Sarah sighed and shook her head with a twinge of sadness. “Her name is Angela, but I called her Angel in my dream, which may be the closest I will ever get to having a daughter of my own.”
“Hey, don’t give up,” Macy told her. “It’s not like you’re over the hill just yet. Your dream may be an omen.”
“I won’t give up if you won’t,” Sarah told her as the captain began his “thank you for traveling with us” speech.
“It’s a deal,” Macy agreed, “but I’m having ornery boys, not little angels.”
Grace was so tired by evening that she just wanted to curl up in front of the television and binge-watch old episodes ofJustified. Instead, she had to do her spiritual duty and vote on the new preacher. She wouldhave gladly sent her vote with Macy, but that wouldn’t have been right. Beezy had made her listen to part of James O’Malley’s sermon from the previous Sunday on the plane. Grace had checked his credentials—six years at a small church in Alvord, Texas; three in Breckinridge; and three in Waco. He had said he felt like he had adivinecalling to leave the big churches and come back to a smaller one. Grace didn’t think the older folks would pick up on the subtle divine/Devine joke, but she appreciated it in a sermon.
All three of them were quiet on the ride from their house to the church that evening. They filed into the sanctuary, and Grace stood to the side and let Macy and Sarah sit down first, then took her place at the end of the long oak pew where the rest of the committee already waited. The president of the hiring committee stood up, cleared his throat, and began to talk to them about the new preacher.
Grace wondered why she had let Beezy talk her into sitting on this committee ten years ago and vowed that as soon as she helped hire the new man, she would resign. Holding someone’s future in her hands wasn’t something that she enjoyed. The president went over all James O’Malley’s credentials and then told them a little about James’s personal life. He had been born and raised in Post, Texas—a small town in the Texas Panhandle—had gone to seminary on a basketball scholarship at Oklahoma Baptist University, and had begun his ministry at the age of twenty-two. His grandparents and his family still lived in Post, where they owned a cotton farm. Then President Henry passed out copies of letters of recommendation from the three churches where James had ministered.
“I’ll give you a few minutes to scan these, and then, for those of you who weren’t here Sunday to hear James preach, we are having a little meet and greet in the fellowship hall so everyone can visit with him. After that, you can cast your vote on the way out, and I will send out a group text to let you all know the result,” he said.
Grace leaned over. “Thirty-four or thirty-five years old and unmarried?” she whispered to Macy.
“Sarah is that age, and she’s not married,” Macy reminded her.
“Touché,” Grace said with a nod. “Do you think he goes by James or Jimmy?”
Macy glanced over the raving recommendations, stood up, and headed out of the sanctuary. “That’ll be the first thing I ask him as soon as we get to the fellowship hall. And after that, I’m inviting him to Sunday dinner. There’s no telling what rumors he’s heard about all of us, so maybe if he gets to know us before he hears the gossip, he’ll see that we are good people.”
“Brave little soul, aren’t you?” Grace followed her, thankful Macy’s back was turned to her sudden smile.
Sarah fell in behind Grace. “Hide that grin. I wouldn’t mess with her—not after seeing her go all Kickboxing Queen on Neal.”
They were the first ones in the fellowship hall, and Grace was surprised to see that the picture she had seen of James O’Malley did not do him justice. To begin with, he was only a couple of inches taller than Macy, who was the tallest of the three of them at five feet, five inches, and to end with, he looked like he lifted weights every day. His biceps stretched the sleeves of his dark green knit shirt, and his thighs filled out his jeans really well.
She thought of how surprised she’d been when Travis shed his shirt at the beach and she had seen how muscular he was. In some cases, a picture was not worth a thousand words.
He crossed the room and held out a hand to Macy. “Hello, ladies. I’m James O’Malley, but my friends and any members of my past congregations all called me Brother Jimmy.”
“Macy Williams, and these are my cousins, Grace and Sarah,” she said. “And before everyone else gets here, we would like to invite you to dinner after services on Sunday.”
“If I’m your new pastor, I’ll be glad to accept,” Brother Jimmy said with a smile.
“Even if you aren’t and you are still in town, you are welcome,” Sarah told him.
“That’s even better, and thank you so much.” Brother Jimmy patted Macy’s hand and then dropped it. “Excuse me while I go meet these other folks. There’s refreshments on the table. Please, help yourselves. Electing a new preacher is hard work, and you might be thirsty or in need of a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. I made them myself.”
Sarah nudged Macy’s shoulder. “I’m reminded of that old country song about somebody knockin’.”
“The one that says the devil has blue eyes and wears blue jeans,” Grace whispered. “And then there’s something about having a heavenly night. His red hair is almost the same shade as yours. His eyes aren’t the same color as yours, but hey, he might still be knockin’. Can’t you just imagine little redhaired boys running around the church sanctuary?”
“Oh, hush!” Macy hissed at them. “I’m not preacher’s-wife material, even with all that Sunday school teaching. Remember, I was at the top of the gossip-vine list not all that long ago. Brother Jimmy would never be interested in me.”
“You are so right,” Sarah told her. “He would want a sweet, submissive little wife who wouldn’t try to kick a man’s ribs into pieces small enough to pass through the eye of a needle.”
“Amen!” Macy said and headed over to the refreshment table.
Grace had just finished marking her ballot in favor of hiring Brother Jimmy and had slipped it into the ballot box when her phone rang. She fished it out of her purse, saw that the call was from Travis, and answered it. “Hello, how was your day?”
“Hectic, but productive,” Travis answered. “Delores came back to work today, and my first-floor kids are all back at their jobs, but Calvin is going to need another day and the weekend to fully recover. But Ididn’t call to talk about my day, other than to say that I missed you horribly all week, and I’m so glad you are home.”
The tone of his voice meant as much as his words.
“Thank you, and I’ve missed you, too. Today was also pretty hectic for me. We barely got home when we had to come back to the church to vote on a new preacher, and now I think I may have some jet lag,” Grace said. “Are we still on for dinner tomorrow night—just the two of us?”
