The Pastor's Woman

“Pastor, I’m sorry for my childish behavior this morning. You and I definitely don’t see things in the same light, but I’m really not a troublemaker or a hoochie.”

“I never thought you were.”

Pearl wasn’t so sure she believed him but she chose to keep her thoughts at bay.

“I’ll give it some thought but I have to be honest,” Wade stated, “I don’t think my views will change. It is my goal to make sure that my leadership over this church is biblically sound. I’m going to let the Lord lead me.”

“Understood.” Pearl got up and walked to the door. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Pastor.”

“You, too, Sister Pearl.”

As their eyes met, she felt a new and unexpected warmth run through her. Her heart pounding, Pearl walked outside, where she found Opal and Paige waiting by her SUV.

“Pearl, what did you do?”

She eyed her sister. “Opal, I didn’t do anything. Pastor and I had a talk. A good talk. That’s all.”

“You mean, you two actually agreed on something?” Opal sounded surprised.

“Naaah, I wouldn’t say that. But I think we reached a compromise.” Pearl glanced around the parking lot. “Where’s Ruby and Amber? Did they leave already?”

“They didn’t want to wait around for you to have all of us kicked out of church.” When Pearl shot her a look, she added, “I’m only kidding.” Laughing, Opal reached over, giving Pearl a hug, then Paige. “I’ll see y’all later. I’m meeting D’marcus for brunch.”

Opal practically glowed every time she mentioned her boyfriend’s name. D’marcus Armstrong was a good man and Pearl considered him fortunate to have her sister in his life.

Pearl drove out of the parking lot and headed for the freeway, driving toward Grosse Pointe, a suburb of Detroit.

Ten minutes later, she drove down Lake Shore Drive and pulled into the garage. Paige parked her BMW Z4 roadster in the space beside her.

The two women walked into the luxury apartment building together.

“Are we still going to the movies later?” Paige asked as they rode the elevator up to the second floor.

Pearl nodded. “Yeah. I just need to take a nap first.”

“I could use one myself. Lyman and I didn’t get home until two-thirty this morning.”

“I was surprised to see you at church. I figured you’d just spend all weekend at his house. Isn’t he leaving town this week?”

“Yeah. They’re playing Milwaukee on Wednesday.”

“I know what we’re doing Wednesday night,” Pearl said with a grin. Her cousin dated Detroit Chargers forward Lyman Epse and whenever the team played away from home, Paige and Pearl ordered pizza and watched the game on television. They were both basketball fanatics.

Inside the apartment, Pearl headed straight for the couch. She needed to get out of her boots, which had been clearly designed for fashion, not for comfort.

Her cousin sat down on the chair facing Pearl. “C’mon, what did you really say to Pastor?”

Pulling off the black leather boots with four-inch heels, Pearl related the conversation.

Paige merely stared, tongue-tied. “He really told you that you were distracting the boys?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah. I don’t think he was comfortable with telling me though. I feel like such an idiot now after the way I behaved. I thought he was giving me a hard time because of what happened at the reunion.”

“You know what I think? I think Pastor finds you a distraction for himself.”

Pearl dismissed her cousin’s comment with the wave of her hand.

“I’m serious. I bet he’s not telling any of the other women at church to wear longer dresses.”

At Pearl’s protest, her cousin continued. “Don’t you think he’s handsome?”

“Yeah, he’s nice-looking,” she admitted. “But Pastor Kendrick is much too old-fashioned for me.”

“If he’s interested in you, you better go for it. Honey, if some of the women at church have their way, he won’t be single for long. Did you see how Clara was all up in his face a couple of weeks ago? I’m surprised she wasn’t at church this morning.”

“She’s definitely not the woman for him.”

Paige broke into a grin. “So who is the woman for him?”

Shrugging, Pearl responded, “I don’t know. Sister Barbara is always up in his face—”

Paige laughed. “You wrong, Pearl. She’s his secretary.”

“She’s always trying to get him to have dinner at her house. You should see her. It’s shameful.”

“Jealous?”

“Me? No way.”

Paige rose to her feet. “I’m going to go straighten out my room and get my clothes ready for tomorrow, so I won’t have to worry about it when we come home from the movies.”

Pearl lay down on the couch. “Wake me when you’re ready to go.” She’d worked three double shifts at the restaurant in the past five days and she was dead tired.

She had just closed her eyes when the phone rang. She heard Paige answer on the third ring, then call out for her to pick up.

Pearl grabbed the extension closest to her—it was her manager. She eased up into a sitting position. “It’s no problem. I’m glad you called me. I can use the extra money. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

When Paige walked back into the living room, Pearl announced, “I’ll have to take a rain check on the movies. I need to go in to work.”

“Pearl, you need to take some time off.”

“I need the money. You know I spent most of my savings on those demo tapes.”

“Your sisters and I offered to help you, but you refused.”

“Paige, I need to do this for myself. Besides, I’d feel bad if nothing ever comes out of this and I’d taken money from y’all.”

“Can you do me a favor and bring me home an order of linguine à la pescatore?”