Grace Alive: a Christian Romance Read Online Free

said.
    Like five people? How was that a crowd, Dad?
I wanted to say something but kept my big mouth shut. Friday huh.
So I had five days to prepare for boredom.
    ***
    Monday. Wahoo! Probably the only good thing
about today was I was going to hang out with Mia. Tomas was taking
the kids to the park, and Mia and I were going to go to lunch. I
usually worked around one o’clock, so we set up lunch for eleven. I
guess it was more like brunch than lunch. We pulled into the
parking lot of Bob Evans. One of my favorite places ever! As we
headed toward the restaurant, Mia was chattering away at me in the
passenger seat.
    “Zoe, you’re kind of lucky. I mean being
picky isn’t always a bad thing. I do love Tomas, and your dad has
really helped me a lot with our marriage, but sometimes I just want
to scream at him!”
    I fidgeted. It was hard hearing this stuff
sometimes. I just wanted my best friend to be happy. I didn’t
really understand all the marriage woes she had.
    “Yeah, right, I’m being picky, Mia.”
    “Well, Jacob seems to kiss the ground you
walk on. I know you think he’s disgusting, but he is wealthy.” She
elbowed me in the ribs, because she knew saying that would make me
flip out.
    “If he was the last man on the planet, I
would marry a rock instead.” That made her laugh. We pushed the
doors open to Bob Evans. The hostess led us to a booth, and we sat
down. The waitress came over a few minutes later and gave us some
menus.
    “I’m Stacy; I’ll be taking care of you this
morning. Can I start you off with some coffee?” She gave us a big
smile.
    “I’ll take a mocha, Stacy, thanks,” I said
even though their mochas weren’t real mochas. They still had tons
of whipped cream, caramel, and a butt load of chocolate.
    “Me too!” Mia said. The waitress walked away
to put in our drink orders. Mia grabbed my hand, and her eyes lit
up.
    “Guess what?” It didn’t take much for Mia to
get excited.
    “What?” I said, and a smile teased my
lips.
    “I got promoted at work to manager!” she
gushed and squirmed in her chair happily.
    “That’s so awesome!” I winced inwardly. I
couldn’t help it. At least she was going forward in her job, unlike
me. I’m so whiny sometimes. I smiled at her. I was happy for
her.
    “Yeah! They are bumping my pay up too! Tomas
hasn’t really been making that much lately with construction, so I
was happy that I could be more helpful.”
    “What about the kids? Weren’t you only
working part time?” I asked with slight concern.
    “Their grandparents are going to start
watching them more.” The waitress came back with our mochas that
had mountains of whipped cream, chocolate, and caramel.
    “Yummm!” I said. “Thank you, Stacy.”
    Mia cupped her coffee, and I latched onto
mine, and we drank it together.
    “Tell me what’s happening with you!” Mia said
as she wiped whipped cream off her face.
    “So, I got conned into going to Pastor Mike’s
next mixer,” I said with a slight frown.
    “Oh, Zoe! That sucks!” she said with a laugh.
She took a big gulp of her coffee.
    “Yeah, it does. What was I to do though?
Jacob asked me in front of our parents. He knew I would have to say
yes. He just wants to play monopoly with me or something. My gosh
could he get any worse?” I moaned. I sounded like a whiny baby
right now.
    “You’ll make it. You never know, maybe Mr.
Right will be there.” As she said those words, I heard giggling
nearby. Those little voices sounded familiar. I turned around and
saw Branson and his kids sitting at a table just a few tables down.
They were by themselves. No wife? Or…was she using the
bathroom?
    “Oh my gosh, look at those cute little girls!
That guy is cute too! Lucky woman whoever snagged that man!” Mia
said in an excited whisper. Her whisper was like one volume though.
Loud. I wouldn’t be surprised if Branson heard her. The waitress
came up to him and took his order. He gave his little baby a toy to
play with, the two