
to do. I want the pottery I make to be in people’s homes. In their
lives
. I want there to be one of my tea sets in grandma’s kitchen so her granddaughter can use it to have a party with her dolls. Eating meals together is the way people stay connected. There’s intimacy there. Something rich. Why do you think we have all those potluck suppers at church?” She laughed. “Someone is going to start their day pouring coffee into a mug I designed. Someone is going to grab a moment of solitude and see fireflies in the glaze. I never think of my work as making plates. Or cups. I think of it as…life.”

“I’m sorry.” I was apologizing for Jared. And for myself, because I was guilty of thinking the same thing he had.
Why was she wasting her gifts?

“Don’t apologize. My passion for my work takes over sometimes and I get a little vocal. You know how it is.”

Marissa was giving me too much credit. I wanted to have a passion but I wasn’t sure cutting hair was it. And I wasn’t sure I wanted it to be. I loved it, but there had to be something buried in my soul that God hadn’t mined out yet. A special gift that would create something more lasting than a spiral perm.

“When did you know that this is what God wanted you to do?” I had to ask. “I know God has a plan for my life—He just hasn’t unrolled the blueprint yet and let me in on it.”

“He does have a plan, but sometimes I wonder if the most important thing to God isn’t
what
we do, but what we allow Him to do
through
us.”

“H
ey, stranger.” Bree stopped in at the salon the next day right at lunchtime. “Hi…Kaylie.”

Kaylie flashed Bree a weak smile and fled into the back room, muttering something about cleaning out the fridge while she had a few extra minutes.

“Kaylie Darnell is working for you? You do believe in living dangerously.”

I winced. “Am I the only one who hasn’t been grafted onto the grapevine in this town? Someone should send out a weekly newsletter.”

“I think Mindy Lewis has that covered. I’ll get you a subscription.”

“Well, I’m keeping Kaylie. I don’t know how Bernice did everything herself. I’m a mere mortal.”

“Do you have plans tonight?” Bree went right for the suckers in the big plastic container next to the cash register.

“Jared and I have been playing phone tag since yesterday so I’m not sure. Do you want to go riding?”

“Is there anything else?”

“Let me think. Parasailing? Mountain climbing? White-water rafting?”

Bree wrinkled her nose. “Boring.”

“True. You talked me into it.”

“It’s also bath night for the ponies so I told Riley we might stop over to help. His dad sets up a pony ring in the park during the Fourth of July celebration this weekend. You’re going to be there, right?”

“I think so.” My casual shrug didn’t fool Bree for a second. I was still hoping that Jared would change his mind about the weekend. But maybe he was hoping I would change my mind. This was where things got complicated. I was beginning to realize that dreaming about a relationship was a lot easier than actually
being
in one.

“Let me guess. You’re hoping to make plans with a certain someone before
you
make plans.”

“I’m pathetic. I know. Stephen and Annie need help organizing games for the teenagers and I put them on hold, too.”

“Because you don’t think the Fourth of July Frolic is going to be exciting enough for Jared?”

“No.” He’d made that clear enough. But I was waiting for him to change his mind now that he’d had some time to think about it. I wanted Jared to quit being the displaced artist and start being the appreciative art
student
. The one who acknowledged that Prichett had given him the opportunity to create a sculpture that would last…well, a long time. Even if it was a bronze cow displayed in the center of a town with a population of less than two thousand.

“But you like the guy.” There was a question in her voice.

“Now you sound like Marissa.”

“I do?”

“She seemed kind of surprised that Jared and I have been seeing each other.” That still bothered me. “I’m not sure why.”

Bree fished around in the container and pulled out another sucker. “This one’s for Riley. Pineapple.”

“You’ve got to love a man with exotic taste in Dum-Dums.”

Bree grinned and waved it at me when she reached the door. “We’ll talk later. I’ll see you after work.”

