Missy Tippens - A Forever Christmas

Yeah, that was the sticking point. She’d said she wanted to break up because he didn’t understand her goals. But he knew the real reason was because she’d let her parents get to her. And that because he wanted to stay in Magnolia and start his own business, he wasn’t good enough for her.

She continued with her presentation about the pageant. But he barely heard a word until she moved away from him.

Once she reached the other side of the room, he came back to his senses and noticed her smile at his sons.

Hunter dropped a crayon.

Sarah picked it up without missing a beat. Just kept talking about sets and lights. Like any good kindergarten teacher could do.

“Miss Sawah, I’m hungwy,” Chase said as he continued to scribble on the page, forgetting where he was and seeming to think he was in her classroom.

She looked over at Gregory, expecting him to produce a snack.

“I’m sorry, son. We’ll get you something as soon as we’re through.”

Sarah quickly finished up and asked for any questions.

“We really appreciate you taking over for Donna Rae,” Pastor Eddie said. “Especially during your vacation.”

“I’m sure I’ll enjoy working with the children.”

“Well, let’s move on to the next item on our agenda. Sarah, there’s no need to keep you. You’re free to go.”

Hunter raised his hand like he would do at school. “Can I leave, too?”

All the adults around the table chuckled.

Gregory’s dad raised his brows and looked a little concerned that the boys were starting to get vocal. Not a good sign.

“Maybe I should go,” Gregory said.

“No, stay,” Sarah said. “I don’t mind taking them to the kitchen and seeing if we can find a snack.”

Before he could say no thanks, Pastor Eddie said, “That’s a nice offer. We won’t be much longer. And I’m sure it would help Gregory.”

He didn’t want to look at her. He nodded his gratitude as he wondered what she thought of him bringing children to a meeting with empty stomachs.

She gathered a bundle of crayons and stack of paper and placed them in her leather bag. Then she reached out a hand for each of the boys. Chase hurried to take her up on the offer. He grabbed her hand and grinned up at her. It hurt Gregory to see his eagerness.

Hunter, on the other hand, didn’t get up. He heaved a sigh and looked at Gregory as if he’d let him down once again. Gregory nodded his head toward Sarah, so Hunter followed her obediently. But he rejected her hand and shoved his into his pockets. Chase’s chatter faded as they squeaked down the hallway toward the church kitchen.

Assuming the boys already had dinner, Sarah searched through the cabinets until she found two unopened boxes of cookies. “Chocolate chip or oatmeal and raisin?”

“Chocolate chip!” Chase answered as he danced around the kitchen, hopping from one foot to the other.

Hunter, who’d been dragging along behind her, seemed to perk up. “Cool. We get cookies for dinner?”

Dinner? “You haven’t eaten yet?”

“No. Dad was late picking us up again.” He sighed, and it occurred to her that he seemed to sigh a lot more than a typical child.

She couldn’t help wondering what was going on. Could it all stem from Lindsay’s absence?

She pointed to a table in the fellowship hall. “Come on. Cookies will be your appetizer tonight. And if your dad doesn’t like it, we’ll tell him it was my fault.”

Chase giggled.

Hunter looked at her as if he didn’t know what to make of her.

She settled them at the table and gave them each two cookies. Enough to hold them over, but hopefully not enough to spoil their appetites. She couldn’t find any drinks other than expired juice, so she got them each a cup of water.

How could Gregory not plan better? They wouldn’t get dinner until after eight o’clock.

Once they’d started on their second cookies, she sat beside Chase. “So, Hunter, are you in kindergarten?”

He nodded.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Chase, where do you go while your daddy works?”

“Day care,” he said, blowing crumbs out of his mouth. “And Hunter comes, too.”

“After school,” big brother added.

“I see.” She watched as they finished eating. Then the silence became awkward. For her, anyway. “Guess what my job is.”

Hunter shrugged.

“Ummm…teacher!” Chase hollered.

“How did you guess?”

He climbed into her lap and knelt so that he was face-to-face with her. “Because you’re nice like my teacher.”

Sarah’s bruised heart gave a quick stutter. Then she couldn’t help brushing a piece of cookie off his cheek. “You’re absolutely right.” She looked around Chase to catch Hunter’s eye. “I teach kindergarten.”

“Cool,” he said without much enthusiasm. “When will Dad be here?”

Her heart sank. For some reason, she wanted badly to connect with him. “Well, I don’t know. Soon, I’m sure.”

Chase settled into a sitting position in her lap. His carrot-colored curls brushed her chin, tickling, so she smoothed his hair.

“Here, I brought the crayons.” She pulled the supplies out of her bag and divided them between the boys.

Chase jumped right in and started to color. Hunter simply stared toward the door, waiting.

A few minutes later, voices sounded in the distance making her stomach do a dance of nerves. She glanced at Hunter, and it seemed he’d heard too. He sat up straighter. Watching.

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.