“Never. I’m a quick study, though.”
“Well, not much to it, really. The event is going to be held down near the pond. We’ll have all the canopy tents set up. We’ll fog for mosquitoes about an hour before it starts too. Merry Anna, you’re going to want to wear long pants. We have mosquitoes the size of nickels in this town, and for all the spraying in the world, they’ll still pester you.”
Adam laughed. “You’ll feel them land.”
“Oh my gosh,” she said.
“I’ll bring some extra mosquito spray from the house. Least I could do. I’m happy you volunteered.” Adam lowered his voice. “Last time it was just me and Mrs. Ragsby, who happens to be about eighty-four years old.”
“Hey, ol’ Mrs. Ragsby probably has more energy than I do,” the pastor said with a laugh. “We’ve got the men’s Bible-study group cooking the burgers and serving the meal starting at six. They’ll do the cleanup too. I just need y’all to chaperone,more or less, and manage the campfire and s’mores. Make sure everyone disperses by nine.”
“I’m an expert at s’mores,” Merry Anna said. “I can pick up all the stuff for those.”
“Don’t even need you to do that,” the pastor assured her. “We’ve got them all in little individual baggies all ready to go. Just show up, make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and being kind to one another, and have some good fellowship. If you could get there a little before six, that would be perfect.”
“I feel like I’m getting off light here,” she said.
“That’s how I reel you in to be a volunteer again,” the pastor teased.
“I think it’s working already.” She turned to Adam. “I’ll just follow your lead.”
“Yep. We’ll be fine.”
“Thank you both so much,” the pastor said. “This is a huge help. I think you’ll enjoy this group of young adults.” He lifted his hand in a wave. “Thanks again.”
Merry Anna waved, then turned to Adam. “Well, that seems easy enough.”
“I’ve done a ton of these. Iwasone of the boys that would wander off and stir up trouble, so I’m one step ahead of these rookies.” He smirked. “Figure it’s my duty to make up for my past.”
“I can’t imagine that your past was all that bad.”
He nodded toward his truck, and she walked with him. “It wasn’t, really, but a lot of that had to do with the chaperones. So I’m just paying it forward.”
She got in his truck for the short ride home. She hopped out as soon as he stopped the truck. “Thanks for the ride,” she said. “I’ll see you there tonight.”
“We may as well ride together,” he said. “I’ll zip by and get you on my way out.”
“Okay, and don’t forget the bug spray.”
He dropped down the glove box. “I never leave home without it. This stuff is as necessary as toothpaste around here.”
“I’m still learning.”
Dust kicked up from his tires as he backed down her driveway to go home. She was glad he’d be back to pick her up in just a little while.
—
That evening, while helping the youth group, she realized there was yet another side to Adam. He was patient and playful, but the teens respected him. It was interesting to see, but more than that, it surprised her how much she enjoyed just a few hours of passing out s’mores around a campfire.
She was grateful she’d raised her hand to volunteer, even if it may have initially been motivated by the chance to be around Adam. There’d been one girl who had been hanging back from the group. In a short conversation with her, Merry Anna learned that she was in town for the summer to help her mom with her sick aunt. Merry Anna knew that uncomfortable look. When she was that age, she’d been so awkward in social situations. It did her heart good to motivate the teen to join in the volleyball game, and by the end of the night, she was laughing and palling around with the locals like one of them.
Merry Anna came home feeling as though the couple of hours she’d shared at that youth-group gathering meant something. She got more out of it than the kids did.Now that my life is simpler, I’m going to do that more.
The weather was so nice that she opened all the windows.
The lights shone from the back of Tara’s house. The shrill whirl of a drill sang into the air. That woman kept some strange hours.
A loud slam startled her. She pictured Tara under a ladder or, worse, having fallen through rotted boards, her legs dangling through the first-floor ceiling. Merry Anna ran out the door and down the hill.
