Doug's cheeks were rosy from the wind. He wore a red-plaid flannel shirt and bib overalls that made him look like a kid who had been outside playing all day.

"Awesome! We had a blast. Everyone is over at the pizza place across the street. Katie said you finished work at six, so I thought I'd chance it and see if you could have pizza with us."

"She'd love to." Jon stepped behind the counter and reached for the phone.

"Yes," he said into the phone, "we have four j.a.panese fighting fish, and they're on sale until Christmas."

Christy smiled at Doug and said, "I guess my boss says I have to go. Let me grab my stuff. I'll be right back."

She slipped behind Jon and scooted to the back room to retrieve her purse. What she really needed to do was call her parents, and the phone in the back would allow her more privacy. As soon as she was sure Jon was off the phone, Christy dialed her home number. Her mom answered.

"Hi, I'm getting off work right now, and I wondered if I could have pizza with Katie and some other people." There. That wasn't so hard. Why do I make asking to go places so hard? Wonder what she'll say. At least Mom answered rather than Dad.

Her mom asked where Christy wanted to go and who would be there. Then she said, "Sounds like fun, honey. Think you'll be home by nine?"

"Yes. So it's okay?"

"Sure! Have a good time. Lock the car, and don't give anyone a ride home."

Christy hung up and thought how nice Doug was to include her in their get-together. Maybe she'd have a chance to talk to Rick. If not at the pizza place, then he might suggest they get together tomorrow before she left for the mountains. She didn't want to go through Christmas without resolving their relationship. Grabbing her backpack and jacket, Christy joined Doug up front, where he and Jon were laughing together.

"I'm parked out that way," Christy said, pointing behind her. "Do you want me to meet you at the pizza place?"

"Why don't we both go in my truck?" Doug suggested.

"I have a parking place right by the entrance. Then I'll bring you back here afterward to pick up your car."

"Okay," Christy said, fully aware of Jon's look of approval.

"Merry Christmas, Jon," Christy said as a customer stepped up to the counter. "I'll see you next year."

"That's right. You don't work again until the Sat.u.r.day after New Year's. Hang on a second."

Jon totaled the customer's purchase of three doggie stockings and handed her the change. As soon as the woman stepped away from the counter, Jon pulled an envelope from the cash register drawer and handed it to Christy.

"May it never be said that I'm a total Scrooge. Here's your year-end bonus, Christy."

"Thanks, Jon!" She felt horrible for not buying him anything for Christmas. Even a plate of cookies would have been nice.

"Oh, and just to make you really happya"" Jon cleared his throat and glanced around to make certain no one could hear him except Doug and Christya""May you have a joyful celebration of the birth of your G.o.d."

Christy, full of surprise, glanced at Doug and then back at Jon. "Thank you, Jon. And may you have a joyful celebration of the birth of my G.o.d." Then leaning closer and touching Jon's arm, she quietly added, "And may He become your G.o.d too."

Jon smiled his touche to Christy.

She waved and headed out into the crowded mall with Doug beside her and Jon's gaze following them.

"Amazing how irresistible you are," Doug said.

"What?"

"To Jon. There's something mysterious and appealing about a person who knows G.o.d and doesn't hide it. I can tell that you and Jon have talked about G.o.d, and Jon knows you're a G.o.d-lover. That's irresistible to people who don't know G.o.d."

"Oh," Christy said as they walked out the door to his truck. "I never thought of it that way. Jon knows how I feel about my relationship with G.o.d. He also knows I've been praying for him, and I think it makes him nervous."

"That's awesome." Doug unlocked the pa.s.senger door of his yellow four-wheel-drive truck.

Christy smiled to herself and climbed up into the seat while Doug jogged around the front of the truck and slid in on the other side.

"What?" he asked when he saw her grin.

"I can't believe you still say 'awesome.' That's one of the first things I remember about you when we met on the beach. Everything was awesome to you."

Doug laughed. He had a great laugh that came from a gurgling brook inside him, and when it splashed out, it refreshed those who heard it.

"Most things are awesome, when you think about them. It's because of G.o.d. He's an awesome G.o.d. I don't know a word that says it better."

Christy smiled back. It felt good to be with an old friend. It was a familiar, safe, contented feeling.

'"Who ended up going with you guys today?" Christy asked.

"Your friend Katie, Rick, Heather, Tracy, and a guy named Mike, who's a friend of Rick's. We had an awesome time. Katie sure is fun. How come you never brought her up to Newport Beach?"

