Come to the Table

by Neta Jackson

  “Anybody for quesadillas?” she asked brightly. “I’ve got the makings out.”

  “Sure! Just let me run upstairs and check out my mom’s stash of disposable table covers.” Rochelle was already halfway out the door. “They’ve already been used, so I don’t think she’ll mind. I’ll grab some food magazines too. And the food ads from the newspaper. Come on, Conny, you can help carry the magazines.”

  Nick followed Kat into the kitchen as footsteps scurried upstairs. “If you don’t mind, Kat, I’m going to duck out on decorating that trash can. I really need to work on my sermon for tomorrow, and I just spent most of the morning tracking down the bins you asked me to find . . . Here, want me to chop up some of those green onions? Quesadillas sound great.” He chuckled again. “Believe me, trying to keep up with Conny can work up an appetite!”

  She handed him the knife. But disappointment pressed Kat’s lips into a thin line as she busied herself grating more cheese. That sermon. So much for hanging out with Nick today and figuring out just what was going on between them. If anything.

  Kat helped Rochelle and Conny decorate the trash can with bright-yellow plastic table covers, and sure enough, the sign Rochelle made practically looked professional.

  Food Pantry Donations

  Nonperishable Foods Only

  The “professional look,” however, quickly dissipated amid the magazine pictures of pizza, milk gallons, canned goods, and bags of flour Conny cut out and wanted to paste all around the bin. Kat tried to help him know the difference between perishable—food that had to be refrigerated—and nonperishable, but she finally gave up. The glossy pictures in the food magazines were so much more appealing than the ads for flour and canned corn from the newspaper.

  The Douglasses took the bin to SouledOut the next morning in the trunk of Avis’s Toyota, propped wide open, and when Nick, Kat, and Bree arrived it was standing near the double doors where people had to pass it as they came in. Kat saw more than one person stop, stare, turn to someone else, and say, “What food pantry?”

  They should’ve waited to set it out till after the announcement at the end of today’s service. Well, too late now.

  “I have to sit up front with Pastor Cobbs,” Nick whispered to Kat as she and Bree settled into their usual seats toward the back. “Keep praying for me.”

  Kat gave him an encouraging smile. “Break a leg.”

  Had she been praying for Nick? Or had she been so consumed with ideas for launching the food pantry that she hadn’t given him the prayer support he’d wanted? She shut her eyes as the praise team tuned their instruments. Hopefully, prayers worked retroactively. Lord, be with Nick in a special way as he gives his first sermon here at SouledOut. He’d certainly spent enough time preparing yesterday—all afternoon and most of the evening too. She shook off that thought and added, Prepare our hearts to receive Your Word. She’d heard Mrs. D pray that way for Pastor Cobbs before he preached. How often had she prayed that she’d be ready to hear from God through the Sunday sermon? Not often . . . uh, maybe never.

  As the praise team sounded the notes of the first worship song, Kat breathed silently, Prepare my heart to receive Your Word this morning, Lord.

  Avis Douglass was the worship leader that morning, and before Nick got up to preach, she read the sermon text from the gospel of John, chapter 21. “If you have your Bibles, follow along as I read verses 19 through 26.”

  After reading the conversation between Jesus and Peter, Mrs. D prayed for Nick and sat down. He looked a bit nervous standing up there behind the skinny wooden pulpit, but to Kat’s surprise, once he opened his mouth and plunged in, he seemed to relax, even get excited about the story. “To fully appreciate this amazing conversation, we need some background.”

  Kat smiled. Gosh, he looked good this morning. He was tan from his runs along the lake, his eyes were alive, and he talked with a smile, as if he was truly enjoying himself. She listened as he gave the background. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to His disciples since the resurrection. They’d been fishing all night—nothing. Then Jesus showed up, told them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat, and they pulled in 153 fish! “Isn’t that a bit odd for the gospel writer to mention?” Nick said. “An exact number of fish? Obviously, Jesus cared about His disciples as fishermen. He knew they needed a good haul.” And then, he said, Jesus took some of the fish and made breakfast for them—an ordinary activity that became sacred: eating together.

