Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Aiden all night. But he had seen Lara. He inhaled an irritated breath and let out a sigh. Where had she gone? They didn’t have time for this. He marched to the side room where the angels gathered, huddled in a circle.
When he cleared his throat, they popped upright with guilty expressions covering their faces. Even having younger sisters hadn’t equipped him for the odd behavior of teen girls. He couldn’t imagine what they’d been up to, but he didn’t suspect it was Christ-honoring. A fleeting notion to remind them of gossip’s harm passed through his mind, but he already had enough to deal with. “Do any of you know where Lara went?”
The six girls exchanged sideways glances, but didn’t say anything.
Exasperation filled him. “If you know, tell me.”
Julia, the more subdued of the group coughed. “She ran to the bathroom right after saying she didn’t feel good.”
He looked at his watch. “How long ago was that?”
“About ten minutes ago.” GraceAnn, the oldest of the teens answered.
“No one thought to go check on her?” He laid his gaze on each of them. “Julia, go check on her, please. We need to get this started. Has anyone seen Aiden?”
“I don’t think he’s coming.” Mylie Morgan shoved a hand in her pocket.
“What makes you think that?”
Julia brushed past him, leaving in the direction of the bathroom. The other girls shot Mylie warning glares, as if Elijah couldn’t see them.
Mylie’s features tightened, a visible struggle showing in her eyes. “I don’t know, sir. Just a feeling.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I will find out.” He leveled his gaze with the girls. “Remember what we talked about in class Wednesday night.”
He left them to ponder what he’d meant—at the moment, he couldn’t even remember what he’d taught, but it sounded like a good thing to say. Caught between chuckling and growling, he crossed the sanctuary and opened the door to the baptistry. “Have any of you seen Aiden?”
“He’s not here,” Chris, a sophomore, answered.
A refreshing, straightforward answer after dealing with the girls, except it left him in a bind. “Logan, can you fill in for him until he gets here?”Which better be soon.
Logan wrinkled his nose. “So, I have to, like, pretend to be married to Lara?”
The boys all snorted and pointed fingers at him. Maybe they weren’t so different from the girls after all.
“It’s acting. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“I guess.” Logan shrugged. “Where do I go?”
“Stand behind the double doors leading to the foyer. When the music starts, you and Mary will walk down the center aisle.”
Logan sauntered off, compliant but not happy.
Elijah ran a hand over his beard and scowled. He didn’t want to fail at his first big project, but with only two weeks to go and the kids not taking it seriously, success didn’t look attainable. He turned around to see Julia running into the sanctuary, but not Lara with her. “Did you check on Lara?”
“Yes.”
When Julia didn’t elaborate, Elijah asked, “Is she okay?”
Julia shook her head. “She’s crying and said she can’t play Mary.”
Oh for crying out loud, what else can go wrong? “Why not?”
“I can’t say.”
He bit the inside of his cheek until the sharp reply on his tongue fizzled away. “Do I need to call her parents?”
“Don’t do that.” Julia’s quick response told him that’s exactly what he needed to do.
