“Donnie, I know he would be, and maybe at a later time we can figure something out—”
“What about Darwin?”
It was Tyler’s turn to sound frustrated. “What about Darwin, Donnie? What do you think is going to happen if Brooke stays in the youth group? That his parents are suddenly going to be okay with him being gay and let him attend?”
“Well, at least he wouldn’t see it as God saying that a gay person isn’t good enough to be a Christian!”
I put my hand on Donnie’s arm in an effort to calm him. “Well, this happened a lot sooner than I thought it would. One service.” I laughed and found Tyler’s gaze. “All that worry and talk about me joining the youth group. For months! All the stress and arguing. What a joke! All for nothing.”
“I’m so sorry, Brooke. I guess I was naïve. I shouldn’t have been. This isn’t my first church to pastor. Not even my first small town church. I never meant for it to hurt you. I thought maybe it would be different since everyone knew you and you grew up here.” His eyes fell. “Maybe that made it even worse.”
I sighed and returned to my slouched position. “Maybe it’s better now, before I fall in love with the kids, before it had time to hurt worse. All that happens now is things go back to how they were a week ago.”
Tyler brought his eyes back to mine again. “Unfortunately, Brooke, there’s more.”
My eyes froze, locked with his. I felt my heart hit my stomach. I knew what was coming. Unconsciously, my left hand moved to cover my right forearm.
Donnie, however, didn’t. “More? How could there be more?”
Tyler didn’t look at Donnie. He never took his eyes off mine. “You know they say everything happens at once; when it rains, it pours.”
I couldn’t force any words out of my mouth. I could feel tears already burning.
“I got another call, this one first thing this morning, after I asked Donnie to come in with you.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Donnie sit up straight, looking back and forth between Tyler and me, looking like he was about to spring through the roof.
“I got a call from Iris.” I tried to look away from Tyler’s gaze, but I couldn’t. “As you might know, she has family in Denver. I don’t know why it came up now and not before. I don’t know if she asked them to look into things or what, but regardless….”
I could barely hear my own voice. I doubt that Tyler did. “Don’t….”
“It seems they told Iris about a newspaper article about you. They are sending it to her in the mail.”
Before I realized what I was doing, I was out of the office, out of the church, and running as fast as I could away from both of them, away from everything. I didn’t even slip on the ice.
Thirty-Two
The previous summer
“Comeon in!” Lester’s deep voice sounded distracted, and I could hear him rustling through papers.
I eased the door open and poked my head in.
He glanced up and saw me through his good eye. His dark face broke into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, which was an unusually bad omen. “Oh, Brooke! I didn’t realize it was you. You made it over here fast. Come on in, grab a seat.”
“I rushed over as soon as I got your message, Lester. I can’t wait any longer. I need to know. Good or bad.” I sat across the room from him. I couldn’t believe it had only been two weeks since I had been here. It felt like a lifetime ago.
“I’m sorry it had to be like this. Sandra and Christina have asked several times if they could let the boys talk to you on the phone. They miss you.”
“I wish they could have. I miss them too.”
Lester leaned back in his chair and took me in, tapping his chin. I had been hoping he would feel the need to move at a quicker pace than normal. Apparently not.
“Lester, please. Just tell me what’s going to happen. You called and said to come in, so that means I’m either allowed to come back to work, or you’re going to tell me I can never come back at all. Which is it?” Although the two weeks had been stressful and humiliating, I never really doubted I would be allowed to come back. I wasn’t guilty.
“I’m sorry,Brooke.” He shook his head so slightly that I barely noticed it.
I just stared at him for a moment. “What do you mean, Lester?”
