Sorry for the delay--no excuses this time, just the rest of chapter 4!

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As soon as Caitlyn rolled over to silence her alarm the next morning, she knew she had a long day ahead of her.  Her neck and shoulders were no less sore than they’d been the night before.  She hadn’t really expected any different—she’d woken up at least three times in the night from the pain in her neck or shoulder as she rolled over.  She squinted at the clock and briefly considered going back to bed when she remembered the Mother’s Day brunch. 

Well, Cate, you committed to this months ago, so you’re just going to have to suck it up and go.  Mrs. Devlin would take over if she needed to—she always did—but Cate thought their pastor’s wife deserved this day out of all of them off.  She was like a second mother to many of the young women at church, Cate included at times.  She wanted to be able to do something for this special woman, rather than expecting her to pick up the slack yet again when a volunteer didn’t follow through on their obligations.

She gingerly lifted herself out of bed, ignoring the pain in her shoulders, and made her way to the bathroom.  A hot shower would at least loosen her muscles and hopefully allow her to get through the day without overdosing on over-the-counter painkillers.  She rummaged through the medicine cabinet to see if she had any Ben-Gay left from when she had pulled a muscle in her back the previous winter, but didn’t see it.  Cate wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing—while it had helped with the pain, the scent had been overpowering and she didn’t want to arrive to church smelling like concentrated hospital.

An hour later, she was out the door and driving to church.  The service didn’t start for another hour and a half and the brunch wasn’t until after that, but she wanted to make sure things were as organized as possible now, so they wouldn’t be madly dashing about after the service.  The fellowship hall was always confusing enough with the after-church socializing without her trying to set out plates, cups, and silverware and make sure all the tables had salt and pepper.  Her helpers, Jodi and a younger woman from the singles group, wouldn’t arrive until closer to time for the service to start, and she wanted to make sure they could all be present for the beginning of the service, at least, since they would have to quietly duck out to finish food preparation before the service ended.

Cate glanced in her rear-view mirror repeatedly as she approached a stoplight near the church, and then chided herself for being silly.  Not everyone on the road is a drunk who’s going to rear-end you! She’d check the paper after church to see if there was any report of the accident yesterday, though she was sure her insurance company would get the necessary information from the police.  Cate realized she didn’t even know if the man who had hit her had insurance.  She knew that was why there was uninsured motorist coverage on her policy, but she wondered what the consequences would be for him.  Judging by his level of intoxication, the lack of insurance might be the least of his worries.  She turned her mind to getting to church safely and the things that needed to be accomplished once she got there before the service started.

    Greg followed his friend Keith into the church.  The two had met in law school—Keith had taken a job as an assistant county prosecutor while Greg had joined the tax firm.  The two had studied for the bar exam together, spent countless hours going over notes and briefs—yet this was the first time Greg had ever visited Keith’s church, and he realized he had never asked his friend to visit his.

    Probably because you don’t attend your nearly often enough yourself, he thought.  Greg shook his head at how skewed his priorities had become in the last few months, and resolved once again to do better.  Keith was greeting people he knew—he’d grown up in this church, Greg remembered, and chosen to attend law school near home, unlike Greg, who’d moved several hundred miles and left everything behind to go to college, then done the same thing again when he’d started law school.  It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but suddenly Greg wondered what he might have been missing over the years.

    Movement further back in the church caught Greg’s eye, and he would have sworn he saw Caitlyn Jordan moving around in the kitchen at the back of the fellowship hall.  Cate attended church here?  He wondered for a moment if this might be the chance to apologize for whatever he’d done to offend her the night before—or if Cate was just completely uninterested and would ignore his presence entirely.

    “Greg, this is Mrs. Devlin, our pastor’s wife.”  Keith’s words brought his friend back to reality just in time, and Greg remembered his manners long enough to extend a hand to the middle-aged woman to whom he was being introduced.   “Mrs. Devlin, this is Greg Tanner, a friend from law school.”

    “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.  Keith has had a lot of wonderful things to say about this church and your family.”  Greg hoped he didn’t come across nearly as insincere as he sounded to himself.  His mind was still reeling after seeing Cate in the back of the church, and he knew his tone sounded a bit strained.

    If it did, Sandra Devlin gave no indication.  Keith had met with her husband only weeks earlier to ask for prayers for his good friend Greg, and she hoped that the young man before her was here in response to those prayers.  “Keith says you’re an excellent tax lawyer, Greg—I certainly hope you’re far better with those little government forms than I am.” 

That got a smile from the young lawyer, who still seemed distracted by something in the back of the church.  Sandra discretely glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw Caitlyn Jordan in the kitchen.  Well, Cate was pretty enough to distract most men, and she was one of the sweetest girls in the singles group.  She knew that Keith had been trying to work up the nerve to ask Cate out, but knew this was neither the time nor the place to ask if he’d had the chance—especially not with the way his friend was looking at Caitlyn.  The strains of the organ prelude from the sanctuary saved her from further comment.

“Gentlemen, I believe the service is about to start without us.”  She called to her two youngest children—the older ones had appeared at her side as soon as the music began—and Sandra herded her family into the sanctuary. 

