AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sure. But still, chill out,” Wade said, then turned toward their host as he approached the three of them.
Gareth made small talk as the rest of their group gathered. After a short time of socializing, Wade led the group in prayer, then began the study.
When the study and discussion portion of their evening was over an hour later, Gareth said, “I could use some prayer.”
He sat with his head bent, staring at his hands as he recounted what had happened over the past couple of weeks, being vague when sharing the details of what Aria had done at her job. It wasn’t his desire to have people know her business, but they needed to know enough to understand why he’d reacted the way he had.
“I don’t think your immediate reaction was out of line,” one guy said. “But if you actually want to have a relationship with Aria, you need to get your head straightened out.”
“And your heart,” Wade added.
“Do you want this relationship with Aria?” Jackson asked. “I mean, it seemed like the two of you were getting pretty serious.”
Gareth interlaced his fingers and squeezed them at Jackson’s words. Theyhadbeen getting serious. Or at least he’d felt like they had been.
“Regardless, I think you need to speak to her,” another of the guys added. “It doesn’t sound like you’ve had an actual conversation with her about what happened.”
The man was right, which filled Gareth with shame. After telling Aria about how they solved conflict in their family, he’d failed to do it with her. A conversation was the very least that he’d owed her.
“I’m sure we’ve all had struggles in relationships,” Wade said. “And I’m a clear example of not being able to successfully resolve them. But Tom’s right. You need to at least have a conversation so that if you really don’t feel like a relationship between you is going to work, you’ve at least cleared the air. You’ll struggle to move on if you don’t.”
“It seems like she’s willing to talk to you, considering she came back,” Jackson said. “Maybe she even wanted to give the relationship another shot. I doubt she’d turn you down if you asked to talk with her.”
“You’re all right,” Gareth told them. “I just got so angry, which I see now was because my pride was hurt.”
“Anger, especially resulting from hurt pride, rarely steers a person in the right direction.” This came from one of the older guys in their group who had spoken frequently about his struggles with anger over the years.
Gareth had never thought he had a problem with anger because he rarely got mad, but clearly, infrequent bouts of anger could still be damaging to a relationship.
“If you want another chance, you’re gonna have to show her that this reaction will not be the norm when you get angry,” Jackson told him. “I mean, we learned early on that if you got mad, you just needed time to cool down and you’d come around. Just took you longer than usual this time.”
For all that Jackson could come off as shallow and flippant, he could also be remarkably perceptive. “Thanks, man.”
“You know I love you,” Jack responded. “And I like Aria too. She seems really sweet and perhaps a bit too good for you.”
Even though Gareth knew the man was joking around, right then, it seemed like Jackson was also right.
It felt like a fog was lifting from his mind, giving him the clarity that had been lacking over the past couple of weeks. Everything he knew about how God viewed pride and anger flooded into his heart, and he wanted to weep. So far, he hadn’t cried over the situation, but the stark realization of what he’d done to Aria broke him.
“Why don’t we spend some time in prayer for Gareth and Aria?” Wade suggested, briefly rubbing a hand on Gareth’s back. “Are there any other requests?”
As the men prepared to lift one another up in prayer, Gareth’s grief mired him down in regrets and self-recrimination. He was grateful for the support and prayers of his friends, but it didn’t stop him from beating himself up.
From his conversations with Aria, he’d picked up on the fact that, while she was a Christian, she hadn’t seemed to put a strong focus on her spiritual life beyond going to church. As the more mature Christian, he should have set the example. Instead, she had been the one to return and ask their forgiveness. He should have given it to her immediately, even if he hadn’t completely felt it in his heart yet.
Now he needed to ask Aria’s forgiveness and hope that she would give it to him and not tell him to leave her alone. Even though that was absolutely what he deserved.
The next day, Gareth tracked Janessa down where she was cleaning up one of the exam rooms. “Are you doing pizza tonight?”
She glanced over at him, a frown on her face. “Probably, since none of us want to cook. Why?”
“Can I come over?”
That got her attention more fully, and she turned from her task to face him. “You do know that Aria is living at the house, right?” Gareth nodded. “So why do you want to come over, then? I thought you were avoiding her.”
“I know, but I don’t think that continuing to do that is going to work.”
Janessa nodded. “Though I don’t think it makes any difference at this point. She’s leaving.”
