Nate's Gift (Small-Town Christmas Wishes Book 3) Page 6

  However, like Paul encouraged Timothy to not be afraid, I want to encourage you in the same way. As I was writing this letter (there are four crumpled first attempts scattered around my feet), this scripture came to me: “For the Spirit that God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”

  Be bold, Nathan Cooper. You have a wonderful God-given gift. Be a blessing to others in your world. Don’t cling to your safety net. Be willing to let go and see where God takes you. He has you in the palm of His hands.

  I’m still your #1 fan. I’ll be cheering you on until we meet again in eternity.

  I love you from the bottom of my heart.

  Your sister in Christ,

  Charity.

  Nate slowly folded the paper. The window was clear, but he couldn’t make out the empty street ahead. Most of the crowds must have left the event. He rested his forehead against the steering wheel, weeping. With a heartfelt prayer, he asked for help in finding his joy for life again. And to start living to his full potential.

  “I’m going to let go, Lord. I’ll trust You as Charity advised. And help me find where this money really needs to go. I simply don’t know. But I’ll wait for Your direction. I’m listening again. Promise.”

  Chapter Eight

  Kara had to fight hard to keep her normal upbeat attitude going. She’d gotten up extra early to rush to the donut store for a couple of dozen sugary treats for her work crew.

  Mr. Hernandez helped the stage crew of four other kids by cutting the wood needed for the set. His oldest son, who owned a construction company, helped build the front for the toy store setting. She’d settled for two main sets. The toy store and a cityscape. For that, she’d planned to paint the scene on rolls of butcher paper and add a few stand up trees made from the wood panels.

  Kara had some money set aside in her dream savings account in case they went over her budget. She appreciated Betty’s generosity but didn’t want to take advantage.

  Still, she also didn’t want to break into her savings, either. She had two big secret dreams. One was to maybe open a small community theater by the time she was ready to retire. The other was to take a month-long vacation in Italy. Whichever happened first, she wanted to have the financial backing to accomplish it.

  Mrs. Hernandez joined them at about two hours in when she brought out bottles of soda for the workers. “What’s wrong?” she asked Kara while they set out the cups. “You’re not your usually chipper self today.”

  Kara’s wiped her paint-splattered hands on the front of her cover-alls before she added ice cubes to the plastic cups. Her landlord was a little too perceptive. “Oh, just have a lot on my mind. You know, trying to keep track of everything we need to accomplish today.” She didn’t care to mention that her mind was mainly troubled about Mr. Cooper. He’d been so…charming last night. He’d held her hand and had seemed sincere when he apologized for his behavior.

  For a short while, she allowed herself to think there might be a mutual attraction. That maybe they’d be able to work together instead of against each other. And maybe they’d even develop into something more.

  Then she’d seen the note with the pretty handwriting. The last sentence was very clear. Someone else was already in love with Nate. Did he return the sender’s feelings? If so, then why would he…?

  Kara shook her head. No, she’d not let this distract her. He’d not shown up today anyway. Was it because of the rude way she’d let him know that didn’t need any help? Or rather, his help. Not if he was going to flirt with her while someone else….

  “Earth to Kara,” Mrs. H was saying, waving a hand in front of her face. “Did you hear me? It looks like you have more reinforcements arriving.”

  Kara looked in the direction Mrs. H pointed. Her mouth fell open as Nate’s truck pulled up with a load of kids. Matt, Damion and more boys from the band and choir sat in the bed with Nate’s dog. When the truck came to a stop, two of her female leads hopped out of the cab.

  Those who had parts in the play hadn’t been required to help with the stage set up. The group surrounded her with hugs and high-fives. Nate came up behind, Buster following along at his heels. He wasn’t on a leash this time. The kids from her stage crew stopped work to make a fuss over Mr. Cooper’s fur-friend.

  “I didn’t know you had a dog, Mr. C.” One of the girls said as she let Buster lick her face.

