to them. That was exactly the reason he was not going to draw Celeste’s attention to Randy’s big baby blues. Besides, Randy was just… Randy.
“That’s so nice that you and your friends are on the worship team together. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what do you do for a living?”
Now, more than ever, he felt as if he was being interviewed.
Adrian stiffened. “Actually, my job is changing. Last year they promoted me to management, and they’re changing my job description again, so I don’t know what I should call myself.”
She kept staring at him. Fortunately, before she had the chance to ask him anything else, the waitress appeared with their lunches.
Adrian folded his hands in front of him on the table. “Would you like me to lead with a word of prayer before we eat?”
She turned her head from side to side, taking in the people at all the nearby tables. “Here? In a restaurant? You would do that?”
Adrian’s mouth opened, but no words came out. He’d never thought about not praying just because he was in a public setting.
Before he could think of something to say, she broke out into a wide smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
Abruptly, she folded her hands in front of her on the table, bowed her head, closed her eyes and waited.
Adrian’s mind went blank. He cleared his throat to give himself time to compose his thoughts.
“Thank you, dear Lord, for the food we’re about to eat. Thank you also for new friends with whom we can share. I ask for Your continued blessings in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”
He’d barely finished his first bite of fries when Celeste started again with the questions. “If you came with the same people from the other church, and you’ve been attending for so long, this must be a really nice group of people. Stable and everything? No surprises?”
Adrian nodded while he swallowed his mouthful. “I’ve got an idea. If you actually want to meet some of the people, rather than just sitting next to them, come to the evening service. Attendance is always lower, but it’s a great opportunity to talk in a more relaxed setting. If you’re nervous, I could pick you up.”
Time stretched on forever as she glanced at him, then over his shoulder to the door, then back to him.
“I’ve never been to an evening church service; that sounds like a good idea, but if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take my own car.”
Adrian felt his smile drop, but he quickly forced it back. He tried to convince himself that it was better she came on her own, because he had to be early to set up and practice. However, unless he picked her up, he couldn’t be assured she would actually go. He hoped she would keep her promise.
They made pleasant small talk for the remainder of lunch. When they went their separate ways in their separate cars, Adrian couldn’t help but smile. She’d been careful to avoid telling him exactly where she lived, but he knew her car. He couldn’t miss that eyesore of a vehicle, no matter where it was, unless she parked it in the garage every single time she got home.
Starting Monday, it would be a good time to change his route when he took out his bicycle. Instead of the bike trail at the park, he might just cruise the neighborhood. Slowly.
But for now, he had never anticipated attending the evening service so much.
Celeste walked into the foyer quietly. Instead of standing alone in the growing crowd, she made her way immediately to the sanctuary. She sat in approximately the same place she had that morning and waited for the service to begin. She’d only been sitting a couple of minutes when Adrian looked up at her and smiled brightly.
Easily recognizing the other men from Adrian’s descriptions, she watched them as they practiced, but she paid the most attention to Randy, the one on the keyboard.
Randy seemed to be the only one obviously having fun. He would try different things, and with trying something new, he often made a mistake. Whenever that happened, Adrian also made a mistake, and then they both did the worst thing musicians in a group could do—they both paused at the same time in the middle of a song. Every time that happened, Paul, the bass guitarist, shut his eyes and kept playing until they recovered, while Bob, the drummer, struggled not to laugh. Randy would shrug his shoulders, play what he was supposed to for just a little while, then the cycle would start again.
Watching Randy on the keyboard sent a wave of longing through Celeste. Randy wasn’t bad. He was just a little too adventurous for his own good.
She shook her head and turned away.
She was in church to worship God, the God who had pulled her out of the pit. She wasn’t here to critique the band.
To distract herself, Celeste turned her attention to the others in the sanctuary. Almost everyone there was close to her own age. The evening crowd was about a third of the number who attended the morning service. Hardly any children were present. The majority of the people wore jeans, including the men of the worship team. Even the pastor was dressed casually. There wasn’t a tie to be seen in the entire crowd.
What appeared to be the youth group occupied an entire section. In keeping with the informal setting, the worship team played only contemporary music, making Celeste guess the evening service was geared to the teens and young adults.
Adrian and all his friends, this time, joined her during the pastor’s message, though they all returned to the front for the closing. The second the pastor announced coffee and donuts at the back, most of the seats in the church emptied.
It didn’t take Adrian long to appear at her side.
“If you want a donut, you’d better hurry. The youth group gets them pretty fast. Sometimes, it’s a real free-for-all.”
Adrian’s friendly smile did little to quell her rising uneasiness. All he was doing was offering her a donut, and nothing more. She really was trying to follow what she thought was God’s direction. Adrian could have been a poster child for trustworthiness. Unlike her, he was stable enough to have bought his own house as a single man, while she was barely in a position to rent. He worked at a job he’d had for a long time. He even visited his mother often.
Since they’d parted that afternoon, Celeste had told herself over and over that all he’d been was…nice. He’d given her no reason to doubt his sincerity, and no reason to think he was anything other than what he appeared to be.
Adrian escorted her to the back. No one approached them, although she did notice a few people taking second glances, as she was probably the only stranger in their midst.
She had just bitten into a powdered sugar donut when the other three men from the worship team circled around her.
Randy, the man who had played the keyboard, stepped closer. “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asked as he waggled his eyebrows.
Celeste nearly choked on her donut. When she’d first told people she knew that she’d started attending church, everyone had asked her the same question, except no one called her nice. Celeste tried her best to wipe the powdered sugar from her mouth discreetly.
Adrian sighed. “Celeste, I’d like you to meet my friends. Except if they keep it up, they won’t be my friends for much longer.” He paused. No one refuted him, so he continued. “This is Randy.”
Again, Randy grinned. Celeste had never seen such an adorable boyish grin on a man his age, and Randy’s blue eyes were positively striking.
“I believe you saw Paul briefly at my house.”
The tall blond man nodded politely. “Charmed,” he said, and his expression made her think he actually meant it.
Celeste felt herself blushing, something she hadn’t done for many years. It felt strange.
“And this is Bob.”