Page 11 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

Evan wondered if Rosie was eating at the SSLR cafeteria. He didn’t get a chance to ask until they had finished putting away their tools and started putting charcoal in the fire pit.

“Let me call Mom first.” Rosie waited for Mom to pick up the phone. “Mom, you sure you don’t want to come to SSLR tonight? Roasting s’mores.”

“Nah. You enjoy yourself. Is Evan with you?”

Rosie hesitated. Then: “He’s here. We’ve been working. Why?”

“How about asking Evan to give you a ride home?”

Evan chuckled when he heard Sonya speaking loudly enough for him to hear, but he tried to remain calm. It seemed to him that Sonya didn’t disapprove of him the way she had rejected the other suitor. He might have broken the love triangle.

Happy!

“He’s driving the Christmastown truck, Mom. We’re all going back to the tree farm. I left my car there.” Rosie’s voice was all businesslike, and it made Evan worry a bit. “Don’t stay up, Mom. Get plenty of sleep. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

Rosie hung up, but didn’t look at Evan. He wondered what he was doing hanging around Rosie. He didn’t want to overstay his welcome— even though he was working today and had every right to be there.

He moved away from Rosie, and got busy helping the crew clean up and pack up.

There were two Christmastown trucks parked outside of the SSLR buildings.

One of them came from the warehouse in Pooler, and the other was what Evan had driven around for the tree farm.

It was a good thing that he’d been assigned to the tree farm in the first place—which had been why Bellina had taken him there as a part of his training as a driver.

So he could say that he hadn’t planned all this. As a part of his work, he would’ve met Rosie anyway. Then again, perhaps Christmastown had rules about manager-employee relationships. That could be a problem because he was clearly interested in Rosie Hamilton.

What if she became Rosie Cavanaugh?

Oh banish the thought.

Mom would never approve. She had her eye on the daughter of an Asian billionaire as her future daughter-in-law. What Mom didn’t know was that the thirty-year-old heiress was a hard-partying spendthrift who behaved like she was still in college.

Evan preferred a woman who was more mature.

Like Rosie Hamilton.

“Are you coming with us or not?” Rosie’s words hung in the air.

“What?” Evan turned to find Rosie flanked by Daryn and someone else.

“Daydreaming again?” Rosie chuckled. “You have that faraway look in your eyes.”

“I was thinking about life and such.”

“Oh?” Rosie started walking. “The cafeteria is this way. It’s not far. I think we can see the garden lights if we can get a table by the windows.”

“Feel free to join us,” Daryn said.

Of course Evan wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to sit next to Rosie at dinner.

However, he was thinking beyond that to the campfire night. After the evening lighting event was over, Evan would like to give Rosie a ride home to her house. He’d rather not drive the delivery truck at that juncture.

Small sacrifices required.

He decided to skip dinner at SSLR so that he could take the delivery truck back to the tree farm and pick up his own vehicle. He grabbed a sandwich at a fast food drive-through located between Tybee Island and Christmastown Tree Farm and finished it before he reached the tree farm garage.

When he returned to SSLR an hour later, Tybee Island was washed in twilight. He entered the dining room, looking for Rosie. He felt anxious when he didn’t see her, but then he heard a familiar laughter. He followed it until he reached a round table.

Rosie was wiping her eyes with a paper napkin, laughing the entire time. Lorenzo was talking the entire time in a deadpan tone. Sitting next to him, his wife only smiled. Perhaps she had heard the same joke before.

“You should do stand-up comedy.” Rosie wiped tears from her eyes. “Oh, my jaw hurts from laughing too much.”

Lorenzo saw Evan first. “Grab a chair. We’re still eating desserts.”

Daryn got up. “I’m leaving. Setting up the fire pit for the s’mores outside. You can take my seat.”

“Thanks.” Evan sat down in Daryn’s chair, which was next to Lorenzo, but across the table from Rosie.

Rosie looked up. “Hey, you’re back. How’s traffic?”

“Rush hour here isn’t as bad as Seattle. I can manage.” Evan didn’t say that he was worried he couldn’t get back soon enough to prevent Daryn from spending more time with Rosie.

“Is Seattle traffic bad?”

“Downtown. Lots of tourists.”

“Like Savannah. But then again, traffic here is not as bad as it is in Atlanta.”

“I’ve driven through the metro area,” Evan said.

“Christmastown is expanding to Atlanta, but I don’t think any one of us wants to move there,” Lorenzo said.

“Speak for yourself.” Rosie drank some water.

“You mean you’d move to Atlanta if Cyrus or Amy asked you?” Lorenzo’s eyes widened.

