Page 38 of Take a Chance on Me

One of Eli’s other buddies took up the gauntlet and began singing “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

Eli stepped off the stage and stood near the door, his vision trained on her with affection, uncertainty, humor.Did you like it?he mouthed.

She rushed to her feet and wove through the tables. When she reached him, she grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. Mellow, peachy light flowed over them.

She towed him around the edge of Whiskey’s, then behind to a secluded spot near a tree. They faced each other, her hand still in his.

“You made a fool of yourself for me,” she said.

“Yeah. If you want me to make an even bigger fool of myself, I can always go back in and massacre Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You.’”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“No?”

“No. You made an adequate fool of yourself and allayed the last of my worries about you. I loved the song. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” His handsome face settled into serious lines. “I’m crazy about you.”

Instinctively, she placed her free hand over her heart, to seal in the power of his words. “I’m crazy about you, too.”

His eyes glowed with the intensity of his hope.

She was about to risk a lot. To put herself out there, trust him, and, in doing so, open herself up to potential future sorrow. But she had a feeling he—they—might be worth the risk.

Sometimes, in order to grab hold of something good, you had to empty your hands. And so, very purposely, she let go of the concerns she’d been clutching that had separated her from Eli. She was going to have to trust God to work out their future.

The only choice she had before her today: yes or no to giving Eli a chance.

“I...” She bit her lower lip. Released it. “I hereby issue an amendment to my dating rule.”

A slow, lopsided smile moved across his lips.

“My rule still stands except in the case of one particular airman. Eli Price is exempt from my rule. Effective immediately.” She reached up, her fingers tunneling into the hair at the back of his neck, delighting in the feel of it.

His hands slid up to cup her jaw. “Penelope?”

“Yes?”

“That’s really, really good news.”

She could feel his heat, sense his goodness, see his devotion in the carved angles of his face.

“I feel like that character fromGreen Eggs and Ham,” she whispered.

“The Dr. Seuss book?”

“Exactly! One of the characters kept trying to get the other to try green eggs and ham. But the other character wouldn’t. Until right at the end—”

He kissed her.

It was a kiss for the record books, gilded and glittering, full of rightness and feelings deep and true and demanding.

After what could have been five minutes or fifty—she’d lost track of concepts as unimportant as time—he pulled back an inch.

Their shallow breaths intermingled. “Do you like green eggs and ham?” he whispered.

“So very,verymuch,” she said, pressing her lips back to his.