The Pastor's Wife

by Jennifer AlLee

  Maura took a step backward. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything—”

  “No!” Nick and the blond spoke at once.

  Nick cleared his throat. “No, really, everything's fine. Maura, this is Lainie Waters, our new youth director.” He motioned with his hand between the two women. “Lainie, this is Maura. I told you about her.”

  Maura snapped her head in Nick's direction. What exactly did he tell this woman about her? More important, why did he feel the need to tell her anything?

  Lainie bounded forward, doing a little dance around the coffee table, her hand extended. “So nice to meet you, Maura.”

  Not wanting to be impolite, Maura took her hand. “Likewise.”

  “Don’t worry, I was just on my way out. We were having a meeting about the youth group, and by we I mean Pastor Nick, Pastor Chris, and I. Have you met Pastor Chris? He's the associate pastor at Faith. Great guy. He was here the whole time, but he had to leave about five minutes ago to get to another appointment. You just missed him.”

  Maura wondered how there could be any air left in the room by the time Lainie finished. And she was still pumping away at Maura's arm.

  “Well, nice meeting you, Miss Waters.” Maura extricated her hand from Lainie's grasp.

  She laughed and waved her hand. “I’m just Lainie. So glad we got to meet each other, Maura. And I hope to see you around church. Bye, Pastor Nick.”

  With a wiggle of her fingers, she was gone.

  Nick and Maura looked mutely at each other. Now that it was just the two of them, the house seemed abnormally quiet. “Well,” Maura said, “she certainly is … perky.”

  “Yes, she is.” Nick scratched the back of his head. “She's only been with us for two months, but she's already doing a great job with the kids.”

  Maura's chest tightened at the admiration in Nick's voice. “Since when do you have meetings at the house?”

  He frowned. “Since I knew you were coming and I wanted to be here when you arrived.”

  “Oh.” His explanation made sense. Besides, whether his meeting was for business or pleasure was none of her business. She’d given up the right to be jealous a long time ago.

  The tension in the room nearly suffocated her. She had to say something, anything, to get them on more stable footing. “The place looks nice.”

  “Thanks.” He looked toward the front door in the direction of her car. “Do you have anything to bring in?”

  “Tons of stuff. But I can get it later.” Maura jiggled the car keys nervously. She stopped and shoved them in her pocket. Did Nick feel as jittery as she did? She couldn’t tell if he was just annoyed or nervous too.

  He looked around at nothing in particular, then back at her. “Want me to show you where your room is?”

  At last, something made her smile. He was nervous. “It's been a long time, but I think I can still remember how to find the spare room.”

  “Oh, brother.” He ran his hand through his hair and down his face. “This day isn’t going at all like I planned. I wanted so much to make this simple and easy, but I’ve got to admit, I don’t have a clue how to act.”

  She appreciated his honesty. It was much easier to deal with the elephant in the room once someone admitted it was there. Of course, she’d rather have a whole herd of elephants to contend with than to be alone with her estranged husband.

  “I think we both need something to do right now.” She retrieved the keys from her pocket and held them out to him. “There's a suitcase behind the driver's seat. If you could bring that in, I’ll get the rest of it later. And while you’re doing that, I’ll visit the washroom. It's been a long trip.”

  With a nod Nick took the keys and went out the front door. Now that she was alone, Maura took a closer look at her surroundings. Little had changed since the last time she’d been in this room. The chocolate-brown sofa had faded into a color more closely resembling coffee laced with heavy cream, and the recliner she’d come to think of as “Nick's chair” was just this side of threadbare. But the same battered oak table with the mismatched chairs stood on a brightly colored braided rag rug in the small dining area. The paintings on the walls were the same, as were the curtains that hung at the front windows. All the hand-me-downs they’d been given by well-meaning parishioners still filled the house.

  When Maura had learned that Nick's new assignment came with a parsonage, she’d been thrilled. What a blessing to be able to start their married life in their own home. She’d spent hours dreaming of what it would look like, planning how she would pick out each piece of furniture with care, each accessory and knick-knack, creating a home they’d both love. But when they’d arrived, she’d been surprised to find the house completely furnished in what she now thought of as “early American garage sale.”

  Nick had never let her replace any of it for fear they’d hurt someone's feelings.

  “Instead of seeing all this stuff as castoffs, look at it this way,” he’d said. “These folks went through their homes and chose family pieces to share with us. What if someone comes over and finds out we got rid of Uncle Joe's recliner? That wouldn’t be a good start, would it?”

  The members of the congregation had gone out of their way to make them feel welcome. Still, Maura hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that she was living in someone else's house.

  She looked up at the picture hanging over the fireplace and grimaced. It was a dark, heavy oil painting of three old men in britches and waistcoats, sitting around a rough wood table, holding up what looked to be beer steins. Not only was it a questionable donation to the home of a pastor, it was downright ugly. And it was too heavy to move. She knew because she’d tried.

  How could she stand living there again, surrounded by more reminders of how nothing turned out the way she’d hoped?

