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The following Sunday, after the sermon, Paul stood to the side at coffee hour, as he usually did Socializing after the service had never been his favorite part of the job Although he felt great compassion for people and was fascinated by their personalities and idiosyncrasies, he wasabout life in general, than he was chatting with people one on one He loved the philosophical side of thepeople collectively with ser one She had made it possible for him to hide in a corner with a cup of coffee because she took up the social slack Parishioners would have a short conversation with Paul and a long one with Sara and then remember their positive experience with the minister and his wife as a unit After she died, Paul’s solitary nature was more noticeable

Paul watched Ian from across the room He was not like any custodian the church had had He attended services every Sunday He greeted the church h the door (A couple of grouches in the church wondered if it was appropriate for “the janitor” to greet guests, but almost everyone else enjoyed it) He knew everyone by narandkids Ian was hard not to like As he folded chairs and wiped up coffee spills, everyone he passed s out of the bin, two church members stepped over to help

Paul flashed back to a o when Sara had stood in the exact sa a sleeveless yellow dress with flowers Paul’s favorite It was a potluck supper Sara talked to each guest and gave them specific compliments on their dishes She made a point, of course, to try them all She asked for recipes and reht the year before, even if they could not remember themselves Sara was a perfect complement to Paul, both in his life and in his ministry They were a powerful pair

Paul returned to the present and saw Ian joking with the third-graders over the little cups of apple juice Paul felt lucky and proud Of all the people in the room who cared for Ian in some slimpses of Ian’s beauty, but only Paul had the full picture

Ian co and personable He drew people to hiuest on their collective behalf, re their best recipes and the personal stories behind theious education class, as Sara so the kids with puppets He pictured Ian shaking hands with the visitors on Christ a holiday dinner at their home for the staff Ian would rerandkids, and Paul would give the perfect speech thanking them for their work over the course of the year They would be the perfect tea Paul closer to his community

Paul followed Ian with his eyes as he walked to the front of the social hall As he turned, he noticed Julie in the far corner talking with Mike and Janice Davis He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but as they spoke, they glanced at Ian and then at Paul There was so about their posture that told Paul that he was the topic of their gossip He could not pinpoint exactly what gave the about what they had seen the other night at the Chinese buffet His drea Ian as his equal partner vanished in the harsh light of day Paul left the social hall and retreated to his office He shut the door and sat gazing at the Botticelli portrait tacked to his wall

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the office door It was Julie She stood in the door fraht hand with her left

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Paul didn’t reave an open smile and waved her in “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

Julie sat down in one of the chairs in front of Paul’s desk She picked up a paperweight and looked at it She was having troubleeye contact “Well, I’m sure no one really takes any of this seriously, but you know people talk”

“About what?”

“Well…” She set the paperweight back on the desk “You know that everyone knows about Ian… that he’s gay”

“Okay”

“Mike was talking about it just now It’s not just Mike It’s obvious you two are close, and so there are ruay”

“Rumors?”