Ken laughed. “I bet.”
Brad’s eyes turned serious, contemplative. “And you and Daisy Ruiz?”
Immediately, Ken’s pulse skittered. He thought of the sunlight shining on her hair and the way her brown eyes glowed when she smiled. “We went shopping yesterday. Groceries for a family she saved from eviction.”
Brad sat back in his chair. “Honestly, if I was going to find the perfect woman for you, Ken, she would do things like shop for groceries for a family she had saved from eviction.”
With a chuckle, Ken said, “Exactly.”
Jon slathered hot mustard onto a spring roll. “Do they need anything else?”
Ken shook his head. “There’s always someone else to help. Daisy says we got her back on her feet. The rest is up to her now. Tomorrow thirty more people will need help.”
Jon chewed and swallowed. “I can’t imagine the day-to-day drain on emotions that job takes. That is certainly a calling from God.”
Ken agreed. He wanted to take that family today and put them in one of his luxury apartments with marble countertops, sunken carpet, and a swimming pool in the back of the complex. He wanted to spoil those kids and buy each one a bicycle and set up a college fund for them all. However, that wasn’t Gálatas Seis’s mission, and it wasn’t up to him to do that. God had clearly equipped Daisy for what she did, and he couldn’t imagine doing it himself.
Like Daisy told him, several thousand more people in Atlanta needed the minimal help they had given Sasha today. No matter how fast she helped people, she said, more people took their places.
They sat silent for a few moments. Brad asked, “Can you see a future with Daisy?”
Ken didn’t know how to word all the thoughts and emotions flowing through his mind. Did he see a future with Daisy? Absolutely. Did she see one with him? How could he expect her to know after just a couple weeks?
“That’s my prayer.”
Their entrées arrived just as Ken finished off the last of a chicken wing. As the waitress set the plate of General Tso’s chicken in front of him and the steam wafted up and teased his nose. His stomach growled audibly, and his mouth watered. He thought about Daisy and wished she sat next to him and enjoyed this meal with him. He needed to find a way to quit having every thought that occurred to him get taken over by thoughts of Daisy Ruiz.
As Brad picked up his chopsticks, Ken asked, “So, what are we hoping for? Boy? Girl? One of each? Three of each?”
Brad smiled a sheepish smile. “Wouldn’t that be fun? To have her have triplets? Mom and dad could have three to spoil at once. It would make up for us taking so long to give them grandchildren.”
Jon shook his head. “Nothing will make up for that. Mom will make us suffer for that until our dying days.”
All three of them knew that he spoke the truth.
Jon rubbed his chopsticks together. “Guys, I need to talk about something with you.”
The seriousness of his tone gave Ken pause. He noticed Brad give his full attention, too. “What’s up?”
“I can’t do a mission trip this year.” He expertly speared a bamboo shoot. “I know we were planning Guatemala in a few weeks, but I have something personal going on, and I need to stick to U.S. soil.” He chewed and swallowed. “Besides, Brad has Val right now, and Ken is just getting things going with Daisy. Maybe we need to take this summer off.”
Ken actually agreed. He didn’t want to go out of the country for two weeks this summer—not without Daisy, anyway.
Brad said. “I think that’s fair.”
Ken nodded.
Jon relaxed. “I appreciate it.”
“Anything we can help with?” Ken asked.
Jon shrugged. “Nah. I’m still processing. But, when I’m done, I’ll be ready to spill it.”
“Whatever you need, bro,” Brad repeated, dishing rice onto his plate.
Afteropening her Bible to the place where she left off, Daisy pulled out a pink notebook and a purple pen and prepared to do some in-depth digging for her Bible study class next week. They’d completed their book this morning, and Daisy had offered to take the rest of the summer off, but the ladies in the class all agreed that they wanted to keep meeting. Consequently, now she needed to build a curriculum for the next six weeks.
After looking at all of her possible options, she had settled on redemption. But she didn’t want to gloss anything over and just touch on the surface of redemption. She wanted to dig in to what it meant and what led up to Christ’s role on the cross.
