“Go ahead.” There was the sound of a closing door. “I just stepped outside. What’s on your mind?”
“First . . .” Marcus wasn’t even sure how to explain what had just happened. “I’m here at the stadium by myself. I just gave my life to Jesus. Like for the first time. For real.”
“Marcus! That’s amazing!” Deep emotion came across in Coach Wayne’s voice. “Rhonda and I have been praying for that. Actually, I was going to pull you aside this Sunday after church and ask you where you were at in your faith journey.”
“Now you know.” Marcus laughed. “I’ve been reading the Voice Bible. I love it. Everything’s so clear. Like God’s speaking straight to me.”
“Incredible, right?”
They talked a few more minutes about Scripture and how it was God’s Word. God-breathed. But there was more Marcus needed to talk to the man about. He tried to find the right words. “Coach . . . something else. About Shelly.”
“Yes.” His voice grew more pensive. “I was going to talk to you about her, too.”
Marcus stood and paced down the empty row and back. How was he supposed to say this? “I’m planning to talk to her later tonight. It’s just not . . . it’s not working out with the two of us.” He paused. “I’m sorry, Coach, I really didn’t mean to get this involved and now . . . I’m just so sorry.”
For a moment there was only silence on the line. Marcus felt a pit in his stomach. Was his coach angry with him? If so, what could he do to make things right? He was about to offer another apology when he heard a light laugh coming from the man.
“I think you read me all wrong.” Coach Wayne sounded almost relieved. “I was going to warn you about her. She’s always been a little wild. Having her around more lately hasn’t been good for our own daughter.” He laughed again. “I was going to ask if you and Shelly would do your visiting outside of our home. Seriously.”
Relief washed over him. He’d worried about this for nothing. “She looks for trouble, that’s for sure.”
“She’s my niece, and I pray for her. One of these days something will get her attention and she’ll need more than her good looks to get by.” This time there was no denying the approval in Coach’s voice. “Good decision, Marcus. You don’t need that sort of distraction.”
“Definitely not.” Marcus realized he’d been holding his breath. He exhaled and sat back down. “So I guess that’s two good choices tonight.”
“Yes.” His voice became more serious. “I know it won’t be easy, talking to Shelly. But she’ll understand. She’s had lots of boyfriends.”
“Thanks, Coach. There’s one more thing.” Marcus smiled. “If you’re not busy tomorrow around nine thirty, could you meet us at Zuma Beach? Me and Tyler and Sami and Mary Catherine?”
“Sounds fun.” There was a smile in Coach Wayne’s voice. “Just because?”
“Because I want to get baptized. I wondered if you’d do the honors.”
Again there was silence for several seconds. Marcus could practically see the man’s face when he finally spoke. “It would be one of the greatest honors of my life, Marcus. Rhonda and I will be there. The kids, too.”
The call ended and Marcus stared at the sky, soaking in the love and joy and peace that surrounded him. Mary Catherine would want to be there for his baptism. So would the others. There would be no fanfare, no media, no fear of bullets flying.
Just him and his closest friends and the greatest decision Marcus had ever made.
The decision to follow Jesus.
20
THE SUN WAS BRIGHT in the early Friday morning sky by the time Aspyn took her place at the short block wall that separated Zuma Beach from the parking lot. She watched Mary Catherine drive her Hyundai up and park near the wall.
Help me, Father. The timing has to be perfect.
She could picture her angel team in heaven, watching, all of them praying. Aspyn could feel their support.
Mary Catherine and Sami climbed out of the car and grabbed boogie boards, towels, and a few bags. Invisible and silent, Aspyn stayed with them as they headed down the sand toward the water. Her job was very specific. It would be nearly impossible to pull it off without being noticed.
The girls set up ten yards from the water, spreading their towels out on the sand. Aspyn watched closely, never taking her eyes off Mary Catherine. Finally it happened. Mary Catherine took her cell phone from her pocket and checked it.
