The Pastor's Wife (5 page)

“The construction started about three years ago, and phase two was completed about six months ago, so—”

“
Phase two?
How many phases are there?”

Nick held back a grin. “Right now the Granger Commission for Urban Growth has given the go-ahead for phase three, but—”

“Urban growth? Granger actually has a commission that's
encouraging
change and growth now?” If her voice got any higher, she’d attract every dog in the neighborhood.

Poor Maura. She was having a harder time processing the information than he’d expected. “I think we’ve driven around enough for one day. Why don’t we get some coffee and go sit in the park. I’ll explain it all to you.”

She sat back in her seat, closed her eyes, and nodded. “That's the first thing you’ve said that's made any sense since we got in the car.”

W
hat would you like?” Nick asked.

He might as well have asked her to recite the periodic table. “Whatever you’re having.”

She was gawking. It was rude. But she couldn’t stop.

As Nick approached the counter, Maura continued to take in the space around her. The Dot Spot was a clever combination of rural comfort and high-tech convenience. Chunky wooden tables with high-backed chairs were interspersed with overstuffed chairs and couches. Along two walls stood a bar made of what looked like one continuous piece of highly varnished wood. There were some open hookup spaces, but most of them were filled with an eclectic group of people: a professional couple wearing business casual; a few teenage boys sporting various piercings, one of which had a skateboard propped up against his chair; and a fellow who in his overalls and straw hat looked like he’d just come in off the farm. They all shared the space together, drinking coffee and hunched over laptops.

It wasn’t an amazing site in and of itself. In fact, with the exception of the woodsy theme, it reminded her of most of the coffee shops she’d ever been to in San Diego. And that was
the amazing thing, because she wasn’t in San Diego anymore. She was in Granger.

“Here you go.”

Nick held out a tall cup. The rich aroma wafted gently under her nose. “Thanks.”

She looked around for a place to sit. A few people had already raised their hands in greeting. If they stayed here, Nick would be swarmed, and they’d never be able to talk.

As if reading her mind, Nick motioned to the door. “Why don’t we walk to the park.”

Maura sipped her tall cup of coffee, only vaguely aware of the mingled tastes of vanilla, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Neither spoke as they strolled across the street and found a bench. Nick was probably giving her time to process all the new information she’d received that day. In contrast Maura's brain had gone on tilt.

Finally, she asked Nick the only question that came to mind. “What happened to Granger?”

He hung one elbow on the back of the bench and angled toward her. “Actually, it's what happened to Beaver Falls that caused all the changes here.”

Beaver Falls? She was more confused than ever. Beaver Falls was thirty miles away and almost as stuck in its ways as Granger. How could anything that happened there have brought about all the changes she’d seen?

Nick didn’t wait for her to respond. “About four years ago, a small company called Apex Computers relocated to Beaver Falls.”

Maura shook her head. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“Neither had anyone else, which was part of their problem. The other part was they were based in northern California in Silicon Valley. At that time real estate prices were at their peak, so even leasing a business facility cost them a fortune.
Anyhow, they did some creative thinking and decided to move their whole operation out to the country, where the pace is slower, the sky is bluer—”

“And the land is cheaper,” she said.

Nick nodded. “Exactly. At the same time they changed their name, came up with a catchy marketing campaign, and the company took off.”

It finally clicked in Maura's head. “Beaver Computers.” She’d seen the commercials with Bucky, the big-toothed animated beaver and their slogan
Beavers Build It Better
. It was corny but cute and odd enough to catch a person's attention. More important, the company backed up their marketing with an excellent product. She owned a Beaver laptop herself. “I see their advertising everywhere, but I had no idea they were based out here.”

“The company tripled their revenue in the last few years, which meant they increased their workforce. As new employees moved to the area, housing prices in Beaver Falls went up. Now we’re getting the overflow from all the Beaver employees who don’t mind commuting if it means paying less for a house. And thanks to their success, a few other major corporations are considering a move into the area.” Nick drained his coffee and threw the empty cup into a nearby trash can. “So you see, things do change.”