  Eating together. Kat leaned forward, listening intently.

  “And then comes this amazing conversation. Don’t forget, Peter had denied Jesus three different times the night of his arrest and trial. So it seems significant that Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him—as if giving this once cocky, now devastated disciple a chance to redeem himself. Because Jesus is all about forgiveness and redemption.”

  Nick went on, spending time exploring each of Jesus’ commands— or were they invitations?—to Peter: “‘If you love me, feed my lambs.’ Lambs . . . that might refer to the little ones in our care or out on the street, or it might mean those who are young in the faith, who need careful tending. And the second time. ‘Take care of my sheep.’ Notice that? ‘Take care of . . .’”

  Nick looked around the room as if making eye contact with everyone who was listening. “That’s pretty broad. What if Jesus said to you, ‘Take care of My people.’ What does it mean to take care of each other in this church?”

  Now people around the room started to respond.

  “Well?”

  “That’s right, brother. Say it.”

  “Come on now.”

  And finally, Nick said, Jesus told Peter to “Feed my sheep.” “We know Jesus valued making sure people’s physical needs were met—after all, He’d not only healed hundreds of people, but He’d just made breakfast for these hungry fishermen. But Jesus had also made it clear during His ministry that ‘Life is more than food and the body more than clothes.’ You can look that up in Luke 12 or Mark 6.”

  Pages rustled around the room as people did just that while Nick continued. “Jesus was telling this crusty old disciple to take care of God’s people—body, soul, and spirit. We not only need bread—and we all know we need food every day to stay alive—but we need spiritual food too. Every day. Feeding on God’s Word. Taking it in. And giving it out to those around us.”

  Kat stared in wonder at Nick standing up there on the short platform. His teaching had gone really deep—at least deep for her. She’d read that story in the Gospels before but had never stopped to think about all the implications. For herself. For her relationship to others.

  She was so busy pondering the various things Nick brought out in his sermon, even after he sat down, that she almost didn’t hear Pastor Cobbs call her name. “Sister Kathryn Davies has a special announcement.”

  Brygitta practically pushed her out of her chair, and a moment later Kat found herself at the mike, nervously telling about the food pantry they were going to “try out” here at SouledOut on Saturday mornings during the month of August to test the possibility of setting up a more ongoing food pantry for the hungry in the Rogers Park area. “Rochelle Johnson and Brygitta Walczak have a stack of flyers you can pass on to your friends and coworkers at your jobs to collect food for the pantry, and we have a big bin back there to collect nonperishables. We’re going to start with canned goods first, which are obviously easier to collect and store, but eventually we hope to find sources for perishable items like vegetables, fruit, dairy, meat, and fish—food like that.”

  Hands started to shoot up and a few voices called out questions, but Pastor Cobbs stepped up and took the mike. “I’m sure there are a lot of questions. Feel free to speak to any of the pastors or elders or Sister Kathryn here after the service. At some point, we’ll have a congregational meeting to evaluate what we’ve learned and decide how—or whether—to move ahead. Let’s pray.”

  Kat escaped to the back of the room near the bin during P
astor Cobbs’s prayer. Sure enough, people crowded around with a lot of questions, some just saying what a great idea, but many took flyers. “Psst, we’re going to need more.” Rochelle held out empty hands and grinned. “They’re all gone.”

  Kat sank down into a nearby chair. The roller coaster was in gear now. No turning back. She felt both excited and terrified. Oh, God, I have no idea what I’m doing!

  “Kathryn? Do you have a minute?”

  Kat looked up into the beaming smile of Edesa Baxter. “Sure. Please! Sit.” She pulled up another chair. As usual, Edesa’s nutmeg skin seemed to glow, almost as bright as the yellow cloth wrap she wore, holding back the tiny twists all over her head.

  “Whew, it’s warm.” Edesa fanned herself with a paper bulletin. “I have been praying about what you said on the phone last week about more people needing to feel called. I’m not exactly sure what God is saying yet—but I do have an idea. Would you be able to come to our Yada Yada Prayer Group meeting this evening and present your idea for the food pantry? Rochelle and Brygitta too, if they’d like to come. It’d be great if you could tell them more of your personal journey like you told me, which I realize you didn’t have time to do this morning. But I think the Yada Yada sisters would be very interested, and some might be able to help.”

