Chapter 3 #2
Nelly had been correct about the mac and cheese.
It was the best that she had ever had. And that was saying something, because she had had a lot of mac and cheese growing up.
But this was warm and savory and creamy and delicious, and when the container got passed around for a second time, she found herself taking another scoop.
She had planned to skip dessert, but when the apple pie came around, she took a slice of that as well.
"I'm not going to be able to eat here very often. My waistline won't allow it," she joked as they cleared off the table, and Nelly told her she'd need to come back.
"You just need to do a lot more exercising," Nelly said with a laugh.
"Or you can call it middle-aged spread, which is what I do," Isadora said, although as Kate looked at Isadora, she didn't really see any spread, middle-aged or not.
Although she did see dark circles around the woman's eyes, and if she remembered correctly, Nelly had told her that Isadora's husband had cheated on her and left her and her three children.
Gilbert and Summer had arrived with their children.
Apparently Summer was a licensed equine therapist, and Kate made a note that she wanted to see if she could talk to Summer and see if perhaps they could work with each other.
She didn't know exactly what she was going to run into at the school, but it wouldn't hurt to have an idea of what Summer offered in mind as she thought about the children.
Isadora soon took her kids into the living room and had them sit down to do their homework. Interestingly, Gilbert and Summer's kids had brought their homework as well, and soon the cousins were all sitting at the table, laughing but also working.
How nice it would be to have a ready-made study group, Kate thought to herself as she glanced in and saw Marjorie helping one of the girls with her homework, and Isadora bent over another helping with reading. Roland and Gilbert were standing around the table too.
"I had hoped to have a chance to talk to you," Kate said to Summer, who was rinsing off the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.
"Oh?" Summer said, looking up in a friendly manner.
"Yes. I'm going to be the new counselor at the school, and I heard you do equine therapy."
"I do. It sounds like you and I might have a lot to talk about."
"You work with children?"
"Almost exclusively. Sometimes I do family counseling therapy, but almost always it's children. It's not that I'm not open to adults; it's just... horses seem to relate to children, and children seem to relate to horses the best."
"I think as we get to be adults, we start to be scared of things that didn't used to bother us at all."
"You could be right about that," Summer said with a laugh.
She and Summer talked for a bit about different ways that they could help each other with their therapy, while Nelly cleared off the tables and counters and wiped them down.
"I look forward to working with you," Summer said, and then she nodded toward the table. "I probably better go and make sure that my children are actually getting their schoolwork done."
"Spoken like a wonderful mother," Kate said.
She was just about ready to offer to help when Nelly touched her arm. "I was hoping I could have a word with you, if you don't mind?"
"Not at all," Kate said, her brow furrowing, wondering what in the world Nelly wanted.
"Can we step out on the porch?"
"Sure," Kate said.
Her jacket had been hung on a peg by the door, and she grabbed it as they walked out quietly. She didn't think any of the kids noticed, although she saw Marjorie glancing up to see what was going on.
That was when she noticed the deep shadows around Marjorie's eyes and the slight droop of her eyelids. Like she was exhausted.
She wondered if anyone else had noticed.
"I've been watching for you two to make your move," a deep voice said, as the door opened behind Kate and Roland slipped out.
"I figured you would see us," Nelly said with a laugh.
So both Roland and Nelly wanted to talk to her?
She wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but she was definitely curious now.
"So..." Roland looked at Nelly.
"You go ahead."
"This was your idea," Roland said.
"You're the leader."
"Why do you throw that up every time there's some kind of question about who needs to go first?"
"Because you throw it up every time you want to go first," Nelly said, and they laughed together.
Watching the interplay between the two of them made Kate realize that it was probably a good thing that she and Edward had broken up.
They hadn't had this kind of easy-going banter between the two of them.
In fact, if she were being perfectly honest, she didn't really enjoy being with him that much.
It was just the idea that her biological clock was ticking and she wanted children.
She wanted a family. She wanted what she had just experienced in this house at the McBride supper table.
And in order to have that, she knew she needed to get married.
Edward had been a good choice on the surface anyway. The problem was, he didn't seem to like her any more than she liked him.
"So do you remember when I told you about how Roland and I have something that we do, and it's absolutely top secret."
"You said something about being like a Secret Santa? As long as it's not illegal, my job requires that I keep secrets, so I'm pretty good at it."
She had wanted to talk about specific children at the dinner table, but she knew she wasn't able to.
And even though she probably could have mentioned names and asked about the kids, and that wouldn't have been considered breaking the protocol of her job, especially since she hadn't even been officially hired, she just liked to use an abundance of caution.
After all, if someone was considering working with her for any kind of counseling they needed, she would appreciate them being discreet and tight-lipped about her and her problems.
Not that she'd ever gone to a counselor, which was maybe odd, considering that she was one.
"Nothing illegal. My wife hasn't dragged me into a life of crime yet," Roland said with a raised brow at his wife and a look that could only be described as adoration.
It gave Kate a little shock of jealousy.
She tried to shove it aside. She was happy for her friend, and she definitely did not want anything to happen to their relationship, but she wouldn't mind having a relationship like that for herself.
