Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Roland walked slowly through town, staying in the shadows, keeping his eye on the gazebo in the park right in the middle of the town square.
This was not exactly his forte. He wasn’t that great at sneaking around. He was better at joking around, being a goofball, having fun with his nieces and nephews, and then sending them home to their parents while he ate junk food and relaxed.
Regardless, he did want to be careful. And he’d come to the conclusion that the other Secret Saint had invited him, so if they wanted him to show up, they were going to have to show up first. That was the burden when one was the person issuing the invitation. If they showed up, he would too.
It was five till twelve when he noticed movement in the shadow over by the fountain.
It was not far from the gazebo, and he wished that he were somehow over on the other side, because he would be able to see better.
Instead of moving, though, he froze, hoping his dark clothing allowed him to blend into the shadows while he watched one shadow detach itself from the others and move fluidly toward the gazebo. Long cape, deep hood, small stature.
It was the same woman he had worked with before. He was almost positive.
She stopped at the gazebo and then walked in, standing along the side so that anyone looking toward the town square would not notice an extra shadow on the inside of the gazebo.
If he hadn’t known she was there, he wouldn’t realize she was. She was good at hiding. He wondered if that was something she had practiced, or if it was just a natural thing.
Regardless, he didn’t see any point in keeping her waiting, even though it was four minutes until midnight.
He moved out of the shadows, skirting around the edge of the square, until he was at the closest route so he would walk through the least amount of open area to the gazebo.
She saw him coming, because she moved, turning toward him, and her head moved with his movements.
“Good evening,” he said as he reached the gazebo entrance.
“Good evening. I didn’t realize the square was as well lit as it is.”
“The gazebo is nice and dark though. We should be able to talk here without anyone seeing us. It’s just coming and going.”
“Yeah. If we…meet again, we’ll have to pick a different spot.”
He already had something in mind, but he just nodded for now.
“Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure you would.”
“I wasn’t sure I would either. But I’m intrigued. Partnership?”
“Yes,” she said, and while he thought she had disguised her voice just a bit, it was obviously a woman’s voice.
He didn’t try to pretend to be anything but a man, but he did try to disguise his voice, just slightly, in case this was someone he ran into in town.
It would make things a lot less awkward if their identities stayed a secret.
“But I have a few conditions I would like to impose.” She paused for a moment. “And I assume that you probably do too.”
“That’s correct. I definitely do not want anyone to find out my identity, including you. I just think that will keep things much less complicated.”
“I agree. That was one of my conditions, so we’re good there.”
“That’s great. I like it when we agree.” He paused and figured they might as well continue with the conditions, although he had a bunch of questions swirling in his head. “What else?”
“That’s probably the biggest one. I don’t really have anything else.
Other than…if we’re going to communicate, we need to do it some way other than meeting here.
And…we have to promise not to try to find out each other’s identity.
So, for example, if we’re going to use an abandoned mailbox to exchange letters, you can’t put a letter in and then sit and watch it for me to come get it. ”
“Agreed. I actually don’t really want to know your identity, although I did wonder a little bit about you. Who exactly would I be working with? What kind of person?”
She laughed a bit. “I’m curious too, but I just wonder how many details we can exchange before we start to know each other too well, you know?”
“Exactly. I guess I’ll tell you that I’m thirty.
And I’ve lived in Mistletoe Meadows all my life.
Doing the Secret Saint has enriched my life, caused me to think of others more than myself, and given me an awareness that I didn’t have before.
It also brings a joy to my life that I wasn’t expecting.
A sense of satisfaction and contentment that I didn’t know was possible.
Yes, I think God sees and rewards our works done in secret, but more than that, it makes me feel good, and I know I’m pleasing the Lord as well, which is a goal of my life. ”
“You couldn’t have said that any better for me too.
I’m exactly the same way. It’s so much fun to see needs and to meet them, to sacrifice my time and money and sleep in order to make other people smile.
