“Uh oh! I forgot my book! What do I do now?” whines Harriet in her cut off shorts with yellow flip flops and t-shirt that reads ‘Love and stoplights can be cruel – Sesame Street’.
“You can look on with me” answers Emma, the Women’s ministries secretary who is dressed in a floral cotton sundress and sandals with her hair pulled back into a ponytail.
“Don’t worry about it. I brought an extra copy just in case someone new came” responds the always prepared and thoughtful Jane with a smile.
“I keep my book in my purse so I can carry it with me” explains Jennings wearing a grey t-shirt with a faded shield that reads “Heart to God and Hand to Man” with fire engine red walking shorts and matching hi-tops. She wears red framed reading glasses to coordinate her outfit. “But my bag gets kind-of heavy especially if I decide to carry a few books with me at one time that I’m reading.”
“Here we are!” Mrs. Dashing shares while handing Jennings one of the drinks in her hand “The sweetened passion tea with lemonade is my favorite! Are Ellen and Anne here yet?”
“No, I haven’t seen them” answers Mrs. Middleton sipping on a hot caramel macchiato turning around to look out the large glass window “Wait! I think I see them pulling in now.”
“Do you know what we’ll be reading next?” asks Alice Hammer “I’ve really enjoyed Debra White Smith’s Reason and Romance these past few weeks”.
As Anne and Ellen enter the coffee shop, Emma responds “Yes, it has been a good book. The next book on the schedule is Karen Kingsbury’s Like Dandelion Dust if that is all right with everyone.”
“The book sounds wonderful to me” suggests Anne Taylor who is like a mother to Emma “Anything by Debra White Smith, Karen Kingsbury, or Francine Rivers is great!”
Anne orders a cold frappuccino and finds a place next to Harriet on one of the designer couches. Ellen carefully tries to balance her book, notebook, purse and orange mango smoothie while sitting down next to Anne Taylor.
“Well it looks like everyone is here that said they would be able to come tonight” begins Emma.
Anne interrupts her, “Brandon called me this afternoon and said he is dropping by with someone new but he isn’t here yet.”
“Yes he is!” excitedly states Jennings “Look who’s with him!”
Everyone turns to strain out the window in response to Jennings excitement.
“Oh no!” sighs Anne while Ellen is searching for a pen in her purse that works and hasn’t noticed the new guest.
Ellen still with her head buried in the lost cavern of her purse asks “Who is it?”
Everyone slightly turns and politely looks at each other. No one wants to be the one to break the news to her.
“Can’t anyone see?” asks Jennings “It’s Ted Ferris!”
Ellen drops her bag on the floor and quickly jumps out of her seat to pick up the scattered contents.
As Ted enters, Ellen is hid behind the couch that has it’s back to the door.
Brandon enters smiling and waves his hand “Hi everyone!”
There is a weak response to his greeting with raised eyebrows and partial smiles. Oblivious to the climate in the room, “I think a few of you know Ted Ferris that will be joining us at the corps as the mission specialist.”
“Hi!” giggles Harriet while hunching her shoulders up and down “I’m Harriet!” tittering to the side and quickly catching herself before falling off the stool.
Ted waves and smiles to everyone. He sees a part of a woman behind the couch but still can’t find Ellen while looking around the room.
Anne begins in a sarcastic tone “So how are you Ted?”
“Good thanks. How are you doing? It’s good to see you again!” enthusiastically responds Ted.
“So how is Liz?” squinting her eyes at Ted while Ellen slowly rises.
“Good I think” innocently responds Ted.
“What does she think of her new home?” skeptically asks Anne.
“I think she likes it” honestly answers Ted.
“Is she settling in?” snidely inquires Anne.
“As far as I know, she likes her new home quite well” frankly remarks Ted.
Anne is getting perturbed at how glibly Ted is answering each question as if he isn’t even concerned about Ellen being there.
“When are you going to bring her around?” sharply asks Anne “What did you do leave her at home?”
“Actually, I think she is with my mother at the moment” reflects Ted remembering something that was mentioned to him earlier in the day on the phone.
Ellen sits up and catches Ted’s eyes for the first time. Ted’s whole countenance lights up and he immediately says “Hi Ellen! How are you? I didn’t know you were here!”
Anne uninvited comes to Ellen’s defense “How could you not know she was here?”
Ted is a bit confused at Anne’s tone “Brandon didn’t mention that she would be here” directly answering Anne and then looking over to Ellen apologetically not knowing exactly what he is being accused of “Ellen, I was hoping you would be here but I didn’t see you when I walked in.”
Brandon has spent the last few moments in confused silence not understanding the problem but feeling the heaviness in the air from the other women. “Anne is something wrong?”
Anne glares at Brandon with firm lips in a flat statement “Of course there is.”
Ted and Brandon look at each entirely confused but don’t’ know how to respond.
“Tell us about your wedding!” suggests Jennings to lighten the mood of the room.
“What wedding?” asks Ted not connecting anything at all.
“Your wedding!” answers Harriet “What did the bride wear? What colors did you have?”
“My wedding? I think there has been some type of misunderstanding” laughs Ted along with Brandon aggravating the women participating in the book club.
“Who else would we be talking about?” incredulously asks Anne with a huff. Ellen is sitting beside Anne now intensely listening to every word of the conversation.
“Liz is married. But I’m not. Robert married Liz not me” chuckling Ted adds “They’ve been married for a few weeks now and just got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii. I thought you knew already.”
Ellen feels every ounce of energy being drained from her body and suddenly feels lightheaded and not so well. She stands up and quickly almost running heads outside the entrance doors to welcoming fresh air. She bends over with her hands on her knees leaning back against the brick wall.
Ted looks around and watches Ellen as she passes him. No one is saying anything but smiling back at him feeling a little embarrassed at the misunderstanding of the past few moments.
“Where is Ellen going?” asks Harriet.
Whispering to her quietly “She’s just gone out for some fresh air” kindly explains Jane.
Ted nods as if saying goodbye and heads out the door concerned to see if Ellen is okay not knowing exactly what upset her.
“Are you all right?” sincerely asks Ted.
Ellen weakly nods in response but doesn’t say anything nor looks up. He sees nervously Ellen wipe her cheeks but doesn’t hear any crying.
He places his left hand on the back of her head. “I wanted to surprise you. I didn’t realize that I would upset you or your friends by coming. I’m sorry if this isn’t a good time for me to be here for you.” Ellen starts to laugh through her tears as she looks up at him for a moment.
“You didn’t come at a bad time” answers Ellen looking down while she wipes her eyes. “I didn’t know that Robert married Liz. I thought that you did.”
“No. Liz and Robert seem to fit quite well together. They both seem very happy now. However Robert and she are at my mother’s house at the moment getting acquainted with each other. We’ll see how that goes.” warmly replies Ted stroking her cheek helping to wipe a few silent tears away.
Ellen rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders a little embarrassed at her reaction to this new change of events. “Well at least I’m glad you are here.”
Ted moves his hand to her chin and raises it to let her lips meet his own. In the next few moments the whole world seems content and in the right place.
“Hey, you’re missing book club!” as Jennings sticks her head out the door “Are you going to stay out here all night?”
Blushing Ted and Ellen smile back at Jennings. Ellen drops her head at being caught but Ted grabs Ellen’s hand as they walk back into the coffee shop.
Anne with Brandon sitting next to her smiles at Ted and says “I guess you can join us tonight, but you’ll have to share a book with Ellen.”
Jennings peers over her red reading glasses at Mrs. Dashing and winks. Mrs. Dashing smirks quite happy with the final results of the evening.
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