Chapter 25
A ndy Tran turned off all but the lights over the entryway, closed and locked the church doors, and sighed. “Other duties as assigned,” he muttered.
Seminary school hadn’t prepared him to fix a broken pipe, but Andy hustled to the church to help with the cleanup when the custodian called. They’d turned off the water, mopped up the mess, and called a plumber. Not much else could be done this late at night.
Trudging up the stairs to the parking lot, he spotted a man walking aimlessly in the shadows, and slowed.
The church had had a rash of prowlers lately.
After being smashed to smithereens, the original mailbox was replaced with one that locked.
That one was vandalized as well, and now the church admin stopped at the Keeney post office every day to pick up the mail.
The man squinted in Andy’s direction and replied, “Hey.” He was sweaty and disheveled, wearing baggy shorts and a stained T-shirt soaked with sweat.
Broad and muscular, when he moved to stand under the streetlamp, the light caught on thick dark eyebrows and a strong nose, casting the rest of his face in shadow.
Andy beeped his car open and stood next to the driver’s door, ready to duck inside if the man made a move. “Can I help you with something?” Yes, he was alone in a dark parking lot, but he was a pastor. Help needed to be offered.
“I doubt it,” the man answered in a voice that sounded familiar.
Andy squinted into the dark. “Tomas? Is that you?”
The man came closer. “Andy?”
“What the hell?” Andy moved away from his car. “Are you okay? You look exhausted?”
Tomas wiped his face with his sleeve. “I was running.”
“Why? Was a bear chasing you?”
His lips curled up in a slight smile, otherwise Tomas didn’t respond to the joke.
“It’s not my thing but do you run a lot?”
Tomas stared at the ground, his mouth twisted in a bitter line. “No. I just….”
Andy leaned against the hood of the car, crossed his arms, and waited. When Tomas didn’t finish, he said, “Something must be wrong if you’re literally running yourself ragged? Is it Fiona?” He didn’t know Tomas well but sensed this wasn’t how he normally dealt with things.
Releasing a frustrated sigh, Tomas began to pace across the cracked asphalt. “Not Fiona but her fucking mother. Sorry about that, padre.”
Andy waved off the apology. “That woman would make the Dalai Lama swear.”
“Do you know what she did?”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” Andy drawled. “The list is probably long.”
As if gathering his thoughts, Tomas stared into the darkness before answering, “I get that she doesn’t like me, and I get that she blames me for Fiona standing up to her, but to mess with my parents? That’s just….”
“Mean? Petty? Vindictive? Machiavellian?” Andy counted adjectives on his fingers. “I could go on.”
“Yeah, you could.” He slumped next to Andy, resting against the car’s hood. “Do you know about the auto parts store?”
Andy nodded. “Joseph told me when he found out.”
“Fiona told me tonight.”
“I see. And you were angry because she didn’t tell you sooner. Hence the running?”
Tomas shot him a “no-shit” look. “Blowing up at her didn’t seem like a good idea so I told her to leave. Then it was either punch a hole in the wall or go for a run.”
Andy nudged his bulky shoulder. “You chose wisely.”
“Yeah. Patching drywall is a pain in the ass.” His humor was coming back. Good.
It was late, and he was too tired to mince words, so Andy waded in. “You’re hurt she chose Joseph over you.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Fiona listened to her brother and chose not to tell you right away. And it pisses you off.”
Tomas shot off the car, clenching his fists. “Fucking right it pisses me off. She’s known for days. All three of you knew about it and could have told me at that meeting the other night.” Anger and frustration radiated off him. “She shouldn’t have kept it from me. I should have been told sooner.”
Andy didn’t argue. He’d thought Joseph and Fiona were wrong to keep it from Tomas and had told Joseph that. “But you weren’t,” he said. “Did you wonder why?”
“I know why. Because she knew I’d be pissed.”
“Do you think it might be something else?” His backside was getting numb, so Andy moved to stand in front of Tomas. “Assume positive intent here. Why else would Fiona not tell you right away?”
Tomas frowned.
Andy rolled his eyes. “Come on. You’re not thick. Obviously they told Carlos, so why didn’t they tell you?” When Tomas didn’t answer, Andy asked, “Could they want to make things right? Present you with a solution rather than a problem?”
“I suppose,” Tomas said petulantly, not ready to see their side.