But those kinds of relationships only came around once in a lifetime. Or at least that's what she thought. And sometimes they didn't come around at all. Maybe she wouldn't be one of the lucky ones.
Maybe it wasn't luck.
Probably not. Probably it had a lot to do with the Lord.
God? Is it too much to ask for me to have something like that?
"Yes. I’ve mentioned before that Roland and I are involved with the Secret Saints, which is basically a Secret Santa for the town of Mistletoe Meadows."
"You help someone who goes around giving gifts to people anonymously?" Kate said, remembering that they’d talked about it the previous year. But she had been blindsided by her fiance breaking up with her on Christmas Day, and she really hadn’t thought about the Secret Saint thing since.
"Exactly. There is a vast network of people who are willing to donate, and people that they can talk to who will help provide gifts and such. Although, most of them do not know who the actual Secret Saint actually is."
"That's really awesome," Kate said, loving the idea, although she was kind of confused as to what that had to do with her. Why were they telling her?
"Considering that you'll be working with a lot of children whose families might need a hand, and also you might have some extra time on your hands as you get to know people, we thought you might be interested in keeping an ear out."
"Your job is perfect for knowing who might need help. Because that's a big part of the equation. Not just gathering gifts and figuring out things they can do to help people, but knowing who needs the help."
"Oh. I see."
"Basically, we're recruiting you to become a part of the Secret Saint network. Would you be interested?" Nelly just flat out asked her, and Kate appreciated her directness. That was part of the reason they'd always been good friends.
"I would love to." She knew she should probably say "I'll pray about it," or "Let me think about it," or at least play hard to get a little bit, but she had loved the idea from the moment they said it, and this totally played to every desire she had to be a help to people who needed her.
"Although, I'd really like to only help people who actually need it.
Sometimes you see things like this happening, and people get free stuff just because.
.. the people who are giving it out don't know anyone else to give it to.
Do you know what I mean?" She'd seen a lot of that in the inner city—the same people getting more and more and more, and never learning how to do for themselves.
Unfortunately, she didn't really have a solution to the problem. When there was a need, she just couldn't help herself from wanting to be able to help with it. She supposed there were a lot of other people like that.
"I told you she would want to," Nelly said to Roland.
"You were right, dear," Roland said with an affectionate eye roll.
"Is there a protocol for anything?" Kate asked.
"No. What we do is we just keep our eyes and ears open for people who might need help, and then we keep our eyes and ears open for people who can give help, and we try to match things up. You can come to us with your information and we’ll pass it along to the folks who need to know.
We just wait for our opportunity, gather supplies, and then we let the right people know. "
"Nice."
"Speaking of, we have some supplies for someone who's been going through a very difficult time for the last three years, but especially the last six months."
"All right," Kate said slowly.
"And we were hoping that you would be able to deliver them tonight on your way home."
"Sure. I don't know the area very well?—"
"It's right in the middle of town. If you've driven through it, you've gone by the candy cane shop."
"Yes. It looks so quaint and nostalgic. I think there might have even been a penny candy display in the store, although I didn't walk in."
"There is. And there is still candy for a penny."
"That's neat," she said. She remembered way back when she was really small, visiting her grandmother and going to an old-fashioned candy store that still had penny candy. It had been fun and different, although she'd only ever gone once.
"We have some supplies that we need you to drop off there. You can just put them right in front of his door. Jack will see them tomorrow when he opens."
"Aren't you afraid someone's going to steal them?"
"No. This is Mistletoe Meadows, not Baltimore. The town will be dead until tomorrow morning, and Jack gets up before anyone else in town."
"I don't know of anyone who works harder than Jack does," Roland said, and although his eyes were still crinkled, his tone and face were serious.
"All right." Kate nodded. "Just let me know what you need me to drop off, and I'll do it."
"Actually, if you don't mind, Roland can put the things in your car."
"I don't mind at all. There's a little bit of room in the front passenger seat. The rest of it is packed with all my stuff."
"Have you found a place to live yet?" Nelly asked, sounding concerned.
"Not yet, but I'm going to," Kate said, remembering that they had offered to allow her to stay there, and after seeing everyone interacting tonight, she was tempted. But she just couldn't bring herself to impose.
"If you change your mind about my offer..." Nelly smiled, and Kate shook her head.
"I'll say something if I need it." But she hoped she wouldn't. She really needed to knuckle down and find a place. She couldn't continue to stay in a hotel, but she absolutely couldn't impose on the McBrides anymore.
"I'll tell you what, I'll stop nagging you to come live with us if you at least agree to eat with us at least five nights a week," Nelly lifted her brows.
"Six," Roland said.
Kate laughed.
"I'll try. Tell you what, I will not eat alone. I will come here, unless I have someone else to eat with. Does that sound okay?"
"Sure does. Let's go back in and talk to everyone for a bit while Roland puts the things in your car."
"Sounds good. If you don't mind helping me go over the kids' names again. That will be six children that I won't have to learn at school. That'll be my homework for the night."
They laughed as Nelly put her arm through Kate's, and they walked in the door.