That Surprise Visit Make Me Happy Part -5 Continues…

“That Surprise Visit Make Me Happy” Part – 5 Continues…..

My heart leaped in happiness as it always did when I saw them share those little moments and I looked away, not wanting to embarrass them. It was wonderful to witness their blossoming romance, even just in those little stolen moments.

I finished up the meeting and tidied the room up to be ready for the usual library hours.

As I walked back to my office smiling, principal Stewart came to meet me there.

“JERRY, do you have a minute?”

“Sure, come in, what can I do for you?”

She looked uncomfortable. I got a feeling of foreboding.

“Uhm, I just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ve gotten a formal complaint from a few of the parents about your club meetings.”

“Ah. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. I thought they might try to shut us down earlier, to be honest.”

I tried to keep my voice calm, but inside my anger boiled. I think principal Stewart noticed.

“Yes, sadly I agree with you.”

She looked me in the eye.

“JERRY, I want you to know I am backing you up a hundred percent. You are doing a great job, and to be honest I think there’s a great need for the QSA in our community. And I don’t just mean the school community.”

A wave of relief went through me.

“Thank you, principal Stewart, that really means a lot.”

She smiled.

“Your work here is valuable to us all and I’m not letting anyone chase you away.”

“Can I ask who filed the complaint?”

“I can’t tell you, other than it’s the parents of a group of juniors.”

“I understand. Okay, let me know if you need anything from me. I’ll be ready.”

“I hope it won’t come to that; I will respond to it and explain that the promotion of equality is a well-entrenched school policy, and I hope that will be that.”

After she left, I couldn’t help but wonder who those parents were. There were five junior students in the QSA, four girls and a boy. I had my suspicions but tried to shake them off. I doubted I’d heard the last of this, even if the principal played it down.

I went to visit Dad after work and told him about the complaint, taking care not to say anything about the students or who I suspected of being behind it.

He was his usual supportive self, and we talked for an hour before I kissed him goodbye and went home.

I was looking forward to my evening because Maggie was coming for dinner. The Pastor was out of town until Saturday, and she had suggested we use the opportunity to have a ‘girls’ night’ as she put it, with a nice dinner and a glass of wine. I saw the dangers in that but filed them away with all the other things that I shouldn’t be doing with Maggie.

Just after I parked the truck in front of the house, I heard her minivan coming up the driveway.

She jumped out, casually dressed in a form hugging cable knit sweater and jeans, her hair flowing around her shoulders.

I went weak in the knees; she looked even more stunning than usual.

“Hi! I thought I’d catch you early and help you cook, I hope that’s ok?”

She was smiling, but her eyes were a little red, like she had been crying earlier.

“Great, come on inside, it’s just a simple chicken parm but I’ll let you boil the pasta.”

I smiled back at her, pretending not to notice her less-than-usual enthusiasm as we walked to the house and started getting dinner ready.

“Where are your wine glasses?”

“Glass cabinet in the great room.” She walked out there. “Do you want red or white?” came the shout as she opened the cabinet.

“I’ll have white please, I’m a Sauvignon femme.” I smiled at my little lesbian joke as I breaded the chicken.

She appeared in the kitchen doorway, holding two glasses.

“A Chardonnay sapphic, eh?”

My surprise must have shown, and she laughed.

“What? Never met a Pastor’s wife who could speak lesbian?”

I giggled with her.

“Well, I used to know one, but she didn’t like to talk with her mouth full.”

I waggled my eyebrows at her in a ‘if you know what I mean’ kind of way.

“Oh my God Liv, that’s TMI!” Her eyes were huge and she laughed hard in her hand like she was embarrassed to find this funny.

I cackled. It surprised me that I could joke about this with her, but it felt good. I guess it showed how close our friendship had become. It was good to see her laughing off her nervous energy from before.

“Here, what are we drinking?”

I don’t know why I said it, but it just came out.

“To lesbian Pastors’ wives.”

She hesitated for a second, and then she raised her glass with a strange smile, and downed half her glass.

“Thirsty?”

“Long day. Give me that bottle.” She refilled her glass and opened the pasta.

“How much do we need?”

“Do a double portion, I’ll eat the leftovers tomorrow night.”

We cooked dinner and talked and drank wine. We finished the first bottle and opened another. I told her about my day, the QSA complaint and that I thought it wasn’t going to go away easily. She told me about her day, a youth group meeting that went bad because of a bullying problem, and then there were some issues with her husband’s trip to the clergy conference in Fargo that she brushed over. I got the feeling that there was a bigger issue there that she wasn’t telling me about, but I didn’t press.

I watched her over dinner, my mind going back to my conversation with Jenny.

I couldn’t deny how I felt about her; I felt it in every fiber of my soul. I tried to keep the sadness away from the conversation, just trying to enjoy having her here with me, sharing a meal and some wine

We took the rest of the second bottle with us to the great room. I went to sit on the sofa, wrapping my blanket over my feet. She wandered to the mantlepiece looking over the family pictures. She stopped at one of them, looking back at me open mouthed.

“Is that you? Wow! You look so different! All… grrrrr!”

She made a dangerous tiger face and claws.

I chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m 17. It was taken during my troublemaker years in high school. I was doing my best to be a lesbian menace to society.”

“You look fierce! And interesting. I wish I had known you back then.” She sounded wistful.

“Yeah, me too.”

That Surprise Visit Make Me Happy Part -5 Continues on the next page