A Love Story in Three Acts: Act 2, Scene 3

Exposition
Act 1: Cindy
Act 2, Scene 1: A Chance Meeting
Act 2, Scene 2: Summer of Love

"Tuesday's" Night
It's January of 1999. I've met some people at this new church I'm going to, Valleydale Baptist. Notably, I've been introduced to this guy, Michael, who lives in Huntsville, but is moving back to Birmingham. He was going to UNA, and was a manager of Soul Pilot, a Christian band, but apparently is leaving that gig.

I've also met Tom Johnson, who is interning at Valleydale, and Michael's sister, Stephanie. While I've now met some of the key players who would go on and form The Apartment, and then finally, The Deuce, at this point I'm still living in my townhome at 3079 Carousel Court by myself.

Don't ask me how it happened, don't ask me how we started talking (it wasn't over computer, because I didn't have one--my guess was, one of us had called the other for some reason) but somehow, Amy Wible and I had a conversation.

And that conversation led to a dinner invitation. She was dating Craig, I was single, but she said it would be fun to catch up and chat over dinner. So one evening I drove to Tuscaloosa, took the elevator up to whatever floor in Rose Towers and then stood at the end of her hallway. I hadn't seen this girl since August of 1998, nor had I spoken to her, save for the conversation recently that led me here.

I took a deep breath and started slowly walking to the door. What was I thinking? What would I say? What would happen? I was about to find out. I knocked. She answered. And my eyes widened and my jaw dropped a little. She was beautiful. Her hair was shorter, she lost a little weight, her smile was bright as ever and I knew this was bad.

Driving seperately, we met up at Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. We chatted about things, she told me of Craig, whom she loved deeply. He was a youth minister locally, and he was perfect for her. I smiled and nodded, all the while begging to ask the question "Why did you leave me last summer? Why did you just drop me? Why? Why?" but it never came out. It wasn't right. Here I was, having dinner with an old friend, a friend I probably would never see again because, heck, she's getting married soon enough, I'm sure. Why spoil it with questions that she doesn't want to answer, and that I probably don't want the answers to?

She saw a few of her friends nearby, so after dinner, we both went to sit with them. She introduced me, I shook hands, nibbled on a few appitizers that were offered, and finally, told Amy it was time for me to go. With a quick hug and a "drive safe", that was it. But it wasn't it. Not by a long shot.

Because I got back in the car and knew something had just happened. After going 18 months with neither seeing nor speaking to Amy, then suddenly feeling like I felt that one night, I knew one thing was certain. I didn't know what I was going to do about it, I didn't how God was going to deal with this.

I was discussing the word love once with a friend, and the concept of "being in love". I always thought you couldn't explain it with words, but when you were there, you just knew it. Somehow, someway, you just knew it.

I was in love with Amy.

Next: The Finale to Act 2... Scene 4 "Reunion"