Keith turned to Greg.  “Shall we?”  With one last glance toward the kitchen, where Cate was removing an apron and starting toward the sanctuary door herself, Greg moved to follow his friend.

Caitlyn folded her apron and placed it on the counter, having shooed Jodi and her children out of the kitchen and in to save her a seat a few moments earlier.  She saw the two men in the foyer and moved to follow them into the sanctuary, stopping short when she realized who was with Keith Winters.  He’d mentioned his friend Greg before, but she’d never imagined that it would be the same Greg she’d had coffee with the night before.  Cate’s face clouded momentarily when she remembered Keith’s words about his friend a week or so earlier.

“He’s been a good friend, Caty-girl, but I worry about him.  He’s so wrapped up in that corporate law world that he doesn’t seem to have time for anything anymore—including God, most of the time.  He told me last week he hadn’t been to church, or even opened his Bible, in weeks.  I spend a lot of time praying for him.”

He’s here now, an inner voice reminded Cate.  That was an answer to prayer—both Keith’s prayers and Pastor Devlin’s, she was sure.  Keith had emerged as the leader of the singles ministry at the church, despite his busy schedule with the county courts, and he had become a good friend of Caitlyn’s over the years—they had known each other since junior high, and had been the subject of gossip more than once at the local college they had both attended.  Cate had protested more than once that she’d been unable to get a date because everyone thought she was already dating Keith.

“Headed in, Caitlyn?”  The deep voice of Pastor Joseph Devlin broke into Cate’s thoughts.  Never one for nicknames, her pastor had called her nothing but Caitlyn from the day her family had joined the church.

“Just headed that way, Pastor.” She often felt like a schoolgirl under the man’s gaze, and even though there was no censure in his voice, she had to stifle the urge to apologize.

“In case we haven’t said it often enough, Caitlyn, Sandra and I appreciate the work you’ve put into this brunch today.  This is the first Mother’s Day in years she’s felt able to relax and not be involved in all the plans, knowing that things were in your capable hands.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, smiling as she turned to the sanctuary door—Pastor Devlin, she knew from long experience, would give her just enough time to get seated, then follow her in as the first hymn began.  She spotted Jodi and her family in a pew toward the back and joined them.

“Who’s that with Keith?” Jodi whispered as Cate set her purse on the floor next to her feet.

“His name is Greg Tanner.”  There was a light of recognition in Jodi’s eyes at this statement, but people began to rise for the opening hymn and she said nothing as Pastor Devlin made his way toward the front of the church, joining in the singing instead, but Cate knew Jodi well enough to know there would be more questions in the kitchen later.  From the way Jodi’s eyes lingered on Keith, Cate thought she might have a few of her own with which to counter.  She hadn’t known Jodi to date at all, with her busy work schedule and family life, and Cate couldn’t help but wonder if someone like Keith was just what her friend needed.

Alyssa began to fidget during the opening prayer, distracting Cate.  She opened her eyes to see Greg looking at her.  Their eyes met for a brief second before someone cleared their throat and Cate bowed her head once again.  She forced herself to concentrate on Pastor Devlin’s voice, asking God to give her the ability to concentrate on the service and not the man seated across the sanctuary and one row ahead.  As the congregation said “Amen,” Cate looked up again, feeling sufficiently composed to attend to the rest of the service, and refused to look in Greg’s direction for fear that he might undo all of her concentration with a glance.

Her determination paid off—Pastor Devlin’s sermon on mothers and motherhood, using the example of Mary watching her son’s crucifixion, tugged on a cord in Cate’s heart.  She wondered if she, too, would someday get the chance to raise a family as the congregation stood for the closing him and she slipped out the door to finish the brunch preparation.  She hated to duck out early, but one of her helpers was sick that morning and Cate knew she would need all the extra time she could find to get things organized before the crowd filtered over from the foyer to the fellowship hall to say grace and eat.

Greg saw Cate leave out of the corner of his eye and could feel Keith’s gaze on him as he turned back toward the front of the church.  Keith had mentioned a girl named Katie from his church singles group a number of times, but Greg had never met the woman, declining several invitations to join the singles activities with a variety of lackluster excuses.  Greg suddenly wondered if he shouldn’t take Keith up on next invitation, realizing that Cate was probably the woman to whom he was referring.  Surely, if Keith had mentioned Cate to him, Greg’s name had been mentioned to Cate more than once.  Greg briefly wondered what Keith might have said about him, but dismissed the thought, knowing his friend was not one to gossip.

Forcing himself not to constantly glance toward the kitchen as Keith introduced him to a number of people was a strain for Greg.  He wondered if there was some way he could unobtrusively slip away and offer his assistance, but that would be more than obvious, as he saw no other men in the kitchen.  Keith unwittingly came to his aid.

“Donna was supposed to be helping Caitlyn with the brunch, but Chad just mentioned that she was sick.  Do you mind if we go over and help her for a bit, Greg?  She and Jodi look like they have their hands full.”  Greg nodded, trying not to look too pleased, and the two men headed for the kitchen.  “Don’t look now, Caty-girl, but help has arrived.”