Kaylie emerged from the backroom after Bree left. I had a feeling her timing wasn’t a coincidence. I had about ten minutes before my next appointment came in and for some reason, I was restless. Bree had deliberately cut off our conversation about Jared and it left me unsettled. Why was it such a surprise that I was attracted to him? I was going to have to come right out and ask Bree why she seemed so cautious about Jared all of a sudden.

Kaylie intercepted me mid-pace and handed me the sandwich I’d stashed in the fridge. And a bag of carrot sticks that hadn’t come from my lunch box. “Wait a second. You didn’t tell me that you were moonlighting as the Food Pyramid police.”

“It was on my résumé.”

I was finding out that even though Kaylie was shy, she had a great sense of humor. Which reminded me of the reason she was shy. Which reminded me that somewhere out there was a circle that had my picture in the center. With a line through it.

“Kay—please tell me your mom knows you’re working here now.”

The guilty look on her face gave her away. “I haven’t had a chance to mention it yet. Two of my brothers both got poison ivy over the weekend so she’s been busy marinating them in calamine lotion.”

I took a deep breath and decided it was time to ask the question that had been nagging at me since Kaylie started working at the Cut and Curl. “Why is your mom so against you having the birthmark removed?”

“She’s never told me why. Just that I should be happy with the way God made me. I’ve tried to ignore it, but I hate the way people stare—like it’s all they see when they look at me. They can’t get past it. Or else they try
not
to stare. Which is just as bad.”

“Have you told your mom how you feel?”

“She won’t understand. She thinks I should be a living, breathing example of a person who knows that it’s what’s inside a person that matters. But you know what, Heather? I’m
tired
of being that example. People get braces all the time so they have a prettier smile and that’s not wrong, is it?”

I felt the need to tread lightly. I didn’t want to come between Kaylie and her mom, but I didn’t know if it was right to look at the birthmark as a test of Kaylie’s faith, either. That seemed like an awful lot to put on a teenager who was already self-conscious and struggling to figure out who she was. Been there, done that. And not completely cured myself, to be totally honest.

“Tell your mom what you just told me. I had something going on that I was afraid to talk to my mom about and when I finally brought it up, she was more hurt that I hadn’t come to her sooner than about what it was.” I sent up a quick prayer that Mrs. Darnell would be the same way.

Kaylie looked uncertain. “Okay.”

“And mention that you’re working here. But maybe not in the
same
conversation. On second thought, you might want to leave a note.”

Kaylie laughed. But I wasn’t kidding.

She was quiet for the rest of the afternoon and I didn’t bring up the subject again. I prayed Kaylie would work things out with her mom—and I didn’t want to get caught in the middle.

After work, I skipped up the stairs and felt the railing quiver under my hand in response to the decibel level of Dex’s radio. At least it was safe to assume he wasn’t asleep on my couch. Even with the phone ringing nonstop and the constant stream of customers in the salon, it was always a peaceful oasis compared to the fun house waiting for me at the end of the day. My apartment.

I took a deep breath.
Here goes…

The first thing I saw was something in the middle of my living room that looked like a scaled-down version of the ark. I went over to the radio and yanked the plug out of the wall.

“Hi, Noah.”

“It’s a bookshelf.”

“Was that on Alex’s list?”

“It’s for the corner over there.”

“I repeat—”

“It needed one.”

I looked at the empty space near the window. He was right.

“Your dad called.”

“You answered my phone?”

“It was ringing.”

“What did you say? Did you explain who you were? Did you tell him why you’re in my apartment?” If not, there was probably a SWAT team setting up a perimeter around the building as we spoke.

“He wants you to call him back. Something about a job being available when you get back to Minneapolis.”

I sat down in the chair with a hard thump. “A job?”

“It’s through one of the churches. Helping women make their transition back into the workforce. It’s full-time, too.”

“What about benefits?”

It was a good thing Dex was oblivious to sarcasm. It cut way down on the guilt factor.

“No, but there’s some room for promotion down the road.”

My palms got sweaty. Maybe this was
it
. God’s answer to the question about my future. Right on schedule. Why do I pray for things but then I’m surprised when God answers? I hope that didn’t mean my measure of faith could fit in a Dixie cup. I wanted it to be like Prichett’s water tower.

