Free Longing for Home by Kathryn Springer Page B

so?”
    How to explain this in a way that Alex would understand?
    Kate decided there wasn’t one. “Every Sunday after church I make dinner for…people.”
    Alex shifted his attention to the enormous kettle of sauce bubbling away on the stove. “How many people?”
    “Oh, anywhere from two to…twelve.” The week before, she’d had eighteen, but that had been a record number.
    “Twelve?” he repeated.
    “Give or take a few.”
    At the beginning of the summer, Kate had designated Sunday afternoons as her official “traveling day” even though she never ventured farther than the front door. After church, she chose a meal from the international cookbook her dad had given her the Christmas before.
    The trouble was, Kate always made way too much food for one person. So she’d started to pray that God would bring to mind a person, or people, to share it with. But something unexpected had happened along the way. Her friends and neighbors heard about it and had started to simply show up at the door—without an invitation.
    The first time she’d ended up with more people than she had chairs to sit in, Kate had been a bit flustered. But everyone had such a good time, laughing through the meal and lingering over dessert that now she left the guest list in the Lord’s hands. Kate figured that God would bring the right people to her door and He did.
    Most of the time.
    “Let me get this straight. You have people coming over but you don’t know how many.”
    “Right.”
    “How many did you invite?”
    “I didn’t exactly invite anyone.” The timer went off and Kate dashed to the stove. “Excuse me.”
    “Kate?”
    “Mmm?” Where had she put the colander?
    “I’m being attacked.”
    She glanced over her shoulder and saw Alex keeping a wary eye on the two cats circling his feet. “The orange one is Lucy, the white one is Ethel, and they aren’t attacking you. They love people.”
    “Uh-huh.” Judging from Alex’s tone, the feeling wasn’t mutual.
    “Don’t you have any pets? A dog or a cat? Horses? Shark tank?”
    Oops. Sorry, Lord. I just can’t seem to help myself.
    “No.” A smile pulled at the corners of Alex’s lips and Kate felt a responding tug on her heart.
    “I get it. Animals aren’t part of The Grand Plan.”
    “What grand plan?” The smile disappeared and his voice dropped ten degrees.
    Um, the grand plan she shouldn’t have mentioned?
    “Everyone has…goals, right? I want to cook my way around the world—I’m going to Italy today, by the way—and I want to knit something bigger than a potholder.” And she was rambling again. “But I’m sure you didn’t come over to listen to me go on and on.” Kate paused, sucked in a breath and rushed on, “Why did you come over, by the way?”
    “I found a note on Abby’s desk that I can’t decipher,” he said abruptly. “I thought you might be able to tell me what it means.”
    Business. Of course that was the reason he’d sought her out. The man probably had no clue how to relax on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
    “Sure. I’ll take a look.” Anything to divert his attention from her knowledge of the master plan.
    Alex dug a piece of paper out of the front pocket of his jeans and gave it to her.
    Kate peered at the handwriting. “You can’t decipher it because Quinn writes in his own personal brand of hieroglyphics. It looks like he scheduled a picnic for the mentoring ministry at church. Abby usually provides the food but I’ll call Matt tomorrow and find out for sure.”
    Alex frowned. “Abby didn’t mention a picnic.”
    “She probably forgot in all the pre-wedding whirl.” Kate turned the paper sideways. “If I’m reading it right, the date is set for this coming Saturday. That makes sense, because guests check out of the inn by noon and that frees up the grounds for the kids.”
    “Kids?”
    “Boys,” she amended. And then, hoping to see him sweat, added, “Fifteen of them.”
    “Do I have to do