  Kat turned to Rochelle, who was still standing beside her. “What do you think? You usually take Conny to see his dad on Sunday afternoon.”

  Calling Brygitta over, the four women put their heads together. Rochelle said she’d like to go and thought she could get back before five since her mom was part of Yada Yada and would want to be back in time too. Brygitta said sure, she wasn’t scheduled to work that Sunday. She’d like to go.

  “I’ll ask Nick if he’ll take care of Conny,” Rochelle said. “The meeting is five o’clock till eight, right? Uh, speaking of Conny, I have no idea where he is. I better go find him.” She hustled off, and Kat saw her head through the swinging doors that led to the back Sunday school rooms.

  “Excuse us, ladies.” Josh Baxter seemed to show up out of nowhere with Nick in tow. “Sorry to butt in, but . . . Edesa? Nick and I would like to get together this afternoon, say around three. I know we’re going over to my folks for lunch, but we should be done by then, right?”

  “Sí. But you’d need to be home by five—no, four thirty. I’m going to Yada Yada tonight, and these girls are coming tonight too, so Kat can share about the food pantry. I need you to put Gracie to bed.”

  The two men looked at each other. “Ahh, that’s kind of tight—”

  “Just a heads-up,” Bree said. “Rochelle was going to ask if Nick would look after Conny this evening, too, after they get back from seeing his dad.” She eyed Nick mischievously. “Maybe you two can hang out together with Conny and Gracie. Works for us, right, girlfriends?” She laughed.

  “Not exactly what we had in mind,” Josh said. He wasn’t laughing. “Edesa, can we talk?”

  Uh-oh. Kat watched Josh and Edesa move off and whisper intensely for a few minutes. What was going on? She looked at Nick and raised her eyebrows. He just shrugged, as if to say he didn’t know either.

  “That was a great sermon,” Kat offered, trying to fill in the awkward silence. “I was proud of you, Nick. Gave me a lot to think about.”

  “Ditto,” Bree put in. “A lot of food for thought.”

  Nick chuckled. “Was that a pun?—Oh, hey, Josh and Edesa.”

  Josh and Edesa rejoined them. “Okay, didn’t think it’d be this complicated, but we’ve got a plan,” Josh said.

  Kat half listened, her own mind drifting to Edesa’s invitation to go to the prayer group they called Yada Yada that evening. Would they be meeting again at the Douglasses’, like they had the night she snuck the earrings Rochelle had taken from her mom back into Mrs. D’s bedroom? That’d be convenient, right upstairs. And not till five. If Josh and Nick weren’t getting together this afternoon, maybe she and Nick could—

  But it sounded like the guys were going to hang out for a couple of hours that afternoon after all, then pick her up, along with Bree, Rochelle, and Conny, drive over to Josh’s folks’, drop them off at Leslie Stuart’s apartment, which was on the second floor of Jodi and Denny’s two-flat, where Yada Yada was meeting, pick up Gracie, and then—

  “—Nick and I’ll do something with the kids while you guys are at Yada Yada. Sound okay?”

  Kat felt her hopes deflate. So much for any one-on-one time with Nick. And then the weekend would be over. Again.

  Chapter 31

  Nick ducked, whirled, and lobbed the basketball straight into the basket.

  “Man!” Josh Baxter threw out his arms. “Why didn’t you tell me you could shoot three-pointers? I would’ve suggested tennis . . . or lacrosse or something. Or do you play those too?”

  Nick grabbed the basketball as it rolled across the outdoor court and held it against his hip, breathing heavily. “Nope. Don’t really play basketball anymore either. Not since my first two undergrad years at CCU. Kinda rusty now.”

  Josh snorted and flopped down on a bench. “Uh-huh. Would hate to play against you if you weren’t rusty.” He pulled out two water bottles from his backpack and threw one to Nick. “Here.”

