14

Peebles, Ohio

The call from Jimmie Johnson came late that night. “Thomas, your daughter is frantically trying to reach you. All she had was the number in Oldenburg, and when she finally reached someone at the church, they told her you were no longer there.”

“Thanks, Jimmie. We’ll call her. And you mentioned a potential opening for me.”

“I did, and there’s a real possibility here, but I want to talk with you in person first.”

“Why?”

“Really, Thomas, I don’t want to talk about it by phone. It’s not a pastorate, but it’s still full-time ministry. It would require a move to Adamsville. I’d like to meet you there on my way back to headquarters. Could you be there for lunch tomorrow? I would not advise bringing Grace.”

“Grace is always with me.”

“I know. But I’d like to chat with you in private, and then I want you to decide whether to pursue this before exposing Grace to it.”

“You make it sound like the city dump.”

“No, no. It’s really quite interesting, but you need to check it out for yourself. You said she was under the weather anyway.”

“That’s why I’d rather not leave her.”

“She’s that bad off?”

“It’s just that we aren’t sure what the problem is. But I’ll let her decide.”

Dennis Asphalt & Paving

“Boring!” Peter called from atop the cab of the flatbed truck. “And I’m tired!”

“I gotta finish this,” Brady hollered back from the forklift. “And I don’t want you walking home alone.”

“Ma’s gonna be worried about us and probably mad.”

“I left her a note. Now just hang on.”

Brady had broken only one car stop, which he left in plain sight for Alejandro. But being so careful had cost him time, and it was already after ten. He was determined to fully load the delivery truck. He wanted to prove himself quickly and lock in this job. He liked the idea of being so close to the office—and, he assumed, petty cash or even a safe—with no one else around.

Peebles

“Seems to me if there’s one person we can trust,” Grace said, “it’s Mr. Johnson. I’ll be fine. You go tomorrow and hurry back because I’ll be dying to hear.”

Thomas got on the extension phone in the guest bedroom while Grace dialed Ravinia from the living room.

Their daughter had never been one to ease into a conversation.

“All right,” Ravinia said, “I know we’ve got some hard talking to do, but tell me why I should forgive you for worrying me to death. For all I knew you could be lying somewhere dead by the side of the road. What happened?”

“Now, dear,” Grace said, “we knew how you’d react, and obviously you know how we feel about your new living arrangement.”

“Does that make me an untouchable, Mom? You were never going to speak to me again?”

“You know better than that.”

“Do I?”

“Yes, now stop being ridiculous. Your father will tell you what happened in Oldenburg after you tell us about your conversation with Patricia Pierce.”

A long pause.

Finally, “Well, first of all, I liked the idea. She sounded nice enough, and I was actually encouraged that a church had finally figured out how to welcome a new pastor. But then she said she hadn’t realized that I was married, that my parents hadn’t mentioned that for some reason—and believe me, I caught her tone—but that my husband was certainly welcome too, and wouldn’t it be a wonderful surprise.

“Of course I told her right away that Dirk and I were not married, and you could have cut the silence with the sword of the Lord. She said, ‘Yeah, well, I’m going to have to get back to you on that.’

“I said, ‘So, we’re uninvited; is that it?’

“She said, ‘Are you telling me that you and this Dirk are roommates?’

“I said, ‘More than that, ma’am; we’re lovers.’”

“Oh, Ravinia,” Grace said.

“C’mon, Mom. This is not news to you. I figured you had called. I hadn’t wanted you to hear it that way, but you know I wasn’t going to hide anything.”

“I almost wish you had.”

“No, you don’t. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a liar. You have to give me that.”

“That is commendable, Rav,” Thomas said. “But there is the matter of considering our feelings.”

“Your reputation, you mean. So you got run out of there because you’ve got a daughter living in sin; is that it? You don’t have to answer. I know. I grew up with people like that.”

“We’re not like that, Rav.”

“I’m not talking about you, Dad. You’re surprisingly nonjudgmental, considering the people you associate with. But what do you call it when they judge you unqualified because a grown woman doesn’t still obey your wishes?”

Thomas spoke haltingly, telling Ravinia about the suggested course of action by the elders.

Ravinia responded with a hint of tears in her voice. “Dad, I’m about as livid as I can be. I’m sorry you and Mom are on the lam again, but I couldn’t be more proud that you did the right thing. All you have to do is say the word and I’ll find somebody to make these people wish they’d never even dreamed of this.”

