Christy Miller Collection Vol 2 Part 24

"Open my present first," Paula urged, sitting, of course, right next to Todd. "It was actually my mom's idea. I hope you like it."

Even in the dim light on the lanai, Paula looked horribly sunburned.

"Did you use anything for your sunburn yet?" Marti asked. "You really got too much sun today, Paula. You can get sick from sunburn, you know. Your lips will swell and blister, and your skin will peel. You did use sunscreen today, didn't you?"

Paula avoided answering by focusing on Christy, who had opened the small box from Paula and lifted out a picture in a heart-shaped silver frame. Christy held it closer in the dim light to see better.

"It's us," Paula said. "My mom took it on our first day of kindergarten."

Christy held it up to the light and smiled at the two little faces, pressed cheek to cheek. Both had a front tooth missing.

Christy couldn't explain it, but all of a sudden she felt like crying. The picture delighted her. It warmed her from the inside out. It brought an ocean full of childhood memories and dreams. It made her feel closer to Paula than she had felt their whole trip. She couldn't be angry with that little cherub beside her in the picture.

"I love it, Paula. Thank you." Christy reached over to give her a cheek-to-cheek hug.

"Owww!" Paula responded the instant Christy touched her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's your sunburn, huh?"

Instantly, the surge of closeness receded. An invisible s.h.i.+eld went up between them again.

Mom and Marti admired the picture and handed it to Todd for his examination.

A smile spread across his face, and he teased, "Which is which?"

"Can't you tell?" Christy asked. "I'm the one on the right."

Todd kept looking at the picture and smiling.

Mom handed Christy her gift in a shopping bag and apologized for not being organized enough to have brought along a box and wrapping paper. It was a big, multicolored beach bag.

Christy really liked it, which was good since she and Mom usually didn't have similar tastes.

"Here," Todd pulled a cardboard tube out from under his chair. "I'm not one for wrapping paper either."

Popping the plastic end off the tube, Christy pulled out a rolled-up picture of a gorgeous waterfall surrounded by tropical foliage. An old bridge stretched across the top of the waterfall.

"This is pretty. Thanks." It was a pretty picture, but it wasn't exactly a personal, romantic kind of gift like the gold ID bracelet Todd had given her for Christmas. He had had the word Forever engraved on it. Christy had grown familiar with its light touch on her wrist and all the hope and promise for their relations.h.i.+p it carried.

"You said to send you a postcard of a waterfall," Todd said in his teasing way. "And that's a waterfall that, well..." He looked like he wanted to explain something about the waterfall, but it was too deeply personal. "Well, I like it a lot."

Christy smiled her thanks, unsure of his unspoken message, and rolled the picture back up. Gently, she eased it into the tube.

"One more gift, Christy," Marti said with a song in her voice.

Christy felt even worse at the thought that she might now receive an expensive gift. "You've already given me my birthday present, bringing me here and taking us to the luau and everything! I really couldn't accept anything else."

Bob handed her an envelope, and she felt a bit relieved, thinking it might be a card with twenty dollars or something that would be easy to accept.

It was a card, all right. "Happy Sweet Sixteen," the front proclaimed. Fortunately, no money was inside. Only an odd-shaped piece of paper that floated to her lap. Christy held it up and then looked at her aunt and uncle and asked, "What's this?"

"Can't you tell?" Marti bubbled. "It's a clue. Try to guess."

"It's a picture of a car."

"A car!" Paula spit out the words as if they disgusted her. "I'm so sure, Christy! You're so spoiled, and you don't even know it."

"Hold on now," Bob said calmly. "It's not a brand-new car."

"Remember my old car?" Marti asked.

Christy gulped, "The convertible Mercedes?"

Paula turned away and looked out at the ocean.

"We traded it in," Bob explained. "Well, sort of traded it in. The bottom line is, after you get your license, you and your dad will go with me to the dealer and trade in your parents' car as well. We'll use the credit from their car and the Mercedes to do a little wheeling and dealing. Hopefully, we can manage to come up with a car for you and one for your mom and dad as well."

"I can't believe this! Thank you." Christy hugged Bob and Marti and then Mom.

Her stomach had begun to do flip-flops the moment Bob said "when you get your license," and now she felt that strange sensation of horror and expectation. So much depended on her taking the test when she got home and pa.s.sing it the first time.

Just then the phone rang inside the condo.

"Who could that be?" Marti asked. "After all, your father already called this morning."

"Want me to get it?" Christy offered, since she was the only one standing.

"Sure," Bob said.

Christy lifted the receiver on the third ring. "h.e.l.lo?"

A loud crackling and clicking came across the line.

"h.e.l.lo?" she said louder. "h.e.l.lo?"

A woman spoke in what sounded like Spanish or Italian, and then the phone clicked and a surprisingly clear male voice came on the line. "Yes, h.e.l.lo. I'm trying to reach Christy Miller."

"This is Christy." Her heart pounded, echoing in her ears. This is strange! Who could be calling me?

"Christy! Do you know who this is?" There was a delay and a little bit of an echo on what seemed to be a cell phone, which made it even more difficult to identify the deep, vaguely familiar voice.

"Ah, ahh..." She didn't know what to say.

Obviously, this person knew her, knew she was in Maui, and somehow had gotten the phone number. Suddenly, she remembered the mysterious, unsigned letter she had stuck in her purse. Could this be the person who wrote the letter?

The voice laughed on the other end of the line, and she knew she had heard that laugh before. But where? When? Who was this?

