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He didn't bother to answer because she was right And feeling the way he did, the last place he wanted to be was church
"Bob," Peggy cried
"What?"
"You just ht "Let's skip church this y whined "First Hannah and now you"
"I don't feel like it today"
"We're almost there Please, don't be difficult"
Not wanting to get into an arguhed and found a place to turn the car around and head back toward Briar Patch Road
Within five minutes, he slipped into an available space in the crowded church parking lot
Organ music drifted out the open doors Thankfully they were late enough to avoid all the handshaking and friendly chitchat In case Peggy hadn't guessed, he wasn't in a sociablelate also et a decent seat at the back of the church Those who arrived early set clai in one of the middle rows That was acceptable, since at least they'dthestepped up to the pulpit and opened his Bible Bob had left his at hoy flipped to the book of Matthew, chapter six, the reference listed in the bulletin she'd picked up on the way in Bob crossed his ar He was here to keep the peace at home and for no other reason For all he cared, the pastor could be talking about the inflated price of dotcom shares
Then it hit hiiveness He opened his eyes and sat up and started to listen It was as if Pastor Flehts and had written the sermon specifically with him in mind The idea unsettled hiation stood and sang together Norood baritone and at one ti the choir His commitment to the community theater took up most of his free hours, however It was the theater or the church choir He'd chosen the theater
At the end of the song, the service was over and the pews began to eht, Bob rey announced, then got up and scurried off Apparently she was afraid he'd argue with her and was gone before he had a chance to tell her to take her ti to do
Usually Bob resented being left to twiddle his thurateful for a fewhe sat there, alone in the church Peggy would co his thoughts drift where they would
"Hello, Bob" Pastor Fle stepped into the pew and sat down next to hiolf with him every week They hardly ever talked about God, which suited Bob just fine To him, a man's faith was a private matter
"Pastor" Bob s on your mind?" the other man asked
Bob shook his head The pastor knew some of the story He'd been the person who'd recommended that Bob contact Roy McAfee in the first place He trusted Dave At the ti his mind
"Well, maybe I do need to talk" Bob paused and drew in a deep breath "What you said about forgiveness kind of hit ho nodded "It's in the Lord's Prayer We recite it so often we tend to forget what it reed He'd said the prayer at every AAfor years, and had never truly understood the part about forgiveness "You said this iveness to the extent that we're able to forgive ourselves" Those were the words that had struck hiain
"Soiveness," Bob murmured
"We're all sinners"
"But like I said," Bob continued, "there are sins, and then there are sins Soiveness In certain circumstances, it just isn't possible"
The pastor said, "In such cases, you do what you can and then you forgive yourself"
"That isn't possible, either," Bob said, unable to keep the despair from his voice
"Reive others is directly related to your willingness to forgive yourself"
That wasn't news Bob welcomed It had never occurred to him that the tere linked
He heard a sound at the back of the church and turned around to see that Peggy had appeared She hesitated when she saw hiiven er now to escape
The only way he could figure this out was by hi the memories Maybe then he could lay them to rest
Forty
On the last Saturday ust, Grace was scheduled to work the animal shelter's booth at the Farmers' Market On her last stint there, she'd netted Sherlock, as the re kitten in the litter and the only one left without a ho she'd end up with one of the six kittens that had been placed for adoption Sure enough, she'd coht-week-old Sherlock
She always enjoyed the ht and sunny yet not really hot In the rainy months of winter, she often found it hard to remember how lovely summers could be in the Pacific Northwest