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“Cool with me.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“I won’t make fun of him again,” he vowed, and he meant it. Trent wasn’t here to make fun of Roger with him anyway.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure you can keep that vow.”
“I can. My mom used to say that charity was the pure love of God. I was thinking last night, and I have forgotten to have charity in my life and goodwill toward others. I let my problems be so consuming that I forgot about that. And, if I want charity, I need to give it. So I will.”
Cheryse grinned at him. “You sound like Pastor Henry.”
“Believe me, the man has been trying to talk to me since I’ve been home, and I’ve been doing my darndest to avoid him.”
“I do my darndest to avoid him as well,” she said with a laugh.
He was glad they had some common ground, even if that was only avoiding the pastor. “You want to know what else Pastor Henry reminded me of the other day?”
“What?”
Hunter got up and stared at one of her pots. “He reminded me that, at any point when we turn to God, He forgives us. He forgives us, He doesn’t ask questions, and He just loves us again.”
“Well, the pastor would say that.”
He gave her a soft smile, knowing she had her own demons after the death of her husband years ago. Had she ever resolved them? Why had he never asked her before?
“Pastor Henry is always trying to make everyone better.”
“Oh, and he wanted me to take over as pastor.”
She gaped at him. “What?”
“Yeah. Remember when I wanted to be a pastor for a while?”
She hesitated, then laughed. “This might be insane, but maybe Pastor Henry is right.”
“Oh, you think I should be a pastor now?”
“If that’s what you want.”
It was strange how much her semi acceptance of the idea made him happy. “I meant what I said, Reese. I want to be your friend, and I want to make things right. While you are recovering, I want to help. Will you let me do that? Please?”
Cheryse looked up at him, and he saw tears in her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll do that. I've missed you."
She looked so vulnerable and fragile. He longed to pull her close and tell her everything would be okay, but he didn’t want to cross boundaries. So he let this just be what it was. “I’ve missed you, too.”
“But we have to find a way for me to go to the salon and be there to boss you around. I don’t like sitting here all day.”
Hunter grinned. “I think we can manage something.”
“All right, you wore me down, Stone. Anything else?”
He lifted the Superman insignia key Trent had found. “Trent had some ideas in a notebook about what this key goes to. Do you want to figure it out with me?”
Her eyes widened with interest. “Maybe.”
“Good.” Hunter would take that as a win for today. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
Chapter 19
