“It should be okay for today,” Brinley said. “Maybe next week I’ll find another class to attend.”
“I don’t see why you two can’t sit on opposite ends. It’s not like you have to talk with each other. Besides, Sunday School is only forty-five minutes long. And Ivan doesn’t own the place.”
They arrived at an open door where laughter and chatter spilled into the hallway. Brinley followed Skye to an empty seat in a large circle of chairs, maybe a dozen or more.
“We sit this way so we can see one another,” Skye explained. “I prefer this to staring at the back of people’s heads.”
Brinley didn’t care either way. This was her first time in Sunday School for a long time. When Grandpa Brooks had been alive, they had all been active in church.
Skye introduced Brinley to a couple of people around them. One of them, Emmeline O’Hanlon, seemed to know who Brinley was.
“Ivan has told me a lot about you,” Emmeline said.
“Has he?” Really, Brinley was skeptical.
“He and I travel a lot together. I play harp in SISO.”
Her emphasis of together bothered Brinley. Then she reminded herself that she and Ivan weren’t an item anymore, their erstwhile closeness notwithstanding. “I like harp music.”
“But you like violin better.”
Whatever. Brinley turned to the other person standing there. “And you are?”
“Tristan Rao. Geriatrics.” He seemed to have startled himself with his own words and started to mumble.
“We’re not at a medical convention, Tristan.” Skye laughed. To Brinley, she said, “He gets nervous in front of beautiful women.”
“You’re very pretty.” Tristan then backtracked. “Sorry. Did it again. Foot in mouth.”
Before he made any announcements, the Sunday School teacher for this twenty- and thirty-something class introduced himself to newcomers as Benicio Ketteridge. He asked Skye to tell everyone about their visitor.
“Thanks, Ben. This is Brinley Brooks. She’s a new believer. Yun McMillan led her to Christ about two months ago, right?” Skye turned to Brinley.
Brinley noticed now that Skye spoke with her hands, and she had some burn marks at the base of her palm. The shape looked like the handle of a pot. Poor girl. What happened there?
“Yes. The week before Christmas.” The night before Ivan broke his wrist that changed his life and ended their relationship.
“Are you attending any Bible Study?” Ben asked.
“Olivia Gonzalez has invited me to her Tuesday night’s.”
“I hear she’s got a good group going. Several ladies here are in that group, including Skye.”
“Good to know. I’ll try to go as soon as I get settled.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Settled into town?”
Brinley nodded. “I’m moving to St. Simon’s from Atlanta. I have family here.”
“Nice. Let us know if you need help in anyway. We’ll pray for safety and a smooth transition.”
“Thank you. I want everything to go well.” Was that too much to ask for? All Brinley wanted was a miracle from God to make her general contractor, Tobias, stop fighting with her interior designer and rental manager, Meg Zimmerman. Then the house would be renovated on time for her to move in next week.
Next week!
“Since Brinley is new here, let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves.” Ben waved his pen in the air. “That way we won’t be strangers to her when we see her at church.”
There was Matt Garnett, whom Brinley had met on Christmas Eve when he went with Ivan to pick her up in the church van for the evening service. He looked tired and his long-sleeved shirt was all wrinkled. He sat next to Sebastian Langston, who looked like a hunky male model. Turned out he was Skye’s older brother and chef-owner of that expensive Saffron restaurant on Jekyll Island that had been the last straw for Ivan.
It also turned out that Sebastian was very needy. He had many prayer requests for his girlfriend whose name Brinley couldn’t remember, but should have since he had mentioned it umpteen times in the same sentence.
When Ben started to teach, Skye helped Brinley find Ephesians in her Bible. She could have searched for it on her iPhone, but she wanted to read it out of a printed book today. And so she did. After Sunday School she made a note to herself to read that passage again because Ben had said way more than she could process.
Something about God instructing the husband to love his wife.
Love.
