Easter Surprise

“I don’t want to go to church on Easter,” Callie grumbled at her sister, Grace.

“You know, once you get there, you’ll be happy you went.” Grace pressed the bread dough on the counter.

“Everybody goes to church on Easter.”

“Exactly,” Grace used her forearm to wipe away the wisp of loose hair.

Callie pulled the tray of cookies out of the oven, set them on the counter, and closed the door. “I’m not anti-church. I just don’t want to go.”

Her world was gray. The sky was gray. The snow was gray. Callie shook her head at the black and white classic movie on the television screen. All the color was gone from her world, and she knew the remedy for her situation. She only needed a couple of weekends of curling up on the couch with some cocoa, homemade cookies, and her backlist of thriller novels, and all would be well again.

Callie thought she was off the hook when Grace offered a sympathetic smile and changed the subject. It turned out to be a reprieve. Once the kitchen was clean and the sisters relaxed over a cup of coffee, the charge resumed. This time, Grace had reinforcements disguised as Callie’s ten-year-old niece and seven-year-old nephew.

With eyes bright with interest, her niece inquired, “What are you wearing to the Easter picnic, Auntie?”

“I don’t know. Why?” Callie passed a cookie to her nephew.

“My dress has flowers. My mom said if it was cold, I could wear leggings.” She looked to her mom for confirmation. When Grace nodded, she added, “Maybe the three of us could wear matching outfits.”

The smirk on Grace’s face, as she found something interesting in the corner of the room, was the first sign that avoiding the Easter service and picnic was an exercise in futility.

While she loved living in the town where she was raised, there were some drawbacks. Everybody knew everybody’s business. If there was nothing to talk about, they’d bring up the most controversial backstory and retell it with a different spin. Callie had the luck of the draw. Apparently, she was the only one who was surprised when her husband left her for the receptionist from the office. Not that it helped with the rumors, but Callie felt the best way to handle the matter was to keep to herself. She didn’t like the sympathetic glances or the coincidental random person coming to dinner or a meet-up at the coffee shop.

Being in the audience of her niece’s Easter pageant was safe. She’d sit with her family, enjoy the story, tell her niece how great she did, and hurry home. It was safe. Just in case, Callie scrolled through the news stories on her phone. She had her purse and jacket strewn in the three seats to her left to save a spot for Grace and Grace’s husband and son. Callie sat in the middle of the row. There were easily seven other chairs to her left. It was just enough for a family to sit and leave a couple of seats at the end.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Greg Thomson stop at the end of the row. Not only was the man loud, but when he talked to a person, he acted like he was doing them a favor. She implored him in her mind, Move along to the front row.

Greg obviously didn’t receive the message. He stopped at the row and eyed the seats. Callie looked up at the seats in the row in front of them. They had to be more enticing than the ones beside her. She wondered why she hadn’t chosen them herself.

When Greg began to sidestep toward the middle of the row, she groaned inwardly. Stop. You’re getting too close. How many people are coming with you? When he broke the cardinal rule of leaving a gap between you and the person next to you, Callie wanted to shrink into a ball and disappear.

“This ought to be good.” Greg smiled broadly.

Callie couldn’t find it in herself to be upset with him. His smile was so bright she found herself giving in to the warmth.

“At least I hope so.” He nudged her with his elbow. “Trey has been practicing his lines for the past three days. It’s been so bad, I think I can do the part if I have to.”

He chuckled so loudly that Callie felt the vibrations from the sound in her chest. She grimaced and forced the smile she knew he expected.

“His mother would be so proud.” Greg looked away briefly. He stared at the stage as though a memory had captured his attention.

At the same time, Grace sidestepped into the row. She held her son’s hand and sat down in the seat beside Callie. She returned the purse and left Callie’s jacket in the seat.

“I want to sit with Aunt Callie.” Her nephew climbed over his mother’s lap to get to his aunt. Grace’s eyes asked if Callie minded. “C’mon over here, Camden.” Grace held her arms out for her nephew. Her niece and nephew were most likely the closest things she’d have to her own children. Callie relished the attention they gave her.

“Are you Serena’s little brother?” Greg asked.

“Yes.” Camden eyed Greg suspiciously.

“I’m Jeff’s dad.” Greg held out his hand to shake with Camden. “Nice to meet you.”

“Don’t tell Serena I told you this,” Camden said, “but she’s in love with Jeff. She says she’s going to marry him when she gets older.”

Greg’s chuckle was softer. “I promise I won’t tell.” Something about the way he interacted with Camden softened Callie’s perspective about him. When they were growing up, Greg was annoying. He was a loud, know-it-all who demanded all of the attention.

