Cadence of Cranberries - Valerie Comer Page 0,25
talent.” Ray looked over at Charlie. “Heard you and Winnie were at the bistro together the other day.”
Right, the other brothers had been there. Dino and Franco. It made sense they’d all look out for their brother’s widow as well as for his son.
“We were. Katri and Dominic asked us to plan their wedding.” Charlie met Ray’s gaze head on and lifted his chin slightly. “We’ll be seeing a lot of each other over the next few months.”
The other man sized him up. There was no other word for the way Ray studied him. “Any other reason?”
They had a date tomorrow night. It wasn’t like secrets could be kept. “Yes.”
“Yes?” The man’s eyebrows flew upward.
“Yes, there’s more to it. I find Winnie an attractive woman, and I’d like to get to know her better. Can you think of any reason that’s a bad idea?”
Ray’s mouth opened and closed before he laughed and clapped Charlie’s shoulder. “I like you. But tread carefully. I don’t want to see her hurt.”
Did that mean he’d passed some sort of test? “Neither do I.”
A shout from the court drew their attention. Michael dribbled around another boy, fired a chest pass then darted in close to receive the ball back and sink it in the basket.
“You’re divorced?”
Guess the discussion with Ray wasn’t over yet. “Twelve years. My ex claimed I was married to my job, and she wasn’t very far wrong. I was a lousy husband and father.”
Ray’s eyebrows rose. He likely hadn’t expected Charlie’s candor.
“Katri became a Christian in nursing school and reached out to me. She said she forgave me and wanted to get to know me. And she led me to faith in Jesus.”
“Amazing story of God’s grace.”
“Yes, I’m so thankful. Once she graduated and the college bills ended, I accepted an early retirement package from my company. I’m not too good at loose ends, frankly. When I saw Redband Roasters for sale here in Spokane, I decided to make the move. It’s been a good one.”
Hard to remember a few weeks ago he’d been contemplating selling out and going south. Now he stood with his collar hunched to cut the winter wind and didn’t mind a bit.
“Plugged into a local church here?”
Charlie nodded and named the mega-church across the city he’d been attending.
“You might want to check out Bridgeview Bible.” Ray chuckled. “I doubt Winnie is open to switching.”
“I might do that. That’s where the wedding is booked.”
“They’ve picked a date?”
“Third weekend in May.”
“Just after my son Alex’s.”
“Oh, I heard about that, just hadn’t put two and two together. He’s the fellow who proposed after the other family wedding.”
“Right here, as a matter of fact.” Ray pointed at the chain link fence encircling the playground and shook his head. “Kids. Thirty-seven years ago, I casually mentioned marriage to Grace one night, not quite on a whim, but certainly not with any sort of production. She agreed it sounded like a good idea, we planned a small wedding, and here we are. Five kids, two of them married and one coming up, four grandkids.”
Charlie chuckled ruefully. “A big production and a fancy wedding don’t guarantee anything. I have two daughters. One of them works at my old company but won’t talk to me. And my marriage is long gone.”
“Ever hear that scripture in Joel where it talks about God restoring the years the locust has eaten? Basically, a promise to the people of Israel that after the bad times they’d been through — all the stupid things they’d done — God would restore them. It says, ‘you will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you.’ Sure, it’s specific to a time and place in history, but the promise seems to be wider. The verses before that talk about their punishment for turning away from God then an invitation to repentance. And then the promise.”
“One of the prophet books, right? I haven’t dug into those so much yet. Just started watching a sermon series online about them, actually.”
Ray nodded.
A big whoop went up from the basketball court, and Charlie looked over to see the guys clapping each other’s backs and turning toward the picnic shelter. If he didn’t want to get on Michael’s radar, it was too late.
Ray beat him to the boy, grabbing the teen and scrubbing his sweaty hair with his fist. “Great job, buddy. You’re good at this thing.”
The boy’s face flushed darker.