Ben said that if the husband didn’t love his wife, he was sinning against God. Thus, Brinley reasoned, a man shouldn’t marry a women he didn’t love. Brinley mulled over that as several people in the Sunday School class walked together to the sanctuary for the service.
Clearly Ivan doesn’t love me.
“Brinley.”
She heard it twice before she turned to see who had called her. It was Matt Garnett from Sunday School.
“Matt Garnett,” he said.
“I know. You said that in Sunday School.”
“In case you don’t remember.”
“I might not tomorrow, but right now I do.”
“Well, that’s why I’m going to give you my business card.” Matt handed Brinley a crumpled card, a corner torn. “If you need any antique furniture to decorate your new house, give me a call. I own Garnett Antique Shop at the Village.”
“I’ve seen the store. Haven’t had time to go in. Maybe I’ll do that next week.”
“Great. I’ll be in town next week. I also own the thrift shop next door. If you want some bargains, call me.”
“Love a good bargain.”
Leaning down, Matt whispered, “Be patient with Ivan. He’s an idiot.”
Brinley laughed so hard she began to choke. “We were just going out. Nothing to it.”
“No? My friend is crazy in love with you.”
So why did he dump me?
“He’ll come around. For now, he thinks he has to be a certain somebody for you to love him.”
Oh.
Chapter Forty-Eight
“I want to move in this Saturday, Toby. Where is my countertop?” Brinley stood in her incomplete gourmet kitchen with both hands on her hips.
Dust and debris and delays were everywhere. The cabinets had no doors, the faucet had no sink, and the counters had no granite tops.
Outside it was raining heavily, so heavy she couldn’t hear the ocean anymore. All she could hear were thunder strikes and sheets of rain coming down. It had been raining for two days, but eventually it would let up. She hoped her house wouldn’t wash away into the ocean, it being this close to it and all.
“Ask her.” Tobias pointed to Meg who had been fuming since Brinley walked into her new house through the back porch door.
Meg sighed. “We had a miscommunication—”
“You had a miscommunication,” Tobias snapped. “I didn’t. I told you my installers have another job this week. So the granite countertop needed to arrive by last Friday or it won’t be in until next week.”
“Who placed the order?” Brinley asked.
“I did.” Meg leaned back against the topless island. “They told me Friday. They had a delivery mess-up. The countertops arrived this morning, but Toby’s guys are not here.”
“When can they come back?” Brinley asked Tobias.
“Next Tuesday.”
Meg stepped forward. “He has another crew in Savannah, but he won’t send them here. They could install this in the next two days.”
“It’s Meg’s fault. Why should I cover for her?” Tobias asked.
Brinley looked back and forth at the two of them. “I think it’s my fault.”
“Yours?” Tobias and Meg said in unison.
“Yep. I made a mistake.” Brinley swiped her iPhone and looked up her contacts. “I put both of you in charge of my reno. Equal footing and all that. Now we’re late by two weeks as it is, and you’re telling me we could be late again. Problem is, we need
one head, and not two heads butting each other.”
Tobias and Meg both nodded.
“So let me call Alonzo, and you can take orders from him tomorrow onwards.” Brinley found the number. “Then you can get everything done by Saturday.”
“Wait a minute.” Tobias put up his hand. “Did you say Alonzo? My dad?”
“Uh-huh.” Brinley’s iPhone was at her ear.
“You don’t want my dad in charge, Brinley.”
“You can do better?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why haven’t you, Toby?”
Meg laughed.
“You too.” Brinley put down her iPhone. “It’s not like you two are going to marry each other. I’m only asking you to work together for the next four days, get my countertops in, repaint the sunroom walls in the right color, get the light fixtures installed, clear my driveway so I can move in this weekend. Is that too difficult for you or do I need to hire your competitors?”
“I don’t appreciate the threat.” Tobias frowned.
“Here’s the threat, Toby. I need a place to stay. Rent me a place or get this house done.”
