Page 42 of The Dating Game

So ridiculous.

Meaning on top of being weird and boring I am now apparently adding ridiculous to my list of adjectives that describe me.

Too bad I can’t bring myself to care because—darn Sydney for being right—but I think I have a real thing for Will. It started with the dancing. I love a man who can sing, but a man who can dance…if I ever wrote a proverb akin to Proverbs 31 it would go something like this: An excellent dancer who can find? He is far more precious than jewels.

Admittedly, this would not be a God-ordained proverb, but David danced before the Lord as a form of worship, then rebuked his wife when she chastised him for it. I would never rebuke Will for dancing, so surely there’s some sort of Biblical applicationthere.

Or maybe I’m reaching.

Still. I can’t deny that dancing with Will covered a multitude of his past sins.

“Um, Brooke?” Hannah flicks me gently in the forehead. “Hello? I asked you a question.” I blink at my sister, then hastily look around the room to find the other eight women gathered here at this ungodly hour all staring at me.

Right. I’m at a Saturday morning Bible Study, which is probably why my brain kept diverting back to scripture references while I was daydreaming about Will. It felt guilty for daydreaming while I was supposed to be painting to quiet worship music. The canvas in front of me is woefully blank; meanwhile next to me Jill has painted a whole meadow.

Overachiever.

“I’m sorry,” I say to Hannah, “can you repeat the question?” Hannah raises her eyebrows. This is the first week of this Art and the Bible women’s Bible study she decided to start after getting fired as the art teacher at Grace Canyon. My sister is a serial career changer, but I really thought she’d found her niche in teaching art. I’m glad she’s continuing to try and teach in some capacity. Even if this isn’t really a job so much as a volunteer ministry. She’s doing great so far.

Or at least I assume she is…I haven’t been paying the best attention.

“I asked if you were planning on actually putting your paintbrush to the canvas?” she says, pointing to my paintbrush which is currently dripping red paint onto the palette.

Why did I choose red? I can’t remember.

“Um, absolutely,” I chirp, sticking the brush demonstratively on the canvas and swiping the bristles in a horizontal line. Awful. Completely awful. I don’t know how Hannah and I come from the same gene pool when she’s such an amazing artist, and I struggle to make a symmetrical stick figure.

“I think she’s riding high from her date with Will last night,” Belinda Lagman whispers to the woman next to her, loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear. A blush that matches the red on my brush blooms across my cheeks. Good thing Sydney isn’t here to egg her on. Since I haven’t managed to marry her off to Corbin Parker yet, she didn’t have anyone to watch Caroline this early on a Saturday morning. Although it may be weird to try to pair her off with Corbin now that I know he’s Will’s brother-in-law. Maybe Will won’t want to see his sister’s widower get remarried.

Not my problem, though, since I am going to be done dating Will in approximately seven weeks. Nausea churns in my gut; my body’s way of vehemently rejecting that idea.

It wasn’t just Will’s good dancing that did me in last night, it was the way he opened up to me. We had a real conversation. One where he didn’t try to correct my golf swing or tell me I should ride my bike faster or invite a friend to be our third-wheel. It was like he was the guy I met on the airplane so many weeks ago again.

And I really, really like that version of him.

I suppose I could always ask him how he feels about Sydney dating Corbin. Of course, that would probably also mean I would have to tell him about the bet. A second wave of nausea follows this thought. What would Will say if he knew I’d only ever agreed to go out with him because I lost a bet and then made another one involving him?

That’s it. I’m going to have to shut down the feelings I’m developing for him immediately because I do not want to have to have that conversation with him. Better to just do the time and be done.

Then take a sabbatical from dating so that I can get my priorities in order. And also spend some time in prayer. I have not been praying enough lately, and it shows.

“I forgot you had a date with Will!” Hannah exclaims as she resumes her position at the front of the room. “I want to hear all about it.”

“We all do,” one of the other women, I think she introduced herself as Debbie, chimes in. “We all love Will around here. He’s such a fabulous worship director, and the amount of mission work he does is inspiring.”

“Mission work?” This gets my attention. “What do you mean mission work?”

“You don’t know?” Debbie asks in surprise, then laughs. “But of course, he’s too modest to tell you himself. Let’s see,” she taps the non-bristled end of her paintbrush against her leg as she thinks, “where to start. He runs a free children’s choir for inner city kids every Tuesday night at the church, and every other Saturday evening he and the rest of the worship team visit a local memory care center and hold a church service in their facility.”

“Oh yeah, Luke helps with that too,” Hannah pipes up. “I’m going to the service tonight. I heard it’s amazing.”

“And he co-coordinates VBS every summer with our children’s pastor Blake Masters,” Belinda offers. “Of course that’s part of his job description, but still, he does a fabulous job with it.”

“I heard he wants to start taking the worship team to the local prison to host a time of worship,” another woman adds. My goodness. I’m dating the male version of Mother Teresa.

And I had no idea.

“And don’t forget the big mission trip he has coming up next week,” Hannah says.

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