The Pastor's Heart (2 page)

Sinclair had been planning her mini vacation for months
and she was heading out of town right after she stopped for some last minute items from the store.  She had planned a nice spa weekend at a hotel in Virginia to get away from her stressful life.  She would get a full body massage, followed by a rejuvenating facial, then move on to a mani and pedi followed by a nice dinner. Sinclair was clearly lost in her thoughts so that she didn’t even notice Desmond trying to get her attention.

“Why
do you have to be a hostile witness?” Desmond laughed as he reached for his wallet and handed Sinclair a crisp one hundred dollar bill.

Robyn
started laughing her head off. “You are not right Sinclair.”

“Excuse me
, but your husband here, told me to answer questions as they were posed to me and I did exactly that. So now what?” Sinclair was laughing so hard she almost cried because she had gotten them both really good.

“We should do a girl’s weekend to the spa.
That would be so much fun,” Robyn suggested as she took a bite of her cheesecake.

“I would love t
o, but for the next few weekends, I’m tied up. That’s why this weekend was perfect.”  Sinclair replied while staring at one of the old records displayed by her booth seat.

B
y the time; I get on the highway and fight traffic, I would have already missed most of the things I had planned to do.”  Sinclair explained.

“It’s only four o’clock now.”
Desmond said while looking at his watch.  “If you leave now you may just beat traffic, if only by thirty minutes though.”

“It’s Friday and I rather not fight the traffic this late in the day
.  I’ll go another time,” Sinclair said, turning her attention back to Desmond.

“You should go
, you might just meet someone there and come back with a little chocolate on your arms,” Robyn said, giving Sinclair a wicked smile.

“You should really let me set you up on a blind date with one of my friends.
All of my friends are good guys, trust me,” Desmond said to Sinclair, knowing good and well what her response was going to be.

“No,” Sinclair simply responded while sipping on her drink.

“It’s been about two years since you and what’s his face broke up.  Don’t you think it’s time for you to find new love? I mean, seriously, you need to start dating again. Robyn and I miss having those double dates with you, those were some fun times.”  Desmond remembered from days gone by.

“
I have gone on dates since Jasper; they just did not work out.” Sinclair put in.

“In her defense she
had had a few dates, if that’s what you want to call them.”  Robyn knew this would be a great time to tell her famous story.

“See,
I told you.”  Sinclair said, pointing her finger at Desmond.

“Remember when your car was in the shop and you had
to take the Metro? You met
this guy on the train and he was a mess. He had four kids and four ex-wives and lived with a different woman.  He was so bold he wrote his number into his cell and handed it to Sinclair so she could call him. Now that was funny.” Sinclair and Robyn both chuckled while Desmond just looked at them.

“
I was not about to be wife number five, that was out.” Sinclair added in.

“I know that’s right.” 
Robyn said as she slapped Sinclair a high five.

“Then there was the guy who lived with
his mother at thirty-three years old. He had to ask permission for Sinclair to come over.” Robyn and Sinclair both replied in unison. ”Mama’s Boy.”

“How do
I look asking that man’s mama if I can come over and see her son? What the heck, I have to ask for a play date?” Sinclair laughed with Robyn and Desmond.

“And there was the free loading bus driver from New Orleans.
He asked Sinclair out on a date, but when it came time to pay the check his wallet mysteriously went missing.” Robyn was trying to remember all of the dates Sinclair had gone on.

“
After I paid the check, I found out his wallet wasn’t missing.  He had it the whole time because it had fallen out of his jacket pocket and everything spilled to the ground.” Sinclair had remembered that one all too well.   “Brother man didn’t have any money in his wallet.” Sinclair started shaking her head at that craziness.

“Cheapskate.” 
Robyn simply said while Sinclair rolled her eyes.

“Let’s not forget
the guy that would not tell you his last name. What was that all about? Was he in witness protection or something?” This time around everyone at the table had a hearty laugh.

“But wait,”
Sinclair said, stopping her friend.  “He might have been because I ran into him at the courthouse a few months later.  He look liked he had gotten into a fight because he had a black eye.  I mean, it was a black ring around his eye.”

“Dang!”
Robyn exclaimed.  “I’m glad he never told you his last name because who knows what he was caught up in.

Desmond could not take it anymore.
He had two women talking about bad dates and no good men while he sat in the middle.”

“This is just why you should let us fix you up on a date.”
Desmond said as he cut into his cheesecake.

“Why are we even talking about my love life anyway?” Sinclair was becoming disgus
ted just listening to her horror men stories. 

Sinclair
hated dating because it meant starting all over again.  To have to learn his good sides and bad sides and most importantly learning what she could and could not tolerate. And those guys with the horror stories were the one’s she couldn’t tolerate.               

“Because you have not had a single date since the
last idiot.  And that my dear, was two years ago.” Robyn replied while sipping on her juice. “So I hope that answers your question.”

“So what? I haven’t had a date in two years.”
Sinclair did not want to have this conversation because it always led to the same ending.

“Maybe Sinclair you are looking in the wrong place
s.” Desmond was trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

“And just where should
I be looking Mr. and Mrs. Know It All?” Sinclair questioned her.

