The next night, a little before seven, Josh was handing over a small stack of bills to the Domino delivery man in exchange for four extra-large pizzas with assorted toppings, when he caught a glimpse of Regan a block down. Although he couldn’t make out her face entirely due to the twilight, her stride was familiar. He’d spent enough time observing Regan in motion from their walk around the pond last night to recognize her.
That, and his heart jumped a little at the sight of her.
Finishing up with the pizza guy, he stood on the front step of the church, waiting to welcome her in. A gangly teenager, not quite her height, walked beside her. She must have been successful in talking Luke into attending tonight. He chortled a little at the sight of Regan’s son. His hair was unruly and a little shaggy, and his jeans dragged a few inches past his gargantuan shoes on the pavement. Teenagers. You gotta love ‘em.
He stood motionless, watching her approach. He hadn’t had such a great first date with a woman in a long, long time. Not only was she beautiful, Regan was kind and honest. And he admired her for getting out of a bad marriage, even though it meant a more difficult life for her, dealing with single parenthood. But she sure was thrown for a loop when she found out about his calling. He probably could’ve handled that better. When would he ever learn? This wasn’t the first time a date had gotten that scared look in her eye when he’d made his revelation. But was it better to start out with, “Hi, I’m Josh, your date for this evening, and by the way, I’m a minister?”
When he’d returned to his apartment last night, he’d spent his customary time in prayer before bed, and he knew he probably sounded to the Big Guy like a broken record, “If it’s Your will, Father, send me the right woman. I want to fall in love, get married, have a family. Please Father, Your will be done.”
It was a simple dream, surely, but it was his dream for his future, and it had consumed him for some time now. He wanted the chance to be a good husband and father, but he was missing one vital ingredient—the woman. Sure, he’d always been cautious—probably too selective in the women he chose to spend time with. After all, with the type of family he’d grown up in, he knew what it was like to be the ammunition that was tossed back and forth in anger between one parent and the other. Annoyance, hurt feelings, fury. Not a nurturing environment to provide for a kid, never knowing when he walked into a room whether the mood would be calm or explosive.
So, knowing that his long-term goal was to have a successful marriage and family, he had to be very careful about who he dated. At his age, dating led ultimately to either marriage, or breakup. Finding just the right woman to help fulfill his goal was vital. Falling for the wrong one would be disastrous.
Regan approached, her cheeks a little flushed from the walk and the coolness of the evening. He grinned at her. “Hi,” he said, leaning against the door with his back, still holding the pizzas and trying to make room for them to pass. “It’s great to see you again.”
She smiled back and put a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Josh, this is my son, Luke. I told him about your youth outing tonight, and he decided to check it out.”
“That’s great.” They stepped into the foyer. “Luke, tell you what. Take these pizzas into that room, and you’ll be an instant hit with the other kids. Sound good?”
Luke gave a slight nod and reached for the boxes. He shuffled off without a word, after shooting a brief look at his mom. Josh looked back at Regan and saw that she was watching her son, a look of apprehension on her face.
“How hard did you have to twist his arm?”
She shook her head and continued to scrutinize him till he was out of sight. “Not too bad. Evidently one of his friends goes here—Brad? He talks about the fun you have. Brad has invited Luke before, but the night was never good.” She pulled her glance away from Josh, and looked apprehensively in the room again. “Will Brad be here, do you think?”
“Already came.”
She was a good mom—he could tell it just by the brief moment of interaction he’d witnessed between the two of them.
She smiled and an expression of relief crept into her face, loosening the lines that had formed between her eyebrows.
“You worry about him,” he said simply.
“Always.”
“He’ll be fine.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will be. He’s just gone through so much with the divorce and all. I try to keep him pretty close to the vest, you know? But usually that’s the exact opposite of what he wants.”
Josh chortled. “Yeah, I know. I was a fourteen-year-old boy once myself.”
She gazed at him for a moment, a far-off look on her face.
“What?” he laughed.
She looked down at her feet, smiling. “I was trying to picture you as a teenager. Did you drive your mother crazy?” She laughed, too. “Wait, what am I saying? I’m sure you were a perfect child.”
“Oh boy, could my mom share the stories. No, perfect is not even close to the way she’d describe me as a child.”
“But you turned out to be …” she broke off, clearly uncomfortable.
“You know, God lets us live normal lives, even when we’re called to serve Him.”
Suddenly she coughed and made like she couldn’t wait to leave. “I’ll be back at—what time? Nine? To pick him up.”
Before he knew what he was doing, he’d grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. “Regan….” And then, it would have been a perfect time to actually tell her something, since he was holding onto her like a Neanderthal, and she was pretty much a captive audience, staring at him, waiting for whatever it was that was so important that he had to grab her. “Um, I just wanted you to know ….” What, you idiot? Why had he grabbed her when his mind was blank other than this unexpected desire to run his fingers over her soft skin, and kiss her so that she’d never want to let him out of her sight again? “I had a really good time last night.”
She blinked once, then again. He dropped her arm and felt really stupid, but hey, he’d gone this far, he might as well forge ahead—what did he have to lose? “I know you’re uncomfortable with the whole minister thing, but I’d really like to get to know you better. What would you say to one more date? Then, if you still don’t think it’ll work out, I won’t bug you again.”
He could tell she was thinking from the way her eyes darted back and forth between both of his. At least she hadn’t said no right away. “What do you say?”
She took a deep breath and he felt himself taking one too, then holding it until she said, “I’ll think about it. I’ll let you know when I pick Luke up tonight, okay?”
He nodded—what choice did he have, really? He watched her for a couple seconds as she trudged off, and he sent a quick prayer in her direction. What do you think, Lord, is she the one?