Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
C orinne. Sunday afternoon
To put it simply, I slept through my alarm.
I was drifting warmly in some dream. I don’t even know what it was about now. But there are some times in the middle of a dream when from some corner of your sleeping mind, another thought comes rudely crashing in on you. My dreaming, drifting mind suddenly capsized by a rude, intruding thought:
Daddy’s sermon! You’re missing Daddy’s sermon!
Bolting up in bed, I was suddenly aware that it was Sunday, and I choked out some words that you would not want to use in church — or when virtually attending church online.
I had told Daddy I’d log on for his sermons every week. I grabbed my phone and saw it was after ten in the morning. I was grateful that Daddy’s sermon was recorded at the same time as it was streamed, so I’d be able to catch it again at eleven.
Daddy liked to call technology “the product of the human ingenuity that the Lord so wisely gave us.” Just now, I called it a life-saver, even knowing that he would have forgiven me and that the sermon would be saved online so I could really listen to it any time. It just made me unhappy with myself that I wouldn’t catch the whole thing live. Resigned to the fact, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and got myself up.
If I hurried, I could shower quickly, get some raspberry turnovers and sausage out of the fridge and warm them up in the microwave, do the same with a cup of hot cocoa, then take breakfast back to bed in time to log on with my laptop and catch Daddy just as he stepped up to the pulpit. And, that was just what I did.
The church’s video crew always did some shots over Daddy’s shoulders looking out into the pews. It did my heart good to see so many people there. It made me wish I were there myself. It made me want to hear Daddy talking to me personally, not to his flock. So, after watching the sermon and getting dressed for the day, I started a video call with him as I’d done with Leanna the other night.
“Daddy, the sermon was wonderful, as usual,” I said, sitting up on my now-made bed and talking to his smiling face. “It made me miss being there and hearing it in person.”
“Homesickness is natural,” he replied. “Your heart always knows where it belongs, honey.”
“I know, Daddy,” I said. “I like it here, I really do. But, there are some things about home that you can’t get anywhere else, no matter how nice it is. That’s the hardest part.”
“But, you are doing well at the internship,” he said. “Everything is fine with you and the people you work with, isn’t it?”
“It’s great,” I assured him. “The woman who trained me this first week is super nice. You’d like her. And, everyone else has been nice. I met the boss — well, one of the bosses — and he’s…” I flashed on that moment of my awkward, embarrassing introduction to Elijah and the thing I felt then. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to talk to my father about that. “He’s a gentleman,” I said.
“That’s good,” said Daddy. “Your mother and I raised two smart girls who can make anything of their lives they want to. You just keep on the way you’re going, and good things will come to you. And remember…”
“Yes, Daddy?”
“No matter what turns you find, good or bad, home is always here for you.”
“I know, Daddy,” I said, feeling as warm as if he were right here in the room with me. He always had that effect, even through a computer screen. “Thank you. I love you.”
He smiled his most loving smile and said, “I love you too, my little angel. You have a good day now.”
“You, too, Daddy,” I said, ending the call.
I leaned back on my bed and rested my head on the pillows. For some reason, the face of Elijah Bennett flashed into my mind. I didn’t know why he would be in my thoughts right now. Perhaps it was just that he was so nice to look at, for those few minutes I’d spent with him. He was like a “dream boss” or something, not at all like the kind of guy that you picture giving orders and signing paychecks. He was nothing that I’d ever expected to find in my new position. I wondered how long it would be before I’d see him again.