  Maura went into the bathroom, washed her hands, and patted her cheeks with the cool water. Six years ago, she’d come to this house as a newly married woman, excited about the life ahead of her. Now, the face reflected in the mirror was that of a woman hardened by disappointment and loss.

  “You can do this,” she said to herself. “It's only furniture. No big deal. Just focus on the job you’ve got to do.”

  She left the bathroom and collided with Nick in the hall. Her palm braced against his chest just as he grabbed her arms to keep her from falling. The heat from his hands burned through her sleeves and up to her neck. Slowly, she raised her eyes, moving from the middle of his shirt to the open V at the base of his throat to his chin with its sprinkling of light stubble to his lips. And that's where her eyes screeched to a halt. It had been a long time since she’d been this close to his lips.

  “Sorry.” He pushed her away gently, making sure she was steady before he let go. “I just put your bag in the room.”

  Maura took a step back, pressing as close to the wall as possible. “Thanks. I appreciate the help.”

  He smiled. “No problem. You sure you don’t want me to get the rest of it?”

  “It can wait,” she said with a shake of her head.

  Nick nodded and looked away again. Yes, this would certainly take some getting used to.

  “Why don’t we—”

  “What are you—”

  They both spoke at once, then snapped their mouths shut. Finally, Maura said, “Why don’t we move out of the hall, hmm?”

  Nick nodded, and they went back into the living room. “So, how was the trip?”

  She sighed. “Long. And a little disappointing.”

  “How so?”

  Why had she gone and said that? She could have kept it to herself, and he would have been none the wiser.

  “I stopped to see some of the roadside attractions.”

  The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly, stopping just short of a full-blown grin. “I guess that means they didn’t live up to your expectations.”

  “Not even close. You know that big sign for the genuine unicorn?”

  “Yeah.”
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  “It was a poor little goat with a horn grafted onto his forehead.”

  Nick lost the battle to keep a straight face. “You didn’t expect to see a real one, did you?”

  Maura rolled her eyes. “Of course not. But if you paint a picture of a beautiful, horse-like unicorn on your sign, your fake unicorn should at least resemble a horse.”

  “Good point.” He paused, as if debating whether or not to ask the next question. “What about the gopher? Did you stop to see that?”

  Now Maura grinned. When they’d made the trip together he’d acted like none of it interested him. It was nice to know he’d been a little curious after all. “Yes, I did. It actually was a three-ton gopher … carved out of solid rock. At least that sign was honest—misleading, but honest.”

  Nick laughed, and she joined with him. Electricity buzzed through the air, tying them together, jerking Maura up short. Why was it so easy to fall into this camaraderie? How could she forget, even for a little while, all the reasons she had for leaving him? Reasons that extended far beyond his spending too much time away from home. Reasons he didn’t even know about.

  This couldn’t happen. Nick had his life, and she had hers. This joint life they’d been forced into was only temporary. Even though they were still legally married, they would never be together in that way again. If she forgot their past, she was asking for more pain.

  “What are your plans for today?”

  “I should be unpacking,” she said, “but that's the last thing I want to do right now.” She thought of unpacking the boxes and putting her stuff away in the closet and the dresser, acting as though she belonged in this house. It was something she’d put off as long as she could. “Honestly, I’m itching to work on the theatre.”

  “So you’re heading over there?”

  Maura shook her head. “I want to walk around, stretch my legs. I need to get the lay of the land. I know nothing changes much in Granger, but I noticed on the welcome-to-town sign that the population's had a bit of a spike, so something must be different.”

  Nick cocked his head to one side. “You have no idea, do you?”

  “About what?”

  This brought out a full-blown smile. “Wow, are you in for a surprise. If you really want to get the big picture, it would be better to drive.”

  Maura groaned. Her body would revolt if she forced it back into the car.

  Nick laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bet more driving sounds lousy right now. What if I do the driving and show you the major changes?”

  Maura hesitated. It was natural for Nick to want to help. After all, that's what he did for a living. But getting too comfortable with him would only lead to trouble. “You know, that's a sweet offer, but I don’t want to put you out.”

  “The way I see it, it's kind of my responsibility. After all, I have just as much at stake as you do.”

  “Is that so? How do you figure?”

  Nick crossed his arms, shifting his weight to the back of one foot. “Well, if you don’t get that theatre in shape, we won’t be able to have the church program there. And if that doesn’t happen, the church won’t get the donation. So it's in my best interest to see you have all the background information you need.”

  Her spirits sank just a little as she realized he was right. She might as well face facts. No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, the two of them were stuck with each other for six months.

  “Okay, you win.”

  For such a practical man, sometimes Nick was way too impulsive, like offering to drive Maura around. If he had thought it through, he would have realized it was a big mistake. The more time they spent alone together and the more interaction they had, the harder it would be to keep his feelings bottled up. He was leaving himself wide open for more pain.

  As they drove down Main Street, he pointed out new businesses, some brand new and others that had taken the place of closed establishments. The first time the two of them had driven down this road, they’d been a happily married couple, exploring their new hometown. Nick had been so excited about the prospect of coming on as an associate and being mentored by Pastor Wesson that everything seemed quaint and full of potential. Maura, on the other hand, kept expressing wonder at the smallness of the town. When she had asked where the Starbuck's was, he should have realized everything wasn’t going to be as perfect as he expected.

