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Authors: Jillian Hart
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work out.
All you could do was to walk in faith and not hold back.
Chapter Seven
D oom.
Kelly looked up from her textbook and rubbed her tired eyes. The living room came slowly into focus. Two hours of struggling with the mysteries of algebra, mysteries which she had purposefully forgotten over the years, and the truth, as solid as ever, stared her right in the face. The final regular test of the summer quarter was getting closer and she wasn’t going to pull an A. She’d be lucky to get a C the way she was going, and that would pull down her entire average.
Definitely doom.
Mitch’s kindly spoken words echoed through her mind and right into her heart. If I hear you had trouble and you didn’t ask me for help, I’m gonna be pretty mad at you.
Since it was a bright late-Monday afternoon, and Mitch was probably out pick-axing his way up a glacier, she opted for an e-mail instead of calling.
It took just a second to type up an outgoing message to the address he’d given her, as it was only one word: Help! She signed off, including her cell number since she was scheduled to babysit tonight.
The twists God put in a man’s path were an amazing thing, Mitch thought as he dialed Kelly’s cell number. It had to be no coincidence that he loved math—always had—and that he was in the position to offer her the one thing she’d accept from him—help for her upcoming test. Proof that he was on the right path.
After the third ring, her voice filled the line, dulcet and low as a whisper. “Mitch?”
“Hey, I got your SOS. I would have called you sooner, but we just got in.”
“You’ve been out all day? It’s nine o’clock.”
“I don’t work banker’s hours. I’m just lucky I don’t have to sleep on the ground tonight. Mountainsides are generally rocky. Not so comfortable. Where are you?”
“Babysitting. Actually, the kids are asleep and so I’m studying, but it’s a disaster.”
“You’ve got the right man.” He intended to show her that. “What’s the problem?”
“If only it were that uncomplicated. I have a test in a week, the last one before finals and it’s a big part of my grade. I’m not getting what to do with quadratic equations. It’s eluding me.”
“Sounds like you’re in need of a tutor.”
“I am. What are your rates?”
“Barbecue a couple of hot dogs on your hibachi and we’ll call it even.”
“That’s what I had planned for Saturday’s dinner.”
“I’ll come early, we’ll get your math crisis figured out before dinner. Sound like a deal?”
“A very good one. How was the ice-climbing?”
“Cold.” His chuckle was cut short. There was some noise going on in the background. “Oh, I’ve gotta go. We’ve got a surprise field exercise.”
“It’s almost ten at night.”
“Welcome to my world. I’ll be at your place, uh, around four-thirty. See ya.” The line disconnected.
Kelly sat alone in Amy’s living room and stared at the phone, his voice, his words echoing in her head. Why does he affect me so strongly, Lord?
No answer came. The brightness Mitch brought to her spirit faded in slow increments with each breath.
And only shadows remained.
Mitch. She couldn’t help thinking of him throughout the week. Things would happen that brought him to the forefront of her mind. Driving to work and seeing the highest snowcapped peaks of the Rockies rimming the northwestern horizon, and those glaciers glinting in the hot late-August sun made her wonder if Mitch was out on a snowy peak like those, climbing to his heart’s content.
Every time she cracked open her math book or sat in the auditorium class: while she wasn’t looking forward to facing a tutoring session, she was glad about her tutor.
Who would have guessed all those years ago that the shy, out-of-place foster girl and the smart, awkward math geek from a middle-class life would wind up being friends? Or that he would be helping her once again?
God worked in funny ways. But
All you could do was to walk in faith and not hold back.
Chapter Seven
D oom.
Kelly looked up from her textbook and rubbed her tired eyes. The living room came slowly into focus. Two hours of struggling with the mysteries of algebra, mysteries which she had purposefully forgotten over the years, and the truth, as solid as ever, stared her right in the face. The final regular test of the summer quarter was getting closer and she wasn’t going to pull an A. She’d be lucky to get a C the way she was going, and that would pull down her entire average.
Definitely doom.
Mitch’s kindly spoken words echoed through her mind and right into her heart. If I hear you had trouble and you didn’t ask me for help, I’m gonna be pretty mad at you.
Since it was a bright late-Monday afternoon, and Mitch was probably out pick-axing his way up a glacier, she opted for an e-mail instead of calling.
It took just a second to type up an outgoing message to the address he’d given her, as it was only one word: Help! She signed off, including her cell number since she was scheduled to babysit tonight.
The twists God put in a man’s path were an amazing thing, Mitch thought as he dialed Kelly’s cell number. It had to be no coincidence that he loved math—always had—and that he was in the position to offer her the one thing she’d accept from him—help for her upcoming test. Proof that he was on the right path.
After the third ring, her voice filled the line, dulcet and low as a whisper. “Mitch?”
“Hey, I got your SOS. I would have called you sooner, but we just got in.”
“You’ve been out all day? It’s nine o’clock.”
“I don’t work banker’s hours. I’m just lucky I don’t have to sleep on the ground tonight. Mountainsides are generally rocky. Not so comfortable. Where are you?”
“Babysitting. Actually, the kids are asleep and so I’m studying, but it’s a disaster.”
“You’ve got the right man.” He intended to show her that. “What’s the problem?”
“If only it were that uncomplicated. I have a test in a week, the last one before finals and it’s a big part of my grade. I’m not getting what to do with quadratic equations. It’s eluding me.”
“Sounds like you’re in need of a tutor.”
“I am. What are your rates?”
“Barbecue a couple of hot dogs on your hibachi and we’ll call it even.”
“That’s what I had planned for Saturday’s dinner.”
“I’ll come early, we’ll get your math crisis figured out before dinner. Sound like a deal?”
“A very good one. How was the ice-climbing?”
“Cold.” His chuckle was cut short. There was some noise going on in the background. “Oh, I’ve gotta go. We’ve got a surprise field exercise.”
“It’s almost ten at night.”
“Welcome to my world. I’ll be at your place, uh, around four-thirty. See ya.” The line disconnected.
Kelly sat alone in Amy’s living room and stared at the phone, his voice, his words echoing in her head. Why does he affect me so strongly, Lord?
No answer came. The brightness Mitch brought to her spirit faded in slow increments with each breath.
And only shadows remained.
Mitch. She couldn’t help thinking of him throughout the week. Things would happen that brought him to the forefront of her mind. Driving to work and seeing the highest snowcapped peaks of the Rockies rimming the northwestern horizon, and those glaciers glinting in the hot late-August sun made her wonder if Mitch was out on a snowy peak like those, climbing to his heart’s content.
Every time she cracked open her math book or sat in the auditorium class: while she wasn’t looking forward to facing a tutoring session, she was glad about her tutor.
Who would have guessed all those years ago that the shy, out-of-place foster girl and the smart, awkward math geek from a middle-class life would wind up being friends? Or that he would be helping her once again?
God worked in funny ways. But
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