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What Are You Doing Here?

Aundrea pulled up to the church. She sucked a nervous breath as she turned into the parking lot. She was looking for Phyl’s car but she didn’t want to crash into anybody, so she just picked an open spot.

She grabbed her steering wheel and rested her head on her coat sleeves. “What are you doing here?” She rolled her head back and forth. She wasn’t worried about being seen. It was too cold for anyone to stand out there and gawk at her. She was going to just turn the key and head somewhere for breakfast when she smelled the peanut butter cookies.

Phyl had talked her into taking the leftover cookies from the bakery last night. She wasn’t satisfied with offering a batch of stale cookies, so she’d gotten up early to make a fresh batch of peanut butter cookies. She put the leftovers in her bread warmer while the peanut butter cookies baked. She wouldn’t lie and say they were fresh but she had made an effort to freshen them up a bit for him.

She supposed it would be a waste to bake and freshen a parcel of cookies for a guy and then not give them to him. She looked up again and scanned the parking lot for Phyl’s car. Aundrea figured she’d spot it on the way in to the church. She looked down at the little green box with the shiny red ribbon. Take it or save it for after? Better take it. Trying to lure him back to her car like a serial killer…

The car door flew open a bit more vigorously than she intended. She took a breath. She knew she was getting overwrought. Just go in and sit down. Stop getting yourself all crazed out.

It’s just church.

It’s just a batch of cookies.

It’s just Jeb.

It’s just the guy who has been silently rooting for you his entire life.

It’s quite possibly the best friend you’ve never had.

Aundrea found her feet and walked to the church with haste inspired by the chill.

“Aundrea? Hello.” Pastor Greg said. “I’m glad to see you this morning. Thank you for joining us.”

“Phyl said I ought to make more of an effort.”

“I’ll remember to thank her.”

“She’s not here yet? Does she usually come late?”

“No, I would have expected to see her here by now. Is that peanut butter I smell?”

“Yes, Phyl had someone she wanted me to give them to.”

“How nice. I hope you enjoy the service.”

She smiled and hurried into the nave. Phyl’s not here and neither is Jeb. Great. Where would I sit if I was Jeb?

No idea. She found an empty pew and slid over. It was protocol when she was growing up that sliding over to make room for others was how it was done.

She hadn’t been to church in ages but she knew the drill.

She grabbed a handful of bookmarks. Aundrea marked the hymns on the placard up front and the readings in the program she’d been handed on her way in.

Once she got herself settled, she sat quietly and waited for Phyl to catch up. It wasn’t long before she felt a bump on the pew. She looked over to see who it was.

Jeb.

Her eyes went wide and her lips tightened as she struggled to hold back a scream. She clutched at the box of cookies with trembling hands. She put them back down so she wouldn’t shake them into tiny crumbs. She peeked to her right.

Jeb still hadn’t taken notice that she was even sitting here. She was crestfallen. Maybe she was reading the situation entirely wrong. She was going to make a fool of herself. She was trapped in this pew with him and he didn’t even care.

At least she was next to the radiator. She might be getting the cold shoulder from Jeb but she would be comfortably warm until the service was over.

She heard a scuffle in a pew somewhere behind her but she figured it was a couple of siblings acting up. She didn’t want to turn around and give Jeb the idea she was pining for him. She kept her eyes front and her expression stony. The nerve of that guy…

The music started and everyone rose. She turned to watch the procession of acolytes and the pastor and found Jeb smiling at her.

That smile.

Those eyes.

The nerve. To think she had made him a fresh batch of cookies.

She returned her gaze to the altar and sang along with the hymn. She was irritated with Phyl for standing her up and leaving her here with this shaggy ingrate. She was irritated for getting up early to make peanut butter cookies for someone who…

She looked over.

He was still smiling at her.

What?

She looked down at the cookies. Looked like they weren’t going to go to waste after all.

She was lost in thought when the music started again. She jumped up to sing On Jordan’s Bank with the rest of the congregation. She was thinking about booty bouncing her way down the pew to sit next to Jeb but she thought that might be frowned upon. She was trying to think of an appropriate way to bridge the gap between them when the pastor began his sermon.

She looked up to find him looking directly at her when he said about how Saint Nicholas had tragically lost his parents at a young age. Like she needed to be reminded of that. Church was supposed to be comforting.

Darn that Phyl.

She slogged through the rest of the service in a grumbling funk. She just wanted to go. She didn’t care about the cookies or Jeb or even Phyl at this point.

She stood with the congregation as Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus began on the organ.

Jeb was still smiling at her.

Oh, my God, you clueless jerk. I’m going to beat you senseless with this box of cookies.

The acolytes came and snuffed the candles. She waited for the congregation to begin filing out. Jeb was still there. That’s right. He doesn’t like crowds. Just her luck. At least he’ll be sneaking out the side door as Phyl said.

Any minute now.

“Aundrea.”

She jumped at the sound of her name being spoken.

He’s.

Still.

There.

He’s.

Still.

Smiling.

What.

An.

Idiot!

“Jeb.” She said curtly as she struggled to put on her heavy coat. He slid over in the pew to assist her. She gave him a look that stopped him in his tracks. “Here. I made these for you. I hope you enjoy them.”

The look on his face told her that he understood that she hoped he choked on them and died.

The smile was gone now. He backed out of the pew and caught the end of the line.

Who was that jumping up behind him? Looked like a couple of kids. One was dressed in a ridiculously ostentatious Christmas skirt suit and had holly sprigs in her retro 50s hairdo. The other one was even shorter. She had an ornate Dutch Braid with green and red ribbons woven into it. Unfortunately, it made her head look even larger in proportion to her twig of a body. She was wearing a dress that did nothing for her utter lack of a figure. It was hard to tell from the back but it probably ought to go back to whatever thrift shop she’d picked it up from.

She wanted to sit right down and cry but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She was going out the side door instead of Jeb.