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A moment later, Gregory filled the doorway. His gaze zoomed straight to hers.
“Boys,” he barked. “Time to go.”
Hunter bolted as if his dad’s voice had shot him out of a gun. He hurried over and glued himself to Gregory’s side.
Chase nuzzled closer to Sarah. “Hey, Dad, Miss Sawah gave us cookies!”
“I hope you told her thank you.”
“Thank you,” he said, looking up at her with his gorgeous blue eyes, so much like his dad’s.
“You’re welcome.”
Gregory nudged his oldest son. “Hunter?”
“Thank you for the cookies.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chase still didn’t seem inclined to leave, so she set him on his feet. He turned and gave her a quick hug before running across to join his family.
“I appreciate your help,” Gregory ground out as if every word cost him.
Would they ever be able to get over their past?
She watched as they walked away. Sometimes relationships were too complicated, too painful to move beyond.
Friday was nothing but frustration for Gregory. First, he had to run a new blower out to one crew. No sooner had he gotten the broken one back to the shop, than the other crew called about a broken down trimmer. Then a customer complained, so he had to ride by and check that out, to see what kind of job the guys had done.
Sure enough, they’d forgotten to mulch the back of the bank.
He didn’t want to lose the bank’s account, so he got on the phone to talk to the crew and tell them to go back and finish. Then he followed up by doing a ride through to check all their jobs for the day.
Once everything checked out, he finally had time to hit the two job bids he’d planned to do that afternoon. But he was behind.
He dialed his dad.
“Can you pick up the boys for me? I really can’t be late again this week.”
“Sure. How about we meet you at Minnie’s for dinner?”
“Thanks, Dad. I owe you.”
“You know, I’d be glad to babysit anytime you plan a date.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep wishing.”
“It’s time.”
He refused to have this conversation again. “See you at Minnie’s,” he said and disconnected the call.
Why wasn’t he ready to date again? Surely he wasn’t normal. Didn’t most men remarry pretty quickly after losing a wife or after divorce? And even though his wife had deserted him, it had been four years. Surely that was long enough to heal and to move on.
But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to take that step.
Maybe it was the pool of eligible women. There wasn’t a soul in town who appealed to him. Although Molly had made it clear she was interested.
She was a gorgeous woman. Sweet. Fun. Talented. Would make a great mom. Why didn’t he jump at the chance?
Sarah’s face flashed through his mind. Just like it always did when he let himself think about women. No one ever seemed to measure up to his high school sweetheart.
No wonder he didn’t want to date again.
Sarah ran a hand over the freshly laundered costumes, stacked and ready to go back to the church. She’d spent the day drawing up a plan for the set. And she’d gone to the church for a lesson on how to operate the sound system. She appreciated the distraction while her mom and dad went about Christmas-as-usual.
As if there could be Christmas-as-usual this year.
Anything joyful or celebratory seemed almost obscene to her. A child had died, and yet the world seemed to go on. She was trying hard not to let her distaste show.
She struggled with the dissonance. She knew she should probably be praying about her grief over Peter, praying for his family, but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t.
Peter had been her favorite student—a sweet, affectionate, lonely little boy. He depended on her for support while his parents worked all the time, leaving him in the care of a nanny. Sarah had probably been too attached.
Then he’d become sick. And afterward, the cancer diagnosis.
God had ignored her desperate pleas on Peter’s behalf. Why would He listen to her now?
Anger bubbled deep inside, but she tamped it down. Being mad at God was a scary thing. Something she didn’t want to dwell on.
Yes, she should go out to eat. Get out of the house so her mind wouldn’t work overtime.
She called Donna Rae, but they’d already eaten, since little children needed to eat early.
Like Hunter and Chase should have yesterday.
She grabbed her purse and keys. Maybe she’d run to Minnie’s and get some of her famous fried chicken.
She drove into town and lucked into a parking spot on the downtown square, right in front of Minnie’s Meat And Three. She’d loved to hang out here with her friends in high school. To order a good old-fashioned chocolate milkshake and a side of French fries.
Bells jangled as she walked inside, the sound reminding her of better times.
“Well, if it isn’t Miss Sarah Radcliffe,” Minnie said in her deep, raspy voice. Sarah and her friends had always thought she sounded like a frog.
“Hi, Miz Minnie. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing as well as can be expected. Are you eatin’ in tonight?”
