The Oak Leaves by Maureen Lang

they reached the lobby, Talie saw Dana standing in front of the fountain, talking and laughing with the man she’d met.
    “No, you go on, Luke,” Talie said. “Maybe Dana is hanging around because she changed her mind about wanting him to meet us.”
    Luke looked skeptical, hesitating to leave. “Go easy on the guy, will you? No third degree before they’ve had their first date?”
    Talie pretended to be offended, shooing Luke off then following her mother toward the fountain. Thankfully, Talie noticed that Dana caught sight of them coming and seemed neither alarmed nor unwelcoming. Before they’d said a word, Dana put one hand on Aidan’s arm and drew out her other toward Talie and their mother.
    “I mentioned my family was here,” Dana said. “Aidan, this is my mother, Val Martin, and my sister, Talie Ingram. And my brother-in-law is here somewhere—getting Ben from the nursery?”
    Talie nodded.
    Val shook Aidan’s hand, and if an assessment could be accurately judged, Talie guessed her mother at least thought Aidan good-looking. It was impossible not to. His eyes were blue, his teeth a stark white against his tan skin.
    “This is Aidan Walker,” Dana said.
    “How did you like the service, Aidan?” Talie asked. That didn’t count as a third-degree question, even though she had ulterior motives in asking. If the guy hadn’t been listening, maybe he’d attended just to “scope out” Dana.
    “Great!” he said. “I’ve heard of this church, but I’ve never been here. I liked it.”
    “Do you usually go somewhere else, then?” Val asked.
    Talie smiled; her mother could always claim she hadn’t heard Luke’s admonition.
    Aidan nodded. “It’s smaller, more traditional.”
    They chatted for a few moments about the pros and cons, likenesses and differences of contemporary versus traditional churches, a subject Talie’s mother was interested in since she was about to make a switch herself. No easy decision, Talie knew—one she made only to see Talie, Luke, and Ben every Sunday.
    But Aidan didn’t seem to have the same reservations about leaving behind something so familiar. Talie had to admit he seemed interested in North Shore Community—hopefully not only because of Dana and the singles group.
    “We’ll be going out to brunch,” Val said. Talie shot a worried glance Dana’s way, who looked back with what was probably a better hidden sense of alarm. “Care to join us?”
    But if Val entertained any real hopes of a quiet family brunch, they were forgotten a moment later when Luke arrived with Ben in his arms. Ben was red faced and in obvious distress. Talie offered to take him but instead of handing him to her, Luke put Ben on his shoulders. Sometimes Ben’s favorite position was enough to calm him.
    Not today.
    Dana made introductions over Ben’s noise, and Luke and Aidan shook hands. Aidan tried to shake Ben’s hand too, obviously not put off by his noise, but as usual Ben kept his hand tightly fisted and didn’t respond to anyone’s calm voice, not even a stranger’s.
    “Ben has these moods every once in a while.” Talie raised her voice with the heightened sound of Ben’s cries. “We call them meltdowns. It’ll take a while for him to quiet down, so it looks like we better take him home.”
    “Yep,” Luke agreed, then turned to Aidan. “It was nice meeting you.”
    He turned then, and Talie knew she would have to follow. “I’ll call you later, Dana, okay?” She looked at her mother. “Coming, Mom? You’ll meet us at our house? I can throw brunch together there.”
    Her mother nodded, saying good-bye to Dana and Aidan and following Talie toward the parking lot. Not without a few glances back.
    Much as Talie wanted to see her sister happily wed, she felt surprisingly cautious of the idea now that a potential husband had appeared on the scene. Even as she reminded herself that Dana had seen him at the singles ministry event Talie recommended, she couldn’t help but