Chapter Twenty-Four
Rosemary was delighted by how welcoming everyone was at church. Even after not having been to church in a long while, not since she’d moved to Nina’s house in Pennsylvania, she felt an immediate connection. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it until the service began, but she immediately felt the strength of His Word. In the joy of worshipping with this close-knit group, the hymns came back to her, familiar and comforting.
The pastor’s words carried the gentle urgency of a shepherd guiding his flock. He had the pacing of a seasoned storyteller, holding her attention with every detail, although she knew them by heart.
How could it be that this pastor, whom she’d never met, seemed to direct this sermon straight to her current situation?
She leaned in, absorbing the message.
Pastor Qualls’s voice rose, pulling her in with the strength of a tide. “In this season, I want to remind us all, if we see darkness for long enough, we eventually adjust to it. We can lose awareness that there even is light anywhere around.”
Paul reached for Amanda’s hand. A gentle touch. Rosemary missed how Kai would do that when they were in church. That unspoken connection to the words of the day.
“As I look around the sanctuary today, I know that some of you have experienced your turn recently. Hurricane Edwina brought in darkness.” The pastor was compassionate. “You may be feeling that weighing on you at this very moment. The very best our faith can offer is indeed required in these times for us to trust in all the light we cannot see. But the light is there.”
The light is always there. Something lifted in her heart. I have choices. She turned to Tug, who was listening intently. He was struggling now. He had harder choices to make. His problems made her own seem rather insignificant. He had tangible things to wrestle with, and the red tape of insurance and starting over made it that much harder.
“Maybe life has beaten you up lately,” the pastor said.
Rosemary heard Tug catch his breath. He sure had it dished out to him. He looked as if he felt the pastor was addressing him directly too.
She’d never been a glass-half-empty kind of gal, and yet in this situation with Nina, she felt so negative and out of options. Stuck. And maybe she hadn’t been entirely fair to Nina. Help me see my options, Lord. Guide me in a way that will bring joy to Nina and to me. She’s had a rough go of it too. I’m making things worse for her, and for that, I’m sorry.
Pastor Qualls stood tall, lifting himself onto his toes as he addressed the congregation with fervor. “If you’re struggling to grasp on to your faith in these trying times,” he continued, his voice carrying a weight of empathy, “perhaps it’s enough to hold on to the memory of a brighter moment, when you embraced God’s light with unwavering conviction. Faith, you see, isn’t always about seeing the light; it’s about trusting that, even in the darkest of nights, there’s a dawn waiting to break. It’s about having faith in the unseen, believing in the presence of light beyond our immediate sight.”
Rosemary nodded. Faith. She blinked back a tear. I need to treasure every single day. Every moment. She glanced over at Paul and Amanda—and Tug. I believe these people came into my life for a reason. The realization felt unbelievable but undebatable. It’s not so different from those shells. The right message for the right person at the right time.
The image of the shell she’d found was so clear in her mind at that moment. “Life takes you to unexpected places. Trust the light to lead you home.”
Tug whispered an amen.
Had she spoken out loud, or was he responding to the pastor? He must’ve had his own realizations too. Around the room, other heads were nodding.
This is a powerful moment. Her skin tingled with excitement as a flood of joy raced through her.
They stood for the next hymn. Everyone’s voice lifted, strong and confident, following that sermon.
As the service concluded, Rosemary turned to Amanda. “I’m so grateful you invited me to join you. I needed this. Thank you.”
Amanda squeezed her hand. “I’m so glad you came. And you, too, Tug.”
“High time, wasn’t it?” Tug looked a little sheepish, but he glanced at Rosemary. “Thank you for inviting me. ”
“It was really good,” Rosemary said as Paul, Amanda, Hailey, and Jesse rose and began edging out of the long pew.
Rosemary followed them and appreciated the kind touch of Tug’s hand on her arm.
“You know how to rescue a man,” he whispered into her ear.
She smiled. Oh, honey, you haven’t seen anything yet. She kept the snarky remark to herself, because she believed she could help him. She felt it was her calling, the reason she’d landed in this little town. Not to renew a high school friendship.
Amanda and Paul stopped to chat with the pastor.
As Rosemary and Tug stood waiting, the feeling of community surrounded her like a warm blanket.
When she stepped in front of the pastor, his face pulled into a welcoming grin. “Thank you for coming. A new face. It’s so nice to have you with us. You’re a friend of Tug’s?”
“A new friend,” she said.
The pastor looked at Tug with compassion. “I’m so glad to see you here this morning. Welcome back, my friend.”
“Thanks, Charles. I’ll get with the girls and get back on the volunteer list. It’s been too long.”
“We are in the middle of planning a pancake night.” The pastor truly looked delighted. “We’d love to have you at the helm of that.”
“Write me in,” Tug said. “You’ve got my number.”
“I sure do.” He patted Tug on the back as they walked out.
Tug waved to Paul across the parking lot, then held the van door for Rosemary to get in.
“Good way to start the day,” he said, backing out. “It occurred to me while we were sitting there like old pals that you told me your last name, but I’m not sure I even know how to say it properly.”
