to make sure you hear me say it’s hot.”
“Got it.”
Leah thought he would turn to go, but he stood there under the metal awning, sipping his cocoa and not saying anything. Several other customers came up in search of something warm, and Leah made more hot chocolate and a few burritos.
“I spent Easter Sunday with Franklin,” Seth offered after Leah had passed a cup of cocoa on to the last waiting customer. “We had a nice time. He wanted me to ask if you would come by to see him sometime this week.”
“Is he okay?”
“He seems okay to me. He said he wanted to talk with you about something that couldn’t wait until May Day when you came by with your annual bouquet.”
“Did he say what it was about?”
“No. I didn’t ask.”
“Thanks for relaying the message,” Leah said. “I’ll check in on him this week.” She went back to inventorying the candy bars, which is what she had been doing when Seth walked up.
“I guess you’re not going to need help with the crowd after the game this week.”
“No. Thanks anyway.” Leah knew she sounded curt. Mild indifference was the only safe route for her. She refused to let her feelings rise to the surface.
“I guess I’ll be on my way,” Seth said. “I’ll see you around.”
“See you around.”
As soon as Seth was gone, she felt depressed.
What did you think he was going to do? Ask you out to dinner? Invite you to sail off into the sunset on his private yacht? See what happens when you let your emotions get all gushy, and you start wishing on planets and opening yourself up? You set yourself up for failure, Leah. You set your course on a road that eventually will become a dead end. Why do that to yourself?
Leah suddenly realized the words playing in her head weren’t her words. The phrases about setting herself up for failure and setting a course on a dead-end road were her father’s words. He had used them in a lecture to her years ago when she first announced she wanted to go to college.
But look
, Leah prompted herself,
I did go to college. And I finished! It wasn’t a dead-end road for me. I didn’t set myself up for failure
.
If she had a place to sit in the tiny Snack Shack, Leah would have let herself down with a thud. This was earth-shaking news. Not all of her father’s predictions about her life were necessarily true. Perhaps the predictions her sister had made of her weren’t true either. Could it be she wasn’t destined to fulfill everyone else’s expectations of her?
Leah stood still and whispered, “Could that be true?” Her question was directed at God, the heavenly Father with whom she had maintained a cordial distance.
Chapter Twelve
L eah didn’t receive any thundering answers from the heavens about whether her family’s prophecies regarding her destiny were all true. She didn’t expect any thunder. But Glenbrooke did receive a sudden downpour of rain that caused the game to be called. She closed up the Snack Shack and ran to her car.
The rain continued through the night and was still coming down when she left for work the next morning. She didn’t know if it was the darkness of the skies or the overpowering revelation she had discovered last night, but she felt sapped of energy. The week had been emotionally draining.
Leah sat at the front admissions desk, forcing herself to catch up on phone calls to fill out insurance forms. She dialed the number listed for a patient and was checking her notes on what missing information she needed, when a robust male voice on the other end of the line said, “WPZQ, where the hits just keep on coming. And your name?”
“Ah, this is Leah Hudson from Glenbrooke General Hos—”
Before she could explain for whom she was calling, the booming voice said, “Well, congratulations, Leah Hudson! You are caller number nine, and you have just won the WPZQ bonus jackpot!”
A chorus of chipmunk voices sang into her ear, “You won! You won! You really, really
“Got it.”
Leah thought he would turn to go, but he stood there under the metal awning, sipping his cocoa and not saying anything. Several other customers came up in search of something warm, and Leah made more hot chocolate and a few burritos.
“I spent Easter Sunday with Franklin,” Seth offered after Leah had passed a cup of cocoa on to the last waiting customer. “We had a nice time. He wanted me to ask if you would come by to see him sometime this week.”
“Is he okay?”
“He seems okay to me. He said he wanted to talk with you about something that couldn’t wait until May Day when you came by with your annual bouquet.”
“Did he say what it was about?”
“No. I didn’t ask.”
“Thanks for relaying the message,” Leah said. “I’ll check in on him this week.” She went back to inventorying the candy bars, which is what she had been doing when Seth walked up.
“I guess you’re not going to need help with the crowd after the game this week.”
“No. Thanks anyway.” Leah knew she sounded curt. Mild indifference was the only safe route for her. She refused to let her feelings rise to the surface.
“I guess I’ll be on my way,” Seth said. “I’ll see you around.”
“See you around.”
As soon as Seth was gone, she felt depressed.
What did you think he was going to do? Ask you out to dinner? Invite you to sail off into the sunset on his private yacht? See what happens when you let your emotions get all gushy, and you start wishing on planets and opening yourself up? You set yourself up for failure, Leah. You set your course on a road that eventually will become a dead end. Why do that to yourself?
Leah suddenly realized the words playing in her head weren’t her words. The phrases about setting herself up for failure and setting a course on a dead-end road were her father’s words. He had used them in a lecture to her years ago when she first announced she wanted to go to college.
But look
, Leah prompted herself,
I did go to college. And I finished! It wasn’t a dead-end road for me. I didn’t set myself up for failure
.
If she had a place to sit in the tiny Snack Shack, Leah would have let herself down with a thud. This was earth-shaking news. Not all of her father’s predictions about her life were necessarily true. Perhaps the predictions her sister had made of her weren’t true either. Could it be she wasn’t destined to fulfill everyone else’s expectations of her?
Leah stood still and whispered, “Could that be true?” Her question was directed at God, the heavenly Father with whom she had maintained a cordial distance.
Chapter Twelve
L eah didn’t receive any thundering answers from the heavens about whether her family’s prophecies regarding her destiny were all true. She didn’t expect any thunder. But Glenbrooke did receive a sudden downpour of rain that caused the game to be called. She closed up the Snack Shack and ran to her car.
The rain continued through the night and was still coming down when she left for work the next morning. She didn’t know if it was the darkness of the skies or the overpowering revelation she had discovered last night, but she felt sapped of energy. The week had been emotionally draining.
Leah sat at the front admissions desk, forcing herself to catch up on phone calls to fill out insurance forms. She dialed the number listed for a patient and was checking her notes on what missing information she needed, when a robust male voice on the other end of the line said, “WPZQ, where the hits just keep on coming. And your name?”
“Ah, this is Leah Hudson from Glenbrooke General Hos—”
Before she could explain for whom she was calling, the booming voice said, “Well, congratulations, Leah Hudson! You are caller number nine, and you have just won the WPZQ bonus jackpot!”
A chorus of chipmunk voices sang into her ear, “You won! You won! You really, really
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