The Widow of Saunders Creek (32 page)

“A prayer is just communicating with God. The words don’t matter. It’s the heart that He sees clearly anyway. Even so, if you believe in
Jesus, He’s given you His name. It’s not about the person speaking it. It’s all Him.”

I didn’t want Eli to go, but when I saw him glance at the clock, I knew he wouldn’t be in the house much longer. He confirmed what I had been thinking. “I wish I could stay,” he said, “but I have a service to conduct in a little while, and my congregation is counting on me.”

Finally, I released his hand. He flexed his fingers, and I could only imagine how tightly I’d been holding on. “Of course,” I said, my voice stronger than I really felt. “Definitely get out of here.” I picked up the painting that I’d dropped when the first slam startled me. “Will you take this out to the garbage bin? I don’t want it in here.” The memory of that thing floating toward me made me shudder.

He took it from me and slid it under his arm. We went downstairs, and the smell of bacon frying wafted through the house. My stomach growled. “You don’t have time to stop for a quick breakfast?”

“I wish,” he said. “I’m a bacon and eggs man, and that’s making my mouth water.”

Lola walked out of the kitchen. “I thought I heard you guys. What was all that banging around up there?”

“Long story,” I said. “I’ll explain later.”

She noticed Eli was poised to leave. “You’re not staying for breakfast? I fried a pound of bacon. It’s Oscar Mayer, and you know that cost an arm and a leg.” She gave a quirky grin. “Mine, not the pig’s.”

Eli laughed. “I wish I had time.”

“He has a sermon to preach,” I said.

Lola scowled. “Well, so much for my plan to persuade you to stay. At least wait so I can go get you a few slices of bacon.”

“Okay,” Eli said. “I can do that.”

Lola returned in less than a minute and handed him a paper plate with six slices of perfectly crispy bacon. She motioned to the painting still tucked under his arm as he took the plate and thanked her. “What are you doing with that?”

“Corrie asked me to put it in the garbage on my way out.” He bent and brushed a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you again for the incredible gift, Corrie. I feel like a kid at Christmas.”

“You should see how well she paints Santa.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t listen to her,” I said. “She thinks she’s funny. I don’t paint Santa.”

Balancing the bacon in one hand and holding the painting under his arm, he nodded toward the door. “Can you get that?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.” He stepped onto the deck. “I’ll call you after church—unless you want to come with?”

I shook my head. Two nights without sleep had caught up with me, and my body ached in ways I hadn’t known were possible. “I’m dead on my feet.”

“Okay, then back to the original plan. I’ll call you as soon as I finish with the service.” He peered closer at me. “Or maybe I should just let you call me when you wake up so I don’t disturb you.”

“No,” I said. “I won’t sleep for more than a couple of hours anyway.”

He laughed. “Okay.”

I could still feel the gentle pressure of his kiss on my cheek as I watched him limp down the steps. There was a long, low whistle, and I turned around. Lola stood there, smug and smiling.

“What was that little peck on the cheek?”

His kiss had definitely been less peckish and more of a caress. I felt my cheeks warm.

“I take it you might like Mr. Eli Murdock. Do I detect romance in the air?”

I brushed past her and headed to the kitchen. “Who knows what you detect?” I laughed. I dropped into the chair Eli had vacated when we went upstairs.

“Besides, maybe you should concentrate on your own love life. I haven’t seen Joe around the last few days.”

“Gee, Corrie,” she shot back. “I wonder why. I’ve been kind of busy.”

“Well, I appreciate the completely unnecessary sacrifice.” I grinned. “Are you going to see him again?”

As I sat down in my chair, Lola opened the refrigerator and took out a dozen fresh country eggs that Sam had insisted I bring home one day last week. She went to the stove. “How do you want your eggs, scrambled or scrambled?”

“Um, how about scrambled?”

“Good, that’s the only way I know how to make them.” She grabbed a slice of bacon, broke off a piece, and popped it into her mouth. She brought me the other half of the slice. “Have an appetizer.”

“Yum,” I said as my taste buds enjoyed the perfect blend of crispy and chewy.

“So,” Lola said, “now that you’ve accepted my bribe offering, I want to know honestly if you’re having feelings for Eli.”

“I should have known you wouldn’t give me half your piece of bacon just because. Figures you had ulterior motives.”

“And who did I learn that from?”

She glanced back at me and grinned.

“Mother,” we said in unison.

Could I truly learn to love again? That seemed to be the question of the hour. Could I love Eli? Could I love Jesus again?

They were two very different loves, but each required me to let go of Jarrod once and for all. I released a heavy breath. “We have time to figure it out,” I said.

“So you’re open to a relationship with Eli?”

“I think so.” Thunder rumbled in the far distance. Eli’s bum leg had told him right. It sounded like rain was on the way. “What about you? Are you going to see Joe?”

Shaking her head, she took out two plates.

“Lola! You like him. Why won’t you see him again?”

Lola clammed up. She spooned scrambled eggs onto each plate, then grabbed the platter of bacon and headed over. I hopped up and took forks out of the drawer and a few napkins from the cabinet.

“Corrie, I’ve been thinking since yesterday that it’s time for me to go home. I’m leaving today.”

My heart sank. I realized how much I’d grown used to having her around. “Just like that?” That was Lola. Impulsive. She had shown up at my door out of nowhere, and now she was leaving as quickly as she’d come.

