Jonah skidded the truck to a stop, and they climbed down. Overhead, charcoal clouds dripped rain.He reached behind the seats and pulled free an umbrella. After opening it, he surprised her by holding it over her head and not his own.
“You can have it,” she told him.
“No.” Droplets speckled his face and gold-brown hair.
She caught herself staring up at him in a swoon-daze. Mortified, she startled and set off toward the church’s front door. But not too fast. She didn’t want him to strain to keep up. The umbrella remained above her. “This is silly,” she pronounced.
“Why is this silly?”
“Because it feels like you’re my footman.”
“And?”
“I should be the footman here.”
“Aren’t footmen male?”
“You,” she said, “should be bundled in a great coat and top hat with spaniels at your feet.”
“And you should be wearing an art smock and holding one of those painters’ palettes.”
“Even though I’m not a painter?”
“You with a painters’ palette makes as much sense as me with spaniels.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’reclearlya spaniels man.”
They stopped beneath the portico. Jonah collapsed the umbrella, then leaned over, coughing.
It physically pained her to watch him coughing. “Here.” She took the umbrella from him. “I’ll wait. Call if you need anything.”
“You’re not coming inside?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I’d feel uncomfortable.”
He waited for her to elaborate.
She looked toward the sea, annoyed with her own awkwardness. “I don’t go to church anymore.”
“Any specific reason?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to go into it.”
Quiet lengthened. Then lengthened further. Why wouldn’t he just go inside?
“I know something happened to you,” he finally said. “And I think it was bad.”
“It’s complicated. I’ll wait here.”
His attention remained on her for a torturous amount of time, then he disappeared into the church.
Peace came over Jonah as soon as he stepped inside the little building. He took a seat in a pew on the right, halfway back.
He didn’t remember much about his time in the ocean, fighting for his life. It was mostly a blur. But he did remember praying. And he remembered knowing that God was there. A power much greater than him, keeping him afloat.
