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“So all of that was in vain?”
“I didn’t ask for any of that! I am grateful to you and Mom, but I didn’t ask to be a pastor.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is someone should have asked, Dad, and not assumed. The pulpit may have been your calling and your path, but it’s not mine, and it hasn’t been for a while now. If you had taken five minutes to talk to me you would have known that.
“This is unacceptable!” he roars. “And I forbid it. You will finish school, then you will go to seminary school, and when that is done, you WILL take over the church!”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you are no son of mine.”
“Brian,” my mom calls my dad, shocked by the ultimatum.
“Stay out of this, Jenny. He is going to do what is expected of him. His singing is a God-given gift, and by God, that is what he will use it for. If he doesn’t, he’s dead to me. How can I lead my congregation if I can’t lead my own house!”
“Brian, you are saying a bunch of stuff you don’t mean. You are upset. Let’s table the discussion and cool off before we come back to this again tomorrow,” she says, standing between us, her head swinging back and forth between us. We stare hard at each other before we turn on our heels and walk away. I walk out of the front door, heading for Soul. I need to see her, talk to her.
“A music contract? You’re getting signed?” she asks as we sit outside on the gliding outdoor bench.
“I don’t know, Soul. I want you with me. This is our dream, remember? All those nights we would sit by the window and talk about this, and now it might be coming true.”
“I’m only sixteen, Gabe. There is no way my parents will ever let me leave. Plus, I have to graduate.”
“They will provide tutors. Will you come?”
“Yes,” she replies immediately. “But my parents will not let me go. You and I both know it.”
“Then I will wait for you.”
“No, you will not! You need to decide not based on me or your dad or your mom but on you. Whatever you decide, I will support you, but I think you’d be crazy to let this opportunity pass you by,” she says, and I know what she is saying.Leave me behind, don’t wait for me.But how can I leave her? She is a part of me. Our love is my music. Leaving her would be like being in space, suffocating. “You should have Deacon Wells take a look at the contract, I’m sure he would be happy to for the pastor’s son,” she says, talking about the lawyer who was also a member.
“Will you leave the door open for me tonight?” I ask, needing to be with her. I wish she could come to me, but we couldn’t take the risk of her mother, who was an early bird and who didn’t stick to a schedule, finding her room empty.
“I will,” she says with no hesitation. After everyone goes to sleep, she’ll sneak downstairs, unlock the door in the mudroom, and leave the little battery-operated heart light on in her window to let me know the coast is clear. It is a ritual we came up with after almost being caught several times, but tonight, I am willing to take the risk. After all, it’s not every day a person is disowned by their father, so tonight I need her comfort.
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CHAPTER8
Soul
The prom was amazing. The limo, our outfits, just everything, and I will never forget it. I also will never forget him telling me that he signed the contract and that he would be leaving me.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“What about graduation?”
“I am going to finish my classes with a tutor, and they’ll mail me my diploma,”
“What about us?” I ask, crushed.
“Nothing changes Soul. We started long-distance. We’re pros at this. And I will come back every chance I get, and as soon as you turn eighteen, you’ll be coming with me.”
“That’s two years, Gabe. You’ll be traveling all over the place, meeting new people,”