Looking up into the darkness, Andy tried to figure out a way to get through Tomas’s stubborn, thick head.
“Pretend for a moment that Linh Han was your mother.” He nodded at the shudder that went through Tomas.
“Agreed. If that were the case, and your mother hurt someone you cared for, how would you feel?”
Tomas answered immediately, “Like shit.”
“And what would you do?”
“I’d—” Tomas closed his mouth, glared at Andy, and exhaled loudly. “You’re right.”
“I know I am,” —he made a rolling gesture with his hand— “now answer the question.”
“I’d try to fix it.”
“Why?” Andy pressed.
“To minimize the damage.”
“Praise the Lord!” Andy shouted, raising his arms and dropping them. “He gets it.”
“You’re an asshole,” Tomas grumbled, slumping against the side of the car.
“I can be,” Andy contemplated the man beside him, then looked at the darkened church.
High above the entryway was a circular window inset with a stained-glass cross.
It was lit from within and glowed in the darkness.
“It’s weird having your mom and their mom be so active in the church.
They both want the church to thrive, but for very different reasons.
Linh Han likes to be associated with success.
She works on projects that make the church look good in the community.
And for all her self-serving ways, she’s done a lot of good. ”
Tomas nodded. “My mom said something like that.”
“Your mom,” Andy continued, “looks at the people who will be impacted the most by anything the church takes on. She’s exuberant and appears impulsive, ready to jump in without a lifejacket, but she’s really rather deliberate.
She doesn’t like people getting hurt, and tries to prevent that from happening. ”
He shifted to look directly at Tomas. “I suspect Linh Han tipped off that restaurant chain because it benefitted her. It was business, and Carlos being outbid was simply the fallout.”
“I suppose,” Tomas said, running a hand over his sweaty face. “It sucks that it was Fiona’s mom behind it.”
“Agreed.” Tomas looked less like a thundercloud, and Andy asked, “You good?”
“Yeah.”
Andy stood and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Your mothers are forces of nature. If they can set aside their differences and work together on the project, it’s going to be epic.”
“That’s a big if ,” Tomas replied.
Andy laughed. “Believe me, it’s at the top of my prayer list. I really want this project to succeed because a lot of people will benefit from it.”
Headlights illuminated them as a vehicle entered the parking lot.
The men squinted against the bright lights of a Keeney Police car coming to a stop close by.
“Shit,” Andy said, giving the police car a friendly wave and his winningest smile.
He looked anything but pastoral in his Deadpool for President T-shirt but hadn’t anticipated needing his clerical collar to help with a plumbing issue.
“Everything all right here?” the female officer asked through her lowered car window.
He smiled big. “Just fine, officer. I’m Andy Tran, the pastor here. I can show you my ID if you want.”
“Yeah, but do it slowly,” she said. She shone a flashlight over his car and then over Tomas. “Show me your ID, too.”
Tomas held his hands loosely by his sides, palms turned out, and told her, “I was out for a run and don’t have it with me.”
“This is my friend, Tomas Alvarado,” Andy told the cop as he gave her his driver’s license and business card. “We were just finishing up a conversation.”
“Yeah?” she asked.
He stood still while she compared his photo to his face. Seeming satisfied, she handed his ID back then studied Tomas. “Where do you live?”
Tomas rattled off an address that made the cop’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really,” she replied. “What do you do?”
His posture relaxed, and he jutted his chin in a proud gesture. “I’m a contractor at Keeney Building Supply, and I teach construction classes at the college.”
“Really,” she said again before flicking her flashlight off. “Were you the guy auctioned off at the senior center last year? My mom bid five hundred bucks on him and lost out to her bridge partner. She’s still sore about it.”
Tomas shook his head, smiling slightly. “No, ma’am. That was my partner, Vincent Ortiz.”
“Are you being auctioned off this year?” she asked.
“Not if I can help it.”
Andy butted in, grinning broadly, “But he will be teaching a class for seniors at KBS this weekend. You could bring your mom to that.”
“Yeah?”
Andy ignored Tomas’s growl and carried on, “Information is available on the KBS website, and there’s a link on the church’s website, too. What will they be doing, Tomas?”
Tomas crossed his arms, shifting slightly so that Andy could see his raised middle finger, but the officer couldn’t see him and said, “It’s about how to install a grab bar in a bathroom.”
