Marriage Seasons 01 - It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman, Catherine Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

appointments, the front
door opened.
    It was Brenda Hansen. Winter had arrived.

    When Brenda walked into Just As I Am, she felt every eye in the
salon fasten on her. And when Cody shuffled through the door
behind her, she heard an audible gasp.
    Well, so what? She didn't care if people were scared of Cody or
disliked having him in Deepwater Cove. The stranger who had
showed up at her door during the power outage was the best thing
that had happened to Brenda in a long time. Cody was a child-a
sweet, slightly confused little boy who needed looking after. And
Brenda had decided that God had given him to her as a mission.
    "Hey, Patsy," she said.

    The salon's owner hurried to the front desk as the pair
approached. Look up the word nice in the dictionary, folks said,
and you'd see Patsy Pringle's picture. With her exaggerated hourglass shape, pretty face, and hair whose color changed on a whim,
Patsy was a fixture at the lake, and everyone counted on her. If her
shampoo, set, and style couldn't lift a woman's heart, her warm
tearoom certainly would. More than once, Brenda had gone to the
salon just to sit in a corner, sip tea, and read magazines. It sure beat
pacing the floor waiting for Steve to come home.
    "I didn't expect you back here so soon," Patsy told Brenda.
"Your cut still looks great to me. In fact, I think that's one of the
best cuts I've ever given you. Let me look at the left side there. Oh
yes, that's perfect." She focused on Brenda's companion. "And
who's this?"
    "Hi, I'm Cody!" The young man held out a dirty hand.
    Patsy shook it firmly. "Welcome to Just As I Am. You must be
the fellow who's been sleeping on the Hansens' porch."
    "Okay." Cody nodded. "Because Brenda is my friend. She
makes me chocolate soup cake."
    "Soup and chocolate cake," Brenda said in a low voice. "Cody's
words sometimes get tangled up."
    "Oh, mine do too." Patsy smiled. "Just last Sunday the deacons
were trying to put my name on the kitchen committee, and I said,
`Sorry, boys, but I don't want to be on the commitchen kitty.' Can
you beat that? I thought those fellows would never stop laughing."
    Brenda chuckled, appreciating Patsy's kind attitude even
though Cody's presence had obviously upset the regular flow and
rhythm in the salon.
    "I love my cut," Brenda told her. "I was wondering if you could
trim Cody up a little. Maybe give him a shave. He says he used to
shave when he lived with his father. I think this beard is just too
thick for him to manage right now."
    "I look like Jesus," Cody announced. "I thought Jesus was in
Brenda's basement, but it was me."

    "He saw his reflection in the sliding glass door," Brenda
explained.
    Patsy tilted her head. "Come to think of it, Cody, you do look
like Jesus."
    "Because I'm a Christian."
    "Is that why you look like Him?"
    Cody nodded. "Okay."
    Patsy laughed. "I'd love to shave off those whiskers, Cody, but
I'm afraid I've got a perm coming in right now. Of course, if you
and Brenda could wait a little while ... I ... uh..."
    Patsy glanced at the sunroom, apparently realizing that having
Cody sit down among the tea-sipping ladies was probably not the
best plan. "We've got all kinds of magazines in the waiting area,"
she said, gesturing toward a row of five chairs that lined one wall. "I
keep men's magazines in stock too. Fishing, hunting, boating. All
that."
    Brenda squared her shoulders. "Cody and I will have a cup of tea
and wait for you to do the perm," she said. "Then you can work on
his hair and beard while she sits under the dryer."
    "Well-" Patsy swallowed-"all right. We've got chocolate cake
in the counter. Help yourself."
    "Chocolate cake!" Cody's blue eyes brightened. "My daddy told
me that only a Christian would give you chocolate cake. Are you a
Christian?"
    "I certainly am," Patsy said. "That's why I named this salon just
As I Am. My favorite song in the whole world says that Jesus loves
us just as . . ." She stopped speaking and gazed