A Time of Hope. Terri Reed

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      Rats! With much effort she pulled herself out of the music. How was she supposed to concentrate when he was playing the guitar so beautifully and everything inside her ached to harmonize to the music filling the air?

      For an hour she battled to stay focused on the words her fingers were typing. Finally, silence reigned. Mara breathed a sigh of relief.

      Then moments later, music from the CD player invaded the stillness. She recognized the tunes of a popular contemporary Christian rock group.

      A smiled tugged at the corners of her mouth. They shared the same taste in music. This she could work to as background noise.

      She lost herself in the work at her fingertips. When a loud knock on the door broke her concentration, she was startled to realize it was already noon.

      The door popped open and Jacob stuck his head inside. “I’m making myself a ham-and-cheese sandwich. Would you like one?”

      “Oh, no. Thank you. That’s not necessary.” She deftly saved her work and shut down the computer.

      “Maybe not necessary. But you do schedule yourself a lunch, right?”

      “Yes. Of course.” She grimaced at the defensiveness in her tone. She doubted he’d think a ten-minute lunch break would suffice. She wasn’t expected at the Hilty house for another hour.

      Usually, she spent the hour between commitments running errands for the church or replenishing her cleaning supplies. Today she didn’t have any errands and she was all stocked up. The slight cramping in her stomach made her hesitate. The bagel and yogurt she’d had for breakfast had filled her at the time. Now she was hungry.

      “Come on.” His engaging grin made her pulse jump. “You’ve been working hard for the past three hours. You deserve a break. Let me make you a sandwich.”

      She consulted her schedule book as a means to stall. She didn’t have a good excuse not to stay.

      “We need to discuss our arrangement,” he said. “Schedule time for you to show me around.”

      The coaxing tone in his voice prodded her to accept his invitation. After all she had agreed to his deal. “Okay. But I can make my own sandwich.”

      “Not in my kitchen,” he stated, and walked away.

      Slowly, Mara left the office, and for some reason resentment simmered low in her belly. This was Pastor Anders’s home, not his. But Pastor Anders was gone. She had to accept that.

      “There are casseroles in the freezer,” she said as she took a seat at the round kitchen table.

      “I saw that.” He opened a jar of mayonnaise. “Mayo?”

      “Sure.”

      She liked the way his hands moved with fluid grace. She’d like to watch him play his guitar. She forced that thought away and made herself focus on assisting him instead. “You can help yourself to the casseroles.”

      He slapped a pile of ham on the bread. “Did the hospitality crew make them for Pastor Anders?”

      “Hospitality crew?”

      “That’s what my sister and I call the ladies in the congregation who are generous with their cooking.” He glanced her way as he put the sandwiches onto plates.

      Heat blossomed in her cheeks. “No, the ladies of the church didn’t make them. Though I’m sure they would have been happy to.”

      “You?” he asked, extending a plate toward her.

      She looked away and took the plate in front of her. The sandwich spilled over the sides with ham. She’d be stuffed for days.

      “Yes. Pastor Anders wasn’t much of a cook,” she said, hoping Pastor Durand didn’t hear her stomach rumbling with hunger.

      He opened the refrigerator. “I have lemon-lime soda or bottled water.”

      “Water’s fine.”

      He came to the table with his plate and two bottles of cold water. “You sure took good care of him. Were you related?”

      “No.” A pang of sadness crimped her heart. “Though I would have liked to have had him as a grandfather.”

      He bit into his sandwich, chewed and swallowed. “Grandfathers are pretty special.”

      She picked up her sandwich. “You speaking from experience?”

      He grinned, his whole expression lighting up. “Yes. I admire my grandfather. He’s the pastor of The Shepherd’s Way Church in San Francisco. When I’m done with my interim assignment here, I’ll go on staff with him. The church has a congregation of over five thousand, with three services a week. Occasionally, his sermons are televised.” He tilted his head back and took several long swigs of water.

      From the pride and awe in his tone, Mara guessed Pastor Durand saw his grandfather as some kind of hero. “Is he your maternal or paternal grandfather?”

      “My mom’s dad.” He took a long swig of water, nearly emptying the bottle.

      Mara liked his strong jaw. Liked the angular line of his nose and chiseled cheekbones. He had nice thick hair, the color a walnut-brown that matched his puppy-dog eyes. Eyes that were watching her with interest.

      She blinked and realized she’d been staring.

      Quickly turning her attention to her sandwich, she asked, “What do your parents think of you following in your grandfather’s footsteps?”

      “My mom’s fine with it. As long as her children are happy, she’s happy. My dad had hoped I’d go into business with him. The high-tech industry doesn’t float my boat.”

      The hint of tension in his tone piqued her curiosity.

      “In college I majored in business, but I really enjoyed the psychology and sociology classes more. I thought briefly about going into a profession that utilized those studies, but I really want to be like my grandfather. I want to reach the masses with God’s word.”

      “Pastor Anders once said that change came by touching one heart at a time.”

      He lifted a challenging eyebrow. “Big change can come from touching many hearts at once.”

      Mara shrugged, not sure she agreed, but what did she know? She was just a small-town girl with no experience in the world outside Hope. “As long as hearts are being touched, I guess the venue doesn’t matter.”

      “But you don’t believe it?”

      She supposed her look gave her away. “I’ve never been out of Hope, so frankly I don’t know.”

      He gave her a thoughtful look. “Tell me about your family, Mara.”

      An anxious flutter rippled through her. She sighed. “You might as well hear it from me.”

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