Loving Him (Him Series Book 1)

Two

Kyle graduated from high school a few months later and joined the army. Not long after that, I heard that he was deployed to Afghanistan, and every night I prayed for his safety. So did Katie. She eventually got over Kyle, and our junior year she met her first boyfriend, Carson Prescott. I still thought of Kyle more than I should.

My lack of interest in the boys had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that no one was as amazing as Kyle. I was just too focused on grades and taking care of Dad to worry that I'd never been on a real date.

My dad saw nothing wrong with my dating diet, but Katie was constantly trying to set me up with guys. Occasionally, I let her and I met some great friends, but I graduated high school without ever having had a boyfriend.

My dad cheered proudly when they called my name at graduation.

"Lucinda Ruth Donovan!"

I walked across the stage, waving at my beaming dad who was videotaping Katie and I getting our diplomas. Beside him sat Katie's mom, Olivia, who looked bored.

Katie and I both received scholarships to the local university and we talked about getting an apartment together, but I wasn't sure about leaving Dad alone.

It was Dad that convinced me to get the apartment.

"You could have gone anywhere you wanted to college, and I know you stayed here because of me."

I started to protest, but Dad was insistent.

"Go live your life, Lucy. Just remember to come visit your old man," he'd said, which was ironic since he was only thirty-six years old.

Katie and I moved into our new apartment the July before we started college. It was north of the city only a few miles from Dad's house, and I'd protested at the waste of money keeping two households, but he wouldn't listen.

I think he'd started to worry about my practically non-existent social life, even though I assured him that I liked cooking his dinner every night and keeping up the house, and I preferred reading a book to partying on Saturday nights. I didn't tell him that Katie and I were not invited to these parties because the cool kids, my own cousin Lindsay included, thought we were geeks.

Mom wouldn't have approved of those parties either, and neither would Jesus. I told myself I didn't care what he thought. He had abandoned me. But I couldn't deny that every single time I felt like I could not go on, a warm, comforting embrace wrapped around me like a warm blanket. The words came in a small voice. ...Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

Once I was repeating those words from Isaiah 43:1 aloud, and Dad caught me and gave me the strangest look. When he glanced away, I saw a shimmer of tears in his eyes. I'd asked him if he wanted to go to church, but he shook his head and apologized.

Life went on.

Instead of weekend nights filled with beer and bonfires, Katie and I frequented an outdoor theater and saw some awesome plays, painted at a local shop, hung out at the mall, and I never missed one of Katie's orchestra concerts. She was a talented member of an orchestra group, who performed in the Houston and surrounding areas and occasionally they'd travel to Dallas, Austin, or San Antonio.

Katie's boyfriend, Carson, had also been a member of the group, but he'd quit when he left for college. He and Katie broke up. She cried for three days, and we holed up in our new apartment with plenty of chocolate, coffee, and tissues. We'd watched dozens of sappy feel-good movies.

I prayed for Katie. I thought about what my mom would say to her, that Jesus was the answer to all life's problems. Part of me wanted to tell that to Katie, but I couldn't. When I'd asked her to go to church with me, she'd told me that was the last place she would ever go.