Firefighter's Virgin

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you… I’m just… It’s just…”

“Oh, Daphne, please tell me it’s not the priest. Please!”

I made the mistake of telling Bethany about Jace one drunken night. Then I also made the mistake of introducing her to my church…Jace’s church. I didn’t think it was a big deal until now. She was taking church serious...like I should be.

“It’s not. I told him that was over…”

“When?”

“Right afterward.”

“You’re lying. You told me afterward that you were still thinking about him.”

I guess I had told her the same things as I did Carla.

“Why are you pushing this? It’s not like you to get so involved in other people’s business.”

“First off, you’re not just ‘other’ people, Daph. You’re my best friend. Second, this is a priest. You should not be having sex with a priest. Do you know what kind of horrible sin that is?”

“Yeah, I do. That’s why we’re not still seeing each other.”

“I hope you’re not lying to me. It still doesn’t explain who I saw coming in here last night.”

“He was just a friend, that’s all.”

“What’s his name?”

“Ryan.” Jace’s brother was the first man who came to mind.

She was still looking at me suspiciously. “Your face is red. I love you, Daph, but I think you’re lying. Honey, you know I’m no prude. I would have no argument with you going out and getting a little. But, baby girl, you cannot be having sex with a priest.”

“I heard you, Bethany. I told you-”

“I know what you said. I don’t believe you. This is so wrong.”

Jesus. This is what I get for recruiting Catholics, I guess. “Bethany, it’s really over. I need you to not tell anyone it ever happened, okay? You’ll ruin his life and possibly mine. If you won’t do it for him, please, do it for me.”

“You have to promise me it’s over. I can’t sit in church every week and listen to him saying mass and know he screwed you the night before.”

I was on the verge of both losing my best friend and being exposed for sleeping with a priest.

I wanted so badly to tell her that at least I was only sleeping with one man. At least I didn’t sleep with every man I went out with, but I knew even in spite of the fall-out that might bring about, it was wrong.

I did love Bethany in spite of her wild lifestyle and I wasn’t going to use that against her. “I promise, Beth. Please promise me you won’t say anything.”

She looked reluctant but she said, “Okay…fine, I promise. But Daph, if I see you two together-”

“You won’t, okay? You just won’t.” She stayed and finished her coffee, but things were weird between us when she left. I regretted ever telling her. She could ruin Jace, and in the process, me.

Chapter Forty-Two

Jace

“Father Jace, which hymn should I open with this week?” Mrs. Smythe, our church’s 70-year-old pianist, was in my office at the church. She’d come in to ask me something about an upcoming wedding and the con

versation had gone way south…the way it usually did with Mrs. Smythe.

“I don’t mind, Mrs. Smythe; whichever hymn you prefer.”