A Christian Romance

Chapter 29 - Dealing with new feelings

Debora would stay at Chloe's for the weekend, and that was supposed to be something very exciting for both of them if Chloe's parents weren't there as well. She lived in a small apartment and trying to fit everybody in there proved to be very challenging, plus her mother was always very opinionating about every single detail and that annoyed her daughter, who was fuming after the next two hours. She pulled Debora into her room, trying to talk it out:

"She drives me insane, Debora," Chloe complained. "I've been living on my own for ages now, and she thinks that I can't take care of anything."

"I know, Chloe. Mothers are like that."

"You accept that your mother treats you like a baby?" She was indignant.

"Well, yeah. I just choose not to be offended, and I try not to take it personally."

Chloe looked up at Debora, realizing that she was serious, but she had other things she wanted to advocate in order to win this battle.

"My mum complains about details. She thinks there isn't enough room here for three more people, what does she know? I've had eleven people sleeping here already!"

Debora was pragmatic and problem-solving-oriented, so she came up with a solution that could hurt her friend. She chose her words carefully:

"Chloe, we can solve this in many ways."

She gave Debora all the attention.

"So, these are the alternatives I came up with: you or I, or maybe even your parents could spend the night at Moses'." Debora shrugged. "If that sounds like a bad idea, I don't mind paying for a hotel room, either for me or for your parents."

"Moses would never agree to me spending the night so near to Ben. He is very traditional." She considered her friend's idea. "Even you, with Joel! He wouldn't want that."

Chloe interpreted that all the conservative spirit she saw in Ben came from his father Moses but that wasn't true at all; she liked that about him, but Ben was conservative all by himself.

"But Joel and I are friends, besides we share an apartment in Sydney." She advocated. "Give me Moses' number, I'll call him! He may be able to help."

"But I don't think they have a spare room." Chloe tried to warn her.

"Maybe I could share the room with Mim."

And so it was. Moses agreed to Debora sharing the room with his daughter Miriam, but neither Joel nor Ben were informed of the change in plans. So when the two brothers returned home for lunch, it was with great surprise that they found Debora in the Smiths' family apartment for the first time; she was helping Mim set the table. The surprise was bigger when Joel learned from his father that Debora would sleep over for the next two nights. That disturbed him.

"What's the big deal, Joel?" Moses asked him, while they were in the quiet of their living room.

"I like Debora a lot." He hesitated. "I like her the way a man likes a woman." He was very serious about that. "But I don't wanna rush into anything unless I'm sure this is God's will."

Moses smiled comprehensively at his son.

"I thought you had a confirmation already. Would she ever consider living in Israel? God has a plan for you there." Moses recalled.

"She does, but that could be a coincidence. I need something transcendent to confirm whether my feelings are right."

The father put his arm around his son and replied:
"There's nothing wrong about love, but one transcendent sign would be if she felt the same way about you."