The Pastor's Wife (9 page)

T
errance had just pulled out of the church parking lot when he noticed the tall, fair-skinned woman leaning against her car, frustration on her face. She had the hood up and looked like she had no idea what to do.

Naturally, he pulled up in front of her, got out, then walked back to her car.

“Hi there. Seems like you’re having a little car trouble.”

The woman exhaled as she ran her fingers through her jet-black hair. “Try a lot of trouble. This dang thing just up and quit.”

Terrance leaned over and looked under the hood, not that he had any idea what he was looking at. He definitely was not mechanically inclined.

“Have you called a tow truck?”

“I have. My brother actually. He works for a towing company. He’ll be here, but not for another two hours. He’s on a job.” She pulled her pink wrap around her body. “It’s cool out here, I’m tired, and I just hate that I have to stay out here and wait. I can’t even start the dumb thing to push it off to the side.”

Terrance looked around, wondering if he should open the church back up and let her wait in there. He glanced at his watch. He was supposed to be meeting Deacon Tisdale to pick up some papers at Starbucks near the Galleria, which was about fifteen minutes away. “Well, I know you don’t know me from Adam, but I’m Terrance Ellis, the pastor of Lily Grove,” he said, pointing back to the church.

“Oh, I’ve heard of you. Never had the chance to visit your church, but I’ve heard great things about it.” The woman finally smiled, revealing a set of beautifully white and perfectly straight teeth.

“Well, you should come to visit one Sunday. We would love to have you.” Terrance paused and looked at his watch again. “But, look, why don’t you ride with me to Starbucks? I have to pick up some papers from someone there. We can have a cup of coffee, then I can bring you back. That ought to kill about two hours.”

She looked around nervously. “You know, that sounds like a great idea.”

“Let me just lower your hood while you lock up your car. It should be fine here until we get back.” Terrance walked over and pushed the hood down while she grabbed her purse and locked the doors.

“So, I didn’t get your name,” Terrance said once they were in the car and heading toward the freeway.

“I’m sorry, where are my manners? It’s Debra. Debra Wright.” She grinned slyly.

After Terrance had signed the papers Deacon Tisdale needed, he settled at a corner table with Debra, who had ordered them both two small cups of coffee.

“I hope plain coffee is fine?” she said.

“It is. In this era of peppermint, mocha, vanilla crème, it’s probably a rarity, but it’s still my preference nonetheless.” He flashed a smile as he took a sip of the coffee. “Although you should’ve let me pay for it.”

“Nonsense. It’s the least I can do. You’re a lifesaver,” she said, fingering her cup.

“So, Mrs. Wright, do you live by the church?”

“It’s Debra, please. And just so you know, it’s
Miss,
not
Mrs.
And, no, I was just visiting a friend in that neighborhood. I actually live in Sunnyside.”

Terrance’s eyebrows shot up. “You don’t say?” Sunnyside was a rough area and she seemed anything but rough.

“The neighborhood is not as bad as people like to make it out to be. I actually grew up there and it’s a nice neighborhood, full of hardworking families.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Terrance said. “You just seem, a little, I don’t know, refined.”

“Oh, so classy women can’t come from rough neighborhoods?” She shot him a look like she was offended. For a minute he thought she was serious, but then she broke out in a huge smile. Her smile was contagious.

Terrance covered his face with his hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that like it sounded. Let me get my foot out of my mouth and start again.”

She smiled and lightly touched his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just giving you a hard time.”

They exchanged pleasantries for another ten minutes before she began sharing personal details with him. He was a little surprised at her candidness. She had openly told him that she was twenty-six, single, and hoped to one day get married and have children. She said she worked for a bank in downtown Houston and took real estate classes at night so she didn’t get out much and meet people.

Terrance was amazed at how well they had clicked, and before he knew it, two hours had passed. “Oh, wow,” he said when he noticed the time, “we’d better get you back or you’ll miss your brother.”

Terrance and Debra continued their conversation as they made their way back to the church. His heart warmed when she began talking about her relationship with God. Despite not having achieved everything she wanted in life, she continuously talked about how blessed she was.

They had just turned onto the street to the church when her mouth dropped open. “Oh my God. My car is gone!”

Terrance peered down the empty street. “It is gone.”

“Do you think someone had it towed? Or worse, stole it?”

“If it was broken-down, a thief probably wouldn’t have been able to get it so quickly. And no one calls tow trucks around here. Maybe your brother came early.” Terrance came to a stop in the place they’d left her car.

“But he would’ve at least called.” Debra looked at her phone. “Oh, no, four missed calls. I must’ve not heard the phone ringing in the coffee shop.”