“He’s sending you the application. Priority.”

“Anything else?” Again, sarcasm. Again, I couldn’t help myself.

“Your mom says hi.”

“You talked to my
mom,
too?” I was going to have to call them—soon—and do damage control.

“She thinks they might be able to come for a visit within the next few weeks. But don’t worry about putting them up—they already talked to Alex and Bernice and they’re planning to stay at the house outside of town.” Dex flipped the bookcase onto its side. “She asked me if you were running the town yet.”

“She did not.” Even though she probably had. Mom liked to tease me about what she called my
managerial capabilities
and
leadership qualities.
I couldn’t help it. Rearranging other people’s lives was like organizing closets. Much more fun to tackle someone else’s than your own.

“Some help here.”

It was clear that Dex’s daily quota of words had been depleted by our conversation. I walked over and pushed my shoulder against one end of the board while he hammered on the other. That put us almost nose-to-nose. Close enough that I caught the faint scent of sandalwood and musk.
Expensive
sandalwood and musk. Interesting. I would have put Dex down as strictly a soap-on-a-rope kind of guy. My nose twitched in appreciation. I leaned a little closer.

The dull thwack of the hammer and Dex’s yelp made me jump.

“Are you okay?”

Dex shoved his thumb in his mouth. Like that was going to help. “I’m fwine.”

“Are you sure? Let me see it.”

“I’m
fwine
.”

“Okay. I got it. You’re
fwine
.” I tried not to smile. “This is probably a good time to quit for the day. I have to call my parents back and then drive out to Bree’s…and you should put some ice on your thumb. Despite what you’ve heard, saliva doesn’t have healing abilities. Unless you’re a Dalmatian.”

Dex pulled his thumb out of his mouth and stalked toward the door. Just like that. Leaving tools scattered everywhere and a coffin-size bookcase in the middle of my living room.

“Dex, get back here.” No way was he leaving this mess for me to deal with. He was going to have to pick up his toys before he could go home.

He reached the door and glanced back at me. “I’m praying for you—about the job.”

While I sputtered out a thank-you, he disappeared. Talk about sneaky.

“You’re going to be a missionary. You shouldn’t use prayer as an escape hatch.” I had to shout through the door because he’d actually closed it this time.

The horses were saddled and ready to go when I got to the farm. Bree pushed Buckshot into a canter before we reached the edge of the field. Rose made an executive decision to keep up, which left me out of breath with my hands frozen on the saddle horn by the time we reached the pond.

“All right. What’s bothering you?” I gasped.

Bree didn’t answer right away, which told me I was right.

She leaned over and wrapped her arms around Buck’s neck. “Riley said the M-word last night.”

This was girl-speak and I knew exactly what she meant. “He asked you to
marry
him? And you waited this long to tell me!”

“He didn’t ask me to marry him, he asked me if I ever
thought
about getting married.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him I thought about it all the time.”

I gaped at her even though I knew that was Bree. No games. No flirtatious smiles. No fluttering eyelashes. “And he said?”

“So did he.”

“Wow.” It was all I could come up with.

“Tell me about it.” Bree sat up and spurred Buck into a leisurely walk with her heels. Rose took her place at his side and they stepped out together like they were harnessed to a buggy. “I have three more years of college and now Riley’s thinking about going to school to be a vet tech. I don’t know if we should even be
thinking
about thinking about it right now.”

“But if you were out of college, would you be thinking about thinking about it?”

“I think so.”

We both giggled.

“All I keep hearing is a little voice inside my head that keeps telling me
there are a lot of fish in the sea.
”

The voice in
my
head was a squeaky rendition of a song that spun like a merry-go-round.
Someday my prince will come.
Which the logical part of me—the part that had absorbed every tip about dating from the books that Mom had strategically placed on the nightstand in my room—told me was unrealistic. And the guys in the YAC group had certainly
proved
it was unrealistic. So why was I still on the lookout for him? Somewhere along the way, I’d been brainwashed. And then there was The List…