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I couldn’t see that. It wasn’t how I pictured Pastor Chaz at all. But then, I really only knew him from his sermons on Sunday morning. As much as I went to church, I wasn’t what anyone would consider involved.
Luke stopped. “We can start back, if you want.”
“Okay.” I turned around and we started back down the path toward the cars. We hadn’t gone far. “I should come over here more often. It’s a nice walk.”
“I like to run all the way down and back on Mondays. Sometimes I’ll go more than once when I have a lot on my mind. It’s a good trail. And the breeze off the water helps it stay cool…well…cooler, in the summer.”
“Luke. Why did you bring up Austin when you called?” I was still trying to make sense of this whole morning. Yes, I considered Luke a friend of sorts. But we weren’t besties by any stretch. He didn’t owe me advance notice of his decision to leave. Nor did he owe me the inside scoop on his future plans. In fact, he didn’t owe me anything.
“Pastor Chaz seemed to think I was the one who talked to the reporters. I’m semi-friendly with the guy who wrote one of the first articles—he’s a runner, too, so we’ve bumped into each other here and there. I guess the pastor was concerned it was my version of revenge for us not working out. But I promise you, I didn’t know.”
I chuckled. “I know you wouldn’t do something like that. I’d love to know who did, that’s for sure, but it never occurred to me that it would be you. Austin and I have been best friends for a long time. Long before he made the money. I’ve loved him for a long time, too. Again, that predates the money. You were my attempt to move on.”
His laugh held no mirth. “How’d that work out for you?”
“Pretty well, actually. Not the moving on part, but it lit a fire under Austin and made him realize it was worth risking our friendship to see what else might be there.” I sighed. I just hoped the leak about his money wouldn’t push him into doing something dumb like trying to break things off to keep me out of the public eye.
Oh, he could try, but I wasn’t having any of it.
“Glad I could help.”
I winced at the sarcasm in his tone. “Do I need to apologize again?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s for the best. And the two of you seem happy together. I’m glad. Truly.”
“Thanks.” We were approaching the parking lot. “For what it’s worth, I think you’ve been an asset to the church, and I’ll be sorry to see you go.”
“I appreciate that.” Luke stopped. “Are you good to get back to your car? I think I’m going to go ahead and run for a bit.”
“Sure. Have fun?” I didn’t really get it, but whatever worked for him.
“I will. See you around. I guess.”
“Yeah.”
I watched him turn and start back down the path at a good clip before shaking my head. I wasn’t convinced that I’d needed to meet him in person for this conversation. Or that we’d even needed to have the conversation in the first place. I sifted through our talk and sighed.
The only thing I could find that was interesting—and it was a stretch—was Pastor Chaz asking if Luke had gone to the press about Austin’s money. That implied, at least to me, that the pastor knew about the money. And that he didn’t think very highly of Luke.
Neither of which helped when it came to figuring out where the story on Austin came from.
Austin had put the whole mess in Tristan’s hands. Tristan had contacts to handle PR. I guess the two of them had spent a little time coordinating while we’d been on vacation.
Austin had told me not to worry about it. And then promptly excluded me from any conversations.
I was trying not to worry. I was also trying not to be annoyed.
I wasn’t doing well with either one.
I got back in my car and headed toward home. At least with Ada and Charles I knew what I needed to do to put things right.
24
AUSTIN
First day back after spring break was always hard. No one—not the students, not the teachers—wanted to be here. I’d gotten to school early, not because I was excited and looking forward to the day, but to try and avoid any unpleasantness that might come because of the articles.
So far, the news wasn’t dying down.