"I guess it never worked out. I'm glad she got to go with you guys. Sounds like she fit right in."

"She did. What a sense of humor!"

Doug's words proved true as they stepped into the restaurant and spotted the group at a large booth in the back. Katie had something on her ears, and the rest of the group was cracking up at her antics.

As Doug and Christy approached the booth, Christy saw that Katie had poked the bottoms out of two Styrofoam cups and placed a cup over each ear. Using her best Santa's-little -elf voice, she was coaxing them all to smile for the camera.

"Hi!" Doug greeted the merry group.

Rick and Mike barely noticed them. Tracy and Heather, two of Christy's beach friends, acted happy to see Christy, but they were so busy laughing at Katie that they merely scooted closer together in the booth and patted the corner for Christy to sit down and enjoy the show. Doug pulled up a chair at the end of the booth.

Katie continued, unembarra.s.sed and apparently unaware of how ridiculous she looked and sounded. Christy could never act like that.

"Ah," Katie squeaked as she pointed to Christy, "my wardrobe a.s.sistant. May I borrow your earrings?"

With all eyes on her, Christy undipped her dangling earrings. They were little green gift boxes tied with red ribbons. Tiny bells on them jingled when she shook her head.

Christy reluctantly handed them to Katie. They weren't valuable earrings, but she had bought them with her own money. She worried that Katie might unwrap the little boxes now just to get a laugh, and that would be the end of her earrings.

"Perfect!" Katie chirped, snapping the earrings onto the large, outer rims of the Styrofoam cups. The earrings now hung from her handmade elf ears, and the bells jingled when she wobbled her head back and forth. She looked so silly that even Christy started to laugh.

Out of nowhere, a guy from their high school stepped in front of their booth and snapped a picture of Katie. Katie, Christy, and Rick recognized him as Fred, the school yearbook's candid cameraman.

"Fred!" the three of them exclaimed in unison.

"Great!" Fred said. "I bet the school paper will be interested in using this as their January cover. I can see it now: "What I Did During Christmas Vacation, by Katie Weldon, the Elf."

"Give me that camera," Katie squawked from her closed-in spot in the booth. "I want that photo destroyed. Get it, Rick!"

Rick stood up and spoke to Fred in a low voice. Fred smiled and nodded his head. Before Christy knew what was happening, Rick slid in next to Christy and, practically sitting on her lap, wrapped his arm around her and pressed his cheek against hers just as Fred snapped another picture and took off.

"Rick!" Christy shouted, pushing him off the edge of the booth seat. "He's going to put that in the yearbook!"

Rick dusted himself off and strutted back to his spot at the opposite end of the booth. "That's what I'm counting on, Killer."

Christy was furious. She wanted to tell Rick off right then and there. He had no right to push himself on her like he owned her. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for her response. Even Mike, who she hadn't met yet, looked amused at her expense.

"Come on," Doug suddenly said, grasping Christy by the wrist and urging her to her feet. "We haven't ordered our pizza yet. Do you like Canadian bacon and pineapple?"

Christy rose and let Doug hold her wrist as he led her to the order counter. Tiny tears bubbled up in her eyes as the anger over what Rick did surfaced.

As soon as they rounded the corner and were away from the group, Doug put both hands on her shoulders and said softly, "Are you okay?"

Christy blinked the tears back, looked up at Doug, and nodded. "I guess so."

"Rick thinks the world of you. You know that, don't you? I mean, talk about a G.o.dly woman being irresistible! You are absolutely irresistible to him. He doesn't know how to act around you because you're so different from all the other girls he knows. He doesn't mean to hurt you, really."

"I wish I could believe you."

Doug brushed his finger across her cheek to stop a runaway tear. "The problem is that you two need to talk things out. I know having your relationship unresolved must be killing you. Having lived with Rick all semester, I know it's been eating him alive. You both need to talk."

"I'd like to," Christy said. "But it hasn't worked out yet. I've told him I want to talk, but he can't seem to schedule it. We were supposed to talk today."

"Maybe you still can." Doug opened up his arms and welcomed Christy into his comforting hug. "You relax and leave everything up to ol' Uncle Doug."

and Doug returned to the booth, the first two pizzas had arrived, and everyone was eating as if nothing unusual had happened.

Katie had removed her elf ears, and the earrings, unscathed, waited on a napkin at Christy's place.

