CHAPTER 29 #3
“See ya around, girl.” Shayna waved as she stuffed the overalls in her bag and moved off toward the food table as someone settled behind the big piano and began to play. A familiar Billy Joel tune filled the room.
As she continued to look around at the tables, watching people just be people, it hit Rebecca suddenly what Granny had meant when she talked about ministry with, not to, people.
Maybe that’s what had always bothered her about volunteering: the notion that she’d be swooping in with some Miss Fix-It persona, patronizingly saving the day as she doled out soup or canned goods, the ultimate power trip.
Here’s me, who has everything, doing you, the “poor” person, the supreme favor of giving you what you need. That never felt right to her.
But giveaway night was more like a giant party where people hung out and ate together, plus gathered up stuff they needed in order to live.
None of the volunteers were shoving advice and judgment down anybody’s throat.
There was no ridiculous paternalistic power play.
Even the crazy drunk guy who’d stumbled in last week and made a mess of the front entrance had simply been cleaned up and ushered to a table, where they gave him some cornbread and lemonade.
No biggie. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even heard the name “Jesus.” People just, well, hung out with each other, whether they were a volunteer or someone who came to snag some free stuff.
Serving with, not to, Rebecca nodded absently.
There is a difference. She wondered if that’s how it was with other ministries, like the ones Granny helped with, or if this one was unique.
Is that why Christians seemed to be doing stuff for others all the time?
Because it felt human to be helpful, even when your own life wasn’t exactly perfect?
She shivered, wished for a moment Devon was here, so she could share the thought with him.
“Earth to Rebecca,” a voice said and nudged her.
She had been staring off into space for several minutes and now shook her head, came back to reality, and realized Josh was standing there. He had a big empty box in one arm and wore a chef’s hat, which made him look both silly and cute and professional all at the same time.
She grinned at him. “Sorry, lost in thought.”
“You okay?” Josh gave her a kind look, and suddenly she felt the overwhelming desire to talk to him, to ask him about Jesus and why he was so devoted, whether he actually believed the Bible, why he gave his life to Christ, and what that actually meant.
Whether, once you did give your life, it’d fill that space that always seemed to settle in her bones like a cancer. The space even Prozac didn’t seem to make better.
But the moment passed as quickly as it had come. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.”
A guest walked up to browse, and she gave Josh a quick smile before turning back to the table. He waved and wandered off to the kitchen.
As busy as it had been at the start, the night wound down quickly.
Rebecca piled the clothes into their cardboard boxes, stowed them in the church storage closet.
She hadn’t seen Josh and JJ for at least an hour, wondered if they’d gone home or were in the back.
She hoped they wouldn’t have gone without saying goodbye.
One of the kitchen volunteers thumbed at the spaghetti table. “Better get you some before it’s gone.”
“Thanks,” Rebecca said, but she found she wasn’t hungry. Instead, she wandered to the kitchen with a box of mini bottles. As she walked in, she almost ran straight into Millie Jeffers, who looked about as startled as she did. Whatever Millie was carrying tumbled to the ground.
“What are you doing here?” they each started to ask, then burst out laughing.
Rebecca knelt to help Millie pick up what had fallen—some empty boxes—and offered a few to her. “I’ll give you a hand. Where are you headed?”
“Recycling.” Millie motioned to the pile in the corner, gave Rebecca a sidelong look.
Instead of the poly-blend blouses and practical pants she wore to the office, tonight Millie was wearing a faded orange T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Run4Christ” and a pair of blue jeans.
She looked almost girlish, Rebecca thought, nowhere near the prim-and-proper look she’d sported earlier that day.
“So, you help with the giveaway ministry too?” Millie asked, tossed a few boxes atop the pile.
Rebecca shrugged, tossed her own boxes on. “It’s my second time.”
“I’ve been out the last few Fridays with my grands, but their mama’s got the little ones tonight. I brought the oldest with me,” Millie said, still looking at Rebecca curiously.
“I’ve been helping give out the clothes, in front,” Rebecca gestured vaguely. “You’re back here in the kitchen?”
“I run the soup cooker in the winter, mostly, and in the summers do backup for the line—chopping veggies, fetching, gathering, that kind of thing. My grandson was a big help.”
Millie looked happier than she normally did, and Rebecca could tell she, too, enjoyed the work.
It was kind of addictive, Rebecca thought, and it crossed her mind that was maybe why so many churches held drug and alcohol programs. If you’ve got to give over one habit, it made sense to replace it with another.