  “I was sure he lived at the school,” joked Matt. “But then he pulls up to the basketball courts this morning and promises us pizza for lunch if we come help build your set, Ms. S.” He held out his arm like a game show host walking on stage. “So, here we are.”

  Nate held up his phone. “My treat, but I needed your address, Mrs. Hernandez for the delivery.”

  Kara had to laugh at their enthusiasm that lifted her own spirits. She dared a look at Nate who smiled and shrugged. “I told you that I’d come to help. What do you need done?”

  Fine, if he wanted to help, she’d not turn him away. But she’d keep her distance all the same. She pointed Mr. Cooper toward the building crew and told those who felt comfortable painting to follow her.

  The kids kept up the conversation. Someone set their cellphone in a plastic cup at high volume as holiday rock music played while they worked. They all sang along to the songs they knew.

  Kara tried hard to ignore Nate, who wore jeans and a long-sleeved pullover today instead of his usual buttoned shirts and slacks. She liked this casual look on him.

  No! No, she didn’t. She couldn’t care less about what he was wearing. When she snuck another glance his way, she caught him grinning at her. Oh no! She quickly turned away.

  “Isn’t that building supposed to be gray instead of purple, Ms. Shay?” One of the girls asked.

  Kara cringed, then shrugged. “Purple is fine.”

  “Can I paint mine red? You know, paint the town red and all?” The girls started giggling at their joke.

  Shaking her head, Kara told them to stick with the plan and repainted her building. From behind her, the men were talking about their high school days. Mr. H said, “I remember you, Nate. You had a rock band at some point, didn’t you? This group would call them oldies, I’m sure.”

  “We played Christian rock. At the time, it was kind of popular.” Nate admitted with a boyish grin before narrowing his eyes at Mr. H. “Easy, John, don’t tell too much. These guys don’t need to know all my secrets.”

  Matt and Damion laughed at the word, secrets. “Right, Mr. C. We’ve found the old school yearbooks in the library. We found your old pictures. Cool hair, dude. Ever think of letting it grow out again?”

  Nate rolled his eyes with a shake of his head, refusing to respond to their teasing.

  The girls helping Kara paint leaned in closer together and whispered, “He was a hottie back then, too. Why isn’t he married by now?”

  Good question. Why wasn’t he? Kara refused to look in his direction.

  Mr. H chuckled as he set another board aside. “Ah, you were a good guy, even back then. A real church boy, he was. There was a Bible study group back then. Mainly girls, but he attended faithfully. We used to tease him mercilessly about his harem.”

  “They were not—”

  Mr. H slapped Nate’s shoulder. “Yeah, I know, buddy. We had to tease you because we were all so jealous. But none of us were willing to be caught dead attending a Bible study at that age. Now the wife and I lead the mid-week study at our church. I remember Charity. She had a real compassionate spirit. A heart of gold.”

  Had?

  “I’d lost touch with her, though I’d heard she returned to Snowflake,” Nate said, his head ducked low. “So you knew her from back then?”

  Mrs. H nodded, clasping her hands over her heart. “Her mother attends our church. Charity moved in with her during the last part of her illness. I remember how giving she was, even up to the end, she always showed concern about others. Especially around Christmas. You don’t meet many like her.”
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  Kara dropped her paintbrush as she quickly stood and turned toward Nate. “She’s—?”

  Nate met her startled expression with his understanding gaze. He nodded. “A few weeks ago, she went home to be with the Lord.”

  Navi also set her paintbrush down and moved to Nate’s side, resting her head against his arm in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cooper. I recently lost one of my friends this past summer. She was in a wreck. It helps to know that we’ll see them again in Heaven, doesn’t it?”

  He draped his arm over her shoulders. “Yes, it does, sweetheart. We have that hope, being believers.” Patting her back, he returned to cutting the boards for the toy shop with a jigsaw.

  Kara continued to stare after him. She’d jumped to a conclusion and misjudged him. But the question the girls asked remained. Why was such a handsome, single, working man not already snatched up by someone?

  Did she really want to dig deeper to find out?