"I wish you could have come with us today," Heather said to Christy. "We had so much fun. These guys are maniacs!"

"Oh, right," Rick said, reaching for another piece of pizza. "And you three girls weren't a bunch of little maniacs yourselves on your run through the trees?"

Wispy, blond Heather giggled and described to Christy the run the three girls had taken. They had bounced off the slick path and headed into a clump of trees. Somehow they managed to maneuver through the obstacle course and ended up at the bottom of the hill without a tumble or a scratch.

The group chattered between bites of pizza, comparing wild stories and reliving the day's events. It was clear they'd all had a wonderful time.

Christy felt left out. The pizza she and Doug ordered finally arrived. She listened to everyone else laugh while she mechanically bit into the hot, gooey cheese, which burned the roof of her mouth.

Reaching for a gla.s.s of water, she guzzled it down. It only helped a little. The roof of her mouth still felt red hot. No one had noticed her emergency, which made her feel even worse. If she weren't there, the party would have gone on without her.

Then the teasing began. Rick called Katie "Speed," and everyone laughed. Christy had no idea why that was funny. When he called Katie "Speed" a second time, she seemed to blush.

Christy could tell Katie loved the attention. The name had something to do with a run Rick and Katie had taken together on an inner tube.

Now Christy was really hurting. Rick had called her "Killer Eyes" for more than a year. That was his nickname for her, and n.o.body else called her that. It had seemed so sacred and special to have a name placed on her by Rick Doyle. Not anymore. Now Katie had a Rick nickname.

The conversation switched to plans for the Rose Parade. Rick announced that he was bringing a hibachi to barbecue their dinner, an ice chest, and his down sleeping bag.

"The girls should be responsible for the extra blankets and all the junk food," Rick said.

"Cookies!" Doug agreed. "You girls can bring lots and lots of cookies."

"How about it, Speed?" Rick asked Katie with one of his big smiles. "Think you can make us some more of those killer cookies?"

Oh, great! Christy thought. My nickname has now been rea.s.signed to a batch of cookies, and Speed over there is getting the credit for the last batch we made, which would have been chocolate-chip-less if I hadn't been there!

The more the group talked, the more exciting the plans sounded. Christy really wanted to go. She would have to find a way to talk her parents into it.

Doug leaned over and asked Christy if she thought she would need a ride.

"I don't know. First I have to convince my parents to let me go." She smiled at Doug, appreciating his interest.

"Do you want me to talk to them?" Doug offered. "I can tell them about how things were the last time we went."

"Thanks, Doug. I'd better try first. I'll let you know what they say. We're going to be up in the mountains at a cabin for the next week. I'll call you when we get back."

"A cabin? That sounds pretty awesome."

"I guess."

Seeing Doug's sincerity made her realize how grumpy she must seem to him.

You're being a baby, Christy. Snap out of it Join the fun instead of feeling sorry for yourself Christy was beginning to pull herself out of her dismal mood when Heather said, "I hate to be the one to break this up. It's been such a fun day. But Tracy and I have a long ride home, and we need to get going."

Everyone slowly slid out, and Doug said, "Mike, why don't you come in my truck with me? And Rick, would you mind dropping Christy off at the mall? Her car is still there."

Christy didn't look at Rick. She heard him say "Okay" in a casual way.

Rick positioned himself by the door, holding it open in such a way that all the girls had to pa.s.s under his arm. The first three girls played along, sliding past Rick with smiles and giggles.

But Christy froze. She couldn't play along. A clear memory made her motionless.

She had been to this same pizza place before with Rick and Katie, about a year ago on a Sunday after church. Katie had been the center of attention that time too. And Christy remembered being quiet and thoroughly absorbed with Rick. That time she had pa.s.sed under Rick's arm at the door and looked up into his brown eyes. She had thought she might melt. He had overwhelmed her with his charm.

She felt afraid to pa.s.s under his imaginary bridge tonight, lest he drop an invisible net over her heart and she became captured by him again. Her silent refusal must have come across loud and clear to him because he looked at her hard and then let the door go. It closed in Christy's face.

Jerking the door open for herself, Christy bustled through and joined the others in the parking lot. She would not let Rick get to her like this.

Why can't Rick agree to a middle ground for us? Why does it have to be all or nothing?

"So you'll take Christy back to the mall to get her car?" Doug repeated his question to Rick.

"Sure," Rick agreed, glancing over his shoulder at Christy and tossing her the car keys. "Get in."