So did Evan’s. He was still getting to know Rosie, and had no idea what she would do after her mother passed away. Her mother’s terminal cancer was such a sensitive topic that Evan dared not even ask what would come afterwards.

All he knew was that the road would be long and hard, and he wanted to be there for her.

“I meant that just because you and I love Savannah and would stay here, it doesn’t mean that other Christmastown employees feel the same way. If given the chance for a better pay or promotion or a change of scenery, wouldn’t some of them move?” Rosie explained.

Oh, she was thinking of others, not herself.

That was yet another thing. Rosie’s life seemed to revolve around making her only parent comfortable.

As a manager at work, she had to deal with company business. Its goals belonged to Cyrus and Amy Theroux, not to Rosie Hamilton per se.

Evan wanted to give Rosie an opportunity to think of herself. To care for herself. How could he do that?

“Let’s leave the future in God’s hands,” the lady sitting on the other side of Evan said. He didn’t recognize her.

“Oh, Evan, meet Dr. Priyanka Jacobs,” Rosie said. “She’s the resident medical director at SSLR. She’s a trained physician herself, but here she is overseeing the physicians on call. She’s married to Hunter Jacobs and they’re expecting their first child.”

“Congratulations.” Evan fist-bumped Priyanka. “When’s your baby due?”

“In six months.” Priyanka beamed.

“Priyanka prayed with Mom and me and helped us a lot because her own mother also passed away from Stage 4 cancer.” Rosie’s voice was quiet.

“It’s a miracle that your mom survived it,” Priyanka said to Rosie.

Rosie nodded. “I thank God every day for it.”

They chatted for just a few more minutes when Lorenzo and his wife had to leave. So did Priyanka.

“Roger is still in his office,” Priyanka said. “I’ll go make sure he doesn’t work too much. Cousins have to look out for one another.”

“He’s a workaholic. Is his wife coming tonight?” Rosie asked.

“Yes, Cheyenne is meeting us at the garden. We’ll see you there. We want s’mores!” Priyanka left.

The round table seemed to seat six people, but there were only five chairs.

“I wanted to save you a seat.” Rosie put her fork down. There was cheesecake left on the small dessert plate. “But someone asked for our chair. We said okay since I didn’t think we’d see you at dinner tonight.”

“I added time for traffic and figured that by the time I got back here, I’d meet you all in the garden.” Evan eyed her cheesecake. “But turned out I was early.”

“Barely. They still have desserts over there.” Rosie pointed in the general direction of the buffet line.

“No, I’m fine. I don’t really eat many desserts anyway. If I do, I’d go for a fruit or something light.”

“Like what?”

“Apples and pears.”

“No wonder you’re in good shape. I need to lose some weight.” Rosie drank some water from a glass.

“I love you just the way you are.” The words came out like that, but they were the truth. As far as Evan was concerned, Rosie looked like she was at the right weight for her height.

When Rosie didn’t reply, Evan reviewed what he’d said, and realized that he had used the word “love” for the first time in a very long time.

He had dated in college, and so had Rosie. It seemed to him that they had both been waiting for each other. In God’s providential timing, they had met.

As far as Evan was concerned, Rosie was the only one for him for the rest of his life.

So confident was he about her that he was prepared to sacrifice whatever he had to in order to stake his claim on her.

He was sure that God had given her to him for a bride.

How to tell her?

Did she feel the same way too? He didn’t want to rush her, but he also didn’t want to lose her. What if Travis appeared again, this time changing Rosie’s mind about him?

Evan had looked up more information about Travis. The man was an upstanding citizen, did a lot of charity work with kids, and owned the highly successful Talon Gym. In terms of his ability to support Rosie, Travis was up to the task.

But was he a Christian? Wouldn’t Rosie want to marry someone like-minded, who would go to church with her, and even teach Sunday school class with her if needed?

Wouldn’t Rosie choose Evan?

Rosie’s eyes were on her watch. “We’d better go. The sun has set and I don’t want to stay too long. Mom’s at home alone.”

She got up. Reached over for a plastic tray that was in the middle of the table.

Evan helped her retrieve it. She put her plates, silverware, and used napkins on it.

“I’ll take it.” Evan reached for her plastic lunch tray first before Rosie could lift it up.

“Over there.” She pointed to a rectangular window nearby that had a conveyor belt inside. People put their trays on the conveyor belt, and the dishwashing staff would clear them.

On his way, Evan noticed that dining hall workers were clearing tables for elderly residents so that they didn’t have to. When he returned, he found Rosie at the beverage kiosk, getting a couple of bottles of water.

And an apple.

She placed the apple in Evan’s hand. “Dessert.”

“Thank you.” Evan put it in his jacket pocket.