He pressed a kiss to Fletcher’s temple and toldhim again softly.
Fletcher grabbed his arm and kissed the top of Taylor’s hand before putting it on top of his heart. “You’re all the love in the world. My heart is yours. Every part of me is yours.”
35
The Church Game
The church was massive. It looked like a convention center. Taylor knew right then and there that this wasn’t a normal church.
There was a whole entire section of the parking lot with just Ford trucks. Like they had a truck meetup before church to thank God for letting them have matching trucks with their buddies. Taylor thought it was a little over the top. Fletcher passed the parking lot, pulled around to the back of the building, and flipped the car’s sun visor down to press a button. It opened a garage door that Taylor assumed was for Fletcher’s family. He pulled into an empty spot and put the car into park before taking a deep breath.
“It’s not too late to turn around,” Taylor promised him. Fletcher had his hair nicely slicked back, and he wore a plain white polo with dressy shorts. Taylor laughed at him when he pulled out an old pair of Birkenstocks from his closet and slipped them on. Fletcher definitely looked the part, down tothe gold chain that peeked through the collar of his shirt.
Taylor told Fletcher that he had no idea what to wear. Fletcher went through Taylor’s suitcase and handed him one of his nicer dress shorts—something only an over-packer would think to bring—and picked out the polo Gretchen had chosen for him. Fletcher fished a pair of tan Hey Dude shoes out of Taylor’s bag and joked that he’d fit right in with all the other churchgoers their age.
Fletcher pulled Taylor’s hair back into a low knot and proceeded to tell Taylor that he would need to learn how to braid because he “would probably do it better” than Taylor could.
“I was thinking that after the service we could walk along the beach. The church isn’t too far from it.”
“Sounds good,” Taylor replied.
They got out of the car and Fletcher had a moment of aggravation when another empty Starbucks cup fell out of the side door. “We’re going to the fucking car wash,” he muttered to Taylor who just laughed at him.
Taylor followed Fletcher through the back entrance, which led them down a long hallway of offices. Fletcher pointed out a larger office with “Head Pastor” on a placard next to it and “Will Armstrong” below it. The noise of chatter grew as they approached what seemed to be a large lobby full of other churchgoers.
“This is a lot of people,” Taylor said as he gave the room a quick scan. Off to one side was another larger hallway with a youth ministry sign above it. On the opposite end of the lobby there was a cafe that seemed to be serving breakfast. Taylor could smell the coffee from where he was standing. It was a pretty contemporary looking church, but Taylor didn’t have enough ofa reference to know what to expect beyond the wooden doors leading into the “worship hall” as Fletcher had called it.
“Are your parents here?” Taylor asked nervously. He was more nervous than usual.
“Yeah, they’ve probably been here since like six-ish. Dad definitely has been here all morning, but I don’t know if Mom came to any of the earlier services today.”
“How many services are there?”
“Two on Sunday mornings, one in the afternoon, and an evening service on Wednesdays just for members.”
“That’s… a lot.”
Fletcher gave him a look of agreement and nodded. “And it’s the same at the three satellite locations. They live stream the services here and play them at the other locations if people don’t want to drive all the way out here.”
Taylor thought that was a little absurd. He’d never really considered the fact that churches could be so big that they had multiple locations. He knew Fletcher’s family had money, but not four churches and a private jet money. It didn’t necessarily bother him that Fletcher came from money, but it was still a little shocking to find out his boyfriend was brought up in a completely different world than he was.
“We don’t have to sit with them,” Fletcher told him reassuringly. “And we can leave at any time.”
Taylor shrugged. “I’m kind of curious to see what it’s like. Will we get to take a sip of wine?”
“That’s only for denominational churches. Lutheran, Catholic… our church is a little different.”
Taylor quickly understood what Fletcher meant by different as they walked into the main room. Three stories worth of stadium seating half-circled around a large stage in the centerof the room. Fletcher told him that his family had their own reserved area off to the side with other families who worked at the church. This was weird, Taylor thought. Like really fucking weird.
“I feel like we’re here to see a concert,” Taylor whispered to him.
“Oh, just you wait,” Fletcher warned him.
Taylor spotted Lauren and Laura sitting at the very front row. He could feel a pit in his stomach form as Fletcher walked over and leaned in to hug them. He could tell by Fletcher’s body language that he was just as nervous as Taylor was.
“It’s so good to see you!” Laura smiled as she leaned in to give Taylor a hug like they’d known each other for years. “Fletcher said you were still asleep when I called so I wasn’t sure if you would make it.”
“Yeah, because you called me at seven, Mom. Last night was the first night we really slept in like two days,” Fletcher complained.
