Just the other night,
At a hometown football game,
My wife and I ran into
My old high school flame “How about getting a drink for a very thirsty girl?”
“Karly, you’ve already had three big Cokes since the first quarter! How can you possibly be thirsty again?”
With a shrug of her thin shoulders, Karly only said, “Well, I am.”
Chris shook his head, even as an inevitable smile picked at the corners of his mouth. “Geez, girl, your bladder must be made of solid steel.”
She grinned back. “Solid titanium would be a more accurate description.”
“Why don’t you buy your own drink this time? You’ve got some loose change, don’t you?”
Karly’s eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth. “Christopher Kirkpatrick, are you suggesting we violate the sacred tradition?”
“What sacred tradition?”
“Everybody knows the gentlemen always pick up the tab for the ladies! It’s only been that way since, like, the dawn of time!”
“So?”
Now Karly narrowed her brown eyes and stuck out her lower lip, an expression that Chris still found hilarious and endearing. “So, you have the actual gall to just throw out that custom like the morning trash? I really had expected better from you, Christopher.”
With a hearty laugh, he rejoined, “Okay, okay, you win.” He needed to stretch his legs anyway, and he figured he might as well restock on popcorn while he was at it. As he stood up, he said, “But as soon as the game resumes, you’re on your own, missy.”
“You would willingly desert your own wife in this crowd?” Karly demanded as she followed him across the concrete bleachers.
“When it’s your hometown team and the last game of the season, it’s every man for himself.”
They were zigzagging their way back to their seats when Chris almost plowed into another woman. All three of them yelled out and jumped a mile, sending a few popcorn bits flying, and Chris only just saved his drinks. “Oh—oh, man, I’m so sorry,” he didn’t hesitate to say when he could speak. “I didn’t see you.”
“It’s my bad,” the other woman said sheepishly. “I really need to pay better attention to my surroundings.”
As their gazes interlocked, something made Chris pause and take a good look at her. She was taller than Karly, but she still would have fit easily under Chris’s arm. She was quite thin, too, and somewhat pale, as if she hadn’t been eating or sleeping well. Her blonde hair ended a little past her shoulders, and there was something uncannily familiar about her dark brown eyes.
While Chris struggled to figure out where he had seen this girl before, her eyes grew to several times their size, her mouth fell wide open, and she took a step backward. “Chris?” Her voice barely covered a whisper. “Chris, is that you?”
In a second, something clicked. Now Chris’s eyes widened as well and his jaw just about hit his shoes.
“Dani?”
And as I introduced them,
The past came back to me
And I couldn’t help but think of
The way things used to be “I—I almost don’t recognize you.” Dani stood stock-still, staring at Chris as she would a ghost.
“I don’t believe it,” Chris murmured, unable to shift his gaze, unable to move anything at all. “You, here, of all places—”
“Never expected to see you again, after all these years.”
Now he felt the threads of discomfort begin to tangle with his shock. “Uhh, yeah,” he said very slowly, shifting his weight from leg to leg. “It’s…er…been a while.”
He only remembered Karly after she’d nudged him from behind and spoke his name in a thoroughly bewildered tone. Now he moved off a little to the side and said, with as much tact as he could muster, “Hey, Karly, I’d like you to meet Dani. Dani, this is my wife, Karly.”
Dani lifted her thin brows somewhat. “Your wife, huh?” She sounded neither disappointed nor particularly pleased.
“Old girlfriend?” Karly asked Chris with a subtle hand motion.
“I guess you could say that,” he said while his heart quivered with memories.
She was the one
That I had wanted for all time
And each night I’d spend prayin’
That God would make her mine The year 2000 had reached its climax. With his band on top of the world and a gorgeous girl by his side, Chris Kirkpatrick felt like the luckiest man alive. Even after dating Danielle Raabe for over two years, he still considered her the most beautiful female he had ever met or would ever meet again. Her voice never lost its music to his ears, her sweet smile and sparkling eyes never failed to melt him into a puddle, and her kisses never lost their magic.
“Wasn’t she that girl who turned you down flat when you asked her to the senior prom?” JC inquired one time.
“Didn’t she say she would sooner date a golden poison frog than a hopeless bozo like you?” added Lance.
Chris only rolled his eyes and countered, “Come on, guys, that was an eternity ago. She’s long since made up for it—and more.”
Another time, while the group strolled down a narrow hall together, Chris informed his mates, “I’m telling you, gents, one of these days, you’re gonna see a diamond ring on that fine lady’s finger.”
“Oh, yeah,” Joey sniggered, “I can just see it in the headlines now.” He mimed holding up an enormous sign and announced in a pompous tone, “Miss Danielle Raabe has now officially become Mrs. Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick!”
“And you’ll leave ten million broken hearts behind you,” said Justin, giving Chris a good-natured push.
Chris playfully shoved back. “That’s a truly rich statement, man, coming from you.”
Amid all the laughter and repartee, nothing could have swayed Chris’s conviction. He just knew Dani was the girl meant for him, more than anything he’d known in his life to be true.
And if He’d only grant me
This wish I’d wished back then
I’d never ask for anything again If there was anything on Earth that appealed to Chris’s heart more than to have Dani as his permanent companion—he couldn’t begin to fathom such a desire.
