Grace Alive (A Christian Romance)

Part 11

Chapter 10

I had to work the next day, and all I could think was that I had a date with stinky Jacob. It was like having a date with a drowned rat—wrong on every level. I helped people find felt, glue sticks, and beads. One old lady even pinched my cheeks. My life was sucky. I felt hopelessness spiral through my chest. It was almost time to go, when the door jingled and sure enough Branson walked in. His smile lit the room making my heart squeeze in pain. I noticed he had no kids with him today and strangely missed seeing them. He saw me and walked over with a wave of his hand.

“Hi, Zoe! Still on for tomorrow night?”

Crap! I had forgotten to cancel with him! I was so wrapped up in my own misery that I let it completely slip my mind! I must have shown it on my face, because his smile turned into a concerned look.

“Is something wrong? You look like you ate a lemon. Does my breath stink or something?” He smelt his own breath then gave me a killer smile. This was going to be so hard to do. How did I explain this to him? My dad thought I was supposed to marry this creepy guy who I thought was a snake. Did I tell him?

“Um, Branson, something came up for Friday. I completely forgot to call you. I can’t go out with you. Can we…reschedule?” I asked. I still wanted to go out, if only to quench this strong urge I felt to be with him. I know I shouldn’t feel that way at all. I should just listen to my dad. Be a good pastor’s daughter, and obey my dad. After all, he heard God better than I did.

“Oh, well, how about Saturday? Though, I might have…the twins. I…could call their mom and see if I could work something out.” He reached in his back pocket for his phone and started scrolling. “I’ll call her. Hold on.” He walked a few feet away from me, and I could hear him softly talking to his ex. I didn’t want to create tension between him and his kids’ moms. What was I doing? Branson was a dad. He’d had how many girlfriends? Was he going to try and tempt me into bed with him? The thought terrified me. After a couple minutes, he walked back over with a small frown.

“Um, she can’t take the twins Saturday. What about Sunday? After church Julie picks them up. We could hang out around one?” he asked. I really, really wanted to be around him.

“Okay, that would probably work for me.” My parents went to one of the church members’ houses for lunch, and sometimes I went with them. This time I could tell them that I wanted some alone time, and I could suffer through my date with Jacob knowing that two days later I’d see Branson. He smiled at me and bought his milk. We must have some killer milk.

“I’ll see you Sunday. I’ll text you later, okay?”

“Okay.” I smiled, feeling my mood shifting. What was I doing? Was this actually smart to go out with a guy like him? With a final wave, he headed out the door, and I stood there staring for what seemed like forever. Jesus? What are you doing to me, here? I was trying to sort out my own feelings about this mess. On one hand I had this hot guy with three kids, who for some reason God wanted me to go out with, then on the other hand, I had Jacob and my dad.

“Life just got interesting,” I whispered. Sometimes, you know the logical thing to do in life, but something much stronger is there screaming at you, do this instead! I’ve been raised to do the right thing for so long, and my logical, good girl Christian brain was telling me hanging out with Branson was a bad idea, but then I had this even stronger urge, something I’d never felt before in my life, telling me to do the opposite. Plus, didn’t God tell me to? When I was a kid, a friend of mine invited me over for a birthday party sleepover, thing was, I was terrified of her dad.

I was praying, crying at the age of thirteen, not knowing what to do—I wanted to go to my friend’s party, but then my fear was making me miserable. I asked God what to do, and He told me a scripture, Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”