“Yes, it looks like the insurance will probably cover all but about thirty thousand. Why?”
Gil was calculating now. “How much do you think the land is worth?”
She thought for a moment. “Probably fifteen or maybe twenty.”
“I was meeting with the deacons this morning and J.C. Davis is one of the deacons.”
He paused while she recovered from the shock of that statement.
“He said that if the insurance and land value was close, they could probably give you a break on the rest.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Could she possibly be shed of the bar finally and not owe anything else to boot?
She didn’t realize she had stood and was moving toward Gil. He stood to meet her with open arms and she walked into his arms.
“Oh Gil, I don’t know what to say.”
He laughed. “Just stay right where you are for a while longer and you’ll make me very happy.”
It just wasn’t to be though. The sounds of giggles coming from the doorway caused them to spring apart.
Florence and Eunice were standing there with big grins on their faces.
Jo was looking down at her feet so she didn’t know which of the sisters said what.
“Isn’t that just the most beautiful sight you ever saw Sister?”
“Yes, I just know that it is.”
Both women left without another word but Jo could hear them giggling and talking excitedly down the hall toward the kitchen.
Jo brought her gaze up slowly until she met Gil’s eyes. They were still standing about a foot apart.
Gil smiled down at her and said, “Jo, would you have dinner with me tonight?” He paused and said, “I’m talking about a real date?”
Jo didn’t have to think. She was ready for her first real date in seven years. “Yes, Gil, I would love to.”
“I thought we could go to the steakhouse. Is that okay with you?”
She could only nod. Her mouth was suddenly too dry to speak.
Gil looked closely at her and said, “Why don’t you go upstairs and get a little rest. I can go get Carla when she gets out of school.”
She started to protest, but when she took a step she wasn’t very stable and Gil gently grabbed her arm to steady her.
She laughed. “Maybe you’re right. Carla gets out at three.”
She started to protest when Gil stayed at her side but she realized she needed his support and besides it felt too good to refuse. She leaned on him all the way up the stairs and to the room she and Carla had slept in the night before. She wondered if he knew that she didn’t really need to lean on him that much.
But when they reached the bedroom door and she looked into his eyes, his smile told her he knew.
Jo heard Gil going back down the stairs so she stretched out on top of the bedspread thinking she’d just rest for a little while but she fell asleep almost immediately.
Someone walking around in the room awakened her some time later. She struggled to open her eyes and saw Carla standing next to the bed looking down at her.
“Are we really going to stay here?”
Jo pulled herself up to sit on the side of the bed and Carla sat next to her.
“Yes, I guess we are.”
“Did you know there’s a truck outside right now unloading furniture into the empty bedroom across the hall?” She pointed toward the doorway. “And Gil’s mom said it was going to be our bedroom and that we could decorate it however we wanted.”
Jo was still struggling to wake up completely but she was awake enough to know that Carla was excited. In fact, Carla was more excited than she’d seen her in a long time. She hoped that was good.
Before Jo could say anything else, Carla raced to the doorway, paused there, looked back at Jo, and said, “Come on. Wait until you see what they’re bringing up.”
Jo slid off the bed to stand and then almost staggered to the doorway next to Carla. Together, they watched as two men carried various pieces of furniture into the room across the hall.
Carla turned to Jo and said, “Twin beds. We won’t even have to share a bed.”
Jo was smiling down at her little sister when Gil came up the stairs and stopped in front of them.
He looked into her eyes and said, “Do you feel a little better now?”
She nodded and he continued, “I snuck a little nap in before I went to get Carla.”
Carla turned to Jo and said, “He let me drive his little car. It’s strange but it’s kind of fun too.”
Gil laughed with Jo and said to Carla, “If you would like a snack, Mom and Eunice have some chocolate chip cookies down in the kitchen.”
Carla took off down the stairs just before the men started back up with a dresser.
Jo turned to Gil and said, “Thank you.”
He smiled with her but said, “For what?”
“For being so nice to her. She’s happier than I’ve seen her in months.”
“She’s so much like you.” He grinned. “It’s easy to be nice to her.”
She was afraid to put too much meaning to that statement, but it thrilled her just the same.
* * *
At six o’clock, Gil left his bedroom as ready as he’d ever be for his date with Jo. Date? He couldn’t remember if he’d ever had a real date before. Oh, he’d been out with groups of kids in high school and college when he’d wound up paired off with one of the girls, but that wasn’t really what he’d call a date. Not like this was or like he hoped it was going to be.
He was twenty-nine years old but he knew nothing about women. When he reached the kitchen, he was happy to see that Jo wasn’t there yet, just his mother, and his aunt.
When his mother saw him, she went to the refrigerator and when she turned around, there was a small bouquet of red roses in her hands. She shoved them toward him and said, “We knew you wouldn’t know what to do so we got these for you.”
