by Janice Sims
“Calm down, Malcolm,” Renata admonished. “If there was ever a time when you could be completely relaxed about anything and anyone, it’s now. These people are harmless.”
“Me?” he responded. “Look at you!”
Renata blew out a breath. Malcolm was right. Renata had a strong urge to run out of the church before something…happened. She just wasn’t quite sure what.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered, trying to divert the attention from her own unease. “If you get too uncomfortable, all you have to do is say a few ‘praise Gods’ and ‘amens.’ They’ll think you’re one of them.”
No sooner had she said those words than she saw Devin standing in an adjacent hallway. There wasn’t a need to wonder if he’d overheard. The expression on his face told her all she needed to know.
So much for her booty-call fantasy.
“Devin—”
He held up a hand and turned a more buoyant expression to Malcolm. “Are you ready to meet some people?”
Malcolm glanced at Renata before answering, “I guess.”
“You guess?” Devin repeated. “That’s not an answer.” He placed his arm around the young man. “You better be sure, because you’ll spend a great deal of your waking life working for a living. So if you’re not sure, you shouldn’t do it, son.”
Malcolm blinked and shook his head in understanding.
“So,” Devin continued, looking sexy in a silk fitted shirt and cocoa linen slacks. Renata wondered where he was going after this brief meeting at the church. “Let me ask you again. Are you ready?”
A sweet smile curled across Malcolm’s lips. With it, his nervousness and fidgeting diminished significantly. He looked up. “Most def!” he said.
Devin chuckled. “Where’d you get this kid?” he asked.
Where did the church get you, Renata wondered, noting the complete change in Devin’s demeanor. She followed them into the corridor of the sanctuary and into the back storage room thinking about how sincere he looked and sounded.
Even though Devin hadn’t asked, Renata was ready. She had her clipboard, pen, checklist, and work agreement. She had a process that she followed for every first day on the job. Above and beyond the paperwork, she was there to assess whether her client’s work style and the sponsor’s work expectations meshed or clashed. If they clashed, she would use her skills as a facilitator to work through the issues. If they meshed, she would note all of the basic information on the forms and put them into a “recommend for continuance” file.
She had no doubt in her mind that Malcolm, once he calmed down, would do wonderfully well. Something about the way they were all getting along right now made her believe that his experience at Red Oaks Christian Church would be, to coin a phrase, a blessing. And thinking of blessings, she’d need one if she didn’t get out of this house of worship soon. Something about it was making her feel very, very…
“Oh!” Renata said, seeing a woman come out of the shadows. She’d walked straight into her without realizing she was there.
“Watch where you’re going!” the woman said, her face snarling into a frown.
“Renata,” Devin said, stepping gently to her side. Pulling her arm, he brought her close to him. After he saw that she and the other woman were not harmed, his face softened with concern.
“Sister Edna, we didn’t know you were here.”
“Yeah well, I don’t see why not. You see me standing here don’t you?” The woman in front of Renata looked like her name could have been Old Mother Hubbard. She couldn’t imagine the woman going home to anything other than bare cupboards, cobwebs, and rat traps. Sister Edna looked like little more than a rat trap herself. Small, dark, bird-like eyes; tall, thin frame; hook nose; and clothes that although they were probably size three, hung off of her skeletal frame. Renata had to fight the urge to buy her a double Big Mac with extra cheese.
“Pleased to meet you,” Renata offered. She was surprised to find that the woman’s grip was not as fragile as she’d imagined.
“Who are you?” the thin whisper of a woman asked.
“Sister Edna,” Devin said, a knowing smile growing on his face. “This is Renata Connor and Malcolm Goodwin.”
She smelled like powder. Baby powder to be exact. And she was dressed in what was only a short step above a robe. Nothing short of a miracle from the Son of God would do that woman any good.
Devin pulled Renata even closer. The nearness of him canceled out any comment of shock she may have uttered.
“We’re sorry, Sister Edna. We’ll be more careful in the future.”
“You’d better,” she said, spitting out the words like a bad taste in her mouth.
Renata folded her arms, wondering if she should put the woman in her place. Devin must have sensed her thought process. He hurried with her and Malcolm until they were out of sight of the bird-like woman.
“I know this is a church, but I was ready to tell the ol’ girl thing or two up in here.”
Malcolm laughed first, then Renata joined in. She could tell that Devin was fighting it. But even in that, there was a small victory.
“Sister Edna has a kind of dementia.”
The laughter stopped.
“The next time you see her, she’ll probably be so nice to you that you won’t believe that you saw the same person today.”
“What’s dementia?” Malcolm asked.
“That’s when your brain doesn’t function correctly and sometimes it believes things that aren’t true.”
The definition did something to Malcolm. Not like knocking the wind out of his sails, but more like squeezing the air out of a tire. His nod came slowly this time as his comprehension grew.
She wondered what things kids with lives like the one he’d led make up in their minds.
“Why don’t you have a seat in the security office, I’ll take Malcolm back to see Brother Mack.”
Renata didn’t feel like being alone in the church. There were too many memories her mind could find to dwell on. “That’s all right. I’ll come with you. I’d like to see what he’ll being doing.”
