Zach shifted on the hard auditorium chair. Auditions had only been going on for fifteen minutes and they’d already heard three renditions of Santa Baby. He glanced at Amy and smirked as the next girl bounced up the stairs to the stage and announced her song. Make that four.

Amy shook her head and leaned close, her lips nearly touching his ear. “I stand corrected. At least they can sing.”

“I guess. Though are they putting on the baby voice for the song, or is that really how they sound? I’m having a hard time imagining those voices singing Hark the Herald.”

Amy snickered. “You’re horrible.”

Terri, sitting on the other side of Amy, leaned forward and shushed them as the girl on stage started to sing.

Zach peered down at his copy of the signup sheet. It was going to be a long couple of hours. Every space on the sheet was filled and a few hopefuls had scrawled their names in the margins. Terri and Amy were of the opinion to hear everyone who wanted to try out. Were they really going to turn anyone away? He didn’t see it happening. And in that case, what was the point of the tryouts? Why not have a meeting and just hand out the music? Amy had babbled something about this ensuring that the participants were willing to perform on stage, so there were fewer no-shows on the actual performance night. Since she and Terri had done this last year, he’d defer to them. But it was still ridiculous.

The next up was one of Zach’s best math students. The boy was musical too? Some people got all the talent. The boy launched into an acapella version of The Little Drummer Boy, but instead of pa-rum-pa-pa-pumming, he provided a beat box interlude that had all the waiting kids applauding.

Zach elbowed Amy. “Think we can work that into the program? That was awesome.”

“We’re going to find a way. And to think, if we hadn’t made the kids audition, we’d never have known.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He grinned. Maybe the rest of the afternoon wasn’t going to be as deadly boring as he’d feared.

“Hey man, no date tonight?” Ben looked up from the couch where he and Rebecca were scrolling through a menu on the TV.

“Tomorrow. Don’t let me interrupt.” Zach hitched his bag on his shoulder. So much for a few rounds on the game console. He could always get started on some grading. Or maybe there was a movie worth watching in his room.

“We’re just looking for something to stream. Pull up a chair.” Rebecca reached for a three-ring binder. “And then I can get your opinion, too.”

“Run, man. Run while you can.”

Rebecca punched Ben’s shoulder. “Stop it. I’m not that bad.”

“I have grading...”

“Don’t be a chicken.” Rebecca flipped open the binder, turned a few pages, then held it out. “Here. Of the eight invitations you see here, which do you like best?”

Zach took the binder only because it looked like she’d drop it if he didn’t. “Um.”

Ben sighed. “Just look and point. Then, I promise, you can go hide in your room if you want to.”

“I was going to ask him about favors.”

“Becca, no one cares about the favors. You don’t even care about them as much as you think you do right now.”

Zach swallowed a laugh and looked at the invitations. Were they all the same? Was this a test? He leaned closer. Okay, no, there were minor differences. Honestly, they could mix and match all eight designs and no one would know...but that probably wasn’t going to win him any points. He tapped an invitation and angled so Rebecca could see. “I like this one, with the silver edging.”

Ben pumped his fist in the air. “Score! That’s the one I want, too.”

Becca frowned and tapped the one next to it. “Not this one?”

Zach shook his head. “Too flowery.”

Ben laughed. “See?”

“Fine. I like that one. It’s just not as...feminine.”

“Exactly.” Zach handed back the binder, shrugging in response to Becca’s glare. “What? You asked two guys for an opinion. They’re not going to choose something with a ton of flowers on it.”

She frowned. “Will you at least look at favors?”

“Can’t you just give everyone a box of custom candy-coated chocolate and call it a day?”

“You’re not serious?” Becca searched his face. “You are serious. You and Ben are two peas in a pod. Fine. We’ll get our picture put on candy and move on. Can those at least be pastel?”

“That is entirely up to the two of you. I’m out.” Zach held up his hands.