Aspyn knew why. She was expecting two very important phone calls. One from her mother—who had called Mary Catherine the night before to tell her the news that her father’s health was failing. Even though they were divorced, her parents cared about each other. Today the man was in a hospital in Nashville, where doctors were deciding whether he’d need lifesaving surgery.
The second call set to come in sometime this morning would be from Mary Catherine’s own doctor. He had studied the tests she’d had done over a week ago and now he had the results. Aspyn watched Mary Catherine turn the ringer on her phone all the way up. Then she set it near the bottom of her towel.
“What time will the others be here?” Mary Catherine checked the time on her phone. “It’s already nine.”
“About half an hour.” Sami was slipping her wetsuit on.
Good, Aspyn thought. She needed both girls to take to the water before the Wayne family and Marcus and Tyler arrived. Otherwise what she was about to do would be impossible.
Father, get them in the water. Please draw them in . . . I don’t have much time. Suddenly in the nearby waves, a pod of dolphins appeared, splashing and chattering among each other. Aspyn looked up to heaven and smiled. God was beyond creative. Thank You, Lord.
Mary Catherine noticed the dolphins. “Look!” She tossed her phone on the towel and grabbed her wetsuit from her bag. “Hurry! Maybe we can ride with them again.”
The girls hurried to finish getting dressed, grabbed their boards, and jogged to the surf. They jumped over the white water and made it out to the flat sea just before the breakers. The place where the dolphins were still tossing their heads and jumping through the waves.
Perfect. Aspyn slipped behind the closest lifeguard station and became a jogger. Simple navy shorts and a white tank top. The most discreet jogging outfit she could think to wear. She pulled her hair back with a rubber band from her pocket and studied the scene. The sand felt wonderful on her feet—something angels only experienced on missions. Sand in heaven was different. Softer.
Aspyn scanned the beach. No one else was out here this early. The girls would have to stay distracted if she were going to pull this off. She took a deep breath and began jogging. She eased her way to the shore and started to close the forty-yard gap between her and the place where Mary Catherine’s beach towel was set up.
Aspyn loved this feeling and hated it at the same time. The way her heart pounded was something intrinsically human. But the reason was terrifying. So much was at stake in the next few minutes.
Stay distracted. Please.
The dolphins weren’t going anywhere. A few more seemed to join in, jumping and splashing not ten feet from where the girls were riding out on their boogie boards. Hurry, she told herself. Get it done!
Aspyn was closer now. She kept jogging, her face straight ahead as if she were any normal runner, enjoying any other day. As she neared Mary Catherine’s towel she kept her eyes on the girls. They were still distracted by the dolphins, still too caught up in the moment to notice a jogger on the beach.
The plan could work. Aspyn reached the towel, stopped, and grabbed Mary Catherine’s cell phone. In a quick move, she turned it off.
She had to hold the button a few seconds to see that the device was completely powered down. Then she dropped it back on the towel and resumed her jogging. Mary Catherine and Sami were facing the beach now, riding a wave into the shore, laughing and looking back at the d
olphins.
They never once looked her way.
Aspyn kept jogging and a ways down the beach she met up with another jogger. Blond and tall. “That was textbook.” Jag smiled at her. “And what about this sand?”
“I was just thinking that. So different than the sand in heaven.” Aspyn could breathe again. “Rougher.”
“Like all of earth.” He lifted his face toward the sun as they jogged. “No time to waste, you know.”
“Theme of this mission.” She looked back. The girls were out near the waves again. Her action had gone completely undetected.
They jogged up the beach to the next lifeguard station, slipped behind it, and disappeared.
Jag was right. They couldn’t waste a minute. They had a Nashville hospital to visit.
21
THE WATER FELT WONDERFUL, cool and fresh and smooth against Mary Catherine’s skin—the part not covered by her wetsuit. All that and a ride with the dolphins. Mary Catherine couldn’t stop silently thanking God.