He was so shocked that he didn’t know what to say. He leaned over and kissed his mother’s cheek then turned his head and kissed Eunice’s cheek, which was right there.
When he leaned back, he heard a sound in the doorway and turned to see Jo standing there in a light green dress that complimented her red hair perfectly. He was speechless again.
When she stepped toward him, he held the roses out toward her. She smiled and said, “For me?”
All he could do at first was nod, but one of the women behind him nudged him with her hand and he said, “Yes, they’re for you.”
Suddenly there was a vase being thrust at Jo.
“Here, Dear, let me take those for you and get them in some water.” His mother was already placing the roses in the vase.
They left then and Gil tried to open her car door for her, but there just wasn’t enough room in the garage with Eunice’s big Cadillac setting beside his car. He wound up just getting in her way so he gave up and moved back to his side of the car.
On the way to the restaurant, first one then the other tried to get a conversation going but the other one only responded with one word answers, so they gave up until they were seated at their table. Gil had made sure they were given a table this time.
Jo smiled up at him and said, “A booth would have been okay.”
He knew she was getting more comfortable around him, but that wasn’t the only reason he’d wanted a table. He didn’t want to be that far away from her. With a table, they could sit next to each other and not be so close that it would bother her.
They each hid behind their menus until the waiter came to take their orders. Then they had to surrender the menus to him.
That left them with no choice but to look at each other. That was when Jo began laughing and before long, Gil was laughing too, even though he wasn’t quite sure why they were laughing.
When Jo pulled a tissue out of her purse and dabbed at her eyes, they were both able to get their laughter under control. She looked around and said, “I guess we’re getting a few st
range looks.”
Gil smiled back at her and said, “I don’t care, do you?”
She shook her head then said, “Well, what do we talk about? We really don’t know much about each other do we?”
He shook his head. “No, I guess we don’t. Why don’t we start by telling each other what our lives have been like up to now?”
When she nodded and continued to stare at him, Gil worked up the nerve to say, “Okay, would you like for me to start.”
When she nodded, he paused to take a drink of his iced tea before beginning. “I’m twenty-nine years old and . . .”
She was laughing again. “What did I say that was so funny?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not you. It just struck me funny that I’m older than you, that’s all.”
He knew you weren’t supposed to ask a woman how old she was, but hadn’t she just given him the opening? Then he thought of a way to say it without actually asking her how old she was.
“How much older are you?”
She wiped the smile off her face and said, “When is your birthday?”
“November 10.”
“You’ll be thirty then?”
When he nodded, she laughed again and said, “It’s not so bad after all. I was thirty on the tenth of this month.”
He looked at her as he calculated. “Then you’re exactly three months older than me.”
She looked into his eyes then. “Well, that’s not enough older to bother you is it?”
He shook his head. “Nothing about you could ever bother me Jo.”
Where did that come from? He couldn’t believe he’d actually said something that bold and personal to a woman.
Jo looked at him for a long moment and then he noticed moisture gathering in her eyes. “That was the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me Gil.”
They sat that way staring into each other’s eyes for a moment then Jo leaned toward him and said, “You didn’t get very far in your life history before I interrupted you. I’m sorry. Go ahead. I promise I won’t interrupt you again.”
“Okay, here goes. I was born near St. Louis, Creve Coeur actually. My parents divorced, or I should say my dad divorced my mom when I was five.”
“I’m sorry, Gil. That must have been hard on you.”
“Yes, I guess it was. My dad moved to Kansas City when he left us. I guess he still lives there now with his present wife, and I’m not sure which number she is. I just know that she’s at least number four. That’s about all I know about him. He never comes around.”
He stopped to gather his thoughts. She nodded encouragingly toward him so he continued. “Aunt Eunice’s husband just walked off, they said, when I was three. So as soon as my dad left, Eunice moved in with us and it’s been the three of us ever since. The two of them are all the family I’ve ever known.”
“Wow. I can’t imagine what it was like for you without your dad. My dad was the greatest and I loved him so much.”
She shook her head, and said, “It’s not my turn yet. Please, finish your story first.”
He chuckled. “I guess you could say that I grew up with two women who were out to get even with any man who was unfortunate enough to cross their paths.”
He chuckled. “I’ve often wondered if they might have even regretted the fact that I was one.”
She stared at him so seriously with wide eyes that he figured he’d better lighten it up a little. “I was only kidding about that one, Jo.”
She blushed and joined him in his laughter.
“I guess that’s all there is about me. Your turn.”
She shook her head. “Not so fast. I have one question that I’d like for you to answer first.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
She looked down at her hands in her lap and blushed. “Why did you become a preacher? I mean, what made you want to do something like that?”
He reached out and with the tips of his fingers lifted her chin. “I’m glad you asked that Jo. It’s okay. I really want to tell you why.”