  Dropping the ball, Nick caught the bottle of water and chugged down half of it before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and capping the bottle again. “Thanks.” He eased himself onto the bench beside Josh, one foot on the ball, and took in the large open space around them. “Nice park. I like that about Chicago. Lots of parks scattered around the city. Especially along the lakefront.”

  “Yeah. Usually the courts are full of kids playing pickup games. We were lucky to find this one empty.”

  Nick closed his eyes, tipped his head back, and stretched his arms along the back of the bench, enjoying the feel of the sun on his skin, even though he was still sweating from their one-on-one. He hadn’t realized how much he missed hanging out with the guys and just shooting some hoops or shooting the breeze. Kat and Bree and Livie were great friends, and they’d gotten pretty tight during the Urban Experience class. And he didn’t regret their decision to spend the summer in the city. Still . . .

  He opened his eyes and turned to Josh. “Thanks for asking me to hang out. I needed this.”

  “Yeah. Me too.” Josh laughed. “Didn’t think it’d take a professional scheduler to make it happen, but it’s not like it was when I was single.”

  Nick snorted. “Huh. I’m single and it’s still complicated. Even more complicated now with a six-year-old in the house.”

  “Mm. Hope you don’t mind adding Conny and Gracie to our guy time. At least we got a couple hours to ourselves first.”

  “Nah, it’s okay. Conny’s a neat kid. And he seems to need some guy time himself whenever he comes back from visiting his dad. Not sure why, but . . .” Nick shrugged. “Makes me feel good I can be there for him, even if he isn’t my own kid.” Nick suddenly leaned forward, forearms on his knees, and looked sideways at Josh. “How was it for you, adopting a kid who isn’t yours biologically? If I’m getting too personal, just tell me.”

  Josh leaned forward too, adopting the same stance, forearms on his knees. “No, it’s fine. Gracie was so little, still an infant when she came into our lives. I’m really the only daddy she’s ever known, so I guess it’s easier. Only thing . . . wish Edesa and I could’ve had a few years just us before starting a family. Wasn’t easy, being an ‘instant parent.’” He gave a wry grin. “Maybe you know Edesa’s three years older than I am . . . We got married while I was still in college. Sometimes I feel like I had to grow up too fast. Don’t have much time to”—he gestured between the two of them—“you know, just hang out with friends.”

  “Are you sorry?”

  “Nope. I’m crazy about Edesa. It just happened faster than we thought it would. I mean, Gracie dropped into our lives even before we got married.”

  “Yeah.” Nick was quiet for a long minute. Then he cleared his throat
. “Been thinking about that myself. Feeling like maybe it’s time—though I’d rather wait a few years before starting a family.”

  “So . . . have you said anything to her?”

  “Not exactly. Actually, not really. I mean, it’s complicated.”

  “Of course it’s complicated. But you like her a lot?”

  Nick grinned self-consciously. “Is it that obvious?”

  Josh slapped his knee and chuckled. “Well, it’s obvious that she likes you.”

  Nick’s heart did a skip. “You’re kidding. You know this?”

  “Know this? She told Edesa straight-out.”

  Now he swallowed. “She . . . told Edesa? Straight-out? I mean, she said—”

  Josh was laughing hard now. “Asked Edesa what she thought of the girl telling the guy that she’s interested. One reason I wanted to get together with you today. Just to figure out where you are.”

  Nick could hardly believe his ears. “Man. I’ve felt so confused. That girl has really gotten under my skin, invaded my dreams. She’s all I think about. But . . . every time I think I’ve worked up the courage to tell her how I feel, I turn into a mumbling idiot. And to be honest, I really wasn’t sure how she felt.”

  “Just tell her, man!”

  Nick shook his head. “Yeah, but . . . I’m worried how that would change things in the apartment. I mean, we’re all just apartment mates now, but factor in a romance . . . I don’t know.”

  “Hm. Good point. And you haven’t known each other very long. I mean, it’s pretty fast, don’t you think? You might want to take it slow.”

  Nick frowned. “What do you mean? We’ve been friends for three years. Long enough for me to know her pretty well, know I’ve fallen in love with her. I just haven’t been sure if she—”

  “Wait. Wait, wait, wait.” Josh threw up his hands. “Are we talking about Rochelle Johnson?”