LITMIR.BIZ

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you later,” he said, and walked away.

      Adrian Braithwaite unplugged the cord from between his guitar and the amp, wound it, fastened the Velcro strap and tossed it into the bin.

      “You were late today,” he said as he watched Randy unplug another cord and do the same. “I thought you were going to be early. I even bought extra doughnuts.”

      “I can’t take my car to work anymore.”

      “That didn’t really answer my question.”

      “You didn’t ask a question.”

      Adrian waited for Randy to say more, but Randy didn’t elaborate. Not only did he not elaborate, Randy didn’t come up with a hundred and one farfetched excuses, nor did he respond with a lame joke. He was also very busy cleaning up instead of hiding in the kitchen eating the extra half a box of doughnuts while everyone else put everything away.

      Something wasn’t right. And Adrian was going to find out what it was.

      “Then how did you get to work?”

      “I’ve been using my inline skates.”

      Adrian frowned. “Really? Why didn’t you just take the bus? Oh, wait.” Adrian paused, remembering incidents from their younger days when he, Bob, Randy and their other friend Paul had taken the bus on many of their excursions. He couldn’t count the times they all had to disembark in a hurry because Randy had to go throw up, even when they sat in the front while they traveled to their chosen destination of the day. Randy’s parents laughed it off, but Bob’s mother always came to give them a ride whenever Randy couldn’t get back on the bus after being so violently sick.

      “You don’t still get motion sickness, do you? I can see using the skates to get to the mall, but it’s quite an uphill journey back. How do you get home? Do you walk?” Walking home from work would explain why Randy was late, but not why Randy was being so evasive about it. He looked out the window to Randy’s car parked on the street. “You’ve got your car now.”

      “I got a ride home, and I took my own car from there.”

      “Now we’re getting somewhere. But if you got a ride, how in the world could you have been late?”

      Randy’s movements quickened as he turned the levels on the sound board down to zero, and began unplugging the unit. “Because we went out for dinner before she took me home,” Randy told him, barely audible.

      Adrian nearly dropped the microphone in his hand. “She? You mean, like a woman?”

      Randy tossed another neatly wrapped cord into the bin with far more force than was necessary. “No. A dog drove me home. What do you think?”

      “You don’t have to get so sarcastic. I was only asking.” He moved in closer to Randy. “What’s she like?”

      Randy dragged one hand down his face. “She’s different than any woman I’ve ever met before. Funny, but not by telling jokes…she’s witty. Smart. Unbelievably organized. Modest, if people use words like that anymore. I haven’t known her for more than a few days, but I feel good being with her. I know it’s wrong, but I can’t help it. I keep thinking about her. I don’t know what it is. For the past couple of days, we’ve started out talking about computers, but then we end up talking about something else, and we have a lot of fun. So much fun that it will almost be worth it when her boyfriend shows up and punches my lights out.”

      Adrian blinked. “Boyfriend? If she’s got a boyfriend, what are you doing going out with her?”

      Using his toes, Randy pushed at a guitar pick lying on the carpet. “I’m not really going out with her. She’s buying him a computer for his birthday, and she has a lot of questions, so we’ve been going out for dinner, just to talk. I also don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth when she offers me a ride, because then I don’t have to kill myself skating home.”

      “If she’s got a boyfriend, regardless of the reason you’re getting together, it must be pretty awkward.”

      Randy turned toward Adrian. “You want to hear awkward? She’s invited me to his birthday party.”

      “Are you going?”

      “Yeah. She asked me to put the computer together for him. It’s a surprise.”

      Adrian winced. “And you’re okay with that?”

      “No, but I don’t have any choice. She said she’ll give me a ride home every day this week, and I have to return the favor.”

      Memories flooded Adrian of his initial contacts with his wife, Celeste. In hindsight, he could now see how much she’d affected him, and it had all happened so quickly. Adrian wanted to caution Randy about the same thing, because he knew how Randy felt about relationships, especially with his background. But before he could figure out how to put the words together, Randy stood up.

      “Adrian, I feel really tired all of a sudden. I think whatever is happening with this woman is getting to me, and I can’t let that happen. I’m going to go home and read my Bible for a little while, and then I should see if anyone from my chat group is online. I need to talk to someone.”

      Before Adrian had a chance to volunteer to talk to Randy in person instead of having Randy go to his online support group, Randy turned around and left.

      Without first stopping in the kitchen and raiding the doughnuts.

      “Uh-oh…” Adrian said as he heard Randy’s car squeal off in the distance.

      “I can’t talk now, Mom. I’m at work. But I have a price for the computer.”

      Lacey nodded at another customer who entered the store, made a few quick calculations, then whispered the figures to her mother.

      “Will you be going out with that young man after work again?”

      Lacey’s fingers froze over the calculator. “Probably.”

      “How well do you know him? I mean, really know him?”

      “Uh…not a lot….”

      “You’ve already bought the computer so you don’t need to see him again. Just be careful.”

      Lacey gulped. She knew what her mother meant. Her family had a history of making bad choices when it came to men, from her father to her brother-in-law. Lacey was very likely to follow her mother’s and her sister’s patterns—it was obviously in her genes. And that was why Lacey had decided that she would never get married.

      “I will.” Lacey hung up the phone, but instead of returning to her work, her hand stayed on the phone as she stared at the wall. The wall between her store and the computer store. Randy was on the other side of that wall.

      She knew she didn’t have to see him again, but she would anyway. She really hadn’t needed to invite him to Bryce’s party to set up the computer, either.

      The only reason she was continuing to see him was because he needed a ride.

      If there was anything she’d learned from all her hardships growing up, it was the pain of what it was like to do without. When she started going to church and the people there discovered the financial plight of her family, many stepped in to help. Their out-pouring of kindness, help and financial assistance was the first thing that opened her heart, as well as the hearts of her family, to God’s love. At times it was humiliating to take charity. But it was also a lesson in how to accept graciously, as well as how to give sacrificially.

      That was why she wanted to give Randy a ride home every day. Simply because he needed it. There was no other reason. Really.

      She jerked her hand away from the phone and continued with her task of checking inventory for the sidewalk sale, but she was soon interrupted by a customer.

      The woman closed her eyes briefly and inhaled deeply as she slid a pair of earrings toward the cash register. “It’s really hot out there.

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