The glee sparkling in Judy’s eyes was not helping Caleb’s curiosity. The right thing to do was to leave this alone. Besides the fact that gossiping was a bad look for a pastor, divorce was a difficult thing to navigate. If either party came to him for counseling, he didn’t want to have any bias because of something he’d been told.
Sometimes, though, curiosity got the better of him; this was one of those times. “Silverware?” he repeated.
Judy leaned forward, her forearms resting on the desk’s surface. “Dexter won the silverware off of Carl Perkins in a poker game in the seventies when he was living in Jackson. Heclaimsthat Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis all ate using that silverware.” Judy shook her head. “Whether it’s true or not, Carolina doesn’t really care. She said the only time Dexter cried was when the judge awarded the silverware to her. Not when she confronted him about cheating on her with her sister after she found the evidence while she was hooked up to an IV during chemotherapy treatment. Not when she told him that she was leaving and their forty-plus-year marriage was over. And not when her sister showed up to the divorce proceedings with proof that he’d also been cheating on her with a woman at his gym. During all of that, he had no emotional reaction. But when she showed proof that she was the only one who had cleaned and maintained the silverware, to the point that he didn’t even know the number of knives, forks, and spoons that were in the set, and the judge ruled in her favor, he broke down.” Judy lifted her hand and put her forefinger and thumb close together. “The prick finally felt a small, tiny degree of the pain he’s caused other people.”
Caleb just stared at her for a second, unsure what his response should be.
Judy lifted both hands in a defensive manner. “We allotted twenty-four hours to revel in his misery and talk s-h-i-t about him to get it out of our systems. We’ve decided collectively to forgive him tomorrow and move on. Carolina’s even going to give the silverware back. She doesn’t want it; she just didn’t want him tothinkthat there were no consequences for his actions.” Judy returned her attention to her computer and resumed typing, which was her way of conveying this conversation was over and she did not want my opinion on the matter.
“Judy.”
“Yes?” Her chin tilted down as her eyes peered at him over her dark-rimmed glasses.
“Thank you for using your powers for good and not evil.”
Judy always maintained she was reining herself in, and if she did half the things she wanted to, she’d either be in jail, dead, or running the world.
She gave him a little wink as she typed once more. “I’ll upload the pictures to Dropbox and forward you the link so you can choose which ones you want in the newsletter.”
Caleb considered asking Judy if she knew anything about Owen or why he was so familiar to him but decided against it. He feared if he opened that can of worms, there would be no putting those suckers back in. Instead, he kept what he was feeling to himself, and he and Minnie headed out the back door and hopped into his Jeep.
As they drove down Main Street, Caleb said hi to several people out in front of their stores. Mr. Reed, who owned the local bookstore Read Between the Lines, was sweeping the wooden sidewalk in front of his bookstore. He waved when he saw them. Then Jenna, the owner of The Beauty Spot, who was bringing in her sandwich board, stopped and waved. Tessa Maguire was snapping photos of a couple on a bench beside her business, Say Cheese. It was a staple photo spot for tourists because the background was the river, bridge, and mountains.
As Caleb pulled up to the stop sign, Mary spotted Minnie hanging out of the passenger window. She smiled and then turned her lens on him and waved as she clicked a few frames. When the couple she’d been photographing noticed, they glanced over, and the woman must have recognized Caleb because she pointed and pulled out her phone to take either a photo or video of him.
Caleb quickly pulled away, hopefully before either of them had been captured. He’d always been well-known in town.Growing up as the pastor’s kid in a small town didn’t leave him any anonymity, but since Karina’s post went viral with tens of millions of hits and hashtags, things had really amped up.
A short five-minute drive later, they pulled up to the craftsman. He got out, and Minnie jumped down after him. Knowing the drill, she walked right past the front door and headed around to the side entrance. Caleb followed behind and knocked on the steel frame of the screen door with his knuckles. When he didn’t hear any response, he knocked again. Still nothing.
He put his hand above his eyes and leaned so the side of his hand was pressed against the screen. He was going to call out when he heard a noise behind him; it was the sound of someone clearing their throat.
When he turned around, he saw a woman he didn’t recognize who looked like she was in her mid-to-late twenties. She was five feet, if that. Her strawberry blonde hair had natural waves that fell past her shoulders. Large, brown, almond-shaped eyes ate up a good portion of her face, and a sprinkle of freckles was dusted across her nose and the apples of her cheeks. She reminded him of a Disney princess come to life. At least her appearance did; the fire behind her eyes was giving a much different vibe.
She squared up to him, all sixty inches of her, clearly not intimidated by his height. The fact that he towered over her, and she was literally standing in his shadow, seemed to make no difference to her. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Mrs. Costas. She called about an issue with the dishwasher.”
Her almond-shaped eyes narrowed. “When did she call?”
“About ten or fifteen minutes ago.”
“Wait.” She lifted her pointer finger in the air, then pointed it at his face and spoke in an accusatory tone. “You must be Hot Pastor.”
Caleb never knew how to respond to that statement. Sometimes, he was flattered by the moniker and could see the humor in it; most of the time, he wished it didn’t exist.
Before he had a chance to confirm or deny, she opened her hand and held it out to him. “I’m Lydia’s granddaughter, Frankie.”
He shook her hand, and when their palms met, two things surprised him. One, his hand engulfed hers. And two, her grip was formidable. He was not only surprised by her strength, he couldn’t help but be impressed by it. “Caleb, nice to meet you.”
“And who is this?” Frankie bent down, not that she had that far to go, and gave Minnie scratches behind her ear, which she ate up.
“That is Minnie.”
“Hello, Minnie.”
“Who is that?” Mrs. Costas’ voice drew Caleb’s attention back to the house, where he saw she was now standing in the kitchen. “Come inside.”
Caleb opened the screen door and held it as Frankie walked in front of him, and Minnie followed behind her. Once inside, Minnie began to sniff the kitchen floor, tracking her nemesis, Garfield.
