Gail Sattler - Changing Her Heart

“Lacey? What are you doing out here?” He switched the box he was carrying to his other hand and checked his watch.

She held up her lunch bag. “I’m taking a late break. What are you doing out here at this hour?”

He held out the box and grinned. “I missed my doughnuts last night, so I went to the doughnut shop on my coffee break.”

“You couldn’t get a doughnut in the mall?”

He shook his head. “These are special. You can’t get these in the mall.” He opened the box, displaying a half-dozen specialty Boston Cremes. “Want one? They’re my favorite.”

She reached forward, then froze before she actually touched one. “I shouldn’t. I haven’t had my lunch yet.”

“It’s okay. I promise not to tell your mother that you had your dessert before the main course.”

Lacey’s stomach churned. She still wasn’t sure that she wanted to introduce him to her mother, but by inviting him to Bryce’s party, she’d opened herself up to her mother’s justifiable curiosity.

Grinning, Randy held the box out, and winked. Lacey’s fingers trembled as she reached into the box. “Speaking of my mother and the party, I still haven’t figured out how to get you into the house early enough to set everything up before everyone else gets there.”

“I don’t know, either,” Randy mumbled as he bit into one of the doughnuts. “All I do know is that I won’t be available until after eleven-thirty, because that’s when my church’s service ends.”

“Really? My church ends the service at noon.” Lacey’s mind raced and she stiffened, steeling her courage in order to ask her question. “How about if I go to church with you? Then we could be back at Mom’s house half an hour earlier than everyone else. Would that be enough time to set up the computer for Bryce? That’s about the amount of time I’ll need to do the food.”

“Yeah. It would,” Randy said around the doughnut sticking out his mouth, keeping it clenched between his teeth as he closed the lid of the box and tried to press the tape back down. Unable to make the tape stick, he grasped the doughnut again and took it out of his mouth so he could speak. “I’ve been thinking. What is Bryce going to say when he sees me with you at his birthday party? Do you think he’ll be okay with that?”

Lacey nodded and hurried to swallow her bite of the pastry. “Of course he’ll be fine with it. In fact, I’m almost sure that the two of you will spend quite a bit of time together with the computer, after all the excitement dies down a bit.”

Randy’s eyes widened, and he continued to pick at the tape. “Oh,” he muttered.

Lacey waited for him to say more, but he remained silent.

“If you’re worried that you won’t know anyone there, it’s okay. Everyone is all friends and family. Besides, I’m sure once Bryce discovers what you do for a living, he’ll hog you to himself all day. Please don’t be shy.”

For an almost indiscernible second, Randy stiffened. Lacey almost wanted to smile, except she was still too nervous. Despite her words, even though she hadn’t known him that long, she suspected the last thing anyone could ever accuse Randy of was being shy.

“I guess,” he mumbled. “I really should go. It was faster going on the skates than walking, but I think I’ve used up my fifteen minutes, and I don’t want to be late getting back to work. I guess I’ll see you Sunday.”

“Sure. What time should I pick you up?”

Randy had begun to push off, but he stopped and spun around. “If you’re going to my church, then I think good manners dictate that I should pick you up. After all, you’re going to be my guest. It’s just that I have to be there an hour early in order to set up the sound system for the worship team.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind. Would you like a ride home again tonight? You’re pretty good on those skates, but it is a long way uphill. I can give my address and directions after work. Maybe over dinner?”

“I…” Randy’s voice trailed off, and eventually, he nodded. “Sure. That would be great.”

“Good. I’ll see you at five o’clock.” Because he’d sounded hesitant, Lacey turned and started walking toward the bench, not waiting for his reply.

She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she wouldn’t have been able to bear it if he had said no.

“What does this button do?”

“Uh…Lacey… Please don’t touch that.”

Lacey yanked her hand away.

“Thanks,” Randy muttered as he held one of the earpieces of the headphones up to his ear with one hand, and adjusted another setting with the other.

While Randy adjusted knobs and buttons, Lacey watched his friends on the worship team practice. They were easy to see from the height of the sound booth, which was in a raised room at back of the sanctuary, recessed into the back wall.

“Okay, I’ve got everything set.” Randy put the headphones down on the table beside the very complex-looking soundboard, and gave the worship team a thumbs-up signal. “Now we sit back and wait for the service to begin. I’ll have to make a few adjustments as the room fills up, but this is pretty much it.”

“I’ve never thought about what happens behind the scenes on Sunday mornings. This is actually quite interesting.”

“The same things happen at every church, every Sunday, including yours. Speaking of your church, you think anyone will miss you?”

Lacey shrugged her shoulders. “No, and Mom thinks it’s perfect. When Bryce and mom left this morning, the house would have looked normal. Since we’ll be able to get back so much earlier we can let everyone in to hide without anyone having to rush. When Mom and Bryce finally get back, Bryce will really be surprised.”

Randy stiffened and blinked. “Bryce lives with your mother?”

Lacey turned to him. “For now, but he’s going to move into the dormitory for his last year of university. Mom’s already started complaining about how much he eats, and saying how good it will be that he’s moving out, but we both know that she’ll be lonely without him. Of course he’ll move back home when he’s done with classes, but who knows for how long? I don’t think it will take him long to get a job. He’ll probably work for a while to pay off his student loans, and then move out when he’s financially stable. Maybe he’ll even get married. Mom says he’s been getting a lot of calls from a woman lately.”

She expected Randy to make some kind of comment, but he was strangely silent. His eyes visibly widened, and he stared at her.

She couldn’t figure out what he thought was strange about her story, although she couldn’t really remember talking to him previously about her mother, or about Bryce. Of all the things they’d talked about, family was something that had never entered a conversation, hers or his. She’d even had the impression that he avoided the topic. Thinking about it now made her suddenly curious.

“I guess I didn’t tell you. My dad died when we were kids. My sister is older than me, and she’s been married for a while. I moved out when I got the job downtown. So now it’s just Bryce and Mom left at the house.”

“I’m so sorry. Not about your brother. About your dad. That must have been awful.”

Lacey swallowed hard. She’d almost told him about it at the booth in the mall, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it then. With the church service about to start soon, she didn’t want to talk about it now, either. Yet she knew she had to tell him something, so he wouldn’t accidentally upset her mother by saying the wrong thing, not knowing what had happened.

She lowered her gaze to the floor. “When he died, he left Mom with three small kids. We had a lot of struggles but we made it, with a lot of help. After Bryce finished high school he worked for a couple of years, then managed to get a student loan for university. He’s been living at home, but Mom sees how hard the commute is, so she told him that for this last year, he should stay in the dorm. It’s going to be best for Bryce, but hard on my mom. When Bryce moves out next week, Mom’s going to be all alone for the first time. She’s devoted her life to us kids.”