Molly lay on her stomach on one of the twin beds in her room. With Char’s tiny phone pressed against her ear, she counted the rings of the church phone at the other end, her nausea increasing with each. Hadn’t he said he’d be in the office that morning? Though she had left a message yesterday, they hadn’t talked since she’d left home. Maybe something happened. He had Jo’s cell phone number, but she didn’t know if Jo had checked for messages yet. Apparently not using the thing was part of her friend’s vacation.
On the tenth ring Scott picked up. “Hope Church.”
“I can’t do this.”
“Molly,” he breathed her name as if in relief. “What can’t you do, sweetheart?”
“Be this far away from you and the kids.”
He chuckled. “That’s the most pathetic thing you’ve ever said.”
“I know. What’s even more pathetic is it’s the truth. And it makes me feel like throwing up.”
“Okay, okay. You win. You miss me more than I miss you. I have no indication my breakfast is moving upward. What did you eat, by the way?”
She followed his lead down a rabbit trail of detailed chitchat about their mornings and the children. After a time her stomach relaxed, and her mind stopped swirling.
“Scotty, seriously, this is harder than I imagined.”
“That’s the best time to practice leaning on Him.”
“I just feel so vulnerable.”
“Like an adolescent trying to figure out who she is?”
“Have I said that?”
“Once or twice. Maybe six times. Moll, I do miss you, and not because I’m doing the housework.”
She smiled. “Really?”
“Really.”
“But you’re fine?”
“I’m fine.”
“And the kids are fine?”
“The kids are great. So go be strong. Be Molly Preston, not Mrs. Scott Preston, mother of the pastor’s four wild rugrats who played hide-and-seek in the church during choir practice last night.”
“They didn’t.”
“Ready or not!” he shouted.“Here I come!”
“Scott!”
“I was on the phone. After I got off, I tied them together in a pew.”
She laughed. What a distance they’d come! Three months ago he never would have allowed them within shouting distance of the choir or his office while he worked.
“Sweetheart, why don’t you give me Char’s phone number?”
“I don’t know what it is. How do I figure it out?”
“There’s a menu. Check that.”
“Hold on.” She lowered the phone, studied the micro screen a moment, and put it back to her ear. “Gobbledygook. I’ll have to ask Char.”
“All right. Get Andie’s too. Maybe you’ll feel better knowing I have all three. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I’d better go.” He rattled off his schedule, which included Bible study that night. The next two days he would do surveying work up the Elk River. Way up. Where pay phones were unheard of and the cellular kind did not function.
They had taken giant steps in their marriage. They were growing back together, balancing kids and work in a healthier way. She was off on her own, for the first time in twelve years, getting reacquainted with old friends, including someone named Molly Preston.
Life was full of God’s blessings. Why in the world did she want to cry?
The flood of tears broke loose after they said goodbye. She bawled herself to sleep right there in the cozy beach house in the middle of a sunny morning, her hand tight around Char’s phone.