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Maggie sighed. “Focus, Alden. Don’t fall off the ladder.”
He climbed down. Smiled at her. “Ah, you care.”
“Liability. Technically you’re only a volunteer today. You don’t work at Midtown Chapel. I do. The Christmas Village doesn’t need broken-bone publicity.”
“I’ll be careful.” He moved the ladder.
Maggie followed him with another wreath. “Hey, how long have you known Forsythia?”
“Longer than I’ve known you.” Alden hung the wreath. “She used to work at Piper’s Place on River Street in Savannah.”
“I know. I’ve been there. Riverside Church is sister church to Midtown, and their church members eat at that restaurant often.”
“I ate there a lot too when I worked at our Savannah office. Piper’s Place still caters RYUCP company dinners today. I miss their food sometimes, though I’d rather work for Hiroki in Atlanta as his assistant than be the office manager in Savannah.”
“Yeah, we each fill a niche, and ideally we do what God has gifted us to do.”
Even as she said it, Maggie wondered if she was taking her own advice. She loved working at the church and being in ministry every day. Thanks to her personal messy emotions, she had sent in her resignation and would be starting a new job in the marketing department of a resort. Sure, it was Christian owned, but it was still a commercial company and not a church.
What had God gifted her to do?
As she was thinking about it, they somehow reached the last lamppost. Maggie had lost track of time.
Oblivious to her thoughts, Alden continued his brief history of Chef Forsythia McDevitt.
“Forsythia hit a career ceiling at Piper’s Place. She wanted to be the chef de cuisine, but there was already one there.”
Maggie nodded. “Chef Piper herself.”
“Exactly. When our Midtown chef retired, I told Forsythia about the job opening. She sent in her résumé—totally overqualified with great recommendations from Chef Piper. Of course, she got the job when she didn’t care if her salary at church was lower than that at a regular restaurant.” Then Alden paused. “Why do you ask?”
“A friend of mine is interested in her.”
“Really?” Mischief in his elfin eyes.
Maggie knew she had spoken too much. She busied herself disentangling the strings of lights. When they put them away last year, they had just dumped them all into this box.
Alden came to help her. “How about this? Let’s go out to dinner, the four of us. Casual like. We can see how it goes with your friend and Forsythia.”
He ended it there, but Maggie could almost guess that he could have added “and us.” If he had, it’d be the end of their friendship. It seemed that Alden was wise not to step where he shouldn’t.
Not at this time, anyhow.
“You mean you’d invite Forsythia to dinner and I’d invite my friend?” Maggie asked.
“That works too.”
“How would you ask Forsythia?”
“I’ll tell her that I’ve got a blind date for her.”
“Without knowing who my friend is?” Maggie asked.
“I trust you. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Only friends.Maggie didn’t say it aloud.
“It’s just dinner. No big deal. If it makes you feel better, we’ll go Dutch. Let’s do it for your friend’s sake.”
