Vic sat in the parking lot of Stony Creek First Church. He figured it would be another fifteen or twenty minutes before the pastor arrived, and the service wouldn't start for another forty minutes after that. He spread his notes on the dash. Not that he needed them. The sermon was rote by now. He tried to pray for the upcoming service and for the people of Stony Creek, to whom he would be preaching soon, but his mind wandered elsewhere.
"Help me have patience with her." As he always did when he was alone, he prayed more with his hands than his mouth. "I can't be Dad. I don't want to be Dad. I just want to get through this."
He closed his eyes and let his prayers wander. Dad's safety. Dani's. Wisdom to run the shop and make his father proud. For people to show up to hear him tonight. That he would preach well. That God would open the doors for him to get on the mission field soon.
He opened his eyes to tapping on the windshield. Pastor Logan, looking at his watch. The parking lot was full. He checked his own watch as he stepped out of the car. Service starts in ten minutes. He hated being late. And ten minutes early was late. He apologized.
The pastor laughed. "Looked like you were having revival all by yourself. Figured I'd let you know it's time to come share the wealth."
A hulking parishioner wearing a deputy sheriff's uniform stopped by the pair. "Nice car."
"Work in progress," Vic said, looking over the rusty '57 Chevy. "But it will be when we're done."
***
An hour, two hymns, and three points later, Vic looked over the congregation. They were a quiet bunch, hard to read. Wonder how much they've heard.
"That brings us to the question. Are we our brother's keepers? Do we, like Cain, despise others because they're doing right when we know that we're not? Even if they're doing wrong, do we cast our brother aside? Or do we love one another? Do we protect one another, even when that means protecting someone from themselves? When we see our brothers doing something they shouldn't, do we restore them in love? Do we remember we could just as easily be the one who has fallen?" Vic set his weathered Bible on the pulpit as the organist began to play and congregants made their way to the altars.
After the service, Pastor Logan clapped him on the back. "I've never seen these folks so responsive. Let's schedule you again sometime this summer. You have a real gift. What's keeping you from the mission field you're so passionate about?"
"Dad got called to active duty, and someone needs to run the business. After he gets back, he'll retire from the Marines and, between him and my sister, they won't need me. Dani's more into that than I am, anyway. And better at it."
"Why not let her run it now?"
"After she graduates, maybe," Vic said. "Even then, I don't know if she could handle the business side of it. So, until then, I'll take care of my little sister and settle for preaching here and there when God opens the doors."
***
Dani fumbled with her gear as the butterflies in her stomach shifted into fourth and floored it. Jon had barely taken his eyes off her the whole rehearsal. Now, they were alone. She looked at her watch. Shelly's got twenty minutes, or we'll never beat Vic home. Wrapping up the last of the cords, she allowed herself a glance.
Jon leaned against the amps, eyeing her, sporting a devil-may-care grin. A real rock star in the rough. "Won't miss Bobby as much as I thought."
Dani caught herself biting her lip again. She couldn't imagine they'd miss Bobby, the obvious weak link in the group, at all. She'd picked up the original songs quickly. Nothing all that complicated. Lots of flash, no real feel. She'd put her own stink on it and knew she'd blown Bobby out of the water.
"I'm dead if word gets around."
His look begged the question.
"My family wouldn't approve of me playing this kind of music. And my church definitely wouldn't."
Jon stepped closer. "If anyone from your church is at our show, it's not like they're going to admit it."
"I never get away with anything." Biting the lip again. Stop that. It makes you look, like, five. She glanced out the window. Still no Shelly.
"Relax." He put his hand on her back. Smirked.
Dani tensed. She met his gaze for a fraction of a second, felt blood rushing to her face.
"Not like you're a kid."
"For two more months, I am. Till April first."
Jon laughed. "No kidding? April Fool's Day?"
Wow, he's close. And a little sweaty.
"Mother's little fools," she said. "Me and my brother both. Six years apart, and she still couldn't hit a different day."
The thought of Mom hit her hard. Don't start crying.
Jon leaned in closer, cupped her chin.
I love you, Mom, but I can't think about you right now.
She'd never been kissed. If it was going to happen, she didn't want to be thinking about Mom, of all things.
Throttling engine. Tires throwing gravel. Her GTO's horn.
She pulled away.
He frowned. "Can't you stay a few more minutes?"
Wish I could. And I don't. Can I? Don't know. She checked her watch. "Gonna have to floor it to beat my brother home as it is."
"What's he gonna do?"
"If he knew I was here? You don't want to know," she said over her shoulder as she pulled her guitar case through the door. "I don't want to know."
Turning into the cold wind, she stopped in her tracks.
No Shelly. No Bobby.
Vic.