I knew it was late morning on a weekday.
But still…
Something.
A buzz of community.
Spirituality
Not this…void.
And obviously there were no tow-haired youngsters tumbling about the pews.
I left the sanctuary thinking it had been a mistake that I’d showed fifteen minutes too soon, because fourteen minutes of that was going to be me hanging around waiting.
On that thought, I heard the voices.
They were coming from the far side of the space, where a hall led to parts unknown.
It probably wasn’t my sister coming to meet me because I wasn’t supposed to be there yet.
It definitely wasn’t my business.
I knew I shouldn’t have walked in that direction.
But considering all I knew about that church and its leader, curiosity got the better of me.
So I did.
I peeked around the corner and saw, at the end, Saffron standing with a man.
Not Reverend Clyde, her fiancé (as it were).
No.
A much younger man, close to Saffron’s age, tall with black hair.
He was also lean, but built.
He was wearing a nice pair of dark jeans and a sweater with a button-down under it. His hair was well groomed.
He looked of the church.
He also looked way of Saffron.
And Saffron looked way of him.
They weren’t in each other’s arms or snogging or anything, but they were standing closer than you would with a colleague or acquaintance (definitely closer than a fellow parishioner). In fact, it couldn’t be missed they were totally comfortable, so far as cozy, in each other’s presence.
He was really tall, taller than Auggie or even Corbin. He had his head bent to her, and the both of them were very into whatever they were discussing.
I was surprised.
I was hopeful.
I was freaked out.
Holy hell.
My sister was engaged.
But it looked like she had a boyfriend.
I was going to vamoose myself, give them space, but my movement caught his eye.
His head whipped my way, then they immediately moved apart.
And yeah.
I was freaked out even more.
Because you didn’t make movements like they did unless you didn’t want to be seen and/or you were hiding something.
Sure, she was supposed to marry another guy.
But they weren’t married yet.
“Don’t mind me,” I called. “I’m here for Saffron, but I got here early. I’ll just go—”
“No, it’s fine, it’s fine,” Saffron called back.
It was a long hall, and they were at the other end of it, but still, I saw from the expression on her face that it was not fine.
She turned to him, said something I couldn’t hear, and he nodded, face tight and visibly pissed. He shot me a look, that upon receiving it, it was a wonder the ends of my hair didn’t catch fire. He then pivoted sharply and disappeared through a door.
Well, hello, and nice to meet you too. I’m your girlfriend’s sister, and until just now, I would have been on your side to win her away from a sleazeball.
This was my thought, but onward from that, even if that guy was a dick, it had to be said, I’d prefer him over a con man old enough to be her grandfather who had a bunch of other wives.
Saffron headed in my direction.
When she got close, I said, “I’m so sorry I interrupted. I heard voices and—”
She cut me off again. “It was nothing.”
It was something to him.
And to her too.
She had her phone in her hand and she looked down to it. “I’ll text Mom and tell her to expect us early.”
She was walking in a no-nonsense way, and as such, I had no choice but to follow her.
“Who was that guy?” I asked.
“No one,” she muttered.
Hmm.
It was a sin to lie.
“Does he work here?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Okay, my sister was not feeling forthright.
So…
“Do you two work together?”
She glanced at me. “Everyone works together. It’s a church.”
She returned her attention to her phone, off went the text, and then she looked to where she was going.
I just kept following.
We were close to the doors when she said, “Because of some issues at home, Reverend Clyde has given us temporary quarters—”
It was my turn to interrupt.
“Don’t lie, Saffron. I know you all live here.”
She stopped, hand to the bar on the door that led outside, and she looked at me.
“How do you know that?” she asked.
“Why would you lie about it?” I parried.
“What the family does really isn’t your business,” she retorted.
Ummmm…
“Do you honestly think that?”
“You left, Pepper. You left,” she bit out, a fire suddenly lighting in her eyes the likes of which I’d never seen in my life. “It was your choice.”
“I don’t agree with you about how to practice my faith,” I replied. “If I recall, we also had wildly differing opinions on how we felt about steamed spinach.”
Her eyebrows shot up in affront. “You’re comparing the practice of worship with how you like spinach cooked?”
“I’m just saying people are different. They do different things. They believe different things. They like different things. But that doesn’t mean they can’t love each other or get along.”