Joy smiled. “Its great to meet you, Grace. Is this the first time you’ve ever been to the church?”

“Yes it is; I just moved here at the beginning of the month.”

“You’ve got to come with Missy to Sunday night sometime,” Taylor said. “It’s so fun. Much more”—she wrinkled her nose as she thought—“engaging than this. But tonight wasn’t bad.”

Missy snickered and said to me, “We’re all a bit biased toward Sunday night; don’t mind us.”

“I’ve gotta get back to the family; just wanted to say hi,” Taylor said. “It was good meeting you, Grace. I hope we see you again sometime.”

“Same here,” Joy said. “Have a great Christmas, you guys!”

“You, too!” Missy said, giving them both another hug. Both girls leaned over the chairs and gave me a quick hug as well before heading back to their families. “They’re so much fun,” Missy said after they’d gone. “The three of us hang out a lot. We do a Bible study together once a week and sit together at the Sunday night service. There are some other girls in the study too, but Joy and Taylor and I are pretty tight. You ought to come out with us sometime; I think we’d all have a blast.”

“That would be great; they seemed really nice.” I refrained from throwing my arms around her and begging her to make plans right now for the four of us to get together. The idea of having girlfriends again was almost too wonderful to imagine.

Jane leaned in between us. “Dessert, ladies? Dad and David have a hankering for pie.”

“Absolutely,” Missy agreed.

“How about it, Grace?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”

“No, no, nonsense; we’d love for you to come.”

I grinned. “I’d love to then, thanks.”

“Great! Why don’t you just hop in the car with us, and afterward we’ll drop you back here at your car.” I agreed, and we headed out to their SUV near the back of the lot. On the way we listened to Christmas carols on the radio; a local station was playing them nonstop until New Year’s. David had us in stitches until we got to the restaurant; he kept changing the lyrics on the spot. Once at the restaurant, we each indulged in two half-slices and the conversation never stopped. I never felt out of place with them; they were the very definition of welcoming.

That night, with Joker curled up on the pillow above my head, my thoughts wandered from the Uptons to the pastor and his sermon. Part of me was curious. But the rest of me was ambivalent, and not entirely sure why it was a big deal. I fell asleep wondering what the rest of the story was.