She flipped the pink Razr open and punched in a few numbers to call her voice mail. After listening to her messages, she let out a groan as she pushed the end button and snapped the phone closed.

“Just great,” she moaned. “My brother came and got the car. He towed it to the repair shop. He said since I wasn’t here, he just assumed I found a ride home. So now what am I gonna do?”

“Well, the good thing is, it’s been a while since I’ve been to Sunnyside and I was just thinking I needed to get back to cruise the neighborhood. So what better time than now?” he joked.

“Oh, yeah, visiting Sunnyside is right at the top of the tourist attractions in the city of Houston brochure,” she replied, her cute dimples singing to him. “But since you’re headed that way, I would be more than happy to ride along.” Her expression turned serious. “Terrance, you have been a lifesaver all the way around today.”

Debra gave him the directions to her house. They chatted some more as they made the twenty-minute drive to her neighborhood. As Terrance pulled up in front of Debra’s house, she squeezed his hand. “Thank you so much for being a gentleman. In this day and age, a lot of men wouldn’t have done that, and I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, you’ll have to let me repay you. Let me cook you dinner or something. I’m a heck of a cook. You haven’t tasted anything until you’ve tasted my smothered pork chops and onions.”

“Ummmm, that sounds delicious, and I just might have to take you up on that offer.” An image of Savannah quickly flashed through Terrance’s mind. He felt a twinge of guilt because he knew she wouldn’t approve of his being out with another woman—even if they didn’t have a commitment. If Savannah wasn’t the one, here was an opportunity to see if maybe Debra was.

Terrance grabbed his business card from the console, wrote down his personal phone number, and handed it to her. “Give me a call.”

She smiled. “It sounds great. I can’t wait.”

Terrance couldn’t help but grin as he drove off. He had a really good feeling about Debra. Finally, he felt like he’d found a woman who might really be a prospect.

E
va tried her best to plaster on a smile. Honestly, she didn’t feel like smiling at the men who were trying to ease her nephew out of his job just because he didn’t have a woman.

But they were standing there, grinning like they’d won the Lotto or something.

“Well, hello, Sister Eva,” Deacon Tisdale said as she walked by. Eva wanted to tell him to take his old decrepit self to the dentist and get a set of dentures.

“Hello, Brother Tisdale.” Eva took her seat at the conference table. She wished Mamie and Dorothy Mae would hurry up and get there. She hated being alone with these men that she couldn’t stand.

Honestly, their relationship had been all right until that day she overheard them talking about Terrance. Ever since then, she hadn’t really had two words to say to them.

“Your lovely sisters on their way?” Deacon Tisdale said.

“They’ll be here in a minute.” Eva tried to flash a smile.

“Well, I reckon we can go ahead and get started,” Deacon Tisdale announced. “I am happy to say that plans are moving full speed ahead for the Christmas service. We got commitments from four more churches this week.”

“And Reverend Wilkerson over at New Jeremiah said his wife would be more than willing to host the First Ladies’ Brunch,” Louis tossed in, as he casually looked toward Eva. “You know, since we ain’t got nobody to host it here.”

Eva bit down on her lip. “That won’t be necessary. My sisters and I have decided we’ll host it again.” They hadn’t, but Eva knew Mamie and Dorothy Mae would be up for the idea, which had just come to her, even though they’d vowed last year was their last time doing it.

“No disrespect, Sister Eva, but this is a tradition that dates back seventy-five years with this church. How we gon’ have a First Ladies’ Brunch, hosted by someone who isn’t a first lady?”

Eva fanned herself with her handkerchief. It was sixty degrees outside but she definitely felt warm in here, maybe because they had her blood pressure on the rise. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“You wouldn’t,” Carl mumbled, “since it’s your nephew that’s causing this whole dilemma.”

Eva threw her handkerchief down. “So what would you suggest, Brother Baker? Terrance—I mean, Reverend Ellis—should just go pick up some ninny off the street and marry her so that we’ll have someone to host a stupid breakfast?” Eva had tried to keep her composure, but they were making it difficult.

“All I’m saying is there’s all kinds of respectable women in this church—shoot, in this town. The reverend ought to be able to find somebody that’s suitable enough to be his wife. That is, unless he’s…”

“Unless he’s what, Carl? Say it. Say it so I can slap the taste outta your mouth,” Eva threatened.

Deacon Tisdale held up his hands. “Now, now. No need to get all worked up. I think Brother Baker has a valid concern. We’re all concerned. Even if you ladies did host the event again, it’s bound to raise eyebrows and have people asking similar questions, whether we like it or not.”

