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Aileen Friedman
Category:
Romance
Publisher: Aileen Friedman
ISBN-10: 0620557931
Type: Fiction
Pages: 198
Copyright: Feb 20 2013
ISBN-13: 9780620557931
Price: $0.99 (eBook)
Romance, christian, God, Young Adult, Relationship, Inspiration
Vanda has always had a strained, volatile and unloving relationship with her mother, Dena. When Vanda and her best friend Patty meet a new group of friends they are introduced to love and also to God.
There are brief moments when it seems as though Dena can change and become the mother Vanda has always longed for, but these moments are short-lived, leaving Vanda feeling more and more bitter.
Egan, her Irish boyfriend, is the perfect antidote, but their plans for a happy forever are put to the test when he is forced to return to Ireland.
To make matters worse, an unwanted pregnancy stops Vanda from joining him, and she discovers an anger towards her mother that consumes her.
Will Vanda rely on God to get her through this traumatic time, and will Egan be the forever she has longed for all her life?
Excerpt
7.
I arrived home and was dying to get ready for my date with Egan; it was all I had thought about since his text message the previous night. In the driveway stood a car I did not recognise and after putting my bag down I went to Dena’s house.
Probably another boyfriend! I thought and of course I was right.
Where did she find these poor suckers?
I was introduced to Juan, a man at least ten to fifteen years younger than she, but I would wager that he did not know this. He was an acquaintance through work and they were going on a date. I had to find out where they were going, as the last thing I wanted was to end up at the same restaurant with Egan. So whatever happened tonight, Egan and I would not be going to Tappa’s. I made a polite exit and hurried to my cottage as soon as the door closed behind me.
As I showered and began to get dressed, my stomach rounded up all the butterflies it could and they made their presence known. A smile appeared on my face and every now and then I would burst into a giggle. At last, I decided on a pair of black pants and a burnt orange hippie-styled shirt with leather sandals almost the same colour orange. I left my hair natural and loose and put on a smudge of make-up and a splash of perfume to finish me off; then I agreed that I was ready.
It was only six-thirty, and I had a full thirty minutes to wait before Egan arrived. Not a good thing for the relentless butterflies.
My cottage I kept clean and tidy on my own. I did not allow Josie to clean it; I had just too much respect for her aside from seeing her as my surrogate mother. However, I had to do something; just sitting, waiting, was only churning the butterflies into a frenzy. So, I got out the feather duster and dusted anything and everything. Finally, when the doorbell rang, I spun around and ran to the door, opening it in a matter of seconds. Egan faced me with a single white lily in his hands, and a huge smile but he had a rather confused look on his face.
‘Do we have to clean up before we leave?’ he asked, looking at the brightly coloured feather duster in my hand.
I felt my face go red and I laughed as I explained that I had needed to keep myself busy and moved aside to allow him inside the cottage. He gave me enough time to put the feather duster down and collect my jacket and bag before he ushered me out of the house and to his car. He held the passenger door open for me as I got in, and then closed it gently before moving around to the driver’s side and sliding in behind the steering wheel. As he started his car, which seemed to be a smaller version of a Jeep, he rubbed his hands together and let out a boyish Irish laugh.
‘Vanda, I have to tell you, I’m so excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve been dying to ask you out since that day on the beach – thank you for accepting.’
He just looked at me; he did not stare but he just looked at me for a few seconds then turned to concentrate on reversing the car out of the driveway.
All I could say was, ‘I’m so happy you asked me.’
It was quiet for a few minutes while we calmed our initial excitement and then I remembered Dena.
‘Where are we going if you don’t mind me asking?’
‘Oh, I thought we might go to the carnival that’s here for the week and eat loads of junk food, unless you would rather go to a restaurant of course?
I giggled with glee, it sounded so perfect. It was exactly the first date I would have wanted.
‘No, that sounds perfect! How did you know I would enjoy this?’
‘Well,’ he said blushing slightly, ‘I cheated! I phoned Patty and asked her what you’d prefer, the carnival or a fancy restaurant? She recommended the carnival. Do you mind that I phoned her?’