I… I have to admit that sometimes I stick around after I’ve done something if I think there’s an opportunity for me to see people’s happiness.
That gives me a high that drugs—well, I’ve never done drugs, so I don’t really know what kind of a high they give you—but it feels like it’s better than any kind of narcotics you could possibly take.
And I want to praise the Lord. That’s a goal of my life as well.
” She laughed for a moment, and then she said, “And you’re not supposed to ask a woman’s age or weight, but… I’m thirty.”
So she was his age. He had been hoping she would say that, just so he would have an idea.
He…didn’t want to admit to himself that he might already have feelings for this person and he wanted to know that she wasn’t a grandmother, at least, or a freshman in high school.
He could tell from the way she talked that she wasn’t that young, but he would have pegged her more at early twenties than thirty.
“Thank you for the information. I admit to being curious.”
“Did I satisfy your curiosity?” she asked, like it was important to her for him to be content.
“You did. I hoped that we were both doing this for the Lord, not for ourselves, and I did kind of wonder what your age was. I suppose other than that, we don’t really need to know anything else.”
“No. I guess we don’t.”
“Other than where to meet, and how we’re going to partner together.”
“Of course. I was thinking personal things. The rest of this is just business.”
“So let’s get down to business,” he said, wanting to talk to her more, but there was a warning in his brain that said that if he got too personal, it would be hard to keep his identity hidden, and that was something that was very important to him—to stay anonymous.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about this, and I’m certainly open to suggestions, but I have kind of a rough framework that I can present.”
“Sounds good. I have a few ideas of my own, but you’re the one who took the first step and suggested that we meet, so you lay out what you’re thinking.” He moved slightly, and she turned as well, sitting down on the bench so that she faced him.
After she was comfortable, he sat as well.
There was no need for them to stand, although he did continue to look around.
Although, there was nothing wrong with two people meeting in a gazebo and talking.
There certainly were no laws against it, and there was no reason for anyone to think that they were the Secret Saints.
He hadn’t made any deliveries tonight, although he didn’t know about her. But it was less important that people not see them now that they were together. As far as he knew, people assumed there was one Secret Saint.
“All right. This is what I think. Just from working with you with the wood, I got the feeling that you’re someone who works with your hands.”
“That’s accurate.”
“And that you can do handy jobs, like fix-it jobs around the house? That older people might need, or that people might not be able to afford to hire a handyman for.”
“That’s true. I’m—” He closed his mouth immediately.
He was almost going to say that he had been doing handyman jobs around his mother’s house for years and that he had helped his family with various jobs as well, including roofing and putting additions onto homes, but he stopped just in time.
He didn’t want to give her information that would identify him.
He had to keep his guard up, no matter how disarming she might be.
Although, he did not believe that she was being disarming in order to try to get him to give her information.
“All right. My expertise is more in knowing children’s Christmas lists, being able to buy groceries, and other things. And I’m very good at organizing and not so bad at decorating. I have a really vast supply network, and I can get a lot of donations without revealing my identity.”
“I have quite an extensive network of supplies as well, but you’re right about the organizing and decorating, and children are definitely not my forte. It sounds like we would work well together.”
“Yes. I was thinking that. I know of several large projects that I would like to have done, but I haven’t been able to because they’re beyond my skill level, and hiring someone to do it is a little bit different than having a volunteer.”
“All right. I suppose you know about the Kowalskis?”
“Yes. And the fact that their gutters are falling down and their shutters need to be rehung?”
“Exactly.”
“I know.”
“I would do it, but it’s gonna require some pounding, and that’s not exactly something you can sneak up and do in the middle of the night without waking people.”
“Actually, they’re going away all day tomorrow to visit their son and daughter who live in Maryland for a Christmas celebration with them. Their son couldn’t get off over Christmas, so they’re heading up there early. But just overnight. They’ll be back the next day.”
“All right. Perfect.” Wow, her sources were really good. “So we have a one-night opening.”