Chapter eighty two:

Jenna grabbed the cordless phone off the unit in the kitchen and snuck outside with it. She wedged herself into a lawn chair and sat staring at the phone in her hands for a few minutes.

After biting her thumbnail down to the skin, she finally pressed the phone on and dialed Luke’s phone number from memory. He appeared to have given up on calling her, so she was going to show maturity and call him. She just hoped that maturity wouldn’t be confused with desperation.

The phone rang several times, and Jenna pressed the phone closer to her ear, silently hoping he was home and that he would answer. Or maybe he was avoiding her. Had she done anything wrong? Her mind raced.

“Hello?” Luke’s voice came from the other end, sounding slightly husky from sleep.

“Luke?” She asked.  

“Jen?”

“Yeah.” She replied, suddenly at a loss for words.

“Everything okay?” He asked gently.

“Everything is fine. I just thought I should call… I haven’t heard from you in a while…”

“Yeah, about that.” He began pointedly, “I tried calling you all last week and there was no answer at the house… and I must have gotten the numbers reversed or something for your cell phone number, because when I call it says you’re out of service, and Zac’s phone has been off lately. I’ve been worried.” He added softly.

She breathed a silent sigh of relief. “That’s okay. I’m glad you aren’t mad at me or anything.”

“I could never be mad at you.” He chuckled softly. “I have been exhausted though. I’ve been working really long hours to save money for college, even though my uncle said he’d pay for it, he wants me to take over his company some day, and I’ve been going insane with stress… I’m so glad you called. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” She bit her lower lip.

“What’s being going on out there?”

“Nothing much. Becky and Zac are together a lot, and she stays in his room most nights so I have the room to myself pretty much. And Isaac proposed to Christy, so they’re both really excited about that…”

“What about you?”

“I’ve been hanging out with Taylor a lot…” She began, but stopped. She didn’t want to invoke jealousy. And she didn’t want Luke to know how much trouble she was having with their relationship and being so far away.

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Christy was folded sideways in an armchair in the front sitting room of the house. Besides the master bedroom which she and Isaac were sharing, this was her favorite room in the house. It had a lot of natural light.

She balanced her sketchbook and the bridal magazine from Isaac on her lap, busily drawing.

“C?”

She jumped, dropping both her pencil and the magazine from her lap.

Isaac smiled. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He bent and picked up her pencil and the magazine. “What are you up to?”

“Just drawing… Nothing important.”

“That’s important… Can I see?” He wedged himself onto the arm of the chair.

She flipped the page in her sketchbook. “Well, I just drew this, as kind of a weird day-dream thing.” She displayed a photo of herself in Isaac’s arms as they kissed. He was wearing a partially shaded tuxedo and she had on a flowing white gown.

“Is that our wedding?” He asked, wrapping an arm around her.

“Yeah, silly, huh? I guess I’m getting bridal syndrome or something.”

“There’s no problem with that.” He laughed softly and kissed her forehead. “What else?”

“Well, this.” She turned the page to show a headless female body, which was modeling a wedding gown from both the front and back.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“Well, I was looking at the dresses in the magazine you gave me, and there were two that I kind of liked. I mean, one was a really pretty design, and the fabric was beautiful, but it was a halter style—that’s the one with the strap around the neck and the bare shoulders—and I thought I would prefer a strapless dress, like this…” She flipped open the magazine.

“So you designed your ideal wedding dress?”

“Well, no. I just took two good ideas for dresses and made them into one perfect one.” She began, blushing slightly.

“You still designed it. You took what you liked from two different designs and made a new dress. That’s designing…”

“Well, I guess… It’s silly, isn’t it?” She looked up at him for approval.

“I think it’s pretty…” He smiled. “Let’s have it made specially for you.”
”Oh, I couldn’t ask you do to that. It will cost a fortune.”

“Maybe not. Besides, we haven’t discussed a budget, and I want this wedding to be perfect for you.”

“It’s your wedding too.” She rested her head on his shoulder.
”I know. We’ll talk about a ‘Star Wars’ theme later, okay?”

“Ike!” She playfully pushed him. “Oh, please tell me you’re kidding!”

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