“One of two,” Brandon agreed.“I get it.I really do, but I just can’t see you being single forever.”
“But you can see yourself that way?”
“Yeah, sure.I like solo camping trips and all that.You need people.I don’t so much.”He nodded toward the door.“Ready to head back in?I have an empty seat next to me, and it’s a row in front of and to the side of her.You could at least listen without the visual distraction from there.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stick with the back wall.”
“There are speakers in the youth room if you find you need to listen elsewhere.”
True.He hadn’t thought about that.“If I can’t tolerate it, I’ll duck out.Say, you won’t mention any of this to our other siblings, will you?”
“Nope.They can’t possibly understand.I mean, they each struggled to get where they are with their ladies, but it’s not the same.”He put his hand on Fred’s chest.“Have you ever told Esther how you feel?”
“I asked her to the hayride when we were in grade eleven.”
“Wow.Really?”
“She said no.”
“So you’ve been waiting already, huh?And I’m a bit late with my advice to not sit and wait?”
“A little.And again, only Eddie knows that.”
“I won’t say a word unless needed,” he replied with a wink.“Only Eddie knows?Not Gran?”
Fred chuckled.“As far as I know, this is one secret that Gran has yet to discover.”
“And now that you’ve said that…” Brandon opened the door.
“I know.I likely jinxed myself,” he whispered as they re-entered the auditorium.
Chapter 4
“Sowhatdidyouthink?”Esther moved away from her computer to get the cup of cocoa she had put in the microwave to warm up.
She had made sure to introduce Steve to her besties at church today, and tonight, she wanted to get their input about him.Hopefully, they’d say something helpful that confirmed for her that she was doing the right thing by dating him.
“You weren’t wrong.He’s handsome, even if he is a dad.”Mandy’s answer greeted Esther as she returned from the kitchen to the small dining room attached to it that she used for her office.
“Is that all you thought?That he was handsome?”She pushed back a stack of books to place her mug next to the computer and then, tucked her legs under her as she settled onto her chair.
This was how she almost always ended Sundays – a virtual chat with her friends, while each of them indulged in some self-care sort of thing.
Mandy was wearing a face mask and camped out in her bathroom.
Rosalie was polishing her nails.
Tiffany – who was the newest member of their group – was meal prepping.
And Esther was sitting with a cup of hot cocoa and doing nothing, which was a definite treat for her, since the rest of the week rarely had a lot of nothing time.Teaching came with a mountain of homework and extra duties.
“He seems nice.”Mandy’s words were not a ringing endorsement.Actually, they were rather generic, which had Esther’s insides twisting more than they had already been – since Friday at school, after Fred had left her classroom.
“His little girl is adorable,” Rosalie said.“I met her when I was in kid land today.You taught her last year, right?”
“Yeah, I did.Madison’s great.She was a wonderful student, and a great friend to her classmates.”
“I guess that means he’s doing well with being a parent then,” Tiffany said.“That’s a good sign.”
