“Yeah, but that was mostly Henry’s fault.”He gave his dad a teasing smile.
His dad laughed.“Not always.I’ll give you that Henry wins the prize for best pot stirrer, but you all did your fair share of causing trouble.”He stood.“Are you okay?”
Fred nodded slowly.“I’m not happy, but I’m fine.”He blew out a breath and shrugged.Fine might be stretching the truth a bit.Resigned to his fate was more accurate.“I really think this is what I’m supposed to do.”
His dad stood and held his arms open.“Are you too old to give your dad a hug?”
“I don’t ever plan on being too old for that.”He rounded the desk and wrapped his arms around his father.
“I’ll be praying about this for you, son,” his dad said as he held him tight.
“Thanks, Dad.I’ll be praying for me, too.”
His father squeezed him tightly one more time before letting him go.“God’s got a plan for you.Even in this.He’s never without one.”
Fred nodded his agreement and waved as he closed the door to his dad’s study.He wished he felt as certain about that as his dad sounded.
“It’s done, God,” he whispered as slipped into his car.“I just wish it didn’t hurt so much.”He gripped the steering wheel.“If I have to give up Esther, can you please help me find a way to still do the thing I love?Please, please, don’t make me give up both.”
Chapter 6
Estherstuffedherphonein her pocket and grabbed a small blue and pink swirled ball from the line of them on the ball return machine.
“Did you see that?”Steve asked.“I don’t know why I don’t go bowling more often.This is fun.”He came to stand in front of her.“And not just because I’m currently running the highest score I’ve ever had.”He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose.“The company I’m keeping makes it pretty awesome.”
Esther shook her head and smiled.She was having a good time.Maybe not as good a time as Steve appeared to be having, but he wasn’t wrong.This was fun.
“What’s wrong?”he asked, while remaining directly between her and where she needed to be to take her turn.
“Nothing’s wrong.”The half shrug that accompanied her words was a reflex and wasn’t going to convince anyone that the worship team schedule hadn’t made her heart pinch.
“You looked troubled by something on your phone a minute ago.”He gave her what she would call a dad glare.She had seen him use that same look with Madison many times.It was a look that said he didn’t believe her and thought she was hiding something.Usually because Madison was hiding something – kind of like Esther was doing right now.
She sighed.“It was just the new worship team schedule.Fred’s changed things around and suggested we need to be prepared for more changes after the holidays are over.”
“You don’t like change?”
She shook her head.“Not overly much.”
Especially since the main change was that she wouldn’t be singing with Fred any time soon.She had only ever NOT sung with him when he was on a trip or sick – or when she was at university.Standing on stage at Hatfield Falls Christian Church without him just felt wrong, and now, it appeared that she was going to have to feel that on the regular.
“It’s just…” She watched herself spin the ball she held slowly between her hands.“You get used to who you’re serving with.You know how they are going to play.How long the intro will be.Their nods and looks about continuing the chorus.”She shrugged.She knew all of Fred’s cues.
What if she didn’t catch the cues from others?She’d look like the kid with the new clarinet in band class who only knew how to squeak when everyone else knew how make the thing play music.She had no desire to go back to that.
“Ah, so there are going to be new things to learn.”
She nodded as she stopped spinning her ball and instead passed it from one hand to the other.
“You must be good at learning new things.You’re a teacher.Right?”Steve’s tone was optimistic.
“Yeah.I guess.”She chuckled.“But I’d really like to pout about having to do so.”
Steve laughed.“How about taking out that displeasure on those poor, unsuspecting candlepins down there instead?”He tipped his head toward the lane.
She arched an eyebrow at him.“You know, I’m not seven, but nice try attempting to redirect my attention back to the game.”
“Meh,” he said.“We’re all seven-year-olds on occasion.And sometimes seven-year-olds can be much wiser than their toothless grins would suggest.”He took a seat at the scoring table and picked up the pencil.
