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on, they called the jean search successful.
Time for tops
.
    Sara and Jess each bought a couple of things full price, and Molly set a stack of clothes aside to buy later. In the meantime they wandered the mall.
    Sara looked at her watch. “Hey you guys, I’m starving. Can we go eat?”
    “Yeah, now that you mention it, I’m hungry, too.” Jess rubbed her flat tummy.
    “Sounds good to me.” Molly agreed.
    In the bustling food court they waited in line and got their food. They walked around for a minute or two trying to find a table. When they finally sat down, Molly saw Brad Beck from youth group. When he looked their way, she waved at him.
    He wandered over.
    “Hi, Brad.” Sara spoke first.
    “Hi, Sara. How are all of you tonight?” He looked at each of them.
    “Oh, just doing some shopping.” Molly wondered if she should invite him to join them, but she didn’t want to annoy her friends.
    “Care to join us?” Sara offered, scooting over on the bench seat so he could sit down if he wanted to.
    “I’d love to.” He looked around the food court, up and down the row of fast food offerings. “Let me go grab my dinner, and then I’ll be back to join you.”
    Molly watched Sara watch him leave. She looked at Jess, who was also staring at Sara as she watched Brad. Jess and Molly raised their eyebrows and nodded knowingly. By unspoken agreement, they remained silent, waiting to see how long it took Sara to snap out of it. Her big blue eyes were locked on one tall figure all the way across the food court, and they were seeing nothing else.
    After a minute or two, Sara jumped out of her daydream. Too late. She had more than given herself away.
    “Okay, you’ve been holding out on us. What gives? What’s with you and Brad? You like him, huh?” Molly peppered her.
    “I have one question, Sara.” Jess had a twinkle in her eye. “And your answer will tell me all I need to know.” She paused for impact. “Did you and Brad set up this
chance
meeting ahead of time?”
    Oooh
. Molly sat forward in her chair. Good question. Not only would the answer tell them whether or not Brad knew that Sara liked him, but it would also tell them if Brad and Sara had spoken outside of church. Molly watched Sara’s face as she struggled to think of an answer.
    Sara rolled a french fry back and forth in a pile of salted ketchup and shoved it in her mouth. They were still staring at her, so she shrugged and pointed to her mouth and made exaggerated chewing motions.
    Brad walked up with a tray of food that would feed an army. Tacos, a few burritos, a big plate of loaded nachos just dripping with cheese, and what looked like a gallon of soda.
    The girls eyeballed his food. “Are you going to eat all of that?” Molly sounded horrified.
    Brad patted his tummy. “I’m a growing boy.”
    “I guess!” Jess laughed.
    Sara’s cheeks were as red as her ketchupladen french fries that she ate as fast as she could. But the sparkle in her eyes gave her away.

Chapter 7
PROMOTION COMMOTION
    “You’ve been here just over six weeks, Molly. I wanted to have a little meeting to talk about how things are going.” Donna held up a finger and answered her ringing phone.
    Molly fidgeted in her seat and picked at a fingernail. She’d been doing a good job, right? What if Donna didn’t think so? What if she’d found out about the Bounty Bucks? Or that she had shopped for her friends?
    “Okay, sorry about that. Where were we?” Donna hung up the phone and turned back to Molly.
    “Well, let’s see.” Molly tapped her fingernail on her glossy lips and pretended to think for a moment, trying not to smile. “If I remember correctly, you were about to tell me what a fantastic job I’ve been doing and how you’re about to promote me to manager.” She kept a straight face and waited.
    “Ha, ha. Funny. But, you know, you’re not too far from the truth. The thing is, you have been doing a really terrific job, Molly. Did you realize that since