Page 29 of Weatherman

“I don’t go out much. Most of my nights are spent at home with my little girl. I’ve never taken her to a movie theater.”

“But what do you do for fun?”

That was a tough question, considering everything I did now centered around my daughter. “Not a lot, I suppose. I take Pearlshopping on my day off, or we go to the park. We read a lot of books and play with her toys.”

He smiled and leaned forward. “That sounds wonderful, but what doyoudo for fun?”

Again, I didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully, a loud voice interrupted us.

“What do you mean, you don’t have banana nut muffins? Everyone has banana nut muffins!”

Burna Jones made her presence known, and with her volume, everyone in the coffee shop had become unwilling witnesses to her complaints.

The poor man behind the pastry counter turned red. “We ran out earlier this morning. We have blueberry or cinn?—”

“If I wanted blueberry, I would have asked for blueberry. With what you charge for a cup of coffee, you ought to be serving it in gold cups. Deplorable service!”

I glanced from the show at the counter back to Pastor Robert, wondering if he would get up and de-escalate the angry woman. He seemed indifferent.

My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts, and I didn’t bother to check the ID before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Opal, it’s Weatherman. Are you off today?”

“I… well… yes. Why?”

“My mom fell. I’m too far away to get to her, and I don’t have any other people around. Would you mind going by and checking on her for me?”

I was so going to hell, as my first thought was what a perfect excuse this would be to end this… um… date. “You bet. Text me the address. I’ll go there now.”

“Thanks. Please call me when you see her, would you?”

“Got it.” I hung up and smiled. “A… friend of mine is in trouble and needs my help. I’m sorry, but I need to go.”

Concern filled Pastor Robert’s expression. “Anything I can do?”

“I don’t think so, but thanks for offering.”

He handed me his business card. “Here, take my number.”

I took the white rectangle and stood up to go.

“I’d like to see you again,” he started as he scooted back his chair. The squeal was loud enough to drown out Burna’s tirade, and I wondered if he did it deliberately. “Please call me when you can so I’ll have your number too. If you need me, let me know.” His boyish grin was kind of cute. “Maybe we can go to the Halloween festival together, and I can meet your little girl.”

I nodded, figuring agreeing might get me out of there faster. “You bet.”

As I left, I heard a big exclamation of “Pastor Bobby!” come from the irate woman. It almost made me want to go rescue him, but Natalie needed me more.

The drive wasn’t long, as she lived only a few miles away. I pulled up to a small, quaint house in an older neighborhood that had seen better days but was still cute. The front yard was full of garden boxes that hadn’t been tended in a while. I wasn’t much on growing plants and stuff, but even I could tell these needed weeding.

I knocked on the front door, and a weak voice called out to enter.

The first time I got to lay eyes on Natalie Turner was when I found her on the floor of her living room. She was in a zipped-up navy blue robe with thick socks and fuzzy slippers on her feet. Her skin was sallow, and she had a floral-patterned scarf tied around her hairless head.

“Bryce called me and said he sent you over here. Sorry for the trouble.”

My heart bled a little. “No trouble, ma’am.”

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