"No. I haven't talked to my parents in more than four years."
Wow. There was something going on there. As a pastor, he wanted to probe a little deeper, but he had just met her, and he thought that maybe he should let it rest. Maybe he would hear bits and pieces from someone else, not that he wanted to gossip. But her mouth pressed down tight and she was more absorbed in her work than she had been since he arrived. She obviously did not want to talk about it.
"My parents passed away about that long ago. I miss them dreadfully."
"I'm sorry. I guess you would've lost them just shortly before I lost my husband."
No husband, and she didn't talk to her parents. Interesting.
"Well, it was good to meet you. I'm going around trying to meet everyone, and I did have a little piece of business to deal with you, but it sounds like we're on for the candles as long as everything goes well at the meeting tomorrow."
"That's right. If there's anything else that you need in the meantime, you can let me know."
"I'm sorry I missed you yesterday at church."
"After the service I had to go down because I teach Sunday school to the three- and four-year-olds. But you seemed to be swarmed anyway, and I figured there would be plenty of time for us to meet. I didn't realize you were going to be showing up at my shop today."
So that's why he hadn't seen her. She taught Sunday school. Interesting.
There was a little voice in the back of his head that said that was what a good pastor's wife would do, but he tried to shut it down. This woman had a lot of baggage, from her anger at God, to the fact that she didn't talk to her parents, to trying to keep a business afloat by herself.
"Well, if you need me, you know where I'll be. The door swings both ways."
She looked up at his saying and smiled, like she hadn't heard it in a while but liked it.
He returned her smile, nodded, and then turned to leave with a last glance at the boys. They were cute, and had been playing nicely together the whole time he had been visiting. Obviously, they were used to being in the shop when she was with customers.
"Hey, mister," one of the boys said, looking up and catching him looking at them.
"Hey there. Looks like you guys have a nice collection of trucks."
He glanced at Olivia and raised his brows. She looked over his shoulder and nodded in answer to his unspoken question.
He walked over and hunched down.
"What are you hauling?" he asked, pointing to the truck that was parked at his feet.
"That one has potatoes on it. And that one has candles," the boy said.
The other boy didn't say much, but nodded along with his brother. It made sense that one of the boys was a little more outgoing than the other. In his experience, that was often true of siblings, where the ones that hung back were able to because there were others that stepped forward to talk.
Family dynamics had always been interesting to him, and twins were especially intriguing.
"Are you the new pastor?" the little boy who hadn't said anything yet asked.
"I am. I'm Pastor Mark. What's your name?" He held his hand out to the little boy who had asked.
"I'm Ethan." The boy looked at his hand, as though he weren't used to shaking adults' hands, and then his little hand came out and slipped into Mark's much larger one.
He shook it solemnly, and then looked at the other little boy.
"I'm Pastor Mark. Who are you?" he asked, offering him a handshake as well.
This boy smiled confidently and grabbedPastor Mark's hand like he'd shaken a million of them before in his life. "I'm Aiden. It's very nice to meet you."
He sounded like a little adult, like he was parroting something his mother or another adult had said.
"The feeling is mutual," Mark said, biting back a grin.
