Page 18 of Wish You Faith

A girl stood next to Rosie. She must be new because Rosie told her she was glad the girl came to their class this morning.

“Aren’t you too old to exercise?” the girl asked.

“I’m only thirty.” Rosie laughed.

She’s thirty.

However, she looked younger, like she might only be in her late twenties.

“I’m three years older than you.” Evan stood on the other side of her.

Rosie didn’t say anything. She only smiled.

The smile warmed Evan’s heart. It was a genuine smile, not a put-on fake smile like those he’d encountered among Mom’s circle of friends’ daughters whom Mom had been trying to marry off to him. Mom had insisted that matchmaking was an Asian thing, but Evan disagreed.

He wanted to find his own one true love.

And she might be standing next to him right now.

His heartbeat increased, not because they were doing jumping jacks but because he was this close to Rosie. The tips of their fingers nearly touched.

He wondered if he should keep volunteering in her class even after the sick co-teacher returned. Would that be too obvious? He didn’t want to drive Rosie away before their relationship even had a chance.

“Boys and girls, it’s snack time before your parents pick you up for the service,” Rosie announced after they had stretched. “If you brought your own snacks and drinks, please take them out now. Everyone, sit down in a circle. Mr. Evan and I will pass out juice boxes and crackers if you want those.”

Rosie passed by Evan to get to a small table up against a wall. There was a small dorm-room refrigerator to one side of the table and two chairs on the other side. On the table were two plastic trays. One was empty and the other had assorted packets of crackers on them.

She handed the empty tray to Evan and pointed to the small refrigerator. “Could you get some juice boxes and water bottles from the refrigerator and serve the kids?”

Evan finally noticed the mini fridge in retro teal. “Too cute. Is this in every room?”

“No, just this one. I brought it from home. It used to be in my dorm room in college.”

Carrying trays, the two adults went around the room serving the third graders juice and crackers. When everyone had something to snack on, Rosie asked for a volunteer to say a blessing for their food.

Evan followed Rosie back to the counter.

“Have some crackers and juice if you want.” Rosie drank cold water from a half-height water bottle.

Evan realized that he had been in such a rush this morning that he hadn’t had breakfast, only coffee. He snacked on some crackers and watched Rosie.

Rosie picked up a piece of paper from the folding table. “Everyone, there’s a new announcement you might want to know. This Friday is free skate night for families with kids from six to eight o’clock at the Waterpark Ice Rink. The church will email your mom and dad tomorrow.”

She retrieved her phone from her purse and a small portable speaker from her tote bag. She also pulled out a charge cable and handed it to Evan. “Do you need to charge up your phone? This works for my phone, so I don’t know if it works for yours.”

Turned out Evan had the same latest iPhone as Rosie, only in different case colors. He needed the latest phone for work back in Seattle, but he was curious as to why Rosie would need the latest phone. What did she use it for? He wanted to know.

Evan found a socket on the wall near Rosie’s tote bag. His phone was completely out of juice.

“Are you going to the skate night?” Evan asked.

“I can’t skate.” Rosie laughed. “Besides, it’s not free for me unless I can borrow a kid.”

“I’ll pay for it. Let’s go.”

“It’s a waste of money if I can’t skate.” She looked like she wished she could skate.

“I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun.”

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