The church could be a habit like anything else, she mused. It had happened that way for Granny.
“Where you off to now? Heading out?” Millie asked as Josh and JJ came out from the dishwashing room. JJ was tugging on his dad’s hand, and another boy trailed close behind.
“Hey, Miss Becca!” JJ waved, then turned back to his dad. “Pleeeeeease, Dad? His granny said it’s all right.”
“There’s my grandson now.” Millie beamed as she laid a hand on the other boy’s head, a dark-haired kid about JJ’s age wearing a video game T-shirt. Millie looked at Josh. “JJ’s absolutely welcome to sleep over. The more the merrier.”
“See? Told you.” JJ gave his dad a plaintive look, and Josh held up a warning finger.
“Watch it, JJ. Respect?”
“Sorry, Dad.” JJ looked down, immediately chastened. Rebecca was impressed.
Josh ruffled his son’s hair, his face softening instantly. “You’re forgiven.” He looked at Millie. “Sure, you can sleep over, but I’ve gotta pick you up at nine sharp. Remember we’re skipping fishing because we promised to help Aunt Lissa and Uncle Gary with the garage sale this weekend?”
“Yessir!” JJ and the other kid exchanged high-fives, and Millie laughed and ushered them toward the door.
“Gather your things, boys. Time to head on,” Millie said as they walked off. She turned to wave. “See ya, Rebecca.”
“See ya, Millie,” Rebecca called, then elbowed Josh. “Guess you’re off dad duty tonight.”
“Guess so.” Josh tossed her a smile. “Wanna give me a hand with these boxes?”
They grabbed the remaining boxes and brought them back out to the recycling bins, flattened them one by one, and tossed them in.
The heat of the day had dissipated, and a soft breeze swept through, tickling the hair on the back of her neck.
Granny was right—fall was just around the corner.
Working together made it go faster, and Josh entertained her with stories of his clients and latest house projects as they worked.
“Do you have any mean clients?” Rebecca asked as she tossed the last box into the bin. “I’m starting to feel like this is the Twilight Zone, where everyone’s nice and makes you apple pies just because.”
Josh laughed. “You shoulda seen the battle Mrs. Crenshaw and Mrs. Stillerman had over who made me the best pie. Almost came to blows over it.”
“Really?”
He stuck out his tongue. “Just messin’ with you.”
“Watch it, JJ. I bet I’m still stronger than you are. Remember the time I knocked you flat on your back?”
His eyes widened. “Oh, man, I remember that! Sheesh, Becks, that was low. There I was, knocked out on the banks of the Wahca by my first crush.” He shook his head in mock defeat.
“Your first … crush?” She cocked her head at him.
His face pinked in the bright streetlights. “I figured you knew. I mean, come on—the prettiest girl I’d laid eyes on and she liked to fish? How could I not crush on you?”
A crush? She thought back to those days, the kids they’d been all those years ago—him all teasing goofiness, her all awkward and aloof, bonding over cupcakes and apples on the riverbank.
“You never said.” She watched him in the streetlight, marveled again at how the chubby kid with pimples and freckles and braces had turned into such a good-looking man and great dad.
Sarah and Marisol would have deemed him a “hottie” for sure.
She bit her lip, tried to laugh. “I never knew. Wow, we were so young.”
“Yeah, we were.”
“So much has happened since then.”
Rebecca wanted to say more to fill the silence, but the right words wouldn’t formulate in her head, let alone leave her lips. And then the door to the church banged open and there were Marla and Rev. Marla was brandishing Rebecca’s purse and smiling broadly.
“Time to lock up! Y’all have anything else inside?” she asked. Rev had his hand on her elbow, helped his wife gently down the back steps into the alley.
“Nope, that’s it.” Rebecca took the purse, fished inside for her car keys.
“Hey, there, Jamison. Been a long time!” Rev shook hands with Josh, and they did that one-armed man-hug. “I almost called you the other day to help me with a small job at the parsonage, but I managed to rig it.”
Marla good-naturedly swatted her husband. “‘Rig’ is generous,” she said to Josh. “I think we could use your help after all.”
“You asked the right man.” Josh smiled, and Rebecca watched them talk shop about dimensions and tools and budget restrictions, admiring how he heard them out in full, then offered suggestions. They exchanged numbers, and Josh promised to call on Monday.
They all walked to the front, and Josh and Rebecca watched Rev and Marla hop into their separate cars.