Uptown Sun

Chapter 11: Morning Tea

The cold lemonade met with the warm summer air to form pools of condensation on the isolated fold-out table that Natalie and Evander had settled upon. Many of the church-goers were still crowding around Abby and Darren, cooing at little Lemony. Zayn was still fixated on the barbecue. Everyone else had found themselves seated at tables or on the picnic blankets. 

"It's a nice change of pace out here." Evander remarked, watching a swarm of children play Red Rover in the field beside the church. He still seemed a little shook up from the bump. It didn't cross her mind that he could be nervous.

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, in Brisbane everyone would be crowding around me this time of the service." He looked around at Abby and Darren. He took a shaky sip from his lemonade.

"Sorry to say but you can't compete with a baby." Natalie absent-mindedly drew a heart with the condensation puddle on the table, trying to play it a little cooler than giving him an inappropriate high-five this time. 

Evander exhaled a laugh through his nose, "That's true." He looked at the heart, "Are you an artist?" 

"In the most round-about way, I suppose," She decided she had no reason to try and market herself to this ineligible bachelor, "I'm a photographer." 

"Well, photography is art." 

"Yeah, but I mostly do work for the marketing of products. So like... I can make ice-cream look really beautiful, or photograph a pair of sunglasses in a wheat field... That's about it." 

"I'd like to see your work sometime." 

"I appreciate that, but I know that priests kind of have to say nice things all the time. You don't have to pretend it's interesting." She shrugged, "I like what I do, but I understand it's just work to other people." 

"Well... I guess you don't know the priests I do." He hesitated, "I should probably also point out that I'm not a priest. It's kind of an obligation. Like how psychologists have to correct people who say they're psychiatrists, or law students can't say they're lawyers." 

"But Robert said..." 

"He said I was a pastor, which I am."

"Is there a difference between a priest and a pastor? I thought it was kind of like a thesaurus type deal and you just go with whatever sounds coolest." 

"There are a number of differences." He began, "I guess there are two main things that are really different in my life. The first is that the term 'Priest' is really only used in Catholicism"

"And the second thing?" 

Evander's eyes widened as he took another sip from his cup, taking a slightly deeper breath than usual bracing for awkwardness, "Er... Pastors are allowed to date?" Evander didn't leave a second for an awkward pause this time. "It's not like I'm on dates all the time," he sputtered, "It... It's not like I'm allowed to casually date. It would have to be for marriage, but I'm allowed to have a wife." His pace quickened as he tried to dig himself out of the hole he was creating, "It's not like I date women every weekend or anything. I could date if I wanted to, and I do want to," He had no idea where this train of thought was going, but he wanted it to stop immediately before he said something ridiculous, "I haven't been on a date since high school!" 

Natalie smirked a little. He was even cuter when he blushed, "And that would make you how old now?" 

"Twenty-nine." 

"Oh boy, you're basically a dinosaur." 

"And how old are you then?" 

"Guess." 

"I'm going to say... Twenty four?" 

"Ah, so close. Twenty eight." 

"That's the thing with guessing women's ages: You should never play to win. You should always play to flatter." 

She was beaming, "Well, it's working," The crowd around Abby and Darren were finally migrating towards the food and Natalie assumed some of the older folk would much better benefit from their chairs and table, "Come and meet my friends over on the picnic blanket."  

The pair walked over towards Selene and Zayn. Natalie plonked down onto a large cushion and exaggeratedly slapped the one beside her, inviting Evander to sit down. 

"Oh, Evan, right?" Zayn held out a hand. 

"Evander, but anything works." He corrected, sitting down and leaning across to shake Zayn's hand.

"Mighty firm handshake you've got there. Nice, nice." Zayn sat back again, touching Selene's shoulder, "This is my wife, Selene." 

"Oh, nice. Did you get married here?" 

Selene interjected, "Yeah, I baked my own cake so it was the easiest place to be, transport-wise. My mum would have kittens if we didn't have a church wedding, and I would have kittens worrying about the weather if I had an outdoor wedding. It made the most sense just to keep everyone happy." 

"And my nana who flew over for our wedding did have kittens when we kissed after we said I do. Not literal kittens obviously, but... Wew! That took some explaining. " Zayn chuckled fondly.

"Oh, why is that?" 

"Generally weddings back in my part of India don't have kisses if they're going the whole traditional route, which... I mean, obviously we didn't since the ceremony was in the church. The reception afterwards was a blast though. Much more to Nana's liking." Suddenly he jumped up excitedly, "Ooooh! Snags are done!" 

He called out to Zayn who was already half was to the BBQ, "Well, you'll have to tell me more about that reception!" He turned to Natalie, "Should we grab some food?" 

Once the four had sausage sandwiches in their hands, the crowd around Abby and Darren had died down so they decided to head on over. Little Lemony was squirming away happily in Abby's arms. After the pleasantries and small talk Abby did not delay in getting right down to the brass tacks. 

"Natalie, I am so glad you made it. Honestly. We feel really blessed." 

Natalie smiled, peeling the crust of the soft bread in her hand, "Honestly? I couldn't agree more."