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Leila stopped walking, and her stomach fell. “He doesn’t like me. There’s nothing about me that someone like him would be remotely interested in.”Elizabeth is crazy. Almost as crazy as Adler.
“I don’t know. He’s sure noticed you, so he must see something interesting. Anyway, why do you say he wouldn’t be?” Elizabeth used her key to unlock the door.
“His type is like Desiree. Hot, amazing, tattooed, and a little bit bad. You know?”
The girls walked into the store, and flipped on lights on as they went. “I don’t know. He was interested in me, and I’m not any of those things. I understand why you wouldn’t trust him, since you don’t have a good track record with guys like him, but I think you might be misjudging him and throwing him in with Skylar’s dad.” Elizabeth held up the box of pastries. “Think about it. I’ll go put this in the office. Hand me your purse. I’ll put that away too, and you can start opening the front.”
“Thanks.” Leila handed Elizabeth her purse and turned on the radio, buzzed around flipping on lights, unlocked cabinets, and completed all the other small tasks they had to do before they turned the sign to open. But her mind kept going back to Adler.
Chapter 8
Elizabeth and Leila met Jessica at the Crisis Pregnancy Center after work at seven o’clock for the volunteer meeting with the board about the yearly fundraiser, which was going to consist of a festival on Main Street, with vendor booths and a silent auction. The main event of the night would be a live auction. They’d already received a donation of a motorcycle from a supporter who no longer rode it, a zero-turn lawnmower from the local landscaping business, and a freezer full of beef from Warfield Meats.
Deloris Green, the director of the center, stood in front of the small group. “This is a wonderful start. We already have many vendors who’ve paid for booth space, and once we get donations from the town for the silent auction and a few more live auction pieces, I think this will be a very successful fundraiser for the center.” She paused and looked around. “Anyone else have ideas for the live auction?”
“Why don’t we auction off services?” Charlotte Parks spoke up.
Melanie Harper, next to her, clapped her hands. “Yes. I’ve seen live auctions like that before. People come up on stage, and if they are a girl or two who want to offer babysitting services, everyone would bid, and the highest bid gets their services for whatever it is they’re offering.” She looked around. “There could be babysitters, house cleaning, outside work, lawn care, landscaping, you name it.”
“That sounds great. You can count the youth group in,” said Tom Baggett, the youth pastor of the Christian church. “I’ll place them in groups, and they’ll go around helping lots of people.”
Everyone started talking and speaking up with great ideas.
Deloris raised her hands to get everyone’s attention. “This is great. Charlotte, can you make the flyer to get out around town and on the website? We’ll make sure everyone’s signed up by the end of the month. We’ll have plenty of time to get everything together by the first of August.” She glanced around the room. “Don Warfield, the owner of Warfield Meats, has offered to donate the food. One hundred percent of the proceeds from his food truck will be donated. He’s also donating the tent and tables for the food area. So,” she dusted her hands together, “it looks like the main food is pretty much taken care of. We also have an ice cream truck, and the coffee shop will be setting up their coffee bistro, not to mention vendors with food and drinks.”
“This is going to be the biggest fundraiser we’ve ever had,” said Melanie to Charlotte. “How exciting.”
They said a prayer, and the girls got up to leave. Elizabeth, Leila, and Jessica talked together as they stood in the parking lot.
“I say we volunteer the guys to do some manual labor. Brady, Chad, Jacob, and maybe even Tristan would do something, I’m sure,” said Elizabeth.
“Oh, I agree,” answered Jessica. “What could we do, though? We need to do something.”
They all got thoughtful for a moment. What could they do? Leila chewed on her bottom lip, then shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll think of something, but I’ve got to go home. We can talk about this Sunday after church.”
Elizabeth’s face lit up. “Good, so you’ll be going to lunch with us again?”
“Yep,” agreed Leila. “I’m going to take Sky back to my house first and feed her, then my dad and Diane said they’d be happy to watch her.”
“Good to hear. And how are you doing with that?” Jessica said as she placed her arm around Leila’s shoulders.
Leila chuckled. “Diane is adamant that I leave Skylar with them more, but I still have such a hard time. I told her I don’t want to be a burden.”
“A burden?” replied Jessica. “What do they say about that?”
“Diane told me to get over it. Skylar’s their granddaughter, and it’s what grandparents do.” She put her fingers up and did air quotes.
Elizabeth smiled. “That’s the truth. My mom and Brady’s parents can’t get enough of Grant. Take advantage of the help and free babysitting. It’s good for everyone,” said Elizabeth.
“I know,” agreed Leila. “And I’m going to try my best to do just that.”
Jessica gave Leila a squeeze. “Good to know.”
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around them. “I’m glad everything’s working out so well for you.”
“Thanks.” Leila returned the hug. “Now I really have to go. I want to put Sky to bed, and I’ve got work in the morning.”
Skylar screamed her head off the entire drive to the downtown square the next morning. Thankfully it was less than five minutes, because by the time Leila parked and got her out of the car seat, Skylar was hiccupping from the amount of screaming she’d done.