"I'll give you a clue. You owe me something, which you promised to give me on July 27. Well, where I'm calling from, it's already July 28, but I'm calling to tell you that just because you're in Maui, you can't forget your promise. You still owe me."

The strong voice had taken on a Mafia-type accent, and Christy felt a little frightened, even though she knew it had to be someone playing a trick on her.

"I intend to collect on what you owe me before the summer's over, got it?"

"Well, um..." Christy tried hard to sound light and playful, but she was in a fog over what this masked voice was talking about. "Just exactly what is it I owe you?"

The voice laughed, not deep and mysterious but freely, in its natural range. Then switching back to Mafia style, he said, "A date, Killer Eyes. You owe me a birthday date."

Christy burst out in wild, relieved, delighted laughter, causing everyone on the lanai to stop talking and look inside the condo at her. She pulled the phone cord around the corner, into the kitchen to be out of their view.

"Rick! I can't believe you're calling me!"

"You really didn't know it was me?" he asked in his usual self-confident tone.

"No, I couldn't figure it out at all! Where are you? I thought you were in Europe."

"I am. I'm on the island of Capri."

"Where's that?"

"Off the coast of Italy. We took a hydrofoil over from Naples yesterday. We're going to Rome later this afternoon and then up to Florence and Venice."

"I can't believe this. How'd you get my number?"

"I called your house yesterday. Your dad told me you were in Maui, and he gave me your number. It was easy. You didn't think I'd forget your birthday, did you?"

"But Rick, this is going to cost you a fortune!"

"About the same as dinner and a movie in Escondido," he teased. "We'll compare prices when I take you out in August. If we plan it just right, there should be about a week before I leave for college, and we'll celebrate your birthday then. You pick the day."

"Okay." She knew she should keep talking, but her mind went blank. She felt her cheeks burning and heart pounding over Rick calling her all the way from Europe. He hadn't forgotten her birthday. She never expected this.

"I thought of you yesterday," Rick said in a low, rich voice. "We went to the Blue Grotto. You ever heard of it?"

"No."

Her no echoed in her ear before Rick continued. "We got in this little boat, kind of a cross between a rowboat and a gondola. The guy paddled us into this place like a cave, and we had to scrunch down on the bottom of the boat because the opening was so low. Inside, the water is the most unusual color of blue. The sun reflects into the cave somehow. I don't remember what does it, but the whole inside looks blue from the sunlight and the reflection off the water onto the rocks."

"Sounds pretty," Christy said.

"Not just pretty. Incredible. Awesome. Outrageous. It was killer, Christy. Just like your eyes. I felt like the whole cave was filled with Christy."

Christy let the romance of his words sink in.

"That's where I would've taken you for your birthday if I could've picked anywhere in the whole world, Christina. I would've taken you to the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri."

There was a pause, during which Christy felt certain the sound of her heart pounding in her ears had exploded through the phone and burst in on Rick on the other side of the world.

His voice switched back to teasing. "We'll have to check out all the Italian restaurants in Southern California and see if there's a Blue Grotto restaurant somewhere. If there is, that's where we'll go in August."

Christy laughed. "Okay. Sounds like fun."

"It will be," Rick said confidently. "You try to have a happy birthday there without me, okay? I know it'll be hard, but try."

"Okay. Thanks for calling."

"Did you think for one minute I wouldn't call? That shows how little you know me, Christy. We'll work on improving that in a few weeks. Until then, ciao!"

"Bye, Rick."

She stood perfectly still for a moment before hanging up the phone.

How bizarre! Why would he call me and say all those sweet, sweet things? I never would have expected that from Rick. Never. Maybe I don't really know him, like he said.

Christy started toward the lanai, not sure of how to answer when they all asked who was on the phone. What an unexpected birthday evening! First the car from Bob and Marti, then Rick's call.

Fortunately, no one asked about her call right away. They were involved in an argument, and when Christy entered, Marti appeared to have won.

"Do like I said, Paula. Take a lukewarm bath, and put the aloe vera gel all over your sunburn. Do it now, or you're going to be much worse in the morning. Go on!"

Paula slowly stood, showing clearly that every movement caused her pain.

"You want some help?" Christy offered.

"Doing what?" Paula snapped. "Running my bath water? I think I can handle that myself."

"I just thought-"

Bob cut Christy off. "You holler if you need anything, Paula."

Mom rose. "I was going back to our condo anyway. I'll go with you, Paula."

"Whatever you do, don't touch me anywhere!" Paula warned as the two of them exited, followed by Marti.

"I'll get her some extra aloe gel in case the tube in her bathroom is low." Marti set off, Christy thought, to make sure her instructions were followed thoroughly.

"Well," Bob pushed himself up from the chair, "I'm ready to call it a day. Can I get you two anything? Something to drink?"

"No thanks."

Just that fast, Christy and Todd were alone on the lanai. Bob had turned on the news on the TV behind the sliding gla.s.s door and stood in front of it rather than sitting down.

Todd stood and moved his chair over so he would be next to Christy.

They sat silently for a few minutes, gazing at the ocean and the sky full of stars. The moon sprinkled light on the wave crests. Christy thought it looked like a giant bottle of silver glitter had spilled from the deep heavens and all the tiny flecks were now stuck to the waves with frothy, white Elmer's glue.

Thoughts of Rick evaporated; dreams of Todd soared.

This is so beautiful! What a perfect night, and how romantic to be here with Todd. I love the way he moved his chair over to be next to me. This is exactly what I wished for! I wonder what he's thinking?