He couldn’t even begin to count all the times he’d visualized their wedding day and their married life. Before he went to sleep, whenever he had a few hard-earned minutes to himself, he made the same promise to God, in his heart as well as out loud: he would always be good to Dani, he would eat dinner with her every night, he would hold her close every minute they were in bed, and he would never once lay a finger on her.
“Just please, please make it work between us. If I have nothing else for the rest of my life, let me have this.”
Sometimes I thank God
For unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’
To the Man Upstairs
That just because He doesn’t answer
Doesn’t mean He don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts
Are unanswered prayers
In the following year, however, things with Dani went downhill in a hurry. Chris didn’t know what happened, what he might have done to drive her away.
All he could remember now was that last fateful talk with her on the beach in the middle of the night. He remembered feeling cold in spite of the warm weather; he remembered the tears that flowed like the rain. Despite his heartfelt pleas, Dani left him standing there, and when she was gone, he buried his face in his hands and crumpled to the ground.
The weeks and months that followed could only be described as a nightmare. Most days, it took almost everything Chris had just to get out of bed, and most nights were spent in soul-twisting supplication.
But it was all to no avail. Even though he still saw Dani on occasion, she never showed any interest in him again.
In the end, Chris gave up his hopeless prayers along with his hopeless dream. He settled it in both mind and heart that either God wasn’t listening or simply didn’t care.
She wasn’t quite the angel
That I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
In her eyes too, it seemed “So, what, you’re saying you’ll never date again, man?” Justin asked.
With a heavy sigh, Chris confessed, “Oh, I’ll still dabble in dates from time to time. But it’ll never be the same, guys. And I’m definitely never getting married. I’ll never love another girl the way I loved Dani. Such a girl—even if she does exist—would be impossible to find.”
“Someday, Chris Kirkpatrick,” Joey declared solemnly, “I’m going to see you eat those words with your wedding cake.”
Chris didn’t believe it until several years later, when Karly Skladany came into his life. After three wonderful years together, Chris summoned the courage to pop the question, in the most romantic and sincere form he could think of. Not only did Karly say yes, but she told him with a laugh, “It’s about time!”
It had been a beautiful wedding, too. All of his *NSYNC mates were there, everything went without a hitch, and Karly was a genuine knockout in her dress. Afterward, Chris could easily sum up that day as the best day of his life.
Now, standing between the woman he was wedded to and the woman he’d once pined for, Chris found it hard to believe things had worked out this way—the farthest cry possible from the way he would have expected.
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn’t much we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what He’s doin’ after all “So…how have you been these days, Chris?” Dani asked at length.
He figured she was asking him that for the sake of polite conversation more than anything else. Still, he answered readily enough. “Mm, can’t complain. Not too much, anyway. Still keeping busy with music, still keeping in touch with the guys. Got a great foundation going on right now.”
“Yeah, I heard about that. The Chris Kirkpatrick Foundation, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, that’s cool.”
“How have you been? You doing all right?”
“Better than the last couple of years. Just starting to get back on my feet, as you can see.”
“I notice your hair’s a lot shorter. You look like you’ve lost a fair bit of weight, too.”
“And you look like you’ve put on a few pounds yourself.”
“Maybe a few, but it’s nothing excessive. I’m playing it safe, though, with a new health regime. Aside from a couple of knee surgeries, I’m doing just fine.”
“Good for you. I’m glad you’re sticking with the goatee.”
“I remember how much you liked my stubble. You always said you preferred rugged men.”
After another two or three fruitless attempts at talk, Dani raked her long fingers through her hair and said, “Well, they’re about to start the final quarter, so I guess I’d better get back to my seat. Nice to see you again, Chris. Take care, Karly. Don’t let your hubby get too excited if our team wins.”
Chris couldn’t say he was sorry to end this conversation. Nor could he feel much disappointment or sadness as he watched Dani turn her back and leave him once more.
And as she walked away,
I looked at my wife
And then and there, I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life “Well,” said Karly after Dani was out of sight and earshot, “that was…interesting.”
“Sure was,” Chris conceded. Clasping Karly’s shoulders gently with his free arm, he went on, “We should probably get back to our seats, too.”
“And not a moment too soon,” she said with a nod toward the oncoming referee.
Even after they had settled down with their snacks and the final round was well under way, Chris couldn’t take his eyes off his wife. He also couldn’t help the solid lump that lodged in his throat.
How different would his life have been to this day, he wondered, had everything gone the other way around with Dani?
Perhaps he would never know…and he was far from inclined to find out.
He was here now, with the girl who truly made him happy, who made him positively glow. He knew now, given the opportunity, that he would never trade his relationship with Karly for the world.
Surely this was what God had in mind all along. He had allowed Chris to lose something of minor worth for something worth so much more. Such a realization humbled Chris to his roots and brought on shameless tears.
Without a word, he wrapped his arm around Karly again; she made no resistance when he pressed her to his side and kissed the top of her head.
Thank you, Lord. I know it’s not enough, but thank you…so much.
Sometimes I thank God
For unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’
To the Man Upstairs
That just because He may not answer
Doesn’t mean He don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts
Are unanswered— Some of God’s greatest gifts
Are all too often unanswered
Some of God’s greatest gifts
Are unanswered prayers
