Fred put down his scissors.“All done.Do you have anything else I can help with?”
“No, I’ve just got a couple of organizational things to do.”
“Want me to try to clean up some more of that glitter?”
“No.You’ve done so much already with giving up time to play for us and then, cutting those out.Go enjoy your Friday afternoon.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Yep, I’m sure.Do you have any Friday night plans?”
He shook his head as he swung his guitar across his back.“Just a Christmas movie with the siblings and their significant others – whichever ones are available that is.It’s the last movie night before the holidays.”
“Oh, that’s right.I forgot that was tonight.I hope it’s a good movie.”
“I hope yours is, too,” he said with a laugh.“Have a good night.See you on Sunday.”
“You, too!”she called as he left the room.
With the last paper tucked into the proper folder, she returned to her desk to straighten it up before heading home.
On top of the neatly cut circles sat one with a lopsided smiley face.She picked it up and ran her thumb over the less than perfectly round edge.Of course, Fred would leave a smile behind.Not that he needed to draw one to leave it.
Her chest tightened.He had always been like this.Thoughtful.Steady.The kind of guy who made everyone feel special.And someone who had always – always – made her feel completely at peace.Even back after her mom had left, when peace had been hard to find.
His friendship had been, and still was, a blessing.At one time, she had hoped that their friendship might become something more, but then?Well, then, things happened, and her moment was lost.
She put the smiley face inside her desk next to the scissors, in her basket of little treasures her students gave her, before putting the rest of the circles in the art folder behind her desk.
“Father,” she whispered in prayer as she worked, “don’t let me bring any more chaos to Madison’s life by dating her father.Let me be as much of a blessing to her and her dad as Fred has been to me.”
Chapter 3
Fredscannedthesanctuary,searching for a seat, as he finished eating his third Timbit since Sunday school had ended.He had just enough time to find a place to sit, and then join the worship team on stage before the service started.He took a swig of his nearly gone, and rather cold, coffee just as he spotted an empty chair next to his brother Eddie.
If he was quick, he could probably snag it.
“Excuse me.”He squeezed his way past the women talking behind the last row of chairs on the left side of the room.
And the seat was gone.He blew out a breath.
Oh, wait, Nikki was standing up again.Maybe he was in luck.
Nope.
Eddie and Ava switched seats and Ava’s friend Nikki sat back down again.He guessed that meant he wasn’t sitting with Eddie.He’d just store his coffee mug and Bible on the front row where usually no one ever sat, and then, when he was done, he’d grab them and find a place in the back.
“You can probably sit with me,” Esther said when he joined her on stage.“I had hoped Steve might show up today.I mentioned I was singing and invited him, but so far…” She let the words trail off in a shrug.
Was it wrong to be happy someone hadn’t come to church?Probably.But then again, Steve must have his own church.So it wasn’t as if Fred was happy he wasn’t somewhere today, right?
“How was the movie?”Fred adjusted the strap of his guitar.He didn’t truly have an unquenchable interest in her date or anything.It just seemed the polite thing to do to inquire about it.
Awkward.Being polite felt so awkward.
Truth be told, there wasn’t any other way to describe how he felt around Esther ever since Steve had come into the picture.Just the air around her felt like it wanted to push him out and keep him as part of a faded picture in a scrapbook.
Esther smiled broadly.“It was good.The whole date was really nice.”
