“Oh, Sam,” Katie said.
He shook his head. “Don’t ‘oh, Sam’ me. What happened today, Katie?”
“I went into Arnold’s Antiques and Gift shop to buy the girls a little gift apiece. All I have to say is, Billy Arnold is magic. He charmed me and we got to talking, and, well…he pulled me into history I don’t have a claim to and then gave me a piece of it. A beautiful music box. It’s antique and probably worth a fortune, but he gave it to me because he didn’t know who it used to belong to, and since I didn’t know who I belonged to, either, he thought it should belong to me. And it shattered me, but in the very best way, and that’s why I was crying. And so I pulled into this parking lot, not realizing it belongs to a church, and I quit talking to God years ago because no matter what I prayed about, I felt ignored. I was absolutely certain I didn’t matter. A part of me still believes that.”
Sam wanted her in his arms, but there was the console between them, and seeing as how he was the chief of police and had an image to maintain, for both their sakes he couldn’t bring himself to make out with the new teacher in the church parking lot.
“Look at me, Katie.”
“I can’t,” she said.
“Yes, you can. Look at me,” he said, and tugged her hand.
She sighed and then turned her head. He had tears in his eyes.
“I’m looking,” she said.
“Then listen to me, too. You think God doesn’t know you exist, and yet you lived through that school massacre. You think God abandoned you, but that wasn’t God. That was the woman who gave birth to you. She’s the one who failed you. Not God. He kept you alive through a lot of hell, didn’t He? He helped you grow into a survivor…didn’t He? He has to wait for you to see yourself, before you can see Him.
“I have wondered for six long years why God took Shelly away from me and my girls. And you arrive, not just in town but across the street from where we live. Maybe God meant for us to meet? And whatever we make of it is up to us? Life is full of mysteries and secrets. And I’m a cop. I’m good at solving mysteries and getting to the bottom of secrets. Not one damn thing you’ve told me changes my opinion of you, other than maybe to admire you more. If this doesn’t work between us…it won’t be because I quit. That will have to come from you. Understand?”
“Understood,” Katie said.
Sam’s two-way crackled. The dispatcher was paging him.
“Well, hell. Duty calls. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t forget…you are my hero,” Sam said.
Katie sighed. “You’re in danger of earning your own medal. Maybe I need to go back to Arnold’s and get one more blingy headband for you.”
Sam grinned. “Maybe a bottle of nail polish instead. I won’t let the girls paint my fingernails, but I will let them paint my toes.”
Katie burst out laughing.
Sam’s radio crackled again. “I’ve gotta go. Just remember you are one kick-ass woman, and I am proud of you.”
Then he got out of the car answering the dispatch, jumped into the patrol car, and took off out of the parking lot, burning rubber.
Katie wiped her face, then glanced up at the church and sighed.
“Okay…maybe I wasn’t seeing the whole picture,” she said. “I’ll give You and me some more thought.”
Then she blew her nose, fixed her makeup, and was starting to go home, when something within her said No more hiding. And so she turned uptown.
There were three places to eat in town, and she hadn’t eaten all day. Not even one of her own blueberry muffins. Maybe it was time to debut her presence somewhere besides Welby’s Grocery and the hair salon.
She’d already been to the barbecue food truck, but she wanted to eat out somewhere—in public. She was missing Lila. Lila would have been up to try anything.
Hillbilly Pizza was coming up on the left, but she wasn’t in the mood for pizza, so she drove on up the street and pulled into the parking lot at Ronda’s Café. She checked her makeup one last time to make sure her crying spell wasn’t written all over her face, and then got out and walked inside.
There was a sign that said HANG ON A MINUTE.
Katie took it to mean “Wait to be seated,” and grinned. Moments later, a woman came hurrying into the lobby.
“Hi, hon! Table for one?”
“Yes,” Katie said, but as the hostess was walking her through the dining room, someone shouted out Katie’s name.
She paused, looked around, and saw Louise Parsons smiling and waving.
“Are you alone?” Louise asked.
Katie nodded.
“Come eat with us!” Louise said, and pointed to an empty chair.
The hostess paused. “Y’all wanna sit with them?”
“Yes, please,” Katie said, and then followed the hostess to Louise’s table where she laid a menu at the vacant seat.
“Your waitress will be with you shortly. Enjoy,” she said.
Katie sat, smiling at the three women at the table.
Louise reached over and patted Katie’s arm.
“Hey, girl! Good to see you. These two are my bowling buddies, Rita and Shirl. Girls, this is Katie, the new first-grade teacher.”
“Nice to meet you,” they said. “Do you bowl?”
“Barely,” Katie said, which brought a huge round of laughter.
She grinned. Apparently they weren’t going to hold it against her. And then a waitress appeared to take her drink order, which was the signal for Katie to read the menu and find something to eat.
Later, after food came and they were eating, Rita took advantage of a pause in the conversation.
“Hey, Katie. Do you know who your students are going to be?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Katie said. “I’ll get a class list soon.”
“Well, I have a grandson who’s going into first grade, so you might have him and you might not. His name is Donny Tiller. He’s a little chatterbox but really sweet. He’s my youngest daughter’s boy.”
“I’ll be looking for the name,” Katie said, and was reaching for her drink when a loud crash rolled through the dining room. In the following moments when conversation stopped, she was holding onto the seat of her chair to keep from bolting.
Louise saw the wild look in Katie’s eyes and realized what was happening. Without calling attention to Katie’s panic, she calmly reached beneath the table and put her hand on Katie’s arm.