  Her lips turned up in a half-smile when he looked her way and winked.

  Perhaps she did.

  Chapter Nine

  Nate had so much fun Saturday helping Kara and spending time with their students outside of the classroom. The more he listened to them talk about their home lives, the more his heart went out to some of them.

  Damion with his single mom trying to support so many kids. Diana who lived with her grandparents because her parents died in a car accident when she was in elementary school. Each one had trials they faced, even those from the more affluent families living in Snowflake, like Navi.

  When he showed up to church the next day, he spent most of the sermon asking the Lord to open his eyes to ways he could be more helpful to those around him. He wanted to have a heart like his friend, Charity. Even with Ms. Shay, he remained a little reserved.

  It seemed that after the letter had been explained, she’d warmed up to him more.

  Maybe You can help me find a way to help Kara? He prayed inside his head. Am I wrong to have feelings for her?

  Eventually, he needed to let someone in. Charity had told him to stop playing it so safe. Nate was a little reluctant to ask the Lord to help him be brave. That was a dangerous prayer, like asking for patience.

  When the pastor called everyone to stand for the closing prayer, Nate bowed his head and said, “Forgive me for walking with blinders on. For letting myself drift from You. I’ve been going through the motions like a sleepwalker. I’m awake now.”

  As he headed out after the sermon was over, he spotted a few of the Secret Angel crew: Sara offered him a curious wave, which he returned, but didn’t bother to stop and chat. Too much time had passed. Still, he wondered how they were doing with their projects.

  Maybe he should have stopped and spoken to them.

  Nate sighed, supposing that some habits, like avoiding people, were going to take some time to break.

  On his way toward the truck, Nate was sure that he spotted Ms. Shay, but she was on the other side of the parking lot. Now she was someone he wished he could have spent more time with. He would have loved to invite her to lunch. She was probably busy, he reasoned.

  Turning the engine, he chastised himself. “That’s not how to start being brave!”

  He’d fallen into such a deep habit of making excuses and taking the easy way. Pulling out of the parking spot, he drove toward where he last saw Ms. Shay, but he couldn’t find her little car anywhere.

  “Fine. But I’m asking her out on a date. This week!”

  His palms grew sweaty around the steering wheel and throat went dry at the thought.

  * * * *

  Monday was crazy as usual. The Christmas spirit had sent the students into all manner of chaos. Nobody wanted to listen to his lesson, and during band practice, they were more interested in goofing off than practicing.

  “Listen up! We have less than two weeks left to—”

  The side door opened as Principal Lopez poked his head in. “Can I speak to you a moment?”

  Nate nodded, then asked his assistant to try to get them to at least run through the program once. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

  It wasn’t like Lopez to interrupt his class unless something important was going on. When Nate slipped into the hall, Ms. Shay was there, looking upset. Some of her red hair had fallen from the bun she’d tied it back in.

  Her fists were perched on her narrow hips. “How long before that mess is cleaned up?”

  Mr. Lopez held up his hands as he addressed Nate, “We’ve had a water line break. The auditorium is flooded around the stage. Luckily, it’s not a sewage line, or I’d have to figure out how to send all these kids home.” He sighed and rubbed his fingers over his forehead. “I’m not sure how long. We’ve turned off the water for that part of the school, which presents enough problems of its own. At least it’s contained to just the auditorium and a couple of meeting rooms for now.”

  Nate shook his head, trying to take in what Lopez was saying. The auditorium was flooded? “We can get it cleaned up by—”

  “No, we can’t. I’ll need a crew to come out and inspect the damage to the stage and sound system. Electrical equipment has water damage.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, but I have to cancel all programs we had scheduled over the next couple of weeks. This doesn’t just affect you. The jr. high school also uses our auditorium for their concerts, too. Hopefully, we can schedule repairs during the winter break, but Christmas….”

  Lopez waved his hands. “I’ll deal with that later. I wanted to let you both know so you can stop wasting time with all the practices. I’ll try to reschedule the band’s concert when we return next semester.” He patted Nate’s shoulder.