Yet he focused on Camden like he was the only person in the room. The warmth in his eyes when he regarded her nephew made Callie wish she had someone to look at her the same way. Startled by the thought, she said, “I think I’ll go to the bathroom before the show starts. I promise I’ll be right back.” She set Camden on her seat and stood to get out of the row. She had a choice go to the right and step in front of her sister and brother-in-law or to the left in front of Greg. As much as she wanted to go to the right, going left made more sense. She smiled apologetically and turned around so Greg wouldn't get a view of her backside.

She returned when the curtain opened and sighed in relief. There would be no talking for a short while.

Every once in a while, Callie glanced at the empty seats on the other side of Greg. There was no reason for him to be sitting so close to her. She began to wonder if he sat by her because he didn’t want to be alone. Oddly, the rows in front of them were full, and the rows behind them were full. The only empty seats were the four on the other side of Greg.

Then she thought about how lonely he would have been if he had chosen one of the other seats. Her heart went out to him. While she didn’t share his propensity for gregariousness, she did know about loneliness, which was why she spent so much time at her sister’s house. They didn’t seem to mind if she came to family dinners alone. It was an extra pair of arms to help with the kids. Ever since the divorce, she had been the spare tire in the outings.

Callie forced herself to focus on the play. The kids were hand in hand, singing about the adventure they were about to have. When she threw a peek in Greg’s direction, he was mouthing the words to the song. He caught her looking and smiled. “I told you Jeff’s been practicing. I have the whole story stuck in my head.”

He went back to watching the play.

When the curtain closed for intermission, she half expected Greg to get up and go to the concessions. Grace held her hand out for Camden. “Are you ready for a cookie?” He hopped out of Callie’s lap and hurried to get out of the row.

“Remember when we did the Easter pageant?” Greg has his arms crossed in front of him. “And that time Burke Baker was the lead.” He rolled his eyes. “I know I can be critical at times, but even you’d have to agree he was pretty bad.”

Callie offered a smile of agreement. None of the boys in their class had any great singing ability. Burke projected better than any of the other boys, so he got the lead.

“You still don’t talk much, do you?” Greg leaned in. “You’re just like my cousin, Randy.”

Callie felt her mouth drop open. She knew exactly who Greg was talking about. Randy was a couple of years older than them. The man hardly ever talked, but people knew what he was thinking. Is that how she communicated, too? Her face reddened. If that was the case, people knew more about her than she wanted.

“To this day, I think he ended up with his wife because she’s the only one who can get him to talk.”

Callie smiled.

“Isn’t it funny how life brings opposites together?”

She nodded.

“I thought you’d agree.” Greg’s I-told-you-so smile held a warmth that asked, not told, her to agree with him.

He had changed a lot since they went to school together.

The lights flickered, and her sister’s family joined them to resume the viewing of the play.

The curtain rose, and the cast was in different areas of the stage. Callie’s niece Serena held an oversized flower in her hand on center stage. Appearing from the left of the stage, Jeffrey ran toward the right.

He called out to Serena, “Run! The villain is coming!”

His feet caught on each other, and poor Jeff stumbled. Somehow, the fall propelled him. Instead of falling down, he fell forward into a tree molded from cardboard. The tree toppled, with Jeffrey landing on top of it. At first, there was a moment of silence. The audience didn’t know how to respond. Callie turned to see Greg’s response. His brow was wrinkled in concern, and he was poised to rise to his son’s aid.

Serena dropped her flower and hurried across the stage to Jeffrey. “Are you okay?”

Keeping in character, Jeffrey said, “I’ll just lie here and pretend like the villain got me.”

The audience rolled with laughter.

Greg relaxed. “That’s my boy. He knew to project.”

Callie laughed more at Greg’s response than at what Jeffrey had said.

Nudging his elbow in Callie’s direction, he said, “We Thomson men know how to make a room laugh.”

Callie rolled her eyes but had to smile. And she found herself in a curious position. She wanted to spend time with the man she’d avoided for most of her childhood. For the same reason. His gregarious nature made her feel comfortable. It was the first time since her ex-husband had left that she felt the need to be around people.

The rest of the play went off without a hitch. The audience cheered when the cast held hands and took a bow. “They did a lot better than when we were kids,” Greg opined, clapping.

When the applause died down, people picked up their jackets and their bags. Callie stopped with the sensation that someone was watching her. She found Greg waiting for her attention.

“Are you going to the picnic after the Easter Service next week?” he asked.

“Yes, I am.”

Greg’s face brightened. He tilted his head and grinned. “Good, then I’ll see you there.”

He turned and walked out of the row, leaving Callie to stand there and watch him.

She didn’t know if she was grinning because she liked him, or because she was actually excited to go out in public. All of a sudden, the dress she was going to wear mattered.