“It’s good to see you two,” Andrew said. He extended his hand to Pastor McCorry, who shook it, and then he placed a soft kiss on Vickie’s cheek. “It’s been a long time.”
“Not that long,” Pastor McCorry said.
Contrary man, Sandra thought, always had to have the last word. “It seems like it because of all the changes in our lives since we last talked,” she said. She hadn’t embraced either McCorry and wouldn’t. Their lack of support for Showers of Blessings still stung.
Vickie caught her eye. “We’ve heard a lot about your ministry,” the older woman said. “It seems you’re off to a good start. You have some strong folks on your leadership team.”
Sandra flinched at the dig. Their leadership team had come from Praise City, the McCorry’s church.
“They wanted to come with us, Pastor,” Andrew explained. “We needed help and they were the best folks we knew.”
Pastor McCorry nodded. “I’m not surprised. In fact, I expected some folks to follow you, and I was right. You’re a charismatic guy, Andrew. I never doubted your ability, just your timing.”
“They believe in the ministry God has given us and believe God wants them to be a part of it.”
“Believing doesn’t make it the right time,” Vickie said.
Pastor McCorry shook his head. “Now’s not the time for that, Vickie,” he told his wife. Then he looked at Andrew and Sandra. “We didn’t think your leaving Praise City was the right thing to do at the time, but now that you’ve done it, we only want the best for you and your members. I’ve been hearing nothing but good things.”
Sandra wondered who’d been reporting back to the McCorrys. She’d have to talk to their leadership team about where their loyalties lay.
“Everything that I’m putting in place at Showers of Blessings, I learned from you,” Andrew said. “My pulpit is open to you anytime you want to join us.”
“Thanks,” Pastor McCorry said. “I may take you up on that.”
Sandra knew that statement for the cop-out it was. Pastor McCorry was never going to step foot in Showers of Blessings.
“It’s a standing offer,” Andrew said. Then he turned to Sandra and asked, “Do you want some coffee or a pastry or something?” he asked. When she shook her head, he asked the same question of Vickie.
“Thanks, but I’m fine,” Vickie said.
“I’d like a cup of coffee,” Pastor McCorry said. “Why don’t you ladies take a seat while we get our coffee.”
Sandra reluctantly followed Vickie to a table. When they were seated, Vickie said, “Your new house looks like it’s going to be gorgeous.”
And it’s going to be twice as large as yours, Sandra said to herself. “Thank you,” she said. “We wanted to get a place that would grow with us and