“Yes, they do.”

Maura looked around them. There was more traffic on the street, new stores here and there, but Granger still looked like a small town. When she lived here, she had wished for something different, something more. But now, she found herself hoping that Granger didn’t lose what made it special.

That was a surprise. When had she ever thought anything about this town was special?

“So now what?” Nick asked.

“Now I need to get to work.”

An hour later, Maura sat in the Granger Public Library, surrounded by business books. She’d asked Nick to drop her there so she could do research, but more than that she just wanted a quiet place to gather her thoughts and time to sketch out a plan for the theatre.

Her mind kept returning to the same question: if she hadn’t left Granger when she did, would her life have turned out differently? Beaver Computers relocated a few years after she took off. If she’d known the town would be growing, and it really would be changing, would she have stayed?

The answer came to her with a rush. No.

No matter how much Granger had grown, it didn’t change the fact that Nick's first love was the church and all his parishioners. The town's growth spurt had probably made that situation worse, since there were so many new souls to worry about. And nothing could make up for what she lost or erase the heartache that finally spurred her to leave Nick.

“Maura Shepherd?”

A familiar voice pulled her from her reverie. She opened her mouth to correct the person—
it's Sullivan, not Shepherd
—when she recognized an old friend.

“Rachel?”

Her hips were a little bit wider than the last time Maura had seen her, and her hair was a whole lot redder, but she would have recognized Rachel Nelson anywhere. Rachel was the closest friend she’d had in Granger and one of the few people who knew the whole truth about what had happened between her and Nick. Maura's immediate joy at seeing Rachel was tempered with shame for the way she’d handled her exit from town.

But Rachel wasn’t the type to hold a grudge. With a grin as wide as Lake Erie, she grabbed Maura's hands, hauled her
to her feet, and engulfed her in a bear hug. “I heard you were coming back. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you!”

Maura hugged her back, feeling a surge of genuine happiness for the first time in weeks. “It's good to see you too.”

Mrs. Phipps, the head librarian, walked up to them. A serious woman who wore serious clothes and her hair in a seriously severe bun, she’d been a fixture in the library for as long as anyone could remember. She was also a strict enforcer of the rules of library conduct, particularly the one about never talking above a stage whisper within its hallowed halls. Putting her finger to her lips, she gave Rachel and Maura a hearty “shush” before continuing on her way back to the information desk. The reprimand only served to send the two friends into fits of giggles.

Rachel composed herself, stepping back to give Maura a good once-over. “My, my,” Rachel said softly, “you don’t look a bit different since the last time I saw you. What's it been, five years?”

“A little over six.” Maura tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Rachel, I owe you an apology. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing. I …”

Rachel held up her hand. “It's done and over with. One day, if you want, we can have a long talk about it, but today is not that day.”

She casually motioned with her head toward the front desk where Mrs. Phipps held court. It was a well-known fact that, while the woman frowned on people talking in the library, she had no qualms about eavesdropping on conversations when they were audible, as it gave her lots of new information to share during her weekly wash and set at Mabel's.

“What I really want,” Rachel continued, “is to get the whole scoop on why you’re back now.”

Maura laughed. “I’m surprised you haven’t already heard it through the grapevine.”

“Just bits and pieces. I know it has something to do with Miss Hattie's will. But I need to know the facts.”

“It's a long story,” Maura cautioned.

“I’ve got time.” Rachel plunked herself down in the seat on the other side of the table.

Maura sat down and in hushed, library-appropriate tones told Rachel everything. She only intended to hit the high points, but the more she talked, the more details she filled in. With each piece of information she shared, her spirit lightened a little more.

