It was a quiet and lazy Monday afternoon, and I happened to have the day off, so I strolled down to my friends’ apartment. Paul was home working at his computer, but Nancy was at work. He seemed glad to see me and said he needed an excuse to take a break.
I took the easy chair, and he grabbed coffee for the both of us.
“So,” I said, “how are things?”
“Great! Just got a direct deposit of a little over a thousand dollars for another special website I was building.”
“That’s good. I remember. You told me about it here a while back.”
“Yep. I did. Finished it last week. Joe was more than happy with it, and threw in an extra hundred bucks.”
“That is so awesome!”
He grinned slightly, turning his hooded eyes up to me. “It never ceases to amaze me the little extras Father gives us.”
I knew exactly what he was talking about. “Yes. Exactly. There are a lot of folks who would say it was coincidence. But we know, don’t we?”
He nodded, agreeing. “Yes! Happens far too often for it to be coincidental. Father loves us, and doesn’t mind letting us know it.”
“It’s simply awesome!” My thoughts went to my mother then, and Paul picked it up.
“I take it something is bothering you?”
“My Mom.”
“Oh? I thought you two were getting along?”
“Honestly, I think she’s lost her freakin’ mind. Can you believe that after all she has gone through… all the years of being miserable with that controlling, hypocritical, self-righteous father of mine, she is going back to him?”
“Say what?” He sat forward. Interest piqued. “Seriously?”
“You heard me right. She told me she’d had plenty of time to think things over and could now see more clearly from Dad’s perspective. Not exactly in those words, but you get my drift. She also told me that there were terms in their getting back together – That he would have to set aside special time for her every week.”
“I guess if he will do it, that it might possibly work… For a while, anyway.” He grinned at me knowingly. “I seriously doubt it though.”
“Knowing my father – the man who thinks he’s God’s gift to mankind – he will try for a while, maybe even for several months, but he is too set in his ways. And he’s also much, much too absorbed in his duties to his church. I know he will always put his God and church first.”
He took a sip of his coffee and set his cup on the coffee table. “I hate to see it, Brenda. I know you were so happy to have your mother back in your life. And I am sure you won’t be able to have that closeness so much if she’s going back to your father.”
“I know. What really makes me sick: She finally got the courage to leave him. Has a job and can take care of herself, and she could easily find another man.”
“She’s probably scared, Brenda. She’s how old – forty?”
“Forty-two on her next birthday in January.”
“She may have had a chance or two with someone else while she was gone, but they didn’t work out for some reason or the other.”
“She’s still too ingrained with her ‘Christian’ upbringing. There was this guy that she went to the movies and a dinner with once, but felt so guilty when she got home that she couldn’t sleep that night. The next day she phoned him and told him she couldn’t see him anymore.”
Paul chuckled at the absurdity of it all. “What can I say? Too bad.”
“Exactly! All that effort to better her life wasted.”
“You know. I truly believe that it is that old codependency thing. She is so used to being controlled by her husband with a god-complex that she is afraid not to be. It’s all she really knows.”
“I hate to say it, but I think you are probably right. That is what I was thinking.”
We talked for a little while longer and then Paul asked me if I wanted to run to Baskin Robbins with him to see Nancy. That he would buy me an ice cream cone.
I said sure, and he took us down in his truck. Just as we headed in the door – Paul held the door open for me – Greg walked out! The look on his face when he saw me with Paul was that of complete shock. Then his eyes went directly to Paul’s necklace with the sigil of Satan. Instantly he looked at me, mouth agape.
Seeing this, Paul all but pushed me on inside, leaving Greg out on the walk just staring in at us. Something told me that this was only the beginning.
“Sorry about that,” Paul said, as we went up to the glass case where the ice cream display was.
Nancy had witnessed the whole thing. “Oh my god!” she exclaimed, eyes huge.
“I’m really sorry about that, Brenda,” Paul said, full of concern. “I know by his face what he thought.”
“Me too. He probably thinks you’re my boyfriend. And I know he saw your necklace.”
“Without a doubt.”
“If he gives you any crap at all,” Nancy said, “don’t hesitate to call us.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.” I knew my friends would be there for me, one hundred percent. But I also had my supernatural friends: Cal, for one. And then there was Paleo. He was often away, but I knew that if he knew I was in danger that he would be there as quickly as he could.
“I am really sorry,” Paul said again, as we sat down to a small table in the back.
“You had no way of knowing, Paul. It’s okay.”
“Still, the look on his face – He’s not going to let this go.”
“I know. But you know what, that’s his problem.”
Nancy joined us then, as all the patrons had left. “Finally, a break,” she breathed.
“You’re working alone today?” I inquired.
“No. Mike just ran to the bank to make a deposit. He’ll be back any second now.”
She no sooner said it and Mike whisked in the door. He grinned teasingly. “Oh… I see what you do when I’m gone.”
“She just sat down,” I said in her defense.
“I figured. We’re never this dead for more than a few minutes.” He winked and hurried on to the back.