The next morning, I was squished between Lola and Hannah at the First Presbyterian Church of Cadence. I hadn't sat in a pew in four years and my butt was not happy. Shifting back and forth didn't help either; just made me look like I was suffering from hemorrhoids.
"Will you sit still?" Lola muttered under her breath. "You're giving me motion sickness."
"Sorry." I stopped wiggling and sighed. The same minister who had been in the pulpit since I was Rider's age was still up there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard the same sermon he was preaching at least three times already. I wondered if any of the Sunday school classes needed volunteers. At least then I'd get a snack.
As the minister went on, I tried to discreetly look around. Most of the faces were familiar, sitting in the same places they had for years. Across the aisle was the Huntington family. They owned a couple of different businesses in town. Directly in front of us were the Farmers. Literally farmers. They had a dairy farm on the outskirts of town. In front of the Huntingtons were the Chans, Courtney's family. She sat next to her mom, who she would gently nudge when she started to doze off. After all she'd been through, I'd say the woman earned some rest. Lola's parents sat in the front row so Lola's mom could get to the piano easily. Lola drew the line at the front row. She'd play nice and wear church appropriate clothes but she refused to put herself under further scrutiny. Behind the Chans were the Dixons who owned the dry cleaners and behind us-
"Pay attention Diaz," Kade's voice rumbled in my ear. Yes, behind us sat the Taylors.
"I am," I said, looking back to the minister. I heard him chuckle as he sat back.
When the girls and I had arrived this morning, we were running late. I forgot to unpack towels so we could take showers, so we were scrambling opening boxes only to find them already unpacked and in the hall closet. The first hymn was already being sung by the time we walked in. Courtney went straight to her family and Lola and I did some speed walking to my family. Kade grinned when he saw the dirty look my mom gave us and I almost stuck my tongue out at him. He looked handsome in his black suit, no tie, blonde hair down, clean shaven. Not proud of it but I'll admit I was lusting in church. Whispering in my ear didn't help.
After the final hymn, we all filed out. The Ladies Auxiliary had put out their customary home baked cookies and coffee. I snagged some of Mrs. Farmer's shortbread cookies when I walked by. Standing next to my parents I answered all the obligatory questions about my life, past, present and future, and my new job. Lots of smiling and nodding as I heard about how Mrs. Cooper's sister's son's best friend's dog walker had moved to California and just hated it. So much hate for California. It was so Mid-Western.
Eventually a soft hand touched my elbow and I turned to see Kade's mom, Laura. She enveloped me in a big hug, so inviting and warm. Her blonde hair was a little more grey but she still looked way younger than her fifty-eight years. Laugh lines around her eyes crinkled as she smiled at me. Laura had always been so nice and genuinely caring. Her husband was another story.
"It's so wonderful to see you," she said when we pulled apart.
"It's great to see you too."
"Kade said you're at the Wisteria now. Running the show." I nodded.
"Yep someone had the bright idea to put me in charge."
"Good for you. You're going to do awesome, I just know it." She always did have the most optimistic outlook on things, especially my relationship with Kade.
"Thank you. I'm going to do my best." Kade appeared, offering his mom a peanut butter cookie.
"Did Misty make these?" she asked referring to the minister's wife. She took a suspicious sniff and I tried to stifle a giggle.
"No, Liz." A Liz Farmer cookie was really the only kind worth eating.
"Oh good. I don't know what Misty did the last time, but those were not peanut butter cookies." Laura's voice dropped and I leaned in conspiratorially. "She keeps baking these terrible cookies and blaming it on the personage oven, so I sent one of the deacons over to take a look. Nothing was wrong with the thing but she insists he just didn't know what he was doing." Laura rolled her eyes and took a bite of the cookie. I glanced over at Kade and he just shook his head, a tolerant smile on his face. This was the kind of small town drama I missed.
"Sara!" I heard a voice call my name.
"Bree!" Keon's wife came up, her youngest on her hip. She gave me a side hug. "How are you? Koen just went to grab Kelsey and Violet from Sunday school. Do you have a second to say hi?"
"To my goddaughter? Of course."
