Call me a prude, but I still had a hard time being in aplace where everyone thought it was okay to parade around in their underwear. Idon’t care what fabric it was made out of; calling it a swimsuit didn’t changethe fact that it was called underwear everywhere else.

It didn’t help that I was nervous about being here. Going toa waterpark had sounded so fun when I added it to the list. When Ivy had grabbedmy hand and pointed to one of the tallest slides, I doubted my sanity for addingthis place to the list in the first place.

I stood in line holding my end of the two-person raft,wondering if all these half-dressed people would laugh if they knew that I wasnervous about rides at a waterpark that catered to young families and children.

“I’m so glad it worked for us to get off on a weekday. Canyou imagine how crazy this place is on the weekends?”

I shook my head. I had found discount tickets for a slow dayof the week, but it was busy enough for there to be lines. We finally reachedthe top of the stairs, and we were directed to place our raft into an area and wait forthe green light.

“Ready?” Ivy asked.

“Not really,” I said, honestly questioning if I had lost itfor even thinking of hurling myself down so many feet. Were they sure wewouldn’t fall out?

“It’s going to be fun.” My sister smiled at me.

I took a deep breath and let out my anxiety. I had come hereto have fun. If I didn’t enjoy this slide, I could ride the Lazy River for mostof our time here, or try another slide. So, I didn’t approve of the swimwearmost people were wearing. I didn’t have to walk around with my nose in the air.I could enjoy this experience, and stop focusing on the negative.

The light turned green.

We dropped down and I squealed. We came out into thesunlight and twisted and turned before we took a final dip and slid out intothe pool. Laughing, I scrambled out and stood next to Ivy, soaked.

“That was so much fun!” Ivy said. “Let’s go again!”

I nodded and moved to get back in line. I had enjoyed it. Ithad been fun. I was glad I had put this on our list.

Meg sat with her salad while I’ve and I chowed down on my chickenstrip baskets. “So, what has been your favorite ride or slide so far?”

I swished my chicken in the ranch dip. “I think the firstslide Ivy picked or the Lazy River. I enjoy both of those.”

“Oh! I like the really big slide.”

I shuddered. That one had lasted too long for me, and I hadn’tliked how long you were in the dark.

“The wave pool is my favorite,” Meg said. “Oh, and the LazyRiver.”

“We should come again,” Ivy said.

I smiled. “As much as I’ve enjoyed today, I’m not sure Iwant to come back soon. I think one day a year is enough fun for me.”

“Want to go on the slide again?” Ivy asked as she finishedthe last of her fires.

“As soon as I finish this.” I lifted the basket with thelast third of my meal.

While I had enjoyed my day of fun, being back at the quietbookstore with everyone fully dressed was nice. Even when the Peterson familyhad come with their very loud kids, it was still nicer than the bratty kids Ihad heard at the park yesterday. And yet, I hoped to return the next year withIvy and Meg if they wanted to go.

I glanced around the store. There weren’t any customers, andeverything was all neat and clean, so I pulled out my current read. A bookMolly had told me she loved, Love, Mary Elisabeth. So far, I wasenjoying this precious, epistolary novel written for a younger audience.

I had read quite a few pages when the door opened. I woman Ihadn’t seen before entered. I set aside the book and put on my professionalsmile. “Welcome to My Weekend is Booked to a Tea. Can I help you findanything?”

The middle-aged woman turned toward me with her brown eyes.“Yes, I’m looking for a book my sister recommended to me. I’m here on vacationand thought I would like to read it.”

“Do you know the title?” I asked. I was used to having tohelp customers find books with little bits of information.

The woman gave the title of a popular book we didn’t stock.

I nodded. “I’m sorry, we don’t have that. But maybe I canhelp you find something you would like just as much?”

She didn’t seem enthusiastic, but she allowed me to lead herto a shelf toward the back of the store we kept for customers such as these.While we stocked mostly Christian fiction and non-fiction, we had a shelf ofbooks that were clean fiction with attractive covers to try to give somereaders what they wanted without compromising Lacie and Jarad’s standards.

“You might like one of these.” I pointed. I pulled a bookwith an illustrated cover. “A couple of people who liked the book you mentionedalso enjoyed this one. It has the same feel of a girl's challenge advice, but withsome unique twists.” I held out the book to the woman.

She looked at the book, then at me. “I couldn’t help butnotice that this was a Christian bookstore.”

I braced myself for the belligerence that usually followedthose words. “We are. We try to carry some books like these that are clean, butfor a general audience like this book, but most of what we carry is Christian.”

The woman looked around. “I used to read a lot, but when Igot saved a couple of years ago, I gave up all the books I’ve collected. I’vebeen trying to stay connected with my sister, who also likes to read, but it’shard. Is there a lot of good Christian fiction out there?

I nodded. “Over half the books we carry are fiction, andalmost all of those are Christian.

A smile broke over the woman’s face. “Really? You’ve justmade my day. I’ve missed reading, but I thought Christians only wrotenon-fiction.”

I beamed. “Well, let me introduce you to a fun new world ofbooks.”

Sometimes, I really loved my job.

Mercies this week:

A fun day at the waterpark

Getting to introduce awoman to Christian fiction

A job I love