He brought his hand back to rest on his thigh. “My grandfather, my mother’s dad, was a great pastor and he is the one who led me to the Lord. I’ve always wanted to be like him. Then he died when I was in college and several days later, it was so clear in my mind that it was like God had spoken to me that He too wanted me to be like my grandfather.”
Jo had tears streaming down her cheeks now. “That’s so sweet, Gil. I’m sure your grandfather is so proud of you now.”
“I would like to hope so. You see, I was named after him. His name was Gilbert Wayne Cummings.”
“Is your middle name Wayne too?”
“Yes.”
Their food came and Gil looked across the table at Jo. “Do you mind if I ask the Lord’s blessing on our food?”
She shook her head and after he prayed, they began to eat and didn’t talk much until they were finished.
Then Gil reached across and touched the top of Jo’s hands, which were clasped in front of her on the table.
“It’s your turn now, Jo.”
* * *
Jo didn’t know where to start. Her life hadn’t been anything like Gil’s. She was certain that he had told her everything, so she decided that she should too, knowing what that could do to both of them. It could end the relationship before it ever began, but she felt she had to be totally honest with him, not holding anything back, even that.
“Okay, here goes. I was born right here in Crowleyville . . . at the hospital. My parents each have a brother and their families here in the county. Counting Floyd, I think I have eight cousins but they don’t all live here. A couple of them live in Springfield.”
She took a deep breath, pushed her bangs out of her eyes and continued, “My dad was a real estate salesman until he bought the bar that he had been trying to sell. When I graduated from high school, I went to college in Springfield and got a job there after I graduated. I worked for a travel agency and loved what I was doing.”
She stopped, knowing that what came next could make or break their budding relationship.
She took a deep drink of her iced tea.
“About a year after that, I was visiting my parents here in Crowleyville on a weekend. We didn’t live over the bar then, our house was several blocks back behind it.”
She stopped again to take a drink. “I’d been helping my dad at the bar because they’d had a huge unexpected rush that night.”
She couldn’t look at Gil now. She kept her eyes down.
“I was walking home at about nine o’clock that night when a man grabbed me and pulled me off into the bushes.”
She raised her head and looked into his eyes. “He beat me . . . and . . . he raped me.”
She couldn’t go on because her throat was so tight and her eyes were swimming in tears.
She heard Gil’s chair sliding on the tile floor. The next thing she knew, he had his arm around her.
After a moment, he said in a soft tone. “It was not your fault, Jo. You were the victim. Don’t ever feel that you are less of a woman now because of the brutality of some evil man.”
She looked up at him with hope in her eyes. “You don’t think I’m dirty?”
He groaned loudly in her ear. “Absolutely not. Jo, I think you’re the most pure woman I’ve ever known.”
She tried to smile as she dabbed at her eyes with some tissue she’d had ready in her hand. She looked around and realized people were staring at them.
Gil noticed at the same time she did and he said, “Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk in private.”
Ten minutes later, they were back in Gil’s car. She’d stopped off in the ladies’ room to compose herself before rejoining him, while he paid the bill.
Now, they were sitting in the car staring at each other. She certainly didn’t know what to say or do next and it didn’t look like Gil did either.
People were coming and going around them in the parking lot, so Gil put the car in gear
and drove off toward the church.
When he turned into the church parking lot, he stopped in a remote corner away from the church and the parsonage.
“Do you mind if we sit here and talk for a while, Jo?”
She shook her head and then forced herself to say. “You’re the first person outside of the police and some of my family that I’ve ever talked to about it.”
A strange look came over his face and he cleared his throat. “Jo, as you said before, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
She was shocked. Did he really understand? She didn’t know how to find out. What could she ask him that would give her the assurance that he did truly understand.
When he spoke, she could feel the emotion in his voice. “I can’t possibly begin to imagine what it must have been like for you, still is, to have had something that unthinkable happen to you.”
She seemed to have lost her breath and couldn’t breathe for a moment. Then he started talking again.
“As part of my doctoral program at seminary, I took a lot of counseling classes.”
She knew he was searching desperately for just the right words to say and just as if it exploded in her mind, she knew at that moment that she loved this wonderful, understanding man. Her smile widened as she turned her thoughts back to what he was saying.
“One of the things I learned in those classes is that for someone who has gone through what you’ve gone through it is a sign of healing when you can talk about it the way you have tonight with me.”
Both were silent for a short time. She was thinking about all that Gil had just said. Knowing him as well as she suddenly thought she did, she was certain that he was trying to think of more that he could say to make her feel better.
Finally, she was able to get her breath to come in a rush and her voice followed it. “Gil, there’s nothing else you could say that would make me feel better than I do right this instant.”
She leaned toward him to see him better in the limited light produced by the parking lot lights.
“Right now, I feel better than I have at any time since the attack.” She reached out her hand and he took it in his. “I think I’ve finally healed . . . and you did it, Gil.”
No Easy Solution (Crowley County Series Book 1) Page 20