“You really can watch a movie in here with us if you want.” Ben slung his arm over the back of the couch, curling his hand around Rebecca’s shoulder.

“Nah. I’ve got grading I should do. You kids be good now.”

Zach headed down the hall to his room, kicking the door closed behind him. Jackson was probably at the restaurant with Paige. Maybe next week he’d see if Amy wanted to go hang out in Paige’s restaurant kitchen on Friday night. As long as they didn’t try to drag him into wedding planning conversations. Though, it didn’t sounds like they were in as big a rush to get those wheels turning. Had they even set a date? For that matter, had Ben and Rebecca?

Whatever. It didn’t matter. As long as someone told him when to show up and what to wear, he’d be there.

He dumped the contents of his bag on the bed and frowned at the folder of papers that needed grading. Maybe he’d update his resume instead.

He grabbed his laptop off his desk as his cell rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Zach. I’m not catching you at a bad time, am I?” Amy sounded tired.

He settled on his bed, leaning against the headboard. “Nope. I was just staring at the stack of papers I brought home and trying to decide what I could do instead of getting to work.”

Amy chuckled. “That’s basically what I was doing when I decided to call.”

“Nothing better to do than talk to me, huh?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Zach laughed. “I was teasing. I only escaped to my room to grade because Ben and Rebecca are out in the living room getting ready to watch a movie and she’s enlisting anyone she stumbles across to give opinions on wedding stuff.”

“Oh, how fun.”

“Yeah...okay. Not really.”

“I guess, seeing as you’re a guy, I can give you a pass. But you’ll help when it’s your own wedding, right?”

“I, uh, haven’t really given that a lot of thought. I guess so. If she wants me to.”

“She will. And I’ll give you a tip, you need to try and act interested while you’re doing it.”

Zach groaned. “I can’t just say ‘yes, dear’ and get out of it?”

“Now you’re just being annoying...right?”

“Gotcha. So how come you’re not out with friends? I mean, I know my friends both just got engaged so I have to wait for that shiny glow to wear off before they’ll hang with me on a weekend again, but you’ve got no excuse.”

“Most of my friends are in the same boat, or already married. The few single acquaintances I have are usually hitting up clubs on Friday night. I’ve gone with them a few times, but it’s not my scene.”

That was reasonable. There were a few guys at church who he could probably hang with if he wanted to do that. It had never held any interest. The older he got, he couldn’t even drum up the energy to try to talk them into something different. “Then maybe next Friday we could go hang out with Jackson, and Paige when she has a minute, at her restaurant?”

“They’d be okay with that?”

“Can’t see why not, Jackson’s always there and Ben and I, sometimes with Rebecca, sometimes not, often drop in. With her schedule, Friday and Saturday nights don’t work for dates, so this gives Jackson a chance to at least see her a little. But since she’s busy a lot, he likes the company, too.”

“So why didn’t you go tonight?”

Zach frowned. Why hadn’t he gone? Jackson had texted him an invite. Was it because he was still mulling over their last conversation? That job...it was tantalizing. Not that there was a guarantee he’d get it, but even the possibility excited him. But was that what God wanted for him? And he didn’t want to talk about it with Amy. She wasn’t likely to understand. He blew out a breath. “Not sure, honestly. That huge stack of papers staring at me is part of it.”

Amy chuckled. “I can let you go.”

“No. Don’t.” The words were out before he thought it through. “Do you want to watch a movie together?”

“I don’t really feel like getting presentable again.”

Zach grinned. Apparently she was a ‘throw on pajamas when you get home’ person too. “I didn’t mean in person. On the phone? I have a TV. You have a TV. You do have a TV, right?”

“Yes, I do have a television. Though I don’t have cable or anything. Just a couple of streaming services.”

“I’ve got those too. So, what are you in the mood for?” Zach pushed his laptop aside and grabbed the remote. Hopefully she wouldn’t think this was too weird.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, why not? Let’s see if we can agree on something.”