Joseph smiled. “I’m happy to help. I have a thank you of my own to make. The Christmas carol practice at The Welcome Center was fantastic. Adele hasn’t stopped talking about it.”
“She isn’t the only one. Everyone’s excited about the choir after they saw Mabel’s Facebook posts.”
“The ice cream at the end of the night helped, too.”
John laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. Shelley said you spent time with Shona and Nate Milligan. How are they?”
“They seem okay. Why?”
“Nate’s heading back to college soon. Shona misses him when he leaves.”
Joseph could understand how she felt. “I’m glad that’s a few years away for Adele. At least if she goes to Montana State University, it’s only a few hours away.” He picked up the folder he’d brought with him. “Patrick wanted me to give you this. It’s the updated production schedule for the tiny homes.”
“Thanks. I’ll look at it as soon as I’ve gone through my program budgets.”
Shelley knocked on John’s office door. “Sorry to interrupt your meeting, but we have an issue in the kitchen. The freezer isn’t working.”
John frowned. “Bryce said the second-hand parts he installed last week should have fixed the problem.”
“Maybe it’s a different part that’s broken? Do you know anything about freezers, Joseph?”
“Absolutely nothing, but I’m happy to take a look. If you have the model number, I could find its manual on the Internet.” He followed John and Shelley into the main foyer. “How old is the freezer?”
“The original owner bought it six years ago, give or take a few months,” John replied. “This is the third time it’s broken down in as many months.”
“It sounds like you need another one.”
Shelley looked at her husband. “I said the same thing a few weeks ago, but someone didn’t listen.”
John’s eyebrows rose. “That’s because I thought you were joking. You hardly ever tell me to buy a new appliance.”
“I can be flexible,” Shelley said with a stubborn tilt of her chin. “Besides, the freezer’s fully depreciated, so we have the funds to buy another one.”
John wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist. “That’s why I love you so much. You can wave your magic wand and find money out of thin air.”
“Or on a spreadsheet,” Shelley said with a grin.
As they walked along the corridor, Joseph looked in the meeting rooms. “I haven’t seen the church this quiet in ages. Where is everyone?”
“They’re outside watching a basketball game.” Shelley held her hand against the kitchen door. “We’d better go into the kitchen from the main meeting room. The floor on this side of the room is still slippery from the melted ice.”
“The freezer must have turned off a while ago. Was any food—” Joseph opened the meeting room doors. Paper streamers flew toward them, quickly followed by lots of cheers and whistles.
Shelley laughed at his stunned expression. “Happy birthday!”
* * *
Joseph didn’t knowwhere to look first. The room was packed with smiling people, all wishing him a happy birthday. From across the sea of faces, he saw Shona. She was standing beside Adele, clapping with the rest of the crowd.
He lifted his eyebrows and her smile widened. She must have known what John and Shelley had planned, but she hadn’t said anything when they’d sat together at The Welcome Center.
She leaned down and whispered something in Adele’s ear.
With a grin that didn’t bode well for how he’d wanted to celebrate his birthday, Adele followed Shona across to a table.
For a few seconds, he lost sight of her. When she reappeared from behind Mabel and Allan Terry, she was pushing a wooden kitchen trolley. Sitting on top of it was a large birthday cake covered in white frosting and dozens of candles. The light shone in his daughter’s eyes, making them glow from excitement.
He rubbed his hand along his jaw. “I guess this means you don’t have a problem with your freezer?” he asked John.