Meg turned to Tobias. “You can’t afford to rent her a place, Mr. Vega.”
“No. I don’t think so.” To Brinley, Tobias said, “Okay. But don’t pull the dad card on me again.”
“Maybe I’ll put him on the payroll for insurance.” Brinley chuckled.
Tobias rolled his eyes. “See what I have to put up with, Meg?”
“She gets things done, for sure,” Meg said.
“Now that we’re all lovey-dovey, could you do me a favor?” Brinley asked. “Hug and make up.”
“What?” Meg said. “I’m not touching him.”
“Alonzo or hug?”
Tobias moaned something unintelligible and made the first step toward Meg.
Brinley watched them hug and then glanced at her watch. She had to leave now if she were to make it to the Seaside Chapel Women’s Bible Study. “Hey, I said hug and make up, not hug and make out.”
Tobias stepped away from Meg.
“Four days,” Brinley warned them. “You have four days.”
* * *
Brinley left Tobias and Meg in some sort of unspoken truce as she headed down the road toward Seaside Chapel. Olivia Gonzalez lived across the street from the church. The rain hadn’t subsided when Brinley arrived. She wished she could park closer, but there were cars in the driveway and up and down the street.
Four houses away on the narrow street, she got out of Dad’s nondescript SUV and reminded herself to buy her own car next although Dad did say he didn’t mind her using his car perpetually. Thing was, he had meant his Bugatti. The last thing she dared to do was to park a two-million-dollar car in a garage that didn’t have the same level of security as the Brooks estate. No, thank you.
Since she had returned to St. Simon’s, she had been driving this SUV, which Malik, Mr. Security, said was the safest for her with its ballistic windshield. The reinforced SUV door was super heavy. She had to put her entire weight on it to get it closed. That was why Malik had insisted she used this SUV above all the other vehicles Dad had.
Seriously, I need my own car.
The irony of getting out of a secure vehicle only to walk about unescorted at dusk wasn’t lost on her.
With a Publix apple pie in one arm, an umbrella in the other, and her tote bag with Bible and iPad hanging off a shoulder, Brinley arrived at Pastor Gonzalez’s house and was greeted by his two teenage daughters. They took the pie from her and showed her to the family room where about ten or so women had gathered. Brinley didn’t think she was late at all. Apparently some of the women had come earlier to gab.
Skye Langston waved to her and patted an empty spot on the couch. It seemed to Brinley that she had saved that spot for her. Nice. As Brinley sat down, a little teacup dog came up and brushed past her jeans.
“Good to see you,” Skye said.
“Good to see you too.” Brinley saw the Band-Aid on Skye’s palm. “What happened to you?”
Skye brushed it off. “Cooking accident. Hot handle. Happens sometimes.”
“You cook a lot?”
“I’m a personal chef.”
Brinley’s eyebrow rose up. “Really?”
“Have to put my Le Cordon Bleu training to good use.”
“I could use a personal chef.” Anyone would be better than Mom’s personal chefs who had come and gone.
Around them, more people arrived and looked for seats.
“Let’s talk. One of my clients cancelled and I do need a new client. What’s your email?” Skye typed it into her tablet. “When do you want me to call you?”
“How about next week? I’m moving into a new house this weekend. Kinda busy. Do you usually cook and bring or come and cook?”
“I do both.”
“You might like my new kitchen.” Brinley looked past Skye. Where Olivia Gonzalez was sitting, Brinley saw one of her daughters whisper in her mother’s ear. Olivia perked up.
“I hear that everyone is here. So let’s pray,” Olivia said. “For those who are just joining us, we usually do our Bible Study and then we eat dinner. That way we can chat all evening after having put God first.”
Put God first.
Brinley thought that was a sermon in itself. After praying, Olivia asked someone to read aloud Luke 10:27. A volunteer did. Brinley followed along in her Bible from Yun, which had a slightly different translation.
“‘And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.’”