Sometime today she expected two difficult phone calls. One about her father’s health. One about her own. But whatever news she received later, at least they’d had this time out here in the ocean. So far the morning couldn’t have been more perfect.
And it was about to get better.
She and Sami had found out late last night that the guys were joining them along with the Wayne family for a very special reason. Marcus Dillinger was getting baptized. It was hard to believe that she had ever assumed Marcus to be shallow and predictable.
Nothing could’ve been further from the truth.
Marcus had a genuine love for people and a new faith vibrant and central to his life.
They rode another wave in and as Mary Catherine stood she saw the Wayne family and Marcus and Tyler walking in from the parking lot. She turned to Sami. “They’re here!”
“This will be something.” Sami stood and wiped the water from her face. “I’m so proud of Marcus. For wanting to do this.”
“Me, too.” They each held their boards under their arms and jogged back to their things. They pulled extra towels from their bags and dried off. They planned to go back in the water later, so they peeled their wetsuits only half off.
Mary Catherine had brought her Whole Foods “Live Life” sweatshirt for the occasion. Certainly baptism was a great time to think about living life. She slipped it on and worked her fingers through her hair. She hoped the calls didn’t come in during Marcus’s moment.
But if they did, she’d have to take them. If her father was sicker, she was ready to get on a plane in a few hours and fly to Nashville. Even if it meant missing the Last Time In program. Marcus could handle it by himself if he had to.
The others walked up and Tyler slung his arm around Marcus’s shoulders. “Could there be a better day for a beach baptism?”
Sami led the way to meet them. She hugged Marcus and then Tyler, and stayed there, her arm around his waist. “We’re so happy for you, Marcus.”
“I don’t know what took me so long.” He smiled and then turned to Mary Catherine. “God’s been talking to me about a lot of things.”
The Wayne family joined them—Ollie and Rhonda and their three kids. Shane and Sam wore bathing suits and sweatshirts. Sierra looked distant in jeans and a lightweight jacket.
Coach Wayne spoke first. “Thanks for inviting us. We couldn’t miss this.” He and Rhonda gave hugs to the others. Ollie patted Marcus on the back. “I remember when our kids were baptized. It’s a big day.”
Conversations started between Rhonda and Sami and Tyler, and at the same time Ollie stepped back to say a few words to his kids. In the fraction of a moment when no one else was talking to either of them, Marcus walked up to Mary Catherine. He wore a bathing suit and a T-shirt, and he stood so close their arms were touching.
Never mind the sweatshirt she was wearing. Mary Catherine could feel every inch of contact with him.
“Hey.” He smiled at her. “Thanks for being here.” His eyes held the familiar teasing. “I sort of intruded on your beach morning.”
“Not at all.” She felt her defenses falling. Every time she was near Marcus Dillinger the attraction was stronger. “I’m glad to be here. Really.”
The others were talking and for that moment it was just Marcus and Mary Catherine. He glanced at her. “I ended things with Shelly last night.”
Mary Catherine felt suddenly light-headed. Marcus had cut things off with Shelly? Had he really just said that? She shaded her eyes. “You broke up with her?”
“Technically we were never in a relationship.” His voice was little more than a whisper. He allowed a sad chuckle. “But she thought we were.”
He was trusting her with his heart. Whatever that meant, Mary Catherine loved the feeling. She kept her voice quiet. “How did she handle it?”
“Not well at first.” The breeze off the ocean wrapped itself around their private conversation. “I think she understood eventually. I told her she was too young and . . . well, truthfully I didn’t see her the same way she saw me.”
Mary Catherine winced. “Yeah, that would’ve been tough.”
“She didn’t hang around. Her friends were waiting for her back at her house.” His smile melted her. “She’ll be fine.”
The feel of the ocean air, the sun on her shoulders, Marcus standing so close his words felt like velvet against her skin. All of it made Mary Catherine feel a little dizzy. She wasn’t sure what to say.
