breath and tried to decide where to start. She took care of it for me though, when she reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling it close for inspection.
“That’s a cool ring. Is it made of wood? And why are you wearing it on your left hand?”
“It’s my engagement ring.” The words felt strange and exhilarating on my tongue.
Stephanie dropped my hand and gaped at me. The magnification of her glasses made her eyes look huge all of a sudden.
“What?! Who is he? Where did you meet him? When did this happen? Is he here?” Her eyes scanned the nearly empty dining hall as if expecting to see my betrothed magically appear. I giggled, since Stephanie always asked questions in an unending string when she got excited. She must have thought I was laughing to keep from answering though, and tugged at my hand.
“Come on, spill!”
“Okay, okay… His name is Aiden MacRae and he’s from Scotland. I met him this summer in Idaho when I was staying at my family’s cabin in Priest Lake. And no, he’s not here. He, uh, had a mix-up with his passport, so he left to get it taken care of. He was here, though. Jen and Paul got to meet him.”
And Ravi and Mona. I added in my mind, but tried to push that image aside. But Stephanie followed my train of thought, and I could tell by her horrified expression that she’d come to the same conclusion.
“Yes, we ran into Ravi and Mona at the dorm, too,” I said. “It didn’t go well.”
A nervous laugh bubbled out of her but then she pulled herself together and her expression changed to one of compassion and support, the Stephanie I knew and loved.
“Well, I can’t wait to meet him. I’m so happy for you, Linds!” She got up from the table and came around to give me a hug, and I relaxed, suddenly very happy for me, too. Maybe all that worrying I’d done was for nothing. I dropped my plate and fork in the bin for dirty dishes and followed her out.
“Seriously, though, what’s with a wooden engagement ring?” she asked over her shoulder and I laughed, glad to be back.
Chapter 13
The first few days of school flew by as I got acquainted with new teachers and new subjects. I reveled in the fact that I was no longer a freshman and felt a little pang of sympathy for the newcomers I saw wandering around the college with their campus maps. As a sophomore, I knew my way around not only the grounds but the systems as well. So I went to the work-study office to sign up for a position as soon as they opened on the first day. Since I was one of the early birds, I snagged a highly coveted assignment in the game room. As a freshman, the only work-study jobs available by the time you figure out how and where to sign up are serving food in the cafeteria or vacuuming floors for the physical plant. No, thank you.
Now I had a sweet job “supervising” the game room two nights a week. I sat in the corner office and worked on homework, occasionally glancing up to make sure everyone was playing nice, and they paid me an outrageous amount of money to do it. My kind of work-study! And since Dad was paying for my tuition (God bless him), I got to keep all the money I earned. I had something special in mind to save up for, which made it even better.
I resolved not to worry about Aiden since there was nothing I could do to help him, but having him gone was like missing a limb. During the last school year, I talked to him constantly in my mind, thinking he couldn’t hear me anyway. Now I knew he could hear me, but I didn’t want to reach out to him and possibly distract him at the wrong moment.
He checked in with me every night, but refused to tell me where he was or what was happening. Still, just hearing his voice and knowing he was alive made it easier to sleep without him. The hardest part was that I had no idea how long he’d be gone. A few days? A week? A month? I’d given him my car and my cash card, so I knew he’d be okay that way, but I was getting antsy for him to
“That’s a cool ring. Is it made of wood? And why are you wearing it on your left hand?”
“It’s my engagement ring.” The words felt strange and exhilarating on my tongue.
Stephanie dropped my hand and gaped at me. The magnification of her glasses made her eyes look huge all of a sudden.
“What?! Who is he? Where did you meet him? When did this happen? Is he here?” Her eyes scanned the nearly empty dining hall as if expecting to see my betrothed magically appear. I giggled, since Stephanie always asked questions in an unending string when she got excited. She must have thought I was laughing to keep from answering though, and tugged at my hand.
“Come on, spill!”
“Okay, okay… His name is Aiden MacRae and he’s from Scotland. I met him this summer in Idaho when I was staying at my family’s cabin in Priest Lake. And no, he’s not here. He, uh, had a mix-up with his passport, so he left to get it taken care of. He was here, though. Jen and Paul got to meet him.”
And Ravi and Mona. I added in my mind, but tried to push that image aside. But Stephanie followed my train of thought, and I could tell by her horrified expression that she’d come to the same conclusion.
“Yes, we ran into Ravi and Mona at the dorm, too,” I said. “It didn’t go well.”
A nervous laugh bubbled out of her but then she pulled herself together and her expression changed to one of compassion and support, the Stephanie I knew and loved.
“Well, I can’t wait to meet him. I’m so happy for you, Linds!” She got up from the table and came around to give me a hug, and I relaxed, suddenly very happy for me, too. Maybe all that worrying I’d done was for nothing. I dropped my plate and fork in the bin for dirty dishes and followed her out.
“Seriously, though, what’s with a wooden engagement ring?” she asked over her shoulder and I laughed, glad to be back.
Chapter 13
The first few days of school flew by as I got acquainted with new teachers and new subjects. I reveled in the fact that I was no longer a freshman and felt a little pang of sympathy for the newcomers I saw wandering around the college with their campus maps. As a sophomore, I knew my way around not only the grounds but the systems as well. So I went to the work-study office to sign up for a position as soon as they opened on the first day. Since I was one of the early birds, I snagged a highly coveted assignment in the game room. As a freshman, the only work-study jobs available by the time you figure out how and where to sign up are serving food in the cafeteria or vacuuming floors for the physical plant. No, thank you.
Now I had a sweet job “supervising” the game room two nights a week. I sat in the corner office and worked on homework, occasionally glancing up to make sure everyone was playing nice, and they paid me an outrageous amount of money to do it. My kind of work-study! And since Dad was paying for my tuition (God bless him), I got to keep all the money I earned. I had something special in mind to save up for, which made it even better.
I resolved not to worry about Aiden since there was nothing I could do to help him, but having him gone was like missing a limb. During the last school year, I talked to him constantly in my mind, thinking he couldn’t hear me anyway. Now I knew he could hear me, but I didn’t want to reach out to him and possibly distract him at the wrong moment.
He checked in with me every night, but refused to tell me where he was or what was happening. Still, just hearing his voice and knowing he was alive made it easier to sleep without him. The hardest part was that I had no idea how long he’d be gone. A few days? A week? A month? I’d given him my car and my cash card, so I knew he’d be okay that way, but I was getting antsy for him to
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