The cop looked interested. “I’ll look into it. And, Tomas, get the pastor to drive you home. Running after dark without your ID isn’t a good idea.”
Watching the car pull out of the parking lot, Tomas grumbled, “Why the hell did you have to tell her that? And how do you know in the first place.”
Andy slapped his shoulder. “I’d be a shitty pastor if I didn’t know what was going on in my community. I hear there’s a waiting list.”
L ittle One’s insistent meows roused Fiona from her lethargy. “I’m coming,” she said, rising from the couch. The cat had completely recovered from being spayed and was no longer under house arrest. It was dark outside, and she wanted to hunt.
Fiona trudged toward the door. “Remember what we talked about? Do not follow strangers into the woods, no matter what they offer you.”
The cat flicked her tail as if reminding Fiona she’d been born on the streets and nothing in Iris’s backyard could scare her.
The cool night washed over Fiona as Little One sidled past her. She was about to close the door when Iris’s determined voice came to her. “Are you going to make her cry?”
Fiona slipped out the door and stood to the side in the shadows, where she was able to see what was happening but invisible to anyone below.
“Excuse me?” Tomas rumbled, towering over the smaller woman.
Iris stood in front of the stairs, clutching her cardigan over her chest. “You heard me. Are you going to make her cry? She’s been pacing for hours, and I don’t like it. She’s had enough, so if you’re going to make her cry, you can turn around, get in your truck, and go home.”
Guilt sliced through Fiona. She hadn’t meant to bother Iris.
Tomas stared down at the woman who signed his paycheck and sighed. “No,” he said, “I’m hoping she’ll accept my apology.”
“Why? What did you do to that girl?”
Fiona’s heart warmed that her former mother-in-law cared enough about her wellbeing to challenge a man who could bench-press her with one arm tied behind his back.
“I screwed up,” he answered simply. Like spilling his guts to the owner of Keeney Building Supply was an everyday occurrence.
“Obviously,” Iris snapped.
He rubbed a tired hand over his face and looked past Iris to the darkness, saying, “I got mad because I thought she should have told me something a while ago. If I had given her a chance to explain, I’d have realized she was trying to fix things.
If I had listened, I wouldn’t have reacted so badly, and I need to apologize for that. ”
Iris’s loud sniff covered the sniff Fiona couldn’t hold back. She’d spent the last few hours alternately berating her mother, Joseph, and Tomas for this mess, and finally, herself for not having a stronger backbone.
“Good.” Iris stepped toward him and patted his arm. “I regret all the time when I thought Fiona was cold and calculating and keeping Eddie away from me. Her heart is so big, I know she didn’t intend to hurt you.” She moved aside and jerked her head toward the stairs. “You’re good for her. Now go.”
Fiona shrank back, tears streaming down her face. Having a fierce, loyal friend like Iris was worth the pain Eddie had put her through.
Below her, Tomas took a few steps forward, then turned back to kiss Iris on the cheek. “You’re good for her, too,” he murmured, then climbed the stairs two at a time.
Fiona met him at the top, wiping her nose on her shirtsleeve. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” he replied, moving to cup the back of her head.
Mascara running, eyes swollen, hair a tangled mess hanging around her face, she knew she was a mess, yet Tomas didn’t bat an eye. He drew her unresisting form close until she nuzzled into his chest with a sigh.
“I should have?—”
He cut her off. “Maybe. But I should have, too. I wish you had told me sooner, but I know why you didn’t.”
Sniffling, she looked up at him to ask, “You do?”
“Andy helped me figure it out. You were upset that your mother’s actions impacted my family, and Joseph wanted to fix it.”
Her mother’s cutthroat approach to life was disturbing. Success was all that was important to her. “Yeah. What she did was terrible, and I wanted to tell you sooner but….”
“Andy told me that, too. He’s really good at explaining shit.”
She frowned. “Did you go to Andy for pastoral counseling?”
“Sort of. I went for a run and met him in the church parking lot, and he helped me get my head out of my ass.” She laughed, which apparently was what he intended. “I am really sorry for reacting so badly and for not letting you explain.”
“I know,” she said, standing on her toes to kiss his jaw. “I heard what you said to Iris, and I accept your apology.”
“Thank God,” he murmured, burying his face in her hair.