The expression on Malcolm’s face told her she was being more like a mother than a mentor.
“Damn,” Malcolm said under his breath, but nothing got past Devin. His quick glare caught the young man’s attention and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “Well?”
Renata sighed and maneuvered herself down the hallway like a twig off to find a pot to plant herself in. “I’ll be fine out here, I guess,” she said, looking around and hoping they would be quick.
Their words and footfalls, even though on carpet, sounded loud in the large open sanctuary. Renata took a seat in a pew as if waiting for service to begin. She could pull the memories from her childhood as if they’d only happened moments ago. Her parents were fanatical about two things, their children and their God. Days and days, and evenings upon evenings they’d devoted to church. Her family spent more time in church than they did in their own home. At first, church life was all she knew. Greater Faith Church of Christ. If someone had asked her what her address was, she would have pointed in the direction of the church.
As she got older, she resented the time she spent there, wearing dresses, and watching people fall out as if some maniacal puppeteer had suddenly picked up their strings and started them dancing.
She knew where the squeaky floor boards were in the back of the church. She knew how frayed the velvet altar drape was; she had counted the number of mosaic tiles in the abstract painting of Jesus in the vestibule. She even remembered that the choir closet room was once the pastor’s office, until there was enough money in the building fund to actually build a larger office for the head of the church.
No, her home-town church—gas station turned house of worship—was not the structure surrounding her. This building was grand in every sense of the world. More than large enough for the two thousand members Devin told her they had. The massive stained-glass windows—six windows in all—hum
bled any other church she’d been in. They seemed large enough to drive a diesel truck through. She hadn’t picked up a Bible in years, yet she could identify the scripture depicted on each window.
She sighed again and rubbed the sides of her arms. Her anxiety about being inside a church had come back. Devin and Malcolm couldn’t return soon enough.
Six
Renata had been thinking about Devin and Malcolm all week. Things were working out well with the church. She’d already received Red Oaks’s sponsorship application in the mail, taken pride in Malcolm’s achievements, and had grown even fonder of Devin. She’d spent time with him to get Malcolm acclimated to his duties, and Devin had been wonderful to work with. He was open and supportive of all the monitoring she would have to do as part of her agency. They’d seemed to grow closer by the minute. Soon they were speaking to each other like old friends.
Happily, she turned away from her list of appointments and things to do, picked up the phone, and dialed Devin’s number.
He answered on the first ring, as if he’d been expecting her call.
“Hello?” his deep voice said, full of expectancy and knowing.
“It’s me,” she said, already breathy from the mere sound of his words.
“Hello, me,” he responded. She could hear him smiling. He was pleased that she’d called. And she was pleased that he was pleased.
“I want to see you,” she said, wasting no time with formalities.
“I want to see you, too. Today,” he added.
She pushed her appointment book aside as if it were an insignificant thing. “I don’t have much to do this afternoon. I’ll be off work early.”
“Good,” he responded. “The Red Oaks entrepreneurial ministry is meeting tonight. I’m speaking on how to run a one-person business. Even though there are two people at your agency, I’d love to see you attend.”
For a moment—no, for several moments—Renata couldn’t move her lips. They were sealed shut by the thought of attending any kind of church service, even one in which Devin McKenna was presenting.
“Renata?”
“Devin…”
“I want to see you,” he said. “As soon as possible, I want to see you. But I’m on deadline now, and I have to e-mail an article by three p.m. But if we hook up this evening for the meeting, we could go to a coffee shop afterward, or go for a walk.”
Immediately, a vision of the two of them holding hands, walking leisurely in a green park, played like a letterbox movie in her mind. She could smell him, feel his heat, she could…
“Renata?”
“Yes, Devin. I’ll come to the service with you, and a walk sounds nice.”
“Being with you sounds nice, Renata. I’ll see you tonight. Should I pick you up?”
“No, I’ll meet you there.”
“You won’t change your mind, will you?”
“No, I won’t change my mind.”
“All right. Oh and Renata, don’t let Sister Edna seat you in the corner. She has a habit of putting new people in a corner. We don’t know why she does that. She’s harmless.”
“Okay.”
When Renata hung up the phone, she knew that she would fly through her duties today. And that the evening walk with Devin couldn’t come fast enough.
It was that part about the service that she was worried about.
Devin couldn’t remember the last time he was nervous about anything. He wouldn’t classify what he was feeling as nerves, more like a deep concern that Renata first of all show up; second, gain something from the experience; and third, have a good time with him afterward.
He glanced around the sanctuary with pride, remembering how many souls had been saved there even in the time that he’d become a member. He knew it was much too soon for Renata to accept the spirit of God and to have a “revelation,” but he was hopeful that God would open a window in her soul, even a small one. He’d prayed for it, and his heart told him he was doing the right thing, and that God, and Mother Maybelle, were leading him in the direction of this woman’s life to make a difference. And for final validation, the slight nod from Mother Maybelle let him know that he was on the right track.
“Mother Maybelle,” he said, getting her attention. She sauntered over like a woman half her age.