  To Kara, he said in a sympathetic tone, “I’m really sorry, but if you still want to have your play, you’ll have to move it somewhere else. I know you’ve worked hard. I’ll send out an announcement about refunds on tickets if you want me to. I’ll take the brunt of the parent’s angry emails for you, Kara.”

  She didn’t respond but turned away instead. Nate knew this was a severe blow to her.

  “What about the cafeteria? Why can’t we—” Nate started to ask when Lopez stopped him.

  “We’ll reschedule your concert. Don’t worry about that Nate. There’s simply not enough seating in there to hold all the parents and guests for the other programs. Sorry guys. This is how it’s going to be handled. Ms. Shay, should I send that email?”

  She told him that she’d take care of it before leaving today. With shoulders slumped and head bowed she headed down the hall toward her classroom.

  Principal watched her with sympathy. “I hate this, but my hands are tied. This is going to cost us even with our insurance. I’m praying it won’t require more cuts than I’ve already made. Hopefully, she’ll accept the English position, or she’ll be out of a job next semester. Shame really, the kids adore her.”

  Nate nodded. “Yeah. They do.” So did he.

  Nate wanted to go after her, but he didn’t know what to say that would help. It was too cold to put on a play in the park. The tree lighting was one thing since people were mingling and moving about. But to sit for two hours, if the weather even held out?

  He started to reach for the door handle to his room, but then stopped himself. Don’t let this go. She needs help. Here’s your chance to be that help.

  Nate spun around and hurried after Kara, reminding himself to set a good example and not run to catch up with her. She was at the bottom of the stairs by the time he was able to catch her attention. Grabbing her by the arm, he pulled her into the first empty classroom they came to. The computer lab. Great, nobody would be in here for another hour.

  “Kara, don’t give up.” He turned her to face him and noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Oh, don’t cry,” Nate pulled her into his arms. “Don’t cry. We’ll think of something.”

  “Ugh, I’m trying not to cry, but I can’t stop it. I hate crying!” She rested her forehead against his chest.

  Nate rubbed
her back. “Well then, get it out of your system. Then let’s figure out a way through this. There must be other options.”

  He moved out a couple of chairs and urged her to sit while he found a box of tissues for her. He pulled up another chair and sat, their knees touching. Grasping her free hand in his, he said, “Can you think of any place else that might work?”

  Kara sniffed. “Not on such short notice. And I can’t ask for more money, even if my friend would be willing to…no, I can’t. It’s important to me, but honestly? I think I’m the only one it’s important to. Certainly not the school board, or Principal—”

  “He’s really upset about this, Kara. This has been a hard call for him and he doesn’t want to lose you as a teacher. You are not alone in this. I care, too.”

  She squeezed his hand. Dabbing the napkin to her watery eyes, she offered a trembling smile. “I didn’t thank you for bringing the extra crew to help Saturday. I’d meant to…” she shrugged. “Write you a note or something.”

  He laughed, wondering what had her blushing such a cute shade of pink.

  She rolled her eyes and admitted, “And I need to apologize for jumping to conclusions when I saw the note from your friend. First off, it wasn’t any of my business. I shouldn’t have cared…”

  “But you did?” he asked, hopeful.

  She nodded.

  His smile widened.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, her own mouth turning up on one side. “And grinning like a Cheshire Cat?”

  “Because you care. I was hoping you did.”

  Kara looked around the room as if wanting to make double sure they were truly alone. Leaning in, she whispered, “Nate Cooper, what are you saying?”

  He reached up and tucked the loose strand of her hair behind her ear. An urge to be brave filled his chest and quieted his pounding heart. “I’m saying that I care about you, too, Kara Shay. A lot more than I ever thought I’d be willing to admit. I don’t like dating. I’m an introvert who loves his quiet life. But,” he slowly started to shake his head. “but then you made such a ruckus that I couldn’t help but notice. You’ve inspired me to open my eyes and pay attention.”