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The congregation was sluggish, and Pastor Coleburn wasn’t much better off, his face pink and nose so sweaty, his glasses wouldn’t stay on.
He paused mid-sentence and pushed his glasses up for the thousandth time before saying, “You know what? I think we’d best serve our Lord today by congregating outside where we can breathe freely.”
“Can we congregate in the river?” Someone yelled from the back.
A chorus of laughter was answered with, “Maybe next week. We have lemonade, iced tea, kolaches, and donuts for anyone interested. Just give us a second to set it all up, and to those of y’all runnin’ for your air conditioning, have a blessed day.”
The congregation breathed a collective sigh, hurrying toward the open doors of the chapel. We spilled out onto the lawn, beelining for the shade beneath the old, towering trees.
“This is unbearable,” Daisy said, her cheeks pink. Keaton was at her side, pulling off his tie and unfastening a couple of buttons.
Mama smiled, her eyes on the people and her hand occasionally waving. “Well, tough it out for a little while longer. Poppy needs us here to kiss babies with her, don’t you?”
“I thought I did, but I decided it’s too hot to think anything anymore.”
“Look, there’s the lemonade. That’ll help.”
“I’ll get us some,” Grant offered, but I cut him off.
“Let me do it. I can go be social before we all die of heat stroke.”
I made my way to the folding tables they were setting up and got in line behind Bettie.
“If I’d sat in that hotbox for five more minutes,” she started, “they might have been my last.”
I laughed. “The river sounds like a good idea. Maybe Coleburn should hold services there until they get the A/C functioning.” I glanced around at the knots of people. “We were all wilting in there, but it looks like the fresh air perked everybody right up.”
Duke stood at the edge of the tree line next to his parents, hands in his pockets and easy smile on his face as he mingled with our constituents. The debate had been widely discussed since the second it concluded. People on my side insisted I won, the rest insisted it was Duke’s victory. Truthfully, I think we landed somewhere closer to a draw, not that it mattered. Debates were more of a solidifier than a tipping point, I’d read. And thank God for that.
The real tipping point might be the Fourth of July fair, where we’d go toe to toe in a string of ridiculous competitions. I could take him, of that I had no doubt. And maybe if I won there, I’d best him everywhere.
All I had to do was quit thinking about him naked and we’d be all set.
The chatter quieted unnaturally, faces turning toward the parking lot where a noisy truck was pulling in. Frowning, I looked toward the sound, freezing when I saw who it was.
Nash Daniels was a legend in this town, though not for the same reasons as his brother. No, Nash was the resident troublemaker, the handsome ne’er-do-well with a devil-may-care smile and a heap of trouble in his wake. He’d never landed himself in prison, but he’d been in jail plenty of times, only coming around when he wanted something. I’d seen him in town a handful of times since we were kids, but never up close.
When he parked the truck and climbed out, it was with that charming smile he shared with his brother. He was dressed for church, clean shaven and clear eyed. A younger, pretty girl exited the passenger side and made her way around to take his hand.
He was a duplicate version of his brother, younger but somehow rougher, worn. It was like looking into a parallel universe where their roles were reversed, a vision of what might have happened to Duke if he’d made different choices. The crowd murmured as they approached. I swiveled to look for Duke and found him tense, frozen in indecision. I gathered from his expression that he hadn’t seen Nash in some time. It was also clear that something had happened between them, something that Duke wasn’t over.
The senior Daniels smiled back at Nash, moving to greet him, but those smiles were strained and their shoulders tense.
“What the hell is he doin’ here?” Bettie asked no one. “He hasn’t been back since he stole his mama’s life savings.”
My head swiveled to stare at her. “What?”
Bettie nodded. “Nash stole something like fifteen grand from his parents and ran off five years ago. Far as I know, nobody’s heard from him.”
I could think of no follow-up questions, too shaken and addled by the heat to make sense of what she’d said. The Daniels converged close enough that we could hear them. There was no danger of us missing anything either—the people in front of us were taking their sweet time with the lemonade, their ears tilted in the direction of Duke’s family.
