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“Both idiots!” she growled as she grabbed up the stack of church bulletins outside the church offices.
On her way out of the building, she caught up with the pastor, who glanced at her and hurried on through the breezeway. “Pastor Robert!”
He looked back, seeming like he was in a great hurry, and then stopped and smiled. “Good morning, Tabitha. Did Ann talk to you?”
“She did. That’s what I wanted to speak with you about.” He looked pained and ready to run off so she hurriedly continued. “Each time your wife asks someone new to teach, I lose members of my class. Soon, I’ll be teaching my class on marriage to an empty room.”
“About that, Tabitha. A new class on marriage, being taught by my wife, will be starting next week as well. She and I talked about it and we feel the class on marriage should be taught by…someone who is married. And actually, your classroom has been assigned to Ann for her class as of next Sunday.”
“But—”
“Your class has been running for quite some time and I…we, the education committee, too, feel that it’s time to move on.”
“But it’s so important. If I don’t teach, they won’t understand why it’s so important that we stamp out all those polyamorous marriages in this town. If we don’t do something—”
“Tabitha, may I be blunt?”
“I thought that’s what you were being, Pastor.”
Robert smiled at her as they continued on the walkway. “Pastor Ryan paid a visit to us last week and he told us—”
Tabitha had to hold back a growl. She hated the reminder that soon she would have to make a hard decision about her living circumstances, since that coward Ryan had fired her from her job, accusing her of gossiping. “Told you how he fired me, for doing my job as a God-fearing—”
Pastor Robert put up his hand to interrupt her. “Please don’t say God-fearing Christian, Tabitha. Not before I have to go preach. It’s not only that. We really can’t have our Sunday School teachers doing things like staging protests at weddings and gossiping. And we’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention your affiliation with this church when you write your blog articles for…what’s it called?”
“Keep Divine Pure?”
“Yes. While you’re entitled to express your opinion, we don’t want to be held culpable if you get sued for libel or slander. The education committee has decided that the best thing to do, in light of the circumstances, is for you to take a break from teaching until further notice. Maybe it would be good for you to take a vacation. Get out a bit. Well, it was good chatting with you.”
Tabitha was hot—red hot—as she watched him scurry off, probably to do more of his wife’s bidding. Hell, that church needed her class on marriage from the pulpit down.
The leader of the welcome committee was standing at the door smiling and greeting church members as they meandered like cattle through the church doors. She bustled over and plopped her tote bag, purse, and bible down on a chair by the door before she took up her post opposite of him, smiling, handing out bulletins, and giving the warmest welcome she was able to muster under the circumstances. People didn’t understand her gift and the talent she had been blessed with for teaching. Many of the apostles hadn’t been understood in their day either.
* * * *
Hank’s workday crept by, with bursts of activity in the department offices and around town punctuated by periods of quiet, where he thought of Veronica asleep in her bed. He was the kind of guy who got up at the crack of dawn and kept fairly regular hours whenever possible. Veronica, on the other hand, seemed to be able to function at any time of the day or night, and he got that. His own mother, deceased for ten years, had been the same way. Up at all hours working on the craft projects she made for Christmas gifts or reading. He smiled, thinking that his mom would’ve loved Veronica.
Travis was at his house chopping firewood. Even though he had a full stockpile of it already cut, Travis had texted him and told him he needed something to keep himself busy. Hank understood. His job didn’t fully distract him from the restlessness, either.
