Michael’s father didn’t answer in words but his wide eyes confessed he knew exactly who Griffin’s father was and just how much money Griffin was good for.

“Go, Dad,” Michael said. “You don’t want me to be your son any more than I want you to be my father. Now you don’t have be my father anymore.”

“You just got dumped.” Griffin patted Michael’s father on top of his head. “Sucks, I know. Oh, goodbye.”

Once again, Griffin made the shooing gesture. Michael’s father shot everyone in the room a look of pure hatred.

He stormed out of the kitchen and down the hall, Griffin following hard on his heels, no doubt wanting to make sure he actually left. Michael and his mother trailed behind Griffin.

Out on the front lawn, Michael’s father turned around.

“It’s a sin, you know that right?” Michael’s father said, looking back and forth between Michael and Griffin. “Sex between two men. It’s against nature and against God. It’s an abomination even. You go to church, Michael. You know that.”

“If it’s an abomination, Dad, you’re just doing it wrong. Bear down hard, then release. It’ll fit better.” Michael nearly shouted the words.

Michael’s father shook his head in disgust as he strode to his car and drove off. Griffin looked at Michael and they both broke into unrestrained laughter.

“Do you usually yell sodomy tips on your front lawn?” Griffin asked, dragging Michael in for a quick kiss.

“What? You don’t?” Michael was still laughing when he pulled out of Griffin’s embrace. It was then he saw his mother standing on the porch in silence. “Mom…oh, Mom, I’m so sorry…” Michael said, his heart sinking through the ground. “I didn’t even think…and the neighbors, I’m—”

Michael’s mother took two steps forward and wrapped him into a hug.

He froze, unable to remember the last time his mother had held him like this.

“Mom?” Michael tentatively returned the hug.

“I missed you, kid. Long summer without you.”

Michael glanced at Griffin, who only shrugged and mouthed,  Women, at him.

His mother didn’t seem ready or willing to let him go yet. So Michael leaned into the hug and closed his eyes.

“I missed you too, Mom.”

Finally she pulled away and wiped a tear off her face. Turning to Griffin she held out her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Griffin.”

Griffin looked down at her hand and rolled his eyes. He took a step forward and hugged her so hard she came off the ground.

“Griffin, you should put my mom down.”

Griffin put Michael’s mother back down on her feet.

Michael looked at Griffin and then at his mother and back again.

“So,” Michael said. “Lunch?”

25

Suzanne entered Sacred Heart’s sanctuary and found it empty. She’d made one final appointment to talk to him; she had a few questions left to ask, but the questions weren’t why she came. What she really wanted was to apologize for her suspicions and thank him for helping her believe, if not in God again, at least in one priest.

Wandering the perimeter of the sanctuary, she studied the plaques on the wall, images of Christ’s passion with Roman numerals engraved on them. She stopped at one plaque that showed a woman kneeling in front of Jesus holding out her veil. Suzanne furrowed her brow and tried to remember the woman’s name. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d prayed the Stations of the Cross. Maybe she never had.

“What’s your name?” she asked out loud as she started to dig out her iPhone.

“Veronica,” came a voice from behind her.

Suzanne spun around and saw a woman standing at the end of a pew with her arms crossed over her chest. The woman wore a tight black skirt that hugged her shapely hips, strappy high heels, a fitted red blouse and a mysterious little grin on her stunningly lovely face. The woman looked familiar. Extremely familiar.

“Oh, God,” Suzanne said, suddenly making the connection. “You’re Nora Sutherlin.”

The woman nodded as she uncrossed her arms and pushed a strand of wavy black hair behind her ear.

“Guilty,” she said with the kind of smile that told Suzanne this was a woman who had possibly never experienced a moment’s guilt in her life. “And you’re Suzanne Kanter. You’re even more beautiful than he said you were.”

Suzanne blushed and shoved her shaking hands into the back pockets of her jeans. As intimidating as she found Father Stearns, she’d never felt half as nervous as she suddenly felt around Nora Sutherlin.

“Um…” Suzanne began and rolled her eyes at her own awkwardness. “Well, you are as beautiful as he said you were.”

Nora Sutherlin, unlike her, didn’t blush. She only stared at Suzanne with her darkly intelligent eyes.

“One question,” Sutherlin said.

Suzanne blinked.

“One question? You have one question for me?”

Sutherlin shook her head.

“You’ve been hounding him all summer. Following him. Breaking into the rectory. You even went to see his sister. You’re tenacious. I can appreciate that. It is, however, time for you to leave us alone. You know he’s no danger to his congregation. I can only assume you’re still here for other reasons. Reasons I don’t have to guess at because, let’s be honest, we’ve both seen him.”

Tags: Tiffany Reisz The Original Sinners Erotic
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