Right then Christy caught a glimpse of a guy in the mall. He looked a lot like Rick.

Making her way over to the front window, she pretended to work on the dog cage's latch while she scanned the mall for Rick. But she didn't see him anywhere.

Maybe I have my own king of returns returning to my life. Rick said he wouldn't he back from college until Thanksgiving, but I wouldn't put it past him to secretly check up on me.

Letting go of the latch on the dog cage, she realized her* hands were shaking. What's wrong with me? I shouldn't feel this way about seeing Rick. We live in the same town, so we're bound to run into each other. I have no regrets and nothing to hide.

Christy clenched her fists, realizing she suddenly felt mad. Rick had had this strange power over her ever since she first met him, more than a year ago. As a matter of fact, it had been the night of Katie's slumber party. The girls had papered his house, and he chased Christy down the street. For a whole year he had pursued her. She finally dated him and then broke up with him. But obviously thinking about him still caused her stomach to flip-flop.

Why am I like this? Is this normal? I hate this feeling. I never know when it's going to strike, and it's so hard to make it go away.

"Christy," Jon said, coming up behind her. What's this I hear about a box of birdseed?"

Her feelings about Rick disappeared quickly. As Christy followed Jon into the back of the store to show him the box, everything switched from heart-pounding to normal in a matter of minutes.

But that evening, after work, the sweaty-palm feeling hit again.

on a bracelet you're holding for me," Christy said to the salesclerk at the jewelry store.

She stopped in every Sat.u.r.day after work to pay off Todd's bracelet, which Rick had used as a down payment for a bracelet he had bought her. "It's under Miller. Christy Miller."

"Just a moment," the tall blond woman replied. She made her way to the back of the store, where she spoke to the manager in hushed tones.

The manager looked up and, recognizing Christy, picked up a box and came out to the counter.

"Christy Miller," the older man said with a toothy smile. "How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. I just came in to make my weekly payment." She couldn't figure out why he was being so friendly and grinning at her that way.

"No need," he said, holding out the box. "It's all yours. Paid in full."

"I-I-T don't understand," Christy stammered. "I still have five more payments."

"Nope." The man placed the long, slim box in her hand. "A certain party, who wishes to remain anonymous, has paid it off. You can take it with you today."

"Who? What certain party?"

"Sorry. Can't tell you. He wishes to remain anonymous."

"He?" Christy whispered to herself. Not Rick. Rick would never have done this. Or would he? He knew how upset I was that he stole it. Is it possible Rick returned the silver bracelet he gave me to get my gold one back?

"Go ahead," the man said. "Put it on. I cleaned it for you this afternoon. No charge. It's a beautiful bracelet."

Christy couldn't believe she was getting Todd's bracelet back! She felt as though this was almost a sacred moment. It certainly wasn't one she wanted to share with the jewelry store manager.

"Thank you very much," she said, tucking the unopened box into her backpack. "I really appreciate it. Thank you." She backed up and quickly made her exit so she wouldn't feel forced to open the box in front of him and have him offer to help clasp the bracelet to her wrist.

She hurried back to the pet store, where she planned to slip out the back door and into the parking lot. Jon was sitting at the card table in the back room, going through the day's mail.

"Good night," she called out as she breezed past him. "See you next week."

"Glad to have your bracelet finally?" Jon asked, without appearing to look up from his letters.

Christy stopped and spun around, astounded. "How did you know?"

Then it struck her that Jon knew she was making payments because the jewelry store manager had called him to check on her credit.

"You didn't pay for this, did you? Because if you did, well, I was paying for it, and I'll pay you back."

Jon looked at her as if he didn't understand a word she was saying.

"You can take it out of my paychecka"reallya"every week until it's paid off." Christy caught her breath. "I appreciate it, but you didn't have to do it."

"Do what?" Jon looked amused at her ramblings.

"You mean you weren't the one who paid off my bracelet?" Christy asked slowly. "Then how did you know?"

Jon shook his head and smiled. "I saw the jewelry box sticking out of your backpack when you walked by. I knew you'd been making payments on a bracelet at the jewelry store. I figured that must be the one."

"Oh," was all Christy could manage to say.

"Have a good time at Katie's tonight." Jon went back to his stack of bills.

"I will. Thanks." Christy reached for her keys in her purse and headed for her car.

Wait a minute! How did Jon know I was going to Katie's?

Deciding that her boss worked as an undercover detective in his spare time, Christy unlocked the door to the small blue car she shared with her mom and slid onto the seat.

Inside the warm car, she held the bracelet box solemnly in her hand before opening it. At this moment it didn't matter who had paid off the balance. The gold ID bracelet was hers once more.

"Father," she whispered, "thank You. Thank You for letting me get my bracelet back, and thank You for Todd. Please keep him safe in Hawaii. And please fix our relationship so I can feel like we're close friends again. Thank You that You always listen to me and You care about every little thing in my life. I love You, Lord!"

Opening her eyes, Christy raised the lid on the jewelry box. The instant she saw the braceleta"perfect, shining, with its engraved "Forever"a"she felt jubilant.

Katie could hardly believe Christy's story a short time later when Christy proudly held out her right arm for Katie to inspect.

"Do you think Rick paid for it?" Katie asked.

"No, not really. I kind of think it might be my boss. He seems like the sort of person who would do something nice in secret."

"Well, whoever paid for it, I think it's a total G.o.d-thing. I hope you never, ever take it off again."

"I don't plan to," Christy said with a confident smile. "So, where's Teri? Is she coming?"

"No, she called about an hour ago. I guess her mom is sick, so she thinks she'd better stay home and help out. Looks like it's just you and me."

Katie pointed toward the kitchen table covered with snack food and said, "Do you think we'll have enough to eat?"