“Watching you paint just made me hungry to get back to using my own gift. I can’t do that unless I go home and find another job.”

I was glad Lola recognized her skills as a gift from God, but to go on the spur of the moment, without the chance to even have one more
walk by the bridge, made me sad. “How’d you get a flight on such short notice?” I asked.

“I’m driving the rental and dropping it off at the Dallas airport when I get home. Mother’s going to pick me up.”

“You already spoke to Mother about this?”

“I had to make sure she could pick me up. I’m trying not to spend fifty dollars on cab fare.”

“My, people come and go so quickly around here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dramatic much, Dorothy Gale?”

“Have you told Joe?”

She shook her head and pushed her eggs around her plate with her fork. “I thought I’d send him a text while he’s at church.”

“Lola! You can’t do that.”

Still she didn’t make eye contact. “He probably turns off his phone when he’s in church. It’s not like it’s going to disturb anyone.”

“We both know that’s not what I meant.” I stood and brought the coffee decanter to the table, poured myself a cup, and pushed the decanter across the table for Lola. “If you’re driving home today, you’d best pump more caffeine into your body.”

“Thanks.” She poured the coffee into her cup. “You know I’m not good at good-byes. And frankly, Corrie, I really like Joe. More than he likes me, as much as I hate to admit it. It’s better just to send him a text, and we can both go back to what we were doing before we met.”

I hadn’t seen Lola this way about a man in a long time. It was pretty clear she wouldn’t get over him very quickly.

“I understand,” I said. The last thing I’d want to do was make her feel cornered. It wasn’t my place to lecture her on protocol for breaking
up. She had to do what was best for her own heart. Clearly, she’d made her choice.

“I’m glad you’re ready to move on, Corrie,” she said. “I was really starting to worry about you.”

“I was starting to worry about myself, quite frankly.” My admission today that the things I’d been experiencing weren’t from Jarrod spooked me. I hoped like crazy the demon didn’t come back.

The Bible still lay open to the verse Eli had asked me to read. Was I really ready to lay my heart back on the line? I had just come to the place where I could start turning Jarrod loose. It had been seven months since the funeral, and I’d been hurting for so long, I wasn’t sure how to close my eyes and not see him in my mind.

Lola and I cleaned the kitchen after breakfast. Then I followed her upstairs to the guest room and sat on her bed while she packed. The faint rumblings of thunder continued in the distance, but so far there was no real threat of rain that would hinder Lola’s drive home.

When she was all packed, she and I walked outside together. We got to the car and she hugged me tight. “I guess I can go back home and report to Mother that you’re doing well so she should stop trying to get you to come back to Dallas.”

“I’d appreciate if we could stick to that story.”

I waved after her as she inched the rental down the hill. When she was gone from sight, I stood in the middle of my circular drive, hugged my body, and fought against overwhelming dread at going back inside. I glanced at the trash cart and saw the picture leaning against the container, waiting for the trash guys to pick it up in the morning.

I’d already missed my nap and was too keyed up to sleep anyway. My mind replayed Lola’s question about my feelings for Eli. I had been in Saunders Creek only a month, and my friendship with him had grown fast. I couldn’t help but wonder how Jarrod’s folks would feel if I got involved with Eli. Clearly, they still considered me part of the family. Or at least they were making an effort to get in touch with me. I hadn’t even tried to return the effort.

I searched around every corner as I walked inside, hoping, half praying that the demon Eli had made leave wouldn’t be there. I didn’t feel or see anything paranormal, and I was relieved. My phone rang, and I grabbed it and answered Eli’s call. I told him about Lola leaving. “Did you get to nap?” he asked.

“No, but I’ve got a second wind, so I think I’ll just go with that.”

I walked into the kitchen as we talked. The coffeepot was empty, and so was the can of grounds.

“I have to meet with my camp counselors in a little while,” Eli said, “but if you’re up for dinner, I’d like to take you out later. We could go into Springfield. I know a nice Japanese restaurant.”

“Sounds great.”

“Pick you up around six?”

We hung up, and I set my phone on the counter. I desperately needed coffee if I was going to make it through the day and then have dinner out. I suppose it was our first date. A smile touched my lips. I hadn’t been on a first date in nine years.

I knew I had another can of coffee somewhere in this kitchen. I opened the pantry and spied it on the shelf. Something else stared out at me from the closet too. The American flag I had so despised. Forgetting about the coffee, I pulled it out. I knew what I had to do. I headed upstairs, showered, and picked out a light blue summer dress. I started to walk out of the room but heard my mother’s voice in my head.
“I can see straight through that dress, Corrine. Put on a slip.”
With a sigh, I yanked off the dress, pulled on a silky slip, and then put the dress on again. Once I was presentable, I went back down the stairs, packed up Liz’s dishes, grabbed the flag, and headed for my Jeep.

I gathered all the courage my body could muster and drove to the Saunders’ farm. Mr. Saunders had all but stopped farming, but a few head of cattle still grazed in the field behind the house. The sky had clouded over, and we were about to get our first rain in a week. The temperature had dropped ten degrees since Lola left, and the thunder had gotten closer.

Jarrod’s parents were sitting on the porch when I arrived. They stared at me wordlessly. My hands shook, and my legs barely held me up as I approached the porch. Liz stood up and went into the house, and my courage nearly failed. Tears welled up in my eyes. Clearly I’d hurt her so badly she didn’t even want to be in my presence.