“It just don’t make no sense for the boy to be dang near thirty and not even have a girlfriend.” Carl leaned forward, ignoring the chastising look of Deacon Tisdale. “I’m tired of us tiptoeing around like this ain’t an issue for everybody. I ain’t the only one that thinks like this. And when hundreds of folks pile into this church for the Christmas service, they gon’ wonder, too. So, I gots to ask. If the boy don’t want a woman, we need to know, right here and now, do he want a man?” Carl glared at Eva.

Eva was just about to give Carl a few choice words that would surely not be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. But the sound of the door opening stopped her. Terrance was standing there, Mamie and Dorothy Mae by his side.

“Gentlemen, let me answer that,” Terrance said, as he walked in the room and took a seat at the head of the conference table. He’d actually been standing at the door for a minute listening to their conversation and had only come in because his aunts walked up. “First of all, my apologies for running late. I had to deal with some church business. Secondly,”—he turned to Carl—“I have no interest in a man. None whatsoever.”

Carl leaned back and turned up his lips like he wasn’t convinced at all.

Terrance pulled out his organizer and opened it up. “Personally, I’m offended that my personal life has begun to overshadow the true mission of what this Christmas celebration is all about. We are coming up on the time of year when we should be rejoicing in the birth of our Lord and Savior. This celebration is about that, and recognizing one hundred years of service Lily Grove has provided the community and our members. I don’t think it should matter whether I have a girlfriend or wife, or whether I’m all by myself.”

“Well, Pastor, as noble as that sounds, we’re just dealing with the reality,” Carl sarcastically responded.

Terrance let out a sigh. He didn’t really understand what the big deal was. But as the church’s leader, he knew he would have to address it at some point. Today, however, would not be the day. He simply was not in the mood. He had a lot weighing on his mind. That good feeling he’d been having with Debra was starting to wear off. And it had been less than a week since they’d met. She’d called his phone thirteen times yesterday because she had been unable to get in touch with him.

His mind went back to the real reason he’d been late to the meeting, his telephone conversation with Debra.

“Where have you been?” she had screamed at him when he answered the office phone. “I’ve been calling your cell phone all day!”

“Excuse me?” Terrance had replied.

“Tell me the truth, you’re seeing someone else. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Terrance had quickly blown her off, telling her he had to get to a meeting. She’d gone off for five more minutes before he’d finally just hung up the phone.

“So what do you think, Pastor?”

“Huh?” Terrance said, snapping out of his thoughts. He couldn’t believe he’d become so unfocused.

“I think it’s the craziest idea I ever heard,” Mamie said. She and Dorothy Mae had taken seats next to Eva.

“What are you all talking about?” Terrance asked, looking across the room.

“Have you not listened to anything this moron said in the last five minutes?” Mamie barked.

Deacon Tisdale raised his hand. “Now, now, Sister Russell, there’s no need for name-calling.”

Mamie didn’t reply as she just rolled her eyes. Eva stepped in and said, “Terrance, Brother Baker here wants us to hire an actress to play the role of your fiancée at the church celebration.”

Terrance’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“All I’m saying is that way we won’t have folks wagging their tongues about us.”

“I don’t care about anyone wagging their tongue,” Terrance admonished. “I am not about to hire someone to deceive this church or our visitors.”

Carl shrugged. “Suit yourself, then. We’ll just let our celebration be marred by the fact that you don’t have a woman.”

“Where’s your woman, Carl?” Mamie snapped.

“I gots me plenty of women,” Carl responded.

“That ain’t nothing to be proud of,” Dorothy Mae interjected.

“Now, now,” Deacon Tisdale said, trying to regain control of the meeting. “Pastor is right. We are not here to discuss his love life. If he chooses not to have a woman represent the church by the Christmas celebration, then so be it. We’ll deal with the consequences and repercussions.”

Terrance cut his eyes. They were talking like he was committing a cardinal sin by not being in a serious relationship.

“You know what, Deacon Tisdale, you can make it sound as vile as you like. The bottom line is that this is a planning meeting for the Christmas celebration. That’s all I want to talk about, nothing else. Do all of you understand me?”

Most of the people in the room mumbled, “Yes.” Eva smiled proudly.

Another committee member then gave a status report on the guest speaker for the brunch, Rachel Adams from Zion Hill. Eva immediately began spouting reasons why she didn’t want Rachel, with her “storied history,” to be a featured speaker at the brunch.

Terrance had to silently say a quick prayer. Not only did he need the strength to keep dealing with these people, but right about now he found himself wishing the meeting would hurry up and end because he’d rather be any place than in this church.