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Sandra sat in the minivan watching Peter’s team run dribbling drills. Sammy sat behind her, chewing on his fingers. Joanna was at a friend’s house having a playdate, and Sandra was lonely. And not just lonely for any old friend either. She wanted Bob. She was dying to tell him about her visit from the po-po and had even sent up a prayer requesting his presence. Of course, she prefaced her request by saying that she knew angels were busy, but if he had any spare time, she would love to see him. No emergency.
Practice was almost over when her phone rang. Excited for someone to talk to, she looked at the caller ID to see that Mike White was calling. A chill overtook her, and beads of sweat broke out on her brow. She considered ignoring the call, but of course she couldn’t do that. He was her boss now. Plus, she was trying to gather information about him, so surely it didn’t make sense to dodge his calls, no matter how much they creeped her out.
Maybe he’s not a bad guy, she told herself. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
“Hello?” She tried to sound confident and failed.
“Good afternoon. Is this Sandra?” He sounded hesitant.
“Yes! Hello.”
They exchanged pleasantries, and he asked her if she had taken her written test yet. Her stomach turned. She had been meaning to.
He read her mind. “Don’t be nervous. Don’t forget, it’s an open-book test.”
It was? “I’ll do it tonight.”
“Awesome. I know you’ll do great.”
How could he possibly know this?
“I have some games for you. How does middle school girls at Lisbon sound tomorrow?”
Excitement tickled her gut. Middle school games at Lisbon sounded quite lovely, in fact. “Sure. What time?”
“Three-thirty. I’m pairing you up with Moose again. He spoke highly of you. It sounds like you two work well together. You can carpool with him if you like. He knows where the fields are.”
She stammered to come up with an excuse. Nothing against Moose, but she didn’t want to carpool with any man she didn’t know, or even any man she did know, save her husband. “I think I’ll be running kids around on the way to the game, so I’ll just get there myself. Thanks anyway.”
“Okay, and before I let you go, can you do two middle school boys’ games in Naples on Saturday?”
Peter opened the passenger side door and climbed in wordlessly.
She didn’t even know where Naples was, exactly, only that it was far. She started to accept, nonetheless, when she remembered Fall Fest. “Oh shoot. Sorry. I can’t do Saturday. I usually can, but this Saturday is Fall Fest at church.” As the excuse left her lips, she thought it sounded lame, so she added, “It’s a bigger deal than it sounds.”
He chuckled. “I understand. Family comes first. All right then. I’ll write you down for Lisbon for now. I’ll assign you some more games soon, though, so keep an eye out.”
“Okay, great, thanks.” She hung up the phone and looked at her son. “Hi, honey. You looked great out there. Did you have fun?”
He gave her an annoyed look. “It’s not supposed to be fun, Mom, not anymore.”
She thought she knew what he meant, but she didn’t like the sounds of it, so she feigned confusion. “What?”
“Soccer is serious business now. I’m not a little kid anymore.”
She started the van, disappointed that she hadn’t seen Bob. “I don’t care if you’re a hundred. If it’s not fun, there’s no point in playing.”
He rolled his eyes. “I think the professionals would disagree.”
She looked over her shoulder as she backed out of the parking spot. “Honey, one of my daily prayers for you is that you end up with a career that you love, a job that is so much fun you would do it for free.”
He snickered. She knew he was trying to act like he was still annoyed, but she could also tell that he appreciated her sentiment. “Well, then I hope someone will pay me to play video games for the rest of my life.”
“You never know.” She pulled out into traffic. Why were there so many people on the road? This road didn’t even go anywhere.
“We’re going to Fall Fest?”
“Of course. We go every year.”
“I know, but I hadn’t heard you mention it this year, so I was hoping we were skipping it. You’re not volunteering, are you?”
He had a point. She did usually volunteer. Guilt tried to worm its way through her brain, but she pushed it out. “I’ve been a little busy.”
“I know. So, can we skip it?”
She was tempted by the idea. Fall Fest was not her favorite occasion. An all-day outdoor affair, when it was usually too chilly for an all-day outdoor affair. The kids all bobbed for apples and then ran around with wet hair and blue lips. Some poor sap, usually the youth pastor, sat dripping and shivering in the dunking booth. And there were always a zillion people there—an introvert’s nightmare. But she also knew that Nate wouldn’t want to skip it. “Sorry, honey, I think we have to do it, but you can hang out with me.”
He rolled his eyes again. She wondered if his eyes ever got tired. She was pretty sure she had never been allowed to roll her eyes at her parents like that. But she rolled her eyes often enough now to make up for it. She knew where Peter had gotten the habit.
“Oh sure, that will help my social situation a lot if I hang out with my mommy all day.”
She giggled. There had been many a Fall Fest when he had, in fact, hung out with his mommy all day, and gladly. But those days were over now. She missed cute little snuggly Peter, but she also really liked this version of him. “Maybe you could bring a friend from school? Then you wouldn’t have to talk to the church kids.” The absurdity of what she had just said was not lost on her.
“I hate to break it to you, Mom, but Fall Fest is kind of lame. I’m not sure any of my friends would want to come. Though I have heard some girls talking about it. I guess Jack and Ethan are bringing their girlfriends.”
Sandra’s stomach rolled. Those kids had girlfriends? They were way too young. Did Peter have a girlfriend? Of course not. She would know if he did. She could ask him, just to make sure, but he was actually talking to her, and she knew that if she took it into awkward territory, the conversation would quickly cease. “Sorry, honey. I’m afraid we’re just going to have to suck it up. It’s only one day.”