His Uptown Girl. Gail Sattler

the songs were over, she quickly reached down and started digging through her purse for a tissue.

      Bob sat beside her just as she was blowing her nose.

      “Hi, George. I’m glad you found us.”

      She nodded and stuffed the used tissue into her purse to hide it, taking her notepad out to record the sermon. “I’ve never been to a place like this.” She stopped as the pastor began speaking.

      Bob whispered, “If you want, we can get a tape. Randy records everything for the church’s tape library.”

      She stopped writing. “Really? I can have one?”

      “Of course.”

      At the end of the pastor’s message, Bob rose quietly and returned to the front. The worship team closed the service with one more song, one that she knew she would hear in her head all week long, encouraging her to think about God more over the days to come.

      The congregation quickly left their seats and flocked to the back of the room, where coffee and trays of donuts sat on a large table. Georgette was in the process of reaching for a donut when a man with dark hair and vivid blue eyes shuffled in beside her.

      “You must be George, the mechanic.”

      Immediately, she backed up. The man grabbed a Boston cream donut, and smiled at her. “I’m Randy. Bob told us you’d be here tonight and I saw you together. You’d better grab that donut fast. The Boston creams go quickly.”

      Before she could think of something to say, Bob’s voice sounded from behind her. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

      Randy shrugged his shoulders. “If you snooze, you lose.”

      Bob stiffened. “I gather you’ve met my friend, Randy?”

      She smiled. “Briefly.”

      As they spoke, the other members of the worship team joined them.

      “Everyone, this is George, the new mechanic and bookkeeper I told you about. George, this is Paul, Celeste, and Adrian.”

      Adrian, the only one of the four men who wore glasses, smiled. “Welcome, we hope to see you back here.”

      Georgette nodded. “Yes, I think you will.” She doubted she would be able to attend the morning services at Bob’s church because of her obligations to her father, but she was free to attend Bob’s church on Sunday evenings, especially since her father thought she was going out on a social visit, not to church.

      She looked up at Bob, who was now standing beside her.

      She couldn’t help but like him, even though she told herself what she was feeling was simply a schoolgirl’s crush, a few years too late. For the first time she was happy with her life, and everything centered around Bob.

      However, it was neither practical nor wise to become personally involved with one’s boss, regardless of his strength of character. She enjoyed her job too much to jeopardize it in any way.

      Bob spoke up, “We have to go put our stuff away. I’ll be right back.”

      Celeste shook her head. “I can pack up the drums for you. Why don’t you two visit? We can all go out for coffee together after. You’re not in a rush to get home, are you, George?”

      The opposite. Since her father thought she was going out to visit friends, he wouldn’t expect her back for a long time. “No. That sounds like fun.”

      Bob’s friends all returned to the front, leaving her alone with him, or as alone as they could be in the crowd.

      “What did you think? You were saying this is quite different from where you’re going.”

      “Yes. Where I’ve been is quite formal. Your church doesn’t even have pews.”

      Bob nodded. “Yes. We also use this room for banquets and things like the women’s auxiliary functions.”

      Her heart ached, thinking of just sitting around with a group of women, talking about nothing in particular—not about who was cheating on whom or the other back-stabbing theatrics that passed for conversation in her current social circle.

      Bob told her about how his parents and most of the rest of his family attended the main church, of which this one was a plant. While they talked, a bunch of the teens cleared and stacked the chairs to make the place ready for the next group using the room.

      Just as the last of the chairs were stacked away, Randy joined them.

      “Sorry, I can’t go with you, after all. I have to go to Pastor Ron’s place to fix his computer.”

      Bob nodded. “I guess I’ll see you Wednesday, then.” Bob turned to Georgette. “We practice at Adrian’s house every Wednesday night for the coming Sunday.”

      She knew Bob worked every evening except Wednesday. Now she knew why. “You mean even when you’re this far behind, you stop working and go do church stuff?”

      “Yup. Every Wednesday.”

      Georgette studied Bob’s face, which held nothing except honesty. Taking time off meant a loss of income. She couldn’t imagine what her father would have thought of someone willingly taking a financial loss on a regular basis to do something for church. “That’s pretty dedicated,” she muttered.

      Bob smiled. “God’s done a lot for me. This is only one small thing I can do for Him. Besides, it’s something I enjoy.”

      She could imagine that after a frustrating day, or week, there might be significant release in being able to whack a drum set.

      Paul was coming down the steps of the stage as they were starting to go up. “I just remembered that I have a super early staff meeting tomorrow morning I need to prep for. I’ll have to take a rain check. Sorry.”

      Bob blinked and looked at Paul. “Must be a very early meeting. See you Wednesday, then.”

      They passed Paul and got up on the stage just as Adrian closed the zipper on the electric piano case. Celeste stood off to the side, talking on her cell phone.

      “Celeste’s mother needs some help moving some furniture. I’m sorry, we can’t go after all.”

      Bob’s eyes narrowed. “On Sunday night? This just came up now?”

      Adrian shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry. See you Wednesday.”

      Bob rested his fists on his hips as Adrian carried off the electric piano. Celeste tucked her phone into her purse, picked up Adrian’s guitar case, waved, and also walked off the stage.

      “If I didn’t know better…” Bob muttered. He turned to Georgette. “I guess that means it’s just you and me. Still want to go out for coffee and a donut?”

      Georgette’s foolish heart fluttered. While she’d certainly enjoyed working with him, she had also learned in casual conversation that Bob was single. Very single. Besides, she would have been stupid if she couldn’t recognize the way people in the church did a double-take at seeing Bob at church with a woman.

      She also had her suspicions about why Bob’s friends had suddenly changed their minds about joining them for coffee.

      Going out with Bob away from a work setting wasn’t smart.

      Georgette looked up into his eyes and cleared her throat.

      “Yes.”

      Chapter Four

      Bob unlocked the door to the lobby promptly at 7:00 am, punched in the alarm code, then headed straight for the coffee machine.

      He couldn’t remember the last time he’d needed coffee so badly.

      At first he’d been a little nervous about going to the twenty-four-hour donut shop with George alone, but today he had no regrets. They’d talked, they’d