"Oh. Yes. That's a great shift. I was also hoping we could have the platform raised a little, but I know that we're getting close to the deadline, and I don't know if that type of construction is possible."
"I might be able to talk to Jude and a couple of the McBride boys. They're pretty handy, and they might be able to knock this together in an afternoon. Although, we might have to buy the lumber for it. And that's another expense."
"How are the ticket sales going?" Olivia had been afraid to ask, but she figured she'd better just bite the bullet and find out.
"If the quote that you gave us for the candles is accurate, we only need to sell a few more tickets in order to have that cost covered. The musicians are donating their time, of course, and so I think that we're doing pretty well. Although... I don't know if we'll be able to sell enough tickets to make it possible for us to pay for the supplies it would take to make a raised platform."
"People might donate it." Olivia tapped her chin.
"That's true. I think maybe I'll go around and ask some of the business owners if they might be interested in chipping in towards it, and then... I don't know if we can make a sign or somethingannouncing that they supported it, just to give their business a little lift and to give them a little more incentive to donate?"
"I bet we could. I could actually come up with something," Olivia said thoughtfully. Making candles was her crafty outlet, but before she did candles full-time, she fiddled around with some other crafty things. She could certainly make a sign with some names on it. "I know calligraphy, and I might need a little bit of help getting a stake or something to attach the sign to, but I can definitely make the sign."
"All right then. That sounds perfect. I'll let you know how my fundraising efforts go," Grace said, winking as she stood and looked around the room.
A few families played some board games together, while several others sat in a big circle on the floor chatting. A bunch of older ladies sat in chairs along the edge of the wall, and Olivia knew that those ladies had been matchmaking all day.
Thankfully, she had been left out of that, since they had been focusing on the younger kids, teens and college age. She supposed that someone her age wasn't a huge magnet for matchmakers. After all, she was past the stage where she had stars in her eyes about romance, or would feel like she was going head over heels for anyone.
As soon as she thought that, Mark's face crossed her mind.
A little shiver went down her backbone, and she wondered if maybe she really wasn't too old to feel like a teenager again.
She didn't want to. She didn't have room for that in her life. She was too busy trying to survive, to raise her children, to be the best mom that she could be, and to give back to the community that had given to her so generously.
But Mark was giving back to that same community, and they seemed to work pretty well together. They had a lot of things in common, although they didn't have to have everything in common. She always thought that it was the differences between Cam and her that really made their relationship interesting. He was able to teachher things, and she taught him a few things too. Although, they'd spent so much time apart with him being deployed that she felt like they'd lost that a little bit.
It wasn't good to have too much space between a couple. Definitely. Maybe that was common sense, but in hindsight, she and Cam definitely had drifted apart. Not that it mattered anymore. She just wanted to be sure that whoever she was with, she made time for them. If she ever had a relationship again, she wanted to be with someone who would make time for her, and she wanted to be sure that she did the same. After all, once the children were gone, she would have to look at that person across the supper table every night, without the buffer of kids between them. They needed to actually like each other.
Her eyes drifted across the room, and she saw Mark working with Isadora and the children.
They made a nice couple, and they too worked well together.
Despite herself, she watched them for a little bit longer, trying to quell whatever ugly feeling was rising up in her.
Was that jealousy?
Her throat clenched as Isadora laughed at something Mark had said.
Yeah. It must be jealousy. Because while the logical part of her could say that they looked good together, there was a part of her that wanted to go over there and interrupt, to break it up, to get them apart.
But she didn't give into that side of her personality. Isadora would actually be perfect for Mark. She would be a wonderful pastor's wife, she was great with kids, and already taught a Sunday school class.
She could integrate well into the church, and Mark seemed fond of her.
She shook the thought out of her head and turned away, trying to figure out what she was doing before she was distracted by Markand Isadora.
She managed to bury herself in work, and only glanced up once in a while to make sure her twins were behaving, but otherwise ignoring Mark and Isadora.
It surprised her when Mark showed up at her shoulder.
"Grace told me to come see you about where I should stand for the concert. She said you had a drawing already."
He startled her, and she tried to catch her breath unobtrusively before she nodded. "Yes. I do. I set it down over here." She pointed to a little stand sitting behind the table where they served the soup.
It was going to be ready in just a few minutes, and Marjorie McBride had already asked her to finish up what she was doing so she could make her way over to the serving table.
"If you're busy, you don't have to do it right now."
