Read Online I Do by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online

confidence I'll probably never have when it comes to things of fashion or big price tags.
    “That's right,” agrees Joy. “You won't do that.”
    The two of them laugh about this, then Jenny and I climb out, and after thanking Joy, we wave good-bye.
    “I feel like I've been through the wedding wringer today,” I admit as we trudge up the stairs.
    “I think we should order a pizza up to our room,” suggests Jenny.
    I turn and look at her and wonder if this is really Jenny. “Seriously?”
    She kind of laughs. “Yeah, all this shopping makes me hungry.”
    So our pizza comes, and we get out all of the brides'magazines. We spread them all over the floor and study the styles of bridesmaid dresses that would best go with the dress that's riding home in the trunk of Josh's mother's BMW.
    It's not until Jenny has gone to sleep and I'm recording all this into my diary that I know I have made a big mistake. But I'm so tired I can't even totally remember how it happened. And there is no way I can figure out how I'm going to undo it. So I just pray.
    DEAR GOD, I KNOW I'VE BLOWN IT. I KNOW I FAILED TO HEED THAT STILL, SMALL VOICE THAT WAS SCREAMING ITS HEAD OFF INSIDE OF ME-EMPHATICALLY TELLING ME NOT TO GET THAT STUPID DRESS. BUT LIKE A FOOL, I WASN'T LISTENING. AND NOW I KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT, BIG MESS TO UNRAVEL THIS WHOLE CRAZY DRESS BUSINESS. I KNOW THAT FEELINGS WILL PROBABLY GET HURT, AND IT WILL BE MY OWN FAULT. I JUST PRAY FOR YOUR MERCY AND GRACE AND THAT YOU WILL HELP ME. AND PLEASE, I BEG YOU, PLEASE, HELP ME NOT TO BE SO EASILY SUCKED IN NEXT TIME. I'M REALLY SORRY. AMEN.

SEVEN
Sunday, November 6
    I feel slightly depressed as Jenny and I walk over to the church service. Fortunately, she doesn't even seem to notice as she talks about a bridesmaid dress that she discovered in one of my magazines this morning.
    “It's so perfect,” she tells me. “Very sleek and classic, and it's actually from Macy's, so it might not be too expensive.”
    I listen as she goes back and forth about the color, trying to decide why lilac or yellow might work better than pink. And I try to respond as if I'm paying attention, but all I can think is that I made a big mistake yesterday by allowing Josh's mother to purchase that dress.
    The sermon in church is actually pretty good, and I find I'm feeling a little better as we walk back to the dorm, except that it's starting to rain.
    “What a dreary day,” Jenny says as she pulls her scarf over her head.
    “A good day to just stay inside and catch up on homework.”
    “Or sleep.”
    And so after some lunch at the deli, that's exactly what we do. But later in the afternoon, the ringing of the phone wakes me from my nap. It turns out to be Josh, and he sounds very happy.
    “The workathon was a huge success,” he tells me after we've made our significant small talk about missing each other and how long it's going to be until next weekend.
    “What happened? How did it go?”
    “It was great. It's like it couldn't have gone any better. I was surprised when practically everyone in the youth group showed up. They'd all gotten lots of sponsors to pay so much per hour. And by the time we quit, almost everyone had worked about twenty hours total.”
    “You must be tired.”
    “It was really fun though. I'd put up some posters at the senior center and a couple of grocery stores. And you should've seen how many people signed up. Of course, who turns down free labor? Mostly, we did yard work for elderly and shut-ins, things like raking leaves, cleaning gutters, taking down screens. But the kids were awesome.”
    “That's so cool, Josh.”
    “And then we treated the kids to a pizza party at the church, and I sort of calculated how much moneywe'd raised, you know, once the pledges come in. I couldn't believe that it was nearly two thousand dollars! I did some quick mental math, and based on the average number of kids at the dump, we made enough money to feed them for most of the winter.