“It’s Palakiko,” she said, then spelled it out for him.
He repeated it perfectly.
“Very good,” she said. “Were you ever married?”
“No, which is why I never had kids. I’m old-fashioned that way. I feel like a grandpa to Amanda’s kids, though. I love having them in my life. They have been such a breath of fresh air for this old man.”
“Wow. So, you’re a confirmed bachelor?”
“I guess you could say that.” He repositioned his hands on the steering wheel. “Not on purpose.”
“I loved being married. Having someone to go through things together. Uplifting each other when times got tough. And we had our share of tough times over the years, but I still believe marriage is wonderful.”
“I’m sure it is with the right partner,” he said softly.
“You just never found your person?”
“I did, but her heart was somewhere else.” There was a lot of emotion in that statement.
Her heart ached for him. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It all happens as it’s supposed to. I believe that, even though I don’t always like it.”
She nodded and looked out the window, enjoying the scenery on the short ride back to his house.
He pulled into the driveway and parked next to the pile of sand that led to his front door.
They got out of the van, and Rosemary kicked off her shoes. “I think it’ll be easier to climb up with no shoes on.”
Tug laughed. “Come on. I have another set of stairs over here. It’ll be easier.”
“What? You made me walk over your truck just to be funny last time, didn’t you?”
“It was adventurous.”
“I did sort of like it, but it wouldn’t be a fun climb in heels, and especially not on grocery day.”
“This way, my friend.”
She gave him a playful look and caught up to him as they rounded the other side of the house. The stairs on this side were in perfect condition, and she noted the cute garage, which had a few old surfboards mounted to the side of it.
Inside, the house was bright and cheerful.
The aroma of sausage hung in the air.
“You started without me?” Rosemary asked. “It smells like heaven. Someone should make a candle that smells like that.”
“I went ahead and cooked up a huge batch of sausage to save us time with the lasagna. Plus, I wanted to have some to make sausage gravy this week. It’s one of my favorites. Do you like sausage gravy over biscuits?”
“Sounds heavy.”
“Southern. Comfort food. You’ve got to try it.”
“Do you make good biscuits? I never mastered them.”
“The best. Golden brown with a crispness to the top and soft as cotton in the middle. People love my biscuits.”
“From what I’ve heard, they love everything you make.”
“Good thing. Would’ve been hard to run a diner if I couldn’t cook.”
“True.”
The two of them started laying out ingredients across the huge butcher block. Then Tug set her up with onions to chop while he got out huge casserole dishes.
“How much are we going to make?”
“It’s my special recipe. Might as well treat others to some.”
“And is it just me, or does lasagna taste even better when you take it out of the freezer and reheat it?” Rosemary kept chopping, hoping her homegrown skills were passable.
“So good. Hey, you’re doing a good job there.”
“I’ve had a few years of experience.”
“Haven’t we all, by now?”
The chatter was playful and easy as they talked about little things and worked on the lasagna together.
He asked her if she liked dessert, and she went on and on about her favorite spice cake recipe. “That came out really braggy. I did not mean it like that, but I know you’d love it. I’ll make you one. Or my pound cake. It’s amazing with the Hawaiian glaze.”
“I’d like that. Or you can give me the recipe, and I’ll make it for you.”
“Wait a minute, mister. We have not known each other long enough to share recipes. That’s a very special honor. You know you can’t just give a recipe to any old body. In fact, come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever shared that recipe with anyone. Not even my daughter.”
“Wow. You are serious about that.”
“I am.”
“Interesting. I’m not sure I’ve ever kept a recipe to myself. I always give all my secrets away, and people accuse me of not giving them the whole recipe, saying it doesn’t taste the same. I think it’s just all the years of seasoning in those old pots and pans I use. Or used.”
“That’s sneaky.”
“No. I give them the recipe. Every ingredient,” he said. “I’d never trick someone like that.”
“No. I wouldn’t expect that you would.” And she liked that about him.
Rosemary started lining the pan with strips of lasagna noodles.
“I was told you used to have shells that people found on the beach in the diner. The ones with messages?”
He nodded. “True.”
“That’s so interesting.” She wasn’t sure if she should tell him about the shell she’d found, but why hold back? He might know something about it. “You know when you saw me on the street the other day? As soon as you pulled away, I found one of those special shells.”
He laid down his spoon. “One with a message in it?”
“Yes.”
“Really? What did it say?”
“It said, ‘Life takes you to unexpected places. Trust the light to lead you home.’ I asked Amanda about it, because I wondered if it might have been one of the shells that were in your diner, but she said she’d never seen it before.”
“I don’t recognize that saying either.”
“How can I determine if it was intended for me and not misplaced by someone else?”
“You found it,” Tug said. “Then it was meant for you.”
“That’s what Amanda said, too, but how?”
“Who knows?” Tug smiled. “It’s just the way it always works.”
“Funny it would be so far from the beach.”
Tug didn’t seem surprised. “They have been found all over this town over the years. So, what do you think? About the message?”
“I think it was timely.”
“They always are.”