She could do it. She could be patient. The whole point of going along was to be supportive and, if he needed her to keep her mouth shut, she’d do her best.
Staying quiet wasn’t her strong suit, so she hoped he appreciated the effort she was taking. She tried to concentrate on their surroundings instead, like… The fact that his parents didn’t live in a neighborhood. It wasn’t a farm, but the house was situated along a country road with other homes within view but not close enough to be on top of each other like in the suburbs.
She also noted that three vehicles were parked in the stone driveway. All plain, boring four-door sedans.
The lawn seemed—
Reilly jumped when he stomped on the parking brake and shoved the shifter into first gear before shutting off the engine. He yanked the keys from the ignition and stuffed them deep into the front pocket of his jeans.
For some weird reason, her heart began to pound. She wasn’t nervous about meeting his family. She was nervous for Rev.
She’d known and worked with him for a year now, and the way he was acting was not normal for him. Hell, it wasn’t normal for most people visiting their parents.
But she could understand it. She would feel the same way if she had to visit her own. In her case, though, she’d never do that, even if they were dying. Neither deserved her time or attention. Neither deserved even a second of thought. She had never been their priority, even when she was in her mother’s womb, so why would she ever make them hers?
What she was taking away from Rev’s words and behavior was that his parents didn’t deserve his time or attention, either. They had done something to severely damage their relationship with him and Saylor. She doubted it was anything minor. Maybe whatever it was was even heinous.
That made her thumping heart quicken.
“Rev,” escaped from her, even though she hadn’t meant it to. But the dread thickening the air of the Bronco’s interior had begun to seep into her own chest. “We should just leave.”
He turned his head, his blue eyes hard when they met hers. “No.”
The tension in the Bronco’s interior ratcheted up a notch or two. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Told you not to fuckin’ come. Once again you forced your way in the middle of somewhere you don’t fuckin’ belong.”
She caught her grimace and smoothed it out. He was striking out and she just happened to be conveniently close. She understood that, too.
She would give him a pass. This time. “Now that we’re sitting here, I know it was the right decision for you not to come alone.”
“Don’t need you or anyone else.”
She pressed her lips together in her attempt not to snap at him for being a dick. That was not what he needed right now.
Her heart seized when the front door of the house opened wide and a tall man stepped out. He didn’t look ill or feeble so it couldn’t be Rev’s father. The older man was dressed in a plain black suit with a black button-down shirt and a white clerical collar. As he walked down the porch steps, he did not turn toward the parked vehicles, instead he took long strides right toward the Bronco.
“Fuck,” Rev muttered under his breath.
It wasn’t a good sign if the visit was starting out with a muttered curse in reaction to a man of the cloth. Or whatever they were called. Reilly had no idea. The only time she’d ever stepped into a church was when a friend got married a couple of years ago.
She rated that experience a one out of five stars. #WouldNotRecommend. The wedding service was endless, and she didn’t understand why they kept standing and sitting and kneeling over and over… Especially when Reilly was wearing a short dress.
“Fuck,” Rev muttered one more time as the preacher, pastor, whatever, stepped up to the open driver’s side window.
At least Rev hadn’t closed the windows and locked the doors.
Reilly had no idea how long it had been since Rev had last been home, but the gray-haired man in the crisp clerical collar didn’t have any problem recognizing him. But then, Rev did have a face that was hard to forget.
“Brother Michael. It’s been far too long.” Not a friendly greeting, but actually quite icy. An unexpected tone from someone she figured was a church leader.
“Not long enough,” was Rev’s grumbling answer.
Shit.
Without any kind of reaction to Rev’s insult, the man glanced past him to her frozen in the passenger seat. He pointed a stiff, plastic smile in her direction that was nowhere near genuine but only because it was expected. “I see you brought your wife.”
What? “I’m—” Her words were interrupted when Rev’s hand shot out and clamped on her knee. He squeezed it almost to the point of pain.