Silas leaned back, stretching his arms out across the top of the pew. “And you think they’ll be okay with…this?”
I raised eyebrow. “With what?”
He took a deep breath. “With the past. With what this place was…who ran it. What it did to people.”
I sat up a little straighter, brushing my hands on my thighs. They weren’t dirty or anything…it was to soothe myself, because I remembered the conversation we’d had at Rhett and Willow’s kitchen table.
Abel’s dad got accused of harassing a bunch of local girls. It was why the Remnant Fellowship had been run out of town.
I knew exactly what congregations like that looked like…because I’d grown up in one.
“They’re gone,” I said. “We’re starting something new here. I mean…I guess that raises a question, doesn’t it? Why didyoustay?”
Silas didn’t answer right away. His brow furrowed, hands clenching.
“I asked myself that a lot, right after Amelia passed,” he said. “Thought about leavin’. Sellin’ the place, takin’ themoney, startin’ over somewhere nobody knew my name…or hers.”
My heart kicked painfully in my chest, sharp and sympathetic. It reminded me of why I couldn’t act on any of these dirty thoughts: because Silas was a man in need of counsel first, before anything else.
“But I couldn’t,” he went on. “Didn’t feel right. Like if I left, it’d be lettin’ them win…so I kept the church out of spite, and I’ve been here ever since.”
I sat with that for a second, wondering how to respond. Then I hummed under my breath. “The AC sold you on it, huh?”
Silas stared at me for a second…then laughed. “Yeah, it don’t work well enough to sell me on anything.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “And on that note—fans. We’ll need fans as well. Maybe throw down for better AC down the road.”
Silas grinned. “Sounds good. Now…you hungry?”
I cocked my head at him. “I could eat.”
He stood and extended a big hand toward me. “Good—because I’m takin’ you out to dinner at Mabel’s.”
I took his hand and let him pull me up with one of those big, calloused palms that felt like it could hold the whole world steady. Maybe I let my fingers linger a second too long…maybe I liked how his thumb brushed the side of mine like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Dinner, huh?” I said, brushing dust from my thighs as I straightened. “You taking me out on a date, Mr. Ward?”
His mouth twitched. “If I was takin’ you out on a date, Reverend Fontenot, I wouldn’t smell like I crawled outta the back of the feed store.”
I laughed, but I could feel the edge of this conversation…how it wanted to slip from playful into something else.
Something hotter.
Riskier.
So I reeled it in.
“Well, I said, “lucky for you, I’ve eaten in worse places with worse-smelling men.”
“High praise,” he drawled.
And before I knew it, I was leaving the church with Silas, climbing into the passenger seat of his truck…and abandoning all sense of ethics so this man could take me out to dinner.
CHAPTER 6
Silas
I heldthe door open for her more out of habit than chivalry—but truth be told, June Fontenot brought out manners I didn’t know I still had.