“Anyway, I wanted you to know. That whole scene at the hospital the other night. The way she was at dinner with Sami and Tyler. I didn’t want any of it. I needed to act on how I was feeling.”
Mary Catherine reminded herself to breathe. “You seem happier.”
“I am.” He nodded toward the water. “And I’m about to make another great decision.”
“Definitely.” Mary Catherine wanted the moment to keep going. Even when standing here with him could never lead to anything. Feeling good wouldn’t buy her a long life. “Thanks for telling me.”
“I should’ve done it sooner.” The sunlight caught his eyes. “Shelly wasn’t real.” He didn’t blink, didn’t take his eyes off hers. “Next time I won’t settle for anything less.”
Real. That was her word. Mary Catherine didn’t want their alone time to end but the others were done visiting. They circled around, looking to Marcus. Ollie Wayne wore a bathing suit and a T-shirt. “Let’s do this!”
“I’m ready!” Marcus whipped off his T-shirt and threw it on Mary Catherine’s towel. The group walked close to the water, Mary Catherine near the back.
Her head was spinning. She must’ve told Sami a hundred times before she got the news about her heart, about her years being cut short. Real was all she wanted in a guy. Back when she thought she had forever.
He would have to be real in his beliefs, real in his character. Real in the way he treated her and everyone else.
And now Marcus wanted that in a girl. She wanted to pull Sami aside and ask if she had somehow told Marcus. How else could he have known how that one word would speak straight to her soul? But that was impossible. Sami didn’t have heart-to-heart conversations with Marcus.
She felt her feet sink into the wet sand a few inches, but she didn’t care. The feeling was a reminder that she was really here, this was really happening. That Marcus had just stood next to her and told her he was done with Shelly because he wanted someone real.
The wind settled down—as if all of heaven wanted to hear clearly what was about to happen. Mary Catherine stood with Sami and Tyler. Rhonda Wayne and her kids stood nearby in another cluster, as all of them directed their attention to Ollie and Marcus. The two men walked out until they were waist deep.
Mary Catherine looked around, amazed. Not only was the beach quiet, it was empty. This divine moment was for them alone. She turned her
eyes back to Marcus.
Ollie put his hand on Marcus’s shoulder. “I’ve talked to Marcus Dillinger about Jesus for a long time.” He hesitated, and after a few seconds it became obvious that the coach was struggling. Fighting to get the words past his emotions. Finally he coughed a little. “Anyway. This is a big day.”
Marcus nodded. His smile was so big Mary Catherine could feel it all the way to the place where she stood.
“So you all know how this works.” He looked at the rest of them on the beach. “Marcus asked Jesus to be his Savior. Now he wants to give a public demonstration of that faith. The symbol of dying to self and being raised to new life in Christ.” Ollie looked at Marcus again. “You ready, man?”
“So ready!”
“What he means is, it’s freezing out here without a wetsuit.” Coach Ollie laughed. Then he turned his attention fully to the matter at hand. “Marcus, because you’ve placed your faith in Christ, and because you want to publicly declare your allegiance to Him, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Marcus put his hand over his face, plugging his nose, and Ollie dipped him beneath the surface of the water.
As Marcus went under, Ollie continued. “Buried with Him in baptism.” Ollie helped Marcus back to his feet. “Raised with Him to new life in the power of the Holy Spirit.” He pulled Marcus into a big hug. “Congratulations, my friend.”
Mary Catherine led the applause on the beach, and the others quickly joined in. The moment was perfect. Flawless. Only as the two men headed back to the shore did Mary Catherine realize she was crying. She wiped the tears from her cheeks. Marcus Dillinger was exactly the sort of guy she had always dreamed about.
But she could never let him know, never give him any sign that she was interested. In fact, she would be better off leaving Los Angeles altogether. Depending on what the doctor said, she might take a year and go to Africa. The way she’d always dreamed.