Her brows rose as she tilted her head. “Pray tell what were you expecting?”
I motioned with my hands to look at her. “Not this. A habit, an older woman who was grumpy looking.”
Paislie playfully hit my chest as she motioned for us to all sit down.
“Mr. Wallace, how long has it been since you have been to the church or spoken with a nun?”
My face burned as I sat. “Please, call me Malcolm. To be honest I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually talked to a nun. Probably while taking my catechism classes. Sister Margret was old and grumpy. Had I had a teacher such as you, I might have kept going to church.”
“Malcolm!” Paislie said with a look of horror on her face. Elizabeth laughed and told Paislie to loosen up some.
“It’s okay, I’m rather flattered, Mr . . . I mean . . . Malcolm.”
“So, when did you become a nun?”
“I was about sixteen when I felt the calling.”
I about choked on my own spit. “Wow.”
“I get that response a lot.”
Paislie cleared her throat and said, “We just met with Bishop Mark. I requested Father Tim for the wedding.
Elizabeth forced a smile and moved about in her seat. “I’m sure he would be honored to perform the sacrament.”
Paislie grinned from ear to ear. “He is very happy to do so; he said so himself when we asked him.”
“He was there? I thought he was on his trip.”
Something moved across Elizabeth’s face, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Elizabeth had feelings for Father Tim.
No way.
“He must have come back early because he was in the bishop’s office,” Paislie said. I could tell by the look on her face, she had the same thoughts I had.
Clearing her throat, Elizabeth picked up the menu and looked over it. “This is my favorite place to eat, Malcolm. They have the best lasagna in all of Dallas.”
That was a fast change of subject if I’d ever seen one.
Peeking over to Paislie, our eyes met and I made a mental note to ask more about the relationship between the sister and the father.
Wait. That sounded weird.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. It didn’t take long for both women to fall into an easy conversation. I even got to hear about when Paislie was younger.
Sitting back, I watched the two of them as they talked about everything from the wedding to a movie they both wanted to see together. It was clear Paislie loved this woman very much.
“Thank you for dinner, Malcolm. I really enjoyed meeting you. Everything Paislie has told me about you is so very true.”
With a smile, I nodded. “All good I hope.”
She let out a girlish giggle and said, “Yes! Of course it was.”
As both of them locked arms and walked, I heard someone call out Paislie’s name. Turning, I saw an older man come walking up quickly. He gave me a once over and stopped to look at me before turning to Paislie.
Both women had a look of horror on their faces as Elizabeth seemed to stand a little in front of Paislie, almost as if sheltering her.
“Paislie, my little girl. Look at you still hanging with sisters, huh?”