‘Um, no, not at all; I think I must have a little word with my best friend tomorrow though.’
‘I hope I have not caused a problem?’
‘No, silly, I’m just teasing you,’ I patted his leg in reassurance.
The carnival site was brightly lit up with hundreds of lights; some flashing and all a variety of colours. Walking towards the entrance, I could feel the carnival atmosphere pulling us towards it. Egan took my hand as we wobbled over the uneven grass which prickled my feet through my open sandals. My heart pounded, not from the walk but from his touch, so much so that my concentration on walking steadily wavered just enough for me to put my foot into a small hole in the ground. If it were not for his strong grip around my hand, I would’ve met the ground unpleasantly and embarrassingly.
‘Careful there, the ground is very uneven,’ Egan said, as if I did not know it.
He held me with both arms as I steadied myself and even though I was so very stupidly embarrassed, I thought I could have just stayed there like that with him holding me forever.
‘You think?’ I mumbled.
We finally got to the entrance safely, still holding hands. Egan paid the entrance fee refusing my offer to pay for myself, and we headed straight for the food stands, Egan holding me close to his side as if afraid I might get lost. I welcomed his gesture gladly.
‘I’m starving. What do you feel like eating?’ he said, already pulling money from his wallet.
I opted for a shwarma and he chose to have a few boerewors rolls. Walking slowly to the makeshift eating area full of tables and chairs, we found an open table and quickly sat down to enjoy the rest of our meal. I was so grateful at the chance to sit down and eat, as the shwarma became increasingly juicy and difficult to eat. I had to wipe my mouth with the provided serviettes after every bite, and if it was not for the table, half of my food would’ve been on my shirt. Egan was having similar problems with all five of his juicy boerewors rolls, causing us to laugh after every bite. Finally we washed our food down with a can of cooldrink. We were full and satisfied and got up to walk around.
I noticed Egan looking at the high adrenalin rides and quickly told him, ‘Please let all this food settle before we go on any of those rides, unless you want my food returned for credit!’
He burst out laughing, ‘I was actually thinking the same thing!’
With us both agreeing to wait before becoming adrenalin junkies, we amused ourselves with the stalls – shooting pellets at targets, throwing hoops over sticks, throwing balls at plastic bottles and laughing more than I had laughed all my life. We challenged each other at every turn, threatening to beat each other at every game. Sadly I lost them all but it was amusing to see his macho male ego take over at the very thought of a woman beating him at anything.
By the time we made it to the big rides, our arms were so full of prizes, small teddy bears and silly toys, that Egan decided to put them in the car for fear of losing them on the rides. I patiently waited at the Big Wheel ticket office, hoping my food was at the base of my stomach by now and with no plans of returning. He joined me again after several minutes, panting and out of breath, so I guessed he had run there and back.
‘Right, are you ready for this?’ he asked, paying for our tickets and still refusing to let me contribute.
The Big Wheel did not offer the same rush of speed and shear thrill that the Big Dipper would, but it gave us the opportunity to view the world in the dark, all lit up by sparkling lights. But most importantly it gave Egan the opportunity to put his arm around me without the chance of me running away. He took this chance and I smiled, hugging his side. We sat grinning and watching the world go up and down as we rotated in huge circles.
‘I’ve been wanting to ask you if you would come over one night and explain to me a bit more about what your minister preached about on Sunday, and also why you do that communion every Sunday?’ I spluttered, suddenly a little embarrassed.
‘How about Liam, Patty and I come over tomorrow night and we can talk about it? Apparently Patty was asking Liam the same thing.’
I agreed and we sat in silence until the wheel came to a stop when we were at the bottom. From there we moved to the bumper cars, and that I even had a neck left afterwards was incredible. I was pounded by Egan and everyone else that noticed what a useless driver and easy target I was.
Then we went to those crazy super fast swings that swayed out almost parallel to the ground as they went around and around and around. People were hooking their feet into the swings in front of them and pushing the person forward so they spun as they went around. I begged the woman behind me not to do it to me, and fortunately I was spared. I was flying parallel to the ground faster than I had ever moved in my life. When I looked at the ground I felt sick, if I looked up I felt sick. The wind slapped my face. Once we were back on solid ground, we were so drunk from spinning so fast that we staggered around for some time before our brains fell into place again. I pleaded that we would not have to do that ever again.
