“You mean, like an intervention? Oh sure, he’ll love me for that.”
“No. But he might love knowing that you cared enough to do it. To save his life and his reputation. Him, essentially.”
She sighed. Shaking her head, she had to admit her greatest surprise in all of this. “Kathy, I think I’m in love with him.”
Kathy squeezed her hand. “It’s the total pits, isn’t it?”
She lifted her head and Kathy gave her a sympathetic smile. She smiled back. “Yes. I had no idea.”
“Let’s go see Rob and Mom.”
“And Karlee. She knows about us already. She saw us. And she’s older now so we’ve got to quit treating her like a baby. Did you know she’s already had sex?”
Kathy winced. “I don’t like the sound of that. But you’re right, I guess she’s not twelve anymore.”
“Ladies, would you please quit discussing your sex lives in front of me? Why don’t I escort you two over to the house?”
Kathy took his arm. “No, dear. You’re still a shooting victim. We will escort you while you shuffle over there. You’re not the big man you used to be, not yet.” She gave him a little wink. Kayla’s dark thoughts and fears started to fade. Her nerves were jangled for tattling on Jim and divulging his secret past.
She feared he’d hate her now. And worse still, that there was nothing she could do to help him. Or reach him. She wished she knew how to proceed.
Kathy and Kayla entered their childhood home together. It was five PM and Mom and Rob were in the kitchen, making dinner.
“We need to talk,” Kayla said, feeling anxious and with no preamble or hesitation. “Sit in the living room.” She rounded the corner and screamed upstairs. “Karlee! Come down here.”
Karlee’s door squeaked on its hinges and she pounded down the stairs. “What do you want?”
“You need to hear this so you can understand what’s going on.”
Karlee nodded as she sat down. Eric sat in his usual chair with Kathy perched on the armrest, leaning against him.
Rob glanced around. “What is this?”
“Get ready for a whopper. This will be a lot to swallow at once. And it’s really hard and uncomfortable. It involves words like sex and well, just get used to it. We are all adults now, which is part of the story. But there’s more…” Her voice cracked. She blinked back the tears. Getting weepy and feeling anything but strong, Kayla leaned forward and let out a loud sob. Turning the problem over to her parents, however, released some of the pressure. “I need both of you. I need your help. I can’t do this alone. So please don’t get hung up on any sex stuff.”
“Okay. Okay, honey. What’s going on?” Her mom’s soothing hands massaged her back and Kayla sobbed, turning toward her, holding her in a short crying jag.
“Are you… pregnant?” Rob’s voice hit her ears. He sounded half strangled, half horrified in his logical query.
She lifted her chin high enough to give him an evil glare. “No, Rob, I’m not pregnant. Is that really the best you can come up with as to why I’m crying?”
Rob lifted his hands and glanced around as if her glare physically held him hostage. “You said we had to get over the sex talk and then you burst into tears. You didn’t cry after you witnessed the shooting and you were solid as a rock for Kathy so I thought perhaps…”
“I’m not pregnant, okay? You can definitely rule that out right now.” Her annoyance made her pause to collect her thoughts.
Her mom was seated beside her, holding her hand and patiently waiting. “Well, to be fair, I was prepared for the same news and wondering what to say about it,” Rebecca admitted with a guilty glance at Kayla.
“See? Your wording suggested someone who was about to announce that kind of news.”
“It’s not so personal. I mean, I have a personal problem but it’s for someone else. So relax a little.”
“All right, start again. Who is this about? Who is someone?”
“It’s… Jim.”
“Jim? Pastor Jim? Kathy’s Jim?”
Karlee snickered. “He wasn’t Kathy’s Jim at all, as it turns out.”
Kayla’s eyes shot daggers at Karlee to shut up and Rob frowned while her mom’s face contorted in obvious puzzlement. “Do you mean, you and Jim…?”
“Yes. I do mean Jim and me. I also mean sex. I told you this would be awkward and uncomfortable. It happened after he and Kathy broke up. No, it wasn’t planned and there was no intention of anything before then. Now that we did though, our feelings for each other are evident. I wouldn’t be holding a freaking family meeting if it were anything less than that.”
“No. I suppose not. So tell us, what happened?” Rebecca asked.
Rob interrupted. “But Jim? Really? I just don’t see him and you together. You two always clashed. We used to make fun of him. How could—?”
Testily, Kayla regretted all the times she’d mocked Jim. Yes, she did it with Rob most often. “Do you want to know the details of how? I mean, we’re close but that seems a bit inappropriate.”
Rob shuddered as he made grimaces with his face. “No. Please stop. I was just trying to wrap my head around the changes.”
“Yeah, it’s all quite alarming to me too. And to Kathy and everyone involved,” Kayla replied.
“Why wouldn’t you just tell us you’re dating him? Is that right?”
“I have no reason to. He has lots of problems. Significant problems that I only just realized last night. Now I need your help and your advice because I don’t know what to do. Or maybe you could help me accept it…”
“Start from the beginning,” Rob replied.
Kayla began with his childhood, the man called Jimmy, the believers whom he duped and the young boys he abused. She explained why Jim decided to become a pastor and what he tried to be with Kathy. She ended with a description of how she found him Saturday night.
Rob sat back and sighed. “He’s an