She
had never told anyone, but she was in fact tired of being single because she was lonely.  The dating game had gotten to be too much for her to bear so she had stopped dating all together. Even though she really wanted someone to spend time with she could definitely do without the drama that came along with it. She knew she had to weed through the bad ones to get to the good ones but she had done enough weeding to last her a lifetime. As far as she was concerned she was done dating at least for the moment. She was drama free and happy with that.

“You can and will fi
nd him in church. We’re having Friends and Family day next Sunday.  You should come, and then right after church you can come over for Sunday dinner at our house.  My sister is coming over and bringing her adorable son that loves his Auntie Sinclair.” Desmond tried as hard as he could to persuade Sinclair.

“
Desmond, just because they go to church doesn’t make them any better than the next man.  I can name a few that are scandalous in their own right.”  Sinclair added while she shook off some of the crumbs from her crumb cake.

“Newsflash! No one said they were.  But they are in church where you need to be yourself,” Robyn said to Sinclair
, who was still trying to get the extra crumbs off of her cake.

 
“I have had my share of church men so thanks, but no thanks.” Sinclair had been on a few dates with church men and none of them had gotten past the second date.

“Just because you ran into a few bad seeds it doesn’
t mean all the men are the same.  A saint is just a sinner who fell down but got back up.”  Desmond said to Sinclair.

“That is exactly true Sinclair
.  You can’t judge everyone by another fool’s mistake.  When you do that you limit yourself to the good things that are waiting to come into your life.”   Robyn explained to Sinclair while she played with the napkin holder on the table.

“Whatever
, you guys.”  Sinclair rolled her eyes at them.

“
Who knows? The next man you meet might just be your husband.”  Desmond was doing his very best to get Sinclair to change her mind.  “Now with that aside you really need to get back to church.”

“Look, Sinclair I know the last church you
went to didn’t work out but now it’s time you get back.” Robyn interjected as she sliced her cheesecake so that she could share it with Desmond.

With a huff Sinclair began. 
“Didn’t work out is an understatement.  It was way too many things going on there that I refused to deal with.”

“What happened?” An inquisitive Desmond asked
, feeling like he missed something.

“T
he married pastor had a wandering eye.”  Sinclair put in to a stunned Desmond.

“
It’s just plain crazy.  But that’s business for God to handle and trust me, He will handle it,” Desmond said while biting into a piece of the cheesecake Robyn had given him.

“I ca
ught him giving me the full body once over and smiling at me with lust in his eyes.  The next Sunday when I came to church I felt like a complete outsider because no one would speak to me.”  Sinclair leaned back in her chair to get a better view of an octagon-shaped picture on the wall. 

“Once again, you can’t judge everyone by another fools’ mistakes be it a church or a man.  You can’t do it.”  Robyn said as she swirled her fork into her cheesecake.

“And to let you know, there is no perfect church
.  You will never find a perfect one because they don’t exist.  You just have to keep searching until you find the one that is right for you, one where you feel comfortable and loved.” Desmond said to Sinclair who was blankly starring at her half-eaten pastry.

“We went from talking about a man to talking about going to church.”  Sinclair said looking up from her plate.  “Which is it?”

“Both.” Robyn and Desmond said simultaneously.

“
You both are hilarious.” Sinclair lingered.  “But you might be right.  I do need to get back to church.”

“I’m making
your favorite Baked Ziti,” Robyn tried to change Sinclair’s mind.

“
Fine, I will come. Only because I really miss little Omar,” Sinclair gave in because she knew they would not leave her alone.

“Great
! Then it’s settled.  Right after church you’re coming over for dinner and quality time with Omar.  Thanks for today Sinclair, but it’s getting late and we have to go.” Desmond said as Robyn was grabbing her purse.

“See you in church
.”  Desmond said as he dropped a twenty dollar bill onto the table for the tab and
waited for Robyn and Sinclair to hug and say their goodbyes before leaving.

Wit
h the April weather so warm, Calvin and Louise decided to invite their children Kingston, Jamison and Chelsea over for lunch in their backyard.  The green lush backyard was well manicured and decorated with various plants spread out throughout the yard.  A variety of vegetables were growing off to end of the massive yard.  Tile stones and bright flowers lead the path to the white gazebo where their lunch was spread across large covered table.

The family resemblance was so uncanny it was unbelievable.  The men looked exactly like their salt and pepper haired father.  All the chocolate colored men wore goatees and had the s
ame gray eyes that their dad had.  Not to mention they all stood a towering six feet tall.  The Carter women however, had light complexions with brown eyes.  Being on the short side they had to constantly look up to the men.

“I know this is not our normal Saturday thing but I have an announcement to make,” the tall thin man said as he stood at
the head of the table.  “I know good and well your mother and sister are not stepping foot on a boat, so I decided to have this meeting on dry land instead of going fishing today.”

“Thanks Pop,” the fair complexion
ed woman said while sitting next to her mother.

“The company has been doing very
well. Actually better than I expected so I am going to open up another store. We are headed down to Washington DC Carter family!” The man exclaimed as applauds erupted from the table and his wife hugged and kissed him.

“That is so great Pop.” Jamison congratulated his father.

“Honey I am so proud of you,” Louise said
, as she leaned up to hug her husband again. “I am proud of everyone here.  We have all have done an outstanding job.”             

“I would like to break ground in less than a year.
So I need everyone to start scouting out possible locations and get back to me as soon as possible.”  Calvin was riding on his newly found success that he knew would take DC by storm.