The Parson's Waiting

the bag of medicine and shoved it in his pocket. “I’d better be getting back to Maisey.”
Anna Louise blamed herself for the sudden shift in his mood, the renewal of the tension between them. For a fleeting moment he’d seemed almost happy. Then he had plunged back into that dark antagonism that she had foolishly attributed entirely to his experiences overseas. Now it seemed obvious that Richard Walton’s discontent had begun right here in Kiley a long, long time ago. Given that, she wondered if he’d stick around long enough for her to figure out what made him tick. She found herself oddly disappointed by the thought that he might not.
* * *
Richard’s long strides took him up the side of the mountain in less than half an hour. He needed this hike, this time to himself. The day had quickly turned hot and humid, a last reminder of summer before autumn’s chill arrived for good. Sweat broke out on his forehead and streaked down his back. At least he could blame the heat for leaving him feeling restless and irritable. Chances were, though, that was only part of the explanation. Anna Louise was the bigger part of it.
He was glad that she hadn’t followed him from Patterson’s. He’d seen the questioning expression in her eyes and knew that she’d be pestering him for explanations he had no intention of giving. Even if she weren’t a preacher, she would be the kind of woman who’d always want to make things right. She’d never be able to accept that there were some things it was impossible for a man to forgive and forget. Even Maisey didn’t fully understand this hold the past had on him and she had lived through the grief and anger with him.
He deliberately pushed the old memories aside, along with the more recent nagging little sparks of attraction Anna Louise set off in him. Sitting across from her in that old-fashioned booth with its red vinyl cushions and black Formica-topped table, he’d forgotten for a moment that she wasn’t just any woman. Her sassy tongue had fueled the confusion. He did love a woman with a temper and Anna Louise clearly had spirit to spare. Apparently the hands-off message hadn’t penetrated his brain, even though he’d spent a restless night repeating it again and again.
When he should have been thinking about Anna Louise speaking from that pulpit, he kept seeing her stretching for that apple in Maisey’s orchard. The two images were not compatible. One was a solemn reminder of what happened to sinners. The other was sweet temptation.
Blast his sorry hide, he had always been drawn to danger, and Anna Louise surely was that. This time he’d been so sure that he’d have the good sense to resist. After this morning, though, he had his doubts, which made it all the more important that he not stick around Kiley a second longer than necessary.
He was walking up the dirt road leading to the house when a car breezed past him without even slowing. His heartbeat accelerated. Maisey! Had she gotten worse while he’d been gone? Had the doctor been called? Only at the last second as the car sent up a trail of dust did he catch the sheen of the driver’s red hair.
So, he thought grimly, Anna Louise had followed him, after all. He should have known being left behind wouldn’t deter her.
Only the thought of Maisey’s medicine tucked in his pocket kept him from taking his time going inside. He did linger by the kitchen window for a bit, though. The two of them were seated at the table, thick as thieves. If his grandmother was still feeling under the weather, it didn’t show. She was pouring a cup of tea for her guest and demanding to know what was going on in town.
“Did you run into Richard?” she asked, her tone all innocence, but obviously zeroing in on what fascinated her the most.
“At the drugstore,” Anna Louise said.
“I thought you might. You’re usually there about this time every day,” she said.
Richard bit back a chuckle. The old sneak! He’d wondered why she’d been in such a rush to shoo him out the door, insisting that she had to have her medicine right away, when it was clear to him now she was just fine.
“I wonder why he didn’t come back up here with you?” she said to Anna Louise.
“He probably had another errand,” Anna Louise replied. “I did see him walking along the lane up to the house. He should be here soon.”
A disapproving frown settled over Maisey’s face. Or maybe it was just disappointment, Richard decided. She probably hated the fact that the two of them weren’t falling in with her plans.
“You didn’t offer him a lift?” she chided. “Why, I’m surprised at you, Anna Louise.”
“I suspect he preferred having the time to himself.”
Richard stepped inside. “Or perhaps he just has more sense than to ride with a woman who drives like a maniac,” he chimed in from the doorway. He crossed the room in two strides, leaned down and kissed Maisey, then put her medicine on the table. He glanced at Anna Louise. “Are you in such a hurry to meet your Maker?”
“I’m surprised at you. For a man who dodges gunfire without blinking an eye, you seem to lack a sense of adventure,” Anna Louise accused with a good-humored smile. “Besides, I’ve never gotten so much as a scratch from an accident, whereas I hear you have a whole collection of scars from your intrepid lifestyle.”
“Touch;aae. Now if you two will excuse me, I’m going to take a survey of the barn to see what it will take to fix it up.”
At the screen door, he paused. “Maisey, if you’re feeling up to it this afternoon, I thought we could drive over to Charlottesville to pick up some paint for the barn and maybe some new wallpaper for in here.”
Maisey gave him an inscrutable look. “I think the trip would