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“Interesting. And how does the mother of your child fit into that?” Pastor asked, and the question didn’t feel probing. It felt like the pastor was asking out of care and concern.
“I’d like to marry her. She fits in like that. I moved out of the house, because she didn’t realize her mom rented it out. She recently passed away.”
“Thanks for letting me know. Maybe I’ll pay her a visit.”
“I think she’d appreciate that. I think she’s here for the long haul. Anyway, I moved into the apartment above the stable here, so there’s that.”
“I wondered why you didn’t confess you were living with her.”
Davis held the drill against the screw and looked over at Pastor. His eyes held a twinkle. He was teasing.
“That’s funny,” Davis said, grunting, before he put the bit in the head of the screw and pulled the trigger, holding the board with his knee, grateful that the pastor had a hold of the other end. It did make it a lot easier.
“You said you wanted to marry her, but you didn’t mention her wanting to marry you. I assume that’s the hangup?”
“She had a bad divorce, a messy breakup. She’s got a lot of hurt, and that’s probably all I ought to say about that. Maybe she’ll talk to you about it.”
“I doubt it. I probably won’t probe for any of her dirty secrets. I’ll just welcome her and invite her to church.”
“Well, a welcome is good, and you can invite her if you want to, but she’s going with me.”
“And that’s fine,” Pastor said, as though he caught a whiff of the idea that Davis was staking his claim. He supposed he was in a way, although that felt a little old-fashioned. Still, Kim was an appealing woman, sweet and funny and kind, and come to think of it, she’d make a perfect pastor’s wife, although he guessed she had no interest in it. But yeah, he just wanted Pastor to know which way the wind was blowing.
“I take it that she’s the one opening a riding stable?”
“She is. We are, I guess. I’m helping her.”
“I see.” The pastor stood back while Davis walked over to the other end of the board with the drill, screws in hand.
“I’ve been thinking about something, and it feels a little awkward to talk about,” Davis began, then he put the screw on the board and screwed it in.
“All right. I guess I’m the king of awkward conversations, since I talk about death with a lot of people, and religion, which is not everyone’s favorite subject. So go ahead, shoot.”
Davis supposed that was probably true, Pastor was used to awkward conversations. Still, this was probably going to be more awkward than most, since he wanted to talk about emotions, and it certainly wasn’t his favorite thing.
“I’ve been trying to think about things I can do to show Kim that I’m serious about her. She already told me she has trouble trusting. And I assume that is just going to take time, but still, I want to try to figure out if there is anything I can do.”
“What are you doing now? Is she paying you for this?”
They walked back over to the pile of two-by-fours.
“No. She’s not.”
“Does she know you’re doing it? Does she appreciate it?” Pastor indicated his watch. “It’s probably not too many people that are going to be out at eleven o’clock, working on a business that is not theirs, for someone who’s not part of their family.”
That was a good point. If she were paying him, it wouldn’t mean anything other than it was a job to him, but the fact that she wasn’t... Maybe she could see that it was a labor of love. For her. He hadn’t really thought of that.
“Kim isn’t the kind of person who takes people for granted. But she might be a little suspicious of my motives. I just found out tonight the property is worth millions. Her ex was here today, which is what prompted me to check. She suspected he was being charming, and telling her he wanted to reconcile, because he wanted something. She was right.”
“Ah,” Pastor said, picking up the end of the board that Davis just sawed and carrying it over, placing it on top of the last one they had done. “I see. So doing this might just make her more suspicious.”
“Exactly.”
“I think you’re right. It’s going to take time. Time to see that it doesn’t matter what she has or doesn’t have, that you are going to be faithful, that she is your priority over every other woman, regardless if you’re ‘official’ or not, and sticking no matter what. If that’s what you’re doing?”
“Yeah.” Making her feel like she was more special than anyone else. Well, she could easily see that he wasn’t flirting or helping or even chatting with any other woman. “I mean, she’s going to have my baby, and that is definitely something that would keep me here, regardless of anything else, but it’s not about the money for sure; it’s about Kim herself.”
Pastor nodded, his look thoughtful. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure you can rush any of that. The Bible says a brother offended is harder to win than a strong city. I definitely think Kim falls into the category of someone who’s been offended, and she is going to be doubly cautious and very hard to ‘win.’”