"Mom!" Two blonde girls came running up to Bree wearing matching lavender dresses with matching bows in their hair and matching shiny black Mary Janes. I never would've taken Bree for one of "those" moms. Wearing a long tie dye maxi dress and Birkenstocks in a sea of JC Penney clearance rack dresses and Wal-Mart shoes, I think Bree was more suited to life in a commune. To her credit, she went along with the Taylors' way of doing things and seemed to really enjoy life with Koen. He wasn't exactly your typical Taylor, though, as he sauntered over in khakis with holes in the knees, a button down Hawaiian print shirt and a pair of flip flops. If I didn't know that Kade and Koen were twins, I'd think they were extremely distantly related cousins.
"Kelsey, so you remember Sara? She's your godmother," Bree said gently directing her attention to me. Kelsey had the same round face as her mom with dark brown eyes. The last time I saw her, she was getting ready to go to kindergarten. When I came home for breaks in college, Kade and I would take her to McDonald's and then to get ice cream. She'd tell us about all of the things going on in her life and ask when we were getting married. It really hurt to leave her and miss out on her growing up. I sent a card every birthday and a present every Christmas but that's not the same as a physical presence. When she saw me, she went shy, tucking her chin to her chest.
"Yeah, hi," she said in a small voice.
"Hey now that Sara is back in town, I think we should invite her on our ice cream dates," Kade suggested kneeling down so he was eye level with her. "She loves all things chocolate and I bet you could convince her to do the chocolate volcano with you." The Chocolate Volcano was one of those eating challenge menu items at the local creamery. Eat this gut busting item and get a free t-shirt. It was like six layers of six different types of chocolates ice cream and in the middle was a fountain of fudge. I would eat one by myself. Kelsey's eyes lit up and she looked at me, hopeful.
"I would love to do that. Tell me when and I'll be there." Kelsey looked up at her mom with a big smile and when Kade stood up I mouthed 'thank you.' Bree beamed at him. They had a very good relationship. Kade knew Bree was a calming presence in Koen's life. She took the time to hear and understand Koen. Kade had been her champion to the family and eventually Laura and the other siblings came around. As far I knew, though, Kade's dad was still holding onto his initial dislike.
"Mom wants to get going," Hannah said stepping up next to me. She gave the Taylor's a wave.
"We should get going as well. It was really nice seeing you Sara," Laura said with an affectionate squeeze of my arm. We all parted ways and when we got to the parking lot, I noticed the Baptist church across the street was getting out too. Dean had crossed the street and was talking to Brady next to his car in that parking lot. When the boys saw us, they crossed the street. Brady wore dark blue dress pants, a long sleeve white button down and a red tie. Everything was just fitted enough to accentuate his body and I felt an ache in my ovaries.
"So a Presbyterian huh?" he joked.
"Looks that way. I don't know if I can get with a Baptist. I guess we might as well end this here. It was nice knowing you." We both laughed.
"Don't you know what they say about Baptists?" he asked leaning in. I shook my head, my face starting to heat up. He put his mouth up to my ear, the same ear Kade had whispered in during church. "We have really big Bibles." I caught his eye and burst out laughing. When we simmered down, he walked me to my car. Courtney and Lola went home with their parents and Hannah was with Dean, so I was riding solo.
"So are you doing anything this Wednesday?" Brady asked, leaning up against my car.
"Just working."
"Would you be interested in doing Trivia Night at Darby's? Hannah said you're into Jeopardy and stuff like that. It's usually Dean, Hannah, and our friend Summer but we can have up to six people on our team."
"Yeah, I'm up for that."
"Really? Sweet. It starts at 6. I can pick you up," he suggested.
"I'll be coming from Wisteria, so it will make more sense if I meet you there." He looked disappointed but for him to come there or meet me at my apartment didn't make sense. Darby's wasn't far from the inn and during the week I tended to work late.
"Alright but the offer stands. I'll text you later." I nodded and he took off across the street. I watched to make sure he got over safely before I started searching my purse for my keys. When I looked up, I saw Kade watching me while holding the door open for his mom. He had a weird look on his face but he gave me a small smile. Crap.