“You know we’d never allow that,” Grace said.

“Of course I know that. But it’s a crime that they hide behind their religious status, their . . . their . . . I’d just love to teach them a lesson.”

“Leave that to the Lord,” Grace said.

“Dad, please get out of the ministry. I know you believe in it and think you’re serving God and all that—”

“I am serving God, Rav!”

“So where is He in this? Why does He let you get bludgeoned every time?”

“We don’t blame this on God, honey,” Grace said. “It’s His people who are imperfect, and—”

“You consider Patricia and her husband and their cohorts God’s people?”

“They’re just human, Ravinia.”

“They’re evil.”

“Now don’t—”

“I know. I’m evil too. But I have to tell you again, most of the people I’ve met since I left home have zero interest in God or church and certainly Jesus, but—with a few exceptions—none of them would ever do to another person what your so-called fellow Christians have done to you your whole career.”

Thomas rubbed his forehead and forced back a sob. “Rav, we would be remiss if we didn’t express how we feel about where you are right now.”

“I know, Dad. I know, I know, I know, okay? Spare us both the lecture. I don’t mean to hurt you. I hope you know I still care about you or I wouldn’t have even tried to find you.”

Thomas fought the urge to say she was showing her concern in a strange way. “And we want you to know that we love you unconditionally and that we’re praying for you.”

“And for Dirk?”

“Of course.”

“Mm-hm. Dad, please find something else to do. I mean for work. You’re smart and you’re kind. There must be something less stressful, more fair.”

“Well, I’m looking. I’ll keep you posted.”

Addison

Peter was yawning as they moseyed home. “I don’t have to come with you every night, do I?”

“’Course not. But you got a chance to see what I do.”

“Yeah, and it was cool. But it’s just the same thing over and over. And it looks harder than cleaning the laundry place, but at least you get to drive that thing.”

“It’s more money, and that’s important. I don’t want to live here all my life. Do you?”

“No way. But I don’t know what I want to do.”

“Just get out, I hope.”

“Long as I can live with you.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to be easy. Soon as I get out of school or get a car, I’m gone. I’d have to fight Ma to let you live with me, and how would that work anyway? I couldn’t watch you, be home when you get out of school, all that. Maybe I can still talk Uncle Carl and Aunt Lois into taking you till you get out of school.”

“Ma’ll never let that happen.”

“Let me worry about that. She touched you since I warned her?”

Peter shook his head.

“You tellin’ me the truth?”

“Yeah. She hollers at me a lot. Threatens me.”

“Just one more time . . .”

“I know. And she knows. But when she’s drunk, I get scared because I think she forgets.”

“That I warned her? She’d better not.”

“Why does she hate me, Brady?”

Brady shrugged. “She hates everybody. She’s had a hard life, but you’d think she’d want to keep us close. I hate her.”

“Families on TV look like they have fun sticking together.”

“That’s just made up, Petey. You know anybody but Carl and Lois whose family is still together and seems to get along?”

Peter shook his head.

When they got home, Erlene Darby stood in the doorway, staring at them.

“What are you thinking, keeping Petey out this late? Give me one reason I shouldn’t whip your tail.”

Brady pushed Peter past her and told him to get to bed. “Because I’d kill you, Ma, that’s why. You think I’m gonna leave him here with you when you come home drunk and mad?”

“I’m not mad at him, Brady! I’m mad at you!”

“Just don’t worry about me. If Petey’s with me, you know he’s okay. If he’s with you, I never know.”

“He deserved that beating, and you know it.”

“Nobody deserved that.”

She flipped him an obscene gesture.

“Yeah, that’s nice. I’m so glad I’ve got a classy mom.”

She swore. “Get out of my sight.”

“Gladly.”

Brady stomped back to his and Peter’s bedroom and undressed, banging doors and drawers and dropping onto the bed.

“Sorry, Brady.”

Brady fought his rage. He didn’t want to break down in front of Peter.

“Oh, it’s not your fault, little man. I shoulda known she’d be ticked. I can’t take you with me every night, so just get along with her any way you can. Stay out of her way. Do what you’re told. And if you ever feel scared, like she’s gonna do something to you, you know where I am, and you come running.”