  “What's that?”

  Maura pointed at one of the shops across the street. Its bold blue and yellow sign proclaimed The Dot Spot, making it stand out sandwiched between Mabel's Beauty Emporium and The Wee One's Shoe Shack.

  “That's your first surprise. Believe it or not, The Dot Spot is Granger's first Internet café.”

  “You’re joking.” Her head whipped around for another look. “I thought for sure it was a dry cleaner or something.”

  “Nope, it's an honest to goodness designer-coffee-and-internet-hookup spot.”

  “I’ll bet the boys at the phone company had a great time wiring that up.”

  Nick shook his head. “They don’t have any dial-up connections.”

  Maura hesitated. “You mean …”

  “Yep, it's all high speed and Wi-Fi,” Nick finished for her. “Technology has come to Granger.”

  He glanced over at Maura, who stared out the front window. She had never liked living in Granger. Nick knew the town felt too small and backward to her. She’d said it hadn’t changed in a hundred years and wouldn’t change in another hundred. How must she feel now to discover she’d been wrong?

  They kept driving, and he pointed out other progressive improvements. She simply nodded and muttered the occasional, “Hmm.”

  When they neared the edge of the commercial district, he pointed off to the right. “You already know what's in that direction. That's the older residential section of Granger. It's pretty much the same as when you were here.”

  “The older section?” she asked. “You mean there's a newer one?”

  “Oh, yeah. Boy, are you in for a surprise.”

  He took a left, went around a corner, and they were immediately greeted by a beautiful tree-lined street full of newer homes. Nick visited members of his congregation in this area regularly, but the sight of all this new growth occasionally still took him by surprise. He could only imagine how Maura must feel.

  Beside him, she swung her head from side to side, trying to take in all the houses with their neatly manicured lawns and paved driveways. “When did all this happen?”

  “The construction started about three years ago, and phase two was completed about six months ago, so—”

  “Phase two? How many phases are there?”

  Nick held back a grin. “Right now the Granger Commission for Urban Growth has given the go-ahead for phase three, but—”

  “Urban growth? Granger actually has a commission that's encouraging change and growth now?” If her voice got any higher, she’d attract every dog in the neighborhood.

  Poor Maura. She was having a harder time processing the information than he’d expected. “I think we’ve driven around enough for one day. Why don’t we get some coffee and go sit in the park. I’ll explain it all to you.”

  She sat back in her seat, closed her eyes, and nodded. “That's the first thing you’ve said that's made any sense since we got in the car.”

  4

  What would you like?” Nick asked.

  He might as well have asked her to recite the periodic table. “Whatever you’re having.”

  She was gawking. It was rude. But she couldn’t stop.

  As Nick approached the counter, Maura continued to take in the space around her. The Dot Spot was a clever combination of rural comfort and high-tech convenience. Chunky wooden tables with high-backed chairs were interspersed with overstuffed chairs and couches. Along two walls stood a bar made of what looked like one continuous piece of highly varnished wood. There were some open hookup spaces, but most of them were filled with an eclectic group of people: a professional couple wea
ring business casual; a few teenage boys sporting various piercings, one of which had a skateboard propped up against his chair; and a fellow who in his overalls and straw hat looked like he’d just come in off the farm. They all shared the space together, drinking coffee and hunched over laptops.

  It wasn’t an amazing site in and of itself. In fact, with the exception of the woodsy theme, it reminded her of most of the coffee shops she’d ever been to in San Diego. And that was the amazing thing, because she wasn’t in San Diego anymore. She was in Granger.

  “Here you go.”

  Nick held out a tall cup. The rich aroma wafted gently under her nose. “Thanks.”

  She looked around for a place to sit. A few people had already raised their hands in greeting. If they stayed here, Nick would be swarmed, and they’d never be able to talk.

  As if reading her mind, Nick motioned to the door. “Why don’t we walk to the park.”

  Maura sipped her tall cup of coffee, only vaguely aware of the mingled tastes of vanilla, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Neither spoke as they strolled across the street and found a bench. Nick was probably giving her time to process all the new information she’d received that day. In contrast Maura's brain had gone on tilt.

  Finally, she asked Nick the only question that came to mind. “What happened to Granger?”

  He hung one elbow on the back of the bench and angled toward her. “Actually, it's what happened to Beaver Falls that caused all the changes here.”

  Beaver Falls? She was more confused than ever. Beaver Falls was thirty miles away and almost as stuck in its ways as Granger. How could anything that happened there have brought about all the changes she’d seen?

  Nick didn’t wait for her to respond. “About four years ago, a small company called Apex Computers relocated to Beaver Falls.”

  Maura shook her head. “I’ve never heard of them.”

  “Neither had anyone else, which was part of their problem. The other part was they were based in northern California in Silicon Valley. At that time real estate prices were at their peak, so even leasing a business facility cost them a fortune. Anyhow, they did some creative thinking and decided to move their whole operation out to the country, where the pace is slower, the sky is bluer—”