Page 2 of Preacher Man

The short answer she couldn't.

"I am." Lying to God's emissary, shit, she really wanted that ticket to hell. "How's it going with you, still playing the guitar?" It was known Daniel Murphy was a disastrous guitar player, could hardly carry a note, and what notes he did know were never in any order, thrown out at random, but his Armado Springs parishioners adored him so they suffered his musical contributions when the mood struck him.

He grinned a roguish smile that did not belong on his face, more like a movie set. "Aye, that I am, though I have a sneaking suspicion no one has missed me at choir these past weeks." Rich Irish tones, as if from the valleys of Galway, glided through his amused voice. "Ruby." That same tone changed to something serious, she saw it wash across his face before he went on. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Him. I wasn't eavesdropping but sound travels in a building this old. Is there something I can be doing for you?"

Ruby frowned. That’s the blessing about people of faith, it didn't matter the time lapse, they would always offer a hand.

The guilt multiplied in her breastbone.

It was on the tip of her tongue to lie and say she was fine and walk on.

What was it her uncle Silas said;God moves in mysterious ways, we often miss the signs for looking. Uncle Silas also saidthere was always a rattlesnake in the grass, so who could truly believe him.

It couldn't hurt, maybe this was her sign.

“You seemed troubled. Can I help?”

She’d be there all day if she offloaded her issues to the pastor. Instead she smiled and answered vaguely. “Just dealing with unneeded anger.”

“Ah.” He replied, nodding. “You know, if you hold onto hate, it will eat at you. You alone have the capacity to forgive and to shed angers skin.”

Easier said than done these days.

"If you could put a good word in for me with." She looked up. Pastor Danny chuckled a deep noise, walking to slot bibles in the pew seats. "I don't think I'm his favorite person lately."

"Aye, I can do that, but if you ever took note in Sunday school, Ruby, you would recall He loves all his children every single day through good times and struggles. Don't underestimate His understanding to know when one of his children steps away for a time and why. And to have the grace and patience awaiting their return."

A sharpness in her chest caused her to inhale quickly. God 1 - 0 Ruby.

"Surely some of us test that endless patience though?"

He grinned brushing a mop of straight brown hair from his blue eyes. In his simple black clothes and the superhero roguish looks, Pastor Danny was a test of many poor women's eternal souls.

Fortunate for her she didn't get even a tingle of attraction in his direction.

"Oh aye, that we do, but He has eternal endurance in these matters.” Beginning her walk back down the aisle, she turned and smiled. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever rob a bank. Have a nice day, pastor."

He chuckled, maybe he thought she was joking. "Don't be a stranger now," he added and waved her off.

Having done what she set out to do, Ruby was about to head to her car when fluttering paper caught her eye.

She detoured to the right where the bulletin board hung outside. It was used for bake sales, choir practice, or yard sales and lost puppies.

All of which didn’t interest Ruby, what she was hoping to see as her eyes scanned each A4 size notice was a nice fat job that made a thousand bucks an hour.

It could happen. She’d just had words with the big guy.

The way irony works, life screws you over and then you assume it can’t get any worse. Fat chance. Life made her bend over ready to take it up the ass one more time as her eyes drifted to one notice with a photocopied face of a man who instantly turned her blood to ice.

A greasy tension coiled in her belly, that unease she hated, the constant dreaded companion in the back of her mind, not allowing her a full restful night's sleep in weeks. If she had the time she'd totally give into an anxiety disorder, but as it was too many people relied on her to keep her shit together, so she indulged in marginal freak outs before she pulled up her big girl panties and got on with things.

But this…

It was him.

Oh, god. It washim.

Kyle. That fucking lunatic from her cabin was blazed on a wanted poster. Or more accuratelyBe on the Lookoutposter.