“Um…” Should she get it to go? But she’d wanted to get out of the house. For the distraction. But now that she was here, she—
A familiar voice grabbed her attention. A little voice.
She quickly scanned the restaurant in her peripheral vision. Harry, Hunter and Chase sat at a table in the corner. And there was a menu in front of the empty fourth chair. For Gregory?
“It’s to go.”
“Well, whataya have?”
After she placed her order, Minnie said, “A milkshake and fries too?” She gave a rattling laugh, followed by a couple of hacking coughs.
Sarah found herself smiling. “Um, I could go for that milkshake.”
“There’s Miss Sawah,” the little voice called from across the room.
Distraction couldn’t work if the subject of her thoughts sat in front of her. But she walked over to them, hoping she’d get her food and get out of there before Gregory arrived. “Hi, Chase. Hunter.” She nodded at Harry. “Mr. Jones.”
“Hi, Sarah. Care to join us?”
She could see that he didn’t really want her to. And it hurt for some silly reason. But in his mind, she was the bad “guy.”
“Thanks, but I’ve ordered mine to-go.”
It appeared they were nearly finished eating. Maybe Gregory wasn’t joining them, after all.
“I ate four green beans,” Chase said proudly as he held up all five fingers. Then with his other hand, he pushed down his thumb.
“Very impressive. You’re going to be so healthy. Hunter, what about you?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. I didn’t count.” He finally looked her in the eye. “But I ate some.”
She wanted to cry. To hug him to her. He was so serious for a child. “Good for you.”
“Well, boys, it looks like your dad got tied up and isn’t going to make it,” Harry said. “Why don’t I take you to your house and you can get going on your homework.”
“I have homework, just like Hunter,” Chase bragged.
She gasped. “You do?”
“Yep. I’m a big boy.”
“You sure are.” She patted his back. Then Minnie held up a to-go container. “It looks like my food is ready, so I better run. Hunter, good luck with your homework. I can help if you ever need it.” Now why had she said that?
“Really?”
“Yes, remember? I teach kindergarten.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay.” His eyes brightened in what appeared to be a true flash of interest.
“Thank you for offering,” Harry said.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave a little wave and went to get her food.
It looked like Gregory was having a hard time leaving work on time that week. First, too late to feed his sons dinner before the meeting. And now, missing dinner all together.
She couldn’t help but wonder if all was well in the Jones household. Didn’t Gregory realize these days when his sons are young were precious and fleeting?
Chapter Three
O n Saturday morning, Sarah quickly finished setting up for rehearsal. And not a minute too soon. Children started arriving early.
Hunter and Chase included. Wow. Gregory’s on the ball today.
But then she looked up and saw Harry walking down the aisle. “Good morning, Sarah.”
“Good morning, Mr. Jones.”
“Gregory’s working right now. But he’s supposed to pick the boys up.”
“Okay.”
“Call if you have any problems or if he doesn’t get here in time,” he said as he waved and walked out the door.
Problems?
Someone tugged on her sweater. “Hi, Miss Sawah.”
“Hi, Chase. How are you?”
“Good. It’s Saturday! Dad is home on Saturdays.”
“No he’s not,” Hunter said sounding as bitter as a little old man. “He’ll have to work.”
Chase’s smile dropped into the most pitiful frown.
“Well, it sounds like today he’ll have the afternoon off,” she said trying to cheer them up even while wondering if she should speak with Gregory.
No, Sarah. Do not get involved with this. She smiled and walked away.
Yes, that was good. Smile and walk away. Her new mantra.
She gathered the children and teen helpers. She even found a couple of parents had stayed to help.
“Okay, boys and girls, let’s all try standing in place where you’ll be at the beginning. I need to make sure you’ll fit on the stage.” Sarah took the list Donna Rae had given her and began to call out names, assigning each a part as a shepherd, Mary, Joseph, animal or angel. She placed the children and hoped they would stand still long enough for her to see the whole group.
“Now, I want my angels to come down to the very front.”
Chase jumped right in front of her and yelled, “I’m an angel!”
He was so precious it made her want to grin every time she looked at him. It seemed like it had been weeks since she smiled a genuine smile. Yet his excitement was contagious. She couldn’t resist—the smile or the warmth that seemed to try to seep into her bones.