"That's not all for us, is it?"

"My mom said my brothers could eat whatever we left, but they're both out with my dad and probably won't be back till late. Go ahead and grab some pizza and something to drink. We can eat in the living room. I rented a couple of movies.

Katie sounded like she was looking forward to their evening together, but Christy could tell she was disappointed that it was just the two of them.

For the first two hours, they kicked back on the couch, eating and watching an old movie about a VW bug with a mind of its own. It was kind of funny, but not really.

As soon as the film ended, Christy felt the sadness in Katie's voice again as she said, "Do you want to watch another video or play a game or what?"

"Doesn't matter to me. What do you want to do?"

"Are you hungry?" Katie asked. "There's lots more food."

Christy puffed out her cheeks and patted her stomach. "I'm so full I couldn't eat another chip if you forced me."

"We could try new hairstyles," Katie suggested.

"Oh, please! Don't even look at my hair. I've given up on it. I keep trying different shampoos and conditioners, but haven't found anything I like. I don't know what to do with it anymore."

"I like it the way it is right now. It looks more like the real you. More natural. No offense, but when you had it short, it didn't really fit you, if you know what I mean."

"I used to have really long hair, almost down to my waist," Christy said.

"Why did you cut it?"

"My aunt Marti talked me into it two summers ago when I first came out from Wisconsin. She told me I needed a 'California look.'"

Katie tilted her head, examining Christy's hair. "Yes, I definitely like you better with long hair. Didn't you tell me once that Todd said he liked your hair long?"

Christy nodded, smiling at the memory of Todd's comment.

"Speaking of Todd, did you send his card yet?" Katie asked.

'1 sent it this morning from work."

"What did you write in it? I mean, only if you want to tell me. If it's too personal, that's okay. I understand."

"Don't worry. It was definitely not too personal," Christy said. "I didn't write much. I told him I was praying for him and thinking about him. I told him about my job at the pet store. Stuff like that. I said I hoped he had done well in the surfing compet.i.tions. He's always quoting verses, so I thought I'd send him a verse I liked. Only I just wrote the reference, so he'll have to look it up himself."

"That's so cool," Katie said. "It's like sending a message in secret code. What verse was it? Or is that too personal to ask? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's not too personal. I found it in Philippians, because that's one of my favorite books in the Bible. I don't remember the exact verse. Is your Bible around? I could show you."

Katie uncoiled herself from the couch and returned from her bedroom a moment later with her Bible.

"Here it is." Christy found Philippians and pointed to chapter I, verse 3- "Beginning here to the first part of verse 7"

Katie read aloud: "*I thank my G.o.d in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart"'

"Oh, Christy!" Katie exclaimed. "That is so romantic!"

"Romantic?" Christy said with a laugh. "It's a Bible verse!"

"I know, but that last part, 'I hold you in my heart,' is so tender. When Todd reads that, he's going to drop his surfboard, hop the next plane, and come running to your doorstep."

Christy laughed. "I doubt it. Hopefully when Todd reads it, he will feel encouraged and know that I really care about him."

"And that you hold him in your heart," Katie added.

"Oh stop it, Katie! It's not just about Todd. It says 'you all' a bunch of times. Those verses apply to you too. You're my friend, and I thank G.o.d for you all the time."

"I thank G.o.d for you too, Christy. It seems that good friends are harder and harder to find." Katie closed her Bible and set it on the coffee table.

"I know what you mean," Christy agreed. "I guess that the more things change, the more we have to hold on to true friends."

Katie nodded.

"You know," Christy said, "I'm sorry this didn't turn out to be much of a slumber party, like the ones you used to have. Let's think of something else you and I can do together. What's something you'd really like to do or somewhere you'd really like to go?"

Katie thought for a moment. "Well, there is one thing I've always wanted to do, but I didn't want to do it by myself. I wanted somebody to go with me."

"I'll do it with you." Christy quickly added, "As long as it isn't bungee jumping or skydiving."

"No, nothing that wild. It's skiing. I've always wanted to go skiing."

Christy swallowed hard. To her, skiing was right up there with bungee jumping and all those other sports where you travel at a high speed with no control over your body.

Katie looked at Christy, her freckled nose all scrunched up in antic.i.p.ation. "So what do you think? We could join the ski club at school and go on the trip with them to Lake Tahoe at Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that be great? You asked what I really wanted to do, and that's what I've always wanted to do."

Christy knew the credibility of her offer to strengthen her friendship with Katie now rested on her answer. She knew it was within her power to bless her friend or pull the dream out from underneath her.

"Is there still time to join the ski club? Haven't they met already?" Christy said, stalling her answer.

"This Monday is the last day to join. They meet after school in Mr. Riley's cla.s.s. I went last week because I wanted to join, but I didn't particularly want to spend a ski weekend with any of the kids who are in the club."

"You didn't tell me you went."

"I didn't think you'd be interested. I guess it was just a wild thought."

"No, it's a great thought. We could do that. We could join the ski club together. I've never been skiing before though. Do they let people like me join?"

"I've never skied before, either," Katie said. "So I asked last week. They said at Squaw Valley, where they're going for the club trip, they offer ski lessons to beginners like us. We could take lessons together."

Katie looked so excited that Christy reluctantly said, "Well, okay. Let's go Monday and sign up."

"This is great!" Katie plopped the bowl of MaM's in her lap and tossed a handful into her mouth. "You wait and see. We're going to have the absolute best time! Finally we get to go on a trip together."

Christy tried to ignore all her uncertain, nervous feelings about this. She was doing it for Katie, so it was the right thing to do. She shouldn't be such a chicken when it came to adventure. Hadn't she survived driving the Hana road this summer in Maui? Certainly she could survive ski lessons.