Caitlyn could have wept at the sound of Keith’s voice.  Her neck and shoulders were screaming at her to stop and had been since the moment she’d entered the kitchen before the service.  She had said nothing to Jodi, knowing the other woman would have insisted upon doing it all alone.  Cate gave her best effort at a smile to Keith and Greg and rattled off a list of tasks that still had to be accomplished in the—she glanced at her watch—next fifteen minutes.  Their eyes went slightly wide, but the sight of Jodi shaking her head in the background kept them from commenting.

“Looks like you could use some help in here, Cate.”  Sandra Devlin had appeared at the door.  Greg saw the look of uncertainty in Caitlyn’s eyes and hoped he could help.

“Mrs. Devlin, I’m sure no one appreciates all you do in this church more than Cate does.  This may be my first visit here, but Keith has told me for years about everything you do for all the members of the congregation.  Please, take the day off and let us do this little thing for you as a way of saying thank you?”  He held his breath, wondering if he had just offended everyone in the room by jumping in where he didn’t belong.

“Keith told me you were a good egg, Greg Tanner.  I’m glad to see he hasn’t lost his judgment.”  With that, the pastor’s wife departed the kitchen.

“How did you do that?”  Jodi was amazed.  Greg shrugged.

“You should see him in the courtroom,” Keith interjected.

“You’re a lawyer, too?”  Jodi turned speculative eyes toward their guest.

“I met Keith in law school,” Greg confirmed.

“Funny, you don’t look slimy.”

Greg’s jaw dropped at the comment from Jodi as Keith laughed.  Cate was oddly quiet, and he wondered for the first time if she might be feeling the effects of yesterday’s car accident.  She was a few feet away from where the three of them were standing and he moved toward her while Keith and Jodi continued their banter without him.  Interested or not, he wanted to know if she was okay.

“How are you feeling?”

Greg’s voice was so low that it took Caitlyn a moment to realize he was speaking to her.  Her hand automatically went to the back of her neck.  “I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry if I did or said anything to offend you last night, Cate.  I assure you it was not my intention.”  The look in his eyes was so open Cate was uncertain how to respond.

“No, Greg, you didn’t offend me,” she said slowly, then admitted, “I wasn’t feeling quite myself last night—it was a long day yesterday—and I’m afraid I wasn’t very good company.”

“The company was wonderful,” he assured her.  That got the first real smile he’d from her he’d seen since the accident the day before and made Greg wonder if he still had a chance.  “I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay after the accident yesterday.”  Her eyes shadowed for a moment, prompting him to question her further.  “Cate, were you hurt yesterday.”

She considered denying it for a moment, but the truth won out.  “My neck and shoulders have been awfully sore since I went back to work yesterday,” she admitted.

Greg’s look became concerned.  “Maybe you should have gone to the ER yesterday instead of back to the store.”  His eyes narrowed for a moment.  “You didn’t hit your head or anything like that, did you?”

Their eyes met for a brief moment before they became aware of their audience.

“You were in an accident yesterday, Caty-girl?”

Caitlyn’s chin came up a fraction of an inch at Keith’s tone.  “Yes, but I’m fine, so can we get back to work, as this brunch isn’t serving itself, and it looks like we have some hungry people waiting on us.”  She gestured toward the fellowship hall, where people were beginning to find seats, and then moved to take trays out of the ovens, which had been keeping everything warm during the service.  Jodi shrugged at the two men before moving to help Cate.

At their insistence, Greg and Keith were allowed to make most of the trips out to the tables where the food was to be set, buffet-style.  As soon as they were gone, Jodi turned to Cate.

“So how do you know Greg Tanner?”

“He’s the one whose card Kara over charged by a million dollars.”

Jodi’s eyes widened—she hadn’t heard the whole story, but the tills being off and their assistant manager being fired the next day hadn’t been a coincidence, of that much she was certain.  “Somehow, I don’t think I’d be that friendly if it were me.”

“Oh, he wasn’t at first,” Cate assured her friend.  “He was actually quite rude to me over the phone Friday night—and then he came into the store Saturday morning to apologize in person.” 

Jodi shook her head.  “That took some nerve.  For all he knew, you could have been a total shrew.”

“He took a chance, yes—but he did the right thing.”

“But how did he know about your accident?”

Cate took a deep breath and explained everything that had happened the day before, starting with Greg’s sudden appearance as the drunken driver was manhandling her and ending with her surprise at seeing him in the foyer that morning.  Jodi shook her head again, but saw the guys re-entering the kitchen and chose not to reply.

“Pastor Devlin is ready to lead everyone in saying grace, if you ladies would like to come out of the kitchen for a moment,” Keith reported.  Cate untied her apron—Jodi hadn’t bothered with one—and they stepped out into the fellowship hall

They were met with a round of applause.  Caitlyn immediately turned to Keith and Greg, who were grinning unrepentantly and joining in the applause.  Cate gave a bashful little wave before Pastor Devlin raised his hand and silenced everyone before leading them in prayer.