“Brother McKenna,” she said greeting him. “Praise God.”
“I’ve invited Renata Connor to attend the meeting tonight,” he told her. “She should be here any minute.”
Mother Maybelle took his hand, patted the back of it, and smiled broadly. “Bless you, sugar. Woo…I’m tired today. I hope you speak fast and pass a quick plate. My dogs have been in service all day, and the Lord will understand when I finally sit down.”
“I’m sure he will, Mother. I’m sure he will.”
The sanctuary was starting to fill. The entrepreneurial ministry didn’t usually pull in a full house, but a good number of people had showed up that night. Devin’s eyes searched the crowd for a woman with wavy brown hair, sparkling brown eyes, and the cutest walk he’d ever seen.
His heart strummed slowly in his chest, trying to distract him from the fact that Renata was nowhere in sight. He clenched his teeth against the discomfort rising in his stomach like a ball of frustration. He rubbed his palms together and got ready for his presentation. He made his way down an aisle and took one last look at the entrance.
She was there. And she was stunning. Better yet, she looked as though she’d been a member of the congregation for years. He could tell she was looking for him the same way he’d been looking for her. He stood fast, straightened his height even taller than his six-plus feet. Her eyes darted from person to person until she found him. And when she did, her stare caught him up, like a hot thread holding him. He smiled, liking the feeling of her gaze, wanting it on a more regular basis. It seemed his list of things to pray for was growing by leaps and bounds.
Just having Renata present in the sanctuary doubled his confidence. Something about her made him feel invincible.
Her first inclination was to sit in the back. To sneak in like a good heathen and take a seat where she wouldn’t be noticed. But when she saw Devin front and center, a rush of adrenaline moved through her like a whirling dervish. At that moment she knew there was no way she could sit so far away from him. She didn’t think it was God, but Devin’s good looks which had moved through her soul, and she had to be near him.
Only a few moments after she arrived, Mother Maybelle came up to her and placed an arm around her shoulder.
“How you doin’, Sister Connor?”
“I’m fine, Mother Maybelle. You?”
“I’m doing well. Now, that boy’s got a lot to say about business. And he’s come a long way since he joined the entrepreneurial ministry. His testimony tonight is sure to help someone turn their business around.”
“Testimony?”
“Praise, God. When Brother McKenna decided he wanted to be a writer, he did everything wrong. Sister McKenna, that was his wife back then, was about frettin’ all the time, wondering if they would lose their house.”
Mother Maybelle smiled as if the whole scene was playing in front of her on a screen. “I don’t know if it was the money, the marketing, or the mortgage, but something got that boy in gear, and right before the collectors bounced them out of their home, he turned the whole thing around. And he hasn’t looked back since.”
Mother Maybelle leveled her gaze at Renata. Renata felt like her mother had just flown in from Boston and was about to give her a good talking to.
“Brother McKenna always speaks from the heart. You’ll see that if you pay attention.” And then she was off, smiling as if she’d done her good deed for the day.
With curious eyes spying her from every pew, she strolled toward the pulpit and took a seat as close to Devin as possible without being obvious. He looked so good, he could preach about fire, brimstone, and against all-night sex. She was ready for the message. She straightened in her seat, crossed her l
egs, and smiled.
Devin nodded. She knew the nod meant “thank you for coming.” She wanted so much to read into it, I’m feelin’ you. As soon as this is over, I’m going to take you back to my place and…
“Welcome saints, brothers and sisters. Thank you for coming to the Wednesday night meeting of the entrepreneurial ministry. I know you would probably rather hear Brother King, but since he’s out of town, he asked me to step in, so thank you for coming anyway.”
The members laughed.
Renata realized that wild horses couldn’t have kept her away from seeing Devin like this. She ordered her earlier apprehension away and told herself that nothing and no one was out to get her. Although the unease of being inside a church rose inside her, she managed to focus on Devin.
He was absolutely stunning. As if he belonged in front of people, teaching them, leading them. Preaching.
She hadn’t felt this way about a man in a long time. Moved down deep. Riveted. She listened, even though she ran a nonprofit business, and everything he said made sense to her. And the individuals attending the meeting seemed to think so, too.
He spoke so well, she soon forgot that she disliked churches, couldn’t stand to be in a place where people’s lives consisted of tent revivals and come-to-Jesus meetings, and patrons wore the concept of a church home like a badge of honor. But she wouldn’t think twice about coming back on a Wednesday night to hear what new, riveting pieces of business information Devin would impart to her eager ears.
The parishioners broke into her thoughts with their resounding amens and platitudes of agreement.
Although Renata sat quietly in the house of the Lord, her mind was racing. Devin looked hotter than Paco Pickles. He wore a brown knit shirt that didn’t leave room for so much as air between the fabric and his skin. And the black trousers he wore hugged him about the hips, then set him free on the lower part of his legs. It was definitely the attire of a man who knew the power of his own allure and wasn’t ashamed of accentuating it. Without hesitation, she reached for the Red Oaks Church fan in the seatback in front of her and fanned ever so discreetly.