After a few other exhilarating rides and lots of excitement, we finally reached the Big Dipper. Egan got into his seat and clamped down the safety bar. He rubbed his hands together, literally bubbling from excitement at the forthcoming adrenalin rush.
‘I love this, it’s such a rush.’
I did not care to answer him as the seats began to move. My heart disappeared to my toes as we climbed and climbed and climbed some more, hearing a clicking sound as the train of seats made its way to the top. I’d thought the Big Wheel was high. I let out a nervous cry as we finally reached the top, and warned Egan to close his ears. He did not care; he was laughing so much and bursting with eagerness to get this ride really going. My heart made one solid movement from my toes to my head in a split-second as we dropped from zero speed to what felt to me like a thousand kilometres an hour. I screamed but no sound came out, my eyeballs fell to somewhere at the back of my head, my hair reached for the stars and then I found my voice. There was no telling which country could hear my voice, all I knew was that it was so loud it scared me. Egan laughed and laughed, thoroughly enjoying the rush. We were thrown from side to side, backwards and forwards and were shaken about as the train of seats sped around the bends and angles of the track.
When we came to a standstill I couldn’t get my hands to loosen the bar I was shaking so much. Egan remained in his seat and I looked at him confused.
He smiled, ‘I paid for two rides; we’re going again.’
I literally wanted to pee my pants.
I had to go through this again and the only thought that crossed my mind was that he was insane. The bars clicked shut again and away we went for another round of torture, Egan laughing and giggling in pure excitement. My adrenalin led me on a rollercoaster ride once again.
Finally it ended and the bars clicked open. I looked at Egan hesitantly in case he was going to horrify me with the words, ‘We’re going again.’
But he stood up as if he hadn’t been on the ride at all and helped me to stand; it was difficult, my legs were like jelly, wobbling and shaking and my whole body was trembling, much to his amusement.
‘You’re nasty,’ I scolded him as my body movements slowly normalised and the terror slowly eased from my bones.
‘Sorry, I couldn’t help myself! Please don’t be mad at me, please,’ he begged, as he put his arm around me hoping to appease any anger I might be feeling and also to help me walk.
How could I possibly be angry with him? I had just spent the best hours of my life with him, granted, it was not what I was used to, but he had his arm around me and I would not jeopardise that for anything.
‘I’m not mad, and even it does not seem like it I am having fun,’ I replied, reassuring him but not so much so that he would think I would want to go on that Big Dipper again.
We walked around for a bit longer then decided to leave, but first Egan had to have another two boerewors rolls and we shared a drink. All the adrenalin had made him work up an appetite he explained, but I felt like I could never eat again.
We finally arrived at my cottage. It was already an early hour of the morning and Egan, as did I, thought it wise that he leave now rather than stay longer. I opened the cottage door expecting him to leave as agreed, but he walked in, and shut the door behind him. I went to put my bag down on the kitchen counter, and it had barely touched the surface when Egan had his arms around my neck.
‘May I kiss you? I’ve been dying to kiss you all evening,’ he said, blushing and smiling at the same time as he moved his face so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my lips.
My nerves, the excitement, the adrenalin, the rides, the greasy food and the intensity of this moment all compounded just then as my food - that I was convinced had settled in the base of my stomach - decided it hadn’t and decided after all to return itself for credit.
‘I’m sorry.’ I gasped, as I pulled away and clutched my mouth, to prolong the inevitable just long enough to dash to the bathroom and get my head in the toilet. There was a split second before it was too late as the revolting flood of unsettled food made its way down the toilet.
I was so embarrassed I wanted to disappear down with the flushing water. I didn’t think I would I be able to go back to a stunned and bemused Egan still waiting patiently in the lounge.
‘I’m so sorry, I am so sorry.’ I apologised over and over again, once I had finally mustered up the courage to return to the lounge.
He just laughed, and inquired as to whether I felt better, and then said he would see me the following evening for our study.
I was convinced I would never see him again.
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