The last few years hadn’t been easy. When Maura left Granger and returned home to California, she’d found that her father wasn’t doing nearly as well as he’d claimed. His health was failing, and it had started to affect his work at the coffee shop. Soon, not only had Maura taken over the day-to-day operations of Sullivan's, she’d also become her father's primary caregiver. There had been little time for anything other than work and Da. She’d done it without complaining, glad to be able to fill her days with something other than feelings of regret. Not until now did she realize how much she’d missed having a close friend to share with.

“So that's it,” Maura said when she finished the saga. “And now here I am, sitting in the library, trying to make sense out of it all.”

Rachel laughed and shook her head. “That Miss Hattie sure was a spunky old gal, right up until the end. She knew exactly what bait to dangle in front of you and Pastor Nick to get you two back together.”

Maura bristled. “We’re not getting back together.”

“Maybe not,” Rachel shrugged. “But you are living together again. And you’ve got to work together to pull this off. Who knows where all that close proximity might lead?”

“It won’t lead to anything other than me getting the theatre up and running and him getting a nice donation for his precious church. As soon as the six months are up, I’m moving out of the parsonage, and we never have to see each other again.”

“Come on, Maura. Would it be so bad if something did spark between you two? You’ve got to still have feelings for him to be so upset by this situation. I know for a fact he never stopped loving you.”

“How can you know that?” Maura hated herself for asking, but as much as she acted like she didn’t care, she really wanted to know.

“He was a mess when you left. He called all over looking for you.” Rachel leaned closer. “He even showed up at my doorstep, wanting to know if I could tell him anything.”

Maura's face went cold. “What did you say?”

She frowned. “Nothing. I wanted to tell him about, well, you know … but I didn’t. It wasn’t my place. I just said I didn’t know you were leaving, which was the truth. Maura, if you’d seen him … I’ve never seen anyone so devastated in my life.”

Maura looked down at her left hand, where she used to wear her wedding ring. “I’ve been gone for a long time,” she said slowly. “Not once did he call my father or come looking for me. He couldn’t have missed me that much.”

“I don’t know why he didn’t go after you, but I know he chose to stay married to you, even though you left. I’ll bet you didn’t know, but the church board met about a year after you’d gone to discuss the situation. At that point it was pretty obvious you weren’t coming back. They decided that since
you abandoned Pastor Nick, he had legitimate grounds to divorce you.”

“What?” Maura was shocked they would even suggest such a thing.

“I know. I couldn’t believe it when I found out. I guess they figured they couldn’t hold your actions against him so they were trying to be decent … give him an out so he could go on with his life but not lose his job.”

“Or maybe they just wanted him to remarry so there’d be a pastor's wife to oversee the Thursday morning women's devotion group.” She hated the tone of sarcasm that crept into her voice. After all these years, she should be over it.

“Maybe. I don’t know what their motivation was. All I know is that Nick turned them down. Why would he have done that if he didn’t still love you?”

Maura didn’t have an answer. Nick was nothing if not principled. The fact that he’d made a vow to be united with Maura “till death parts us” was probably enough to keep him married to her. On the other hand, if he was shown proof that his marriage was over and could be made null and void in the eyes of God and the church council, wouldn’t he have jumped at that? That is, if he wanted to get out.

But Maura didn’t want to think about that now. It was old business, and she had new, more pressing matters in front of her. “I have no way of knowing what Nick was thinking,” she finally told Rachel. “What I do know is that I’ve got a rundown old theatre that needs to be overhauled, and I have to figure out how to make it a viable enterprise.”

Rachel took the hint. “Seems to me, first you need to decide exactly what purpose you want it to serve.”

Maura pursed her lips. “That's a good point. I guess I haven’t thought about it as anything other than a theatre for live productions.”

“Just because that's what it was doesn’t mean that's what it always has to be. A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but a building sure can.” Rachel winked at her.

Maura laughed, enjoying how easily they’d slipped back on the old shoe of familiarity. “Okay, since you’re so full of good ideas, what are some other uses for the space?”