Emmeline sat down after she finished reading from her Bible. Brinley thought she had a clear and pretty voice.
“Love God first,” Olivia said. “That’s not to be confused with serving God in a church or ministry or on the mission field. Those can come as a result of your loving God. But when you love someone, you think of that person almost all the time, don’t you? Loving God with all our soul, strength, and might means thinking of Him first, putting Him first above all others. In your heart, God has first place. Is He number one in your life? Better yet, is He your life?”
Putting God first above all others.
Above Ivan.
Brinley prayed for God to show her how to focus on God and not on how Ivan had treated her after all that she had done for him.
“Love God first,” Olivia said. “Then love your neighbors as yourself.”
Love God first.
Then love Ivan.
When Brinley saw that other women were taking notes, she did too. Olivia kept on making her points in a calm manner in spite of the loud thunder and rain outside the cozy little house.
By the time they ate dinner, Brinley was famished. They scattered all over the house and ate everywhere there was seating. Brinley went back to her corner of the sofa, where she had left her tote bag.
The mushroom risotto was delicious. She ate quietly as she looked around the room, wondering how people could hold a plate in one hand and a fork in another while standing up, eating and talking at the same time.
Her gaze veered to Olivia sitting in the dining room. A slither of light coming from the chandelier shone down on her. So calm. So peaceful in spite of her not being able to see. She wondered how long Olivia had been blind.
Next thing Brinley knew, she had walked into the dining room. “Is this chair taken?”
“Sit down wherever there is an empty seat,” Olivia said. “Whoever left it can sit somewhere else. It’s okay.”
Brinley sat down across from the pastor’s wife. “I’m Brinley Brooks.”
“I recognize your voice.”
“I enjoyed your Bible Study. I learned a lot this evening.”
Olivia smiled as her fingers groped her plate for a dinner roll. “God’s word is inexhaustible.”
Inexhaustible. “I’ll remember that.”
“In my life, I’v
e learned to trust that God will always be an answer to any problem I face, especially when it comes to people. People are messy.”
“I agree.” Brinley polished off the risotto and wanted more. “Would you like me to get you anything? Another drink? Seconds?”
“Thanks, but this is all I can eat.”
When Olivia couldn’t find her fork which had fallen off her dinner plate onto the plastic tablecloth, Brinley recovered it for her.
“Thank you, Brinley. I usually don’t lose my fork.” Olivia smiled. “Someday when I get to heaven I can see all these.”
“How long have you… I mean…”
“Since I was a little girl. I was ill and then I couldn’t see anymore.”
Brinley blinked. “Was that before or after you met Jesus, may I ask?”
“Before.” Olivia paused. “It’s better to be physically blind than to be spiritually blind, you know?”
Brinley nodded, but she knew Olivia couldn’t see that. “I know.”
“Spiritual blindness is harder to cure. Sometimes it’s forever.”
“That would be bad.” Brinley glanced past Olivia to the wall behind her. Was it her imagination or was something crawling down the wall? It was smooth and shiny in the light. Like sheer sheets of—
Water.
“Uh, Olivia?” Brinley walked around the table toward the wall and lifted her eyes. There were several wet spots on the ceiling where it met the sheetrock wall.
“Yes, Brinley?”
“Is your roof leaking?”
“Oh, it leaks from time to time. Why?”
“Water is coming down the wall here.”
“Is it? Like a waterfall?”
“Like a waterfall.” Unbelievable.
“I suppose that’s bad.”
“Very. I think we better get out of the dining room. The ceiling could collapse.” Brinley picked up Olivia’s plate, leaving her own, and helped her out of the dining room. “I know a good roofing company. Would you like me to call them?”
“Well…”
“I work with these people all the time.”
“Give me the number, then. I know my husband has been talking to some volunteers at church, but I don’t know where the discussion is at, so let me talk with him first so we’ll be on the same page.” Olivia called for her daughters.
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