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“I’m sure it’ll be fine. The couples coming will probably love it.” Because who didn’t love overcooked noodles covered in jarred pasta sauce and frozen garlic bread? Oh, that’s right, everyone.
“When will your date get here? I’m surprised you didn’t ask Kayla to come and help set up.”
“I didn’t ask anyone to come as my date.” I’d been second-guessing that decision, too. But I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on someone else while this was going on. Not while I was supposed to ensure the service was organized and the short musical program happened like it was scheduled.
“Oh, Luke.” The pastor’s wife shook her head. “How are you going to find a wife if you don’t take someone out for Valentine’s Day? What must Kayla think?”
At least I didn’t have to answer because Pastor Chaz showed up and slid his arm around his wife’s waist. He kissed the top of her head. “It looks lovely, hon.”
“Luke doesn’t think so. Do you?”
I wanted to squirm under the weight of her glare and his lifted eyebrows. “I didn’t say that. I said it was something special.”
The pastor’s lips twitched. “See? That’s a fine compliment. Why don’t you go check on the kitchen, honey, before we hand everything off to Luke and prepare to enjoy ourselves.”
“Oh, all right. I’ll see you at our table.” She shot me a narrow-eyed look before heading off.
“You need to work on your tact, son.”
I bristled. “I have said before that I didn’t want to be in charge of this. I think it’s dumb and borders on inappropriate for a youth group fundraiser.”
“Your objections are noted.” Pastor Chaz sighed. “And they’re not completely off base. Fact is, usually women’s ministry runs this. But with you being determined to hare off to Mexico at spring break, we thought this would be a good way to help.”
Everything about the pastor’s words hit me wrong. I turned to frown at him. “You know what? Let’s make everyone happy and cancel the spring break trip. It’s clear I don’t have your support. You haven’t backed me up with the parents, and they want it to be some kind of church sponsored beach week with an hour of Bible study in the morning so we can pretend the kids are learning about Jesus before they go off to flaunt their bodies in front of one another and try to sneak away from the chaperones to give their hormones free rein.”
“Now, Luke. That’s not what I want—”
“But it’s what the parents want. Except maybe not the hormone part, but they’re not thinking it through if they don’t think that’s what’s going to happen without organized activities.” I shook my head. This wasn’t the time or the place to get into it. And I was perilously close to saying something irrevocable. Something that sounded a lot like, “I quit.”
“It’s possible. And maybe I should have been more forceful, but we’ve never done a spring break mission trip.”
I heard what he didn’t add on. Everyone was happy with how things had always been done, and there was no need for me to try and change things.
Pastor Chaz patted my shoulder, clearly unaware of the fact that I was seething. “When will Kayla get here? I hope the two of you will consider sitting at our table. I’d like to get to know her better.”
I clenched my jaw. “I didn’t invite a date. I’m going to be too busy making sure things run smoothly.”
The pastor shook his head. “I don’t understand. I’m sure I saw her name on one of the place cards when they were printing.”
I blinked. I’d delegated that whole business to his wife. She’d had significant opinions about how they ought to be done, and I hadn’t wanted to spend any time fighting about it. They were place cards. People would pick them up off the table when they checked in and then put them at their spot. It wasn’t entirely impossible that she’d decided to come alone in order to support the youth.
“You didn’t know.” Pastor Chaz shook his head again. “I hate that you let her get away. She’s going to make someone a good spouse someday. I’ll just go check in with my wife.”
I took a moment and let the knowledge wash over me that, yet again, I’d let down the pastor. I wasn’t cut out for this job. I certainly wasn’t cut out for this church.
With a sigh, I pushed away all thoughts except what needed to happen next to make this event a success, and turned to go check in with the teens who had volunteered to run the check-in table.
“You two look nice. I appreciate you dressing up for this.”
“Sure thing, Pastor Luke.” Marci beamed at me and brushed at her skirt.
“Mom was glad I’d have a chance to wear this dress again.” Carrie rolled her eyes. “She bought it for me to wear to homecoming but she was super annoyed about it.”
“You both look nice. You know what to do?” He glanced down at the lists that sat on the table in front of each girl. “Mark off people as they arrive. If they haven’t paid yet, we take cash and checks. There’s some change, but not a lot, in the lock box there.”
“We’ve got it, Pastor Luke.” Marci grinned. “After they check in, they grab their place cards and find a spot at a table. Easy.”
“All right. Any problems, let me know. We have an extra table set up, so we can take five walk-in couples.” I didn’t think we’d need them, but I also didn’t think it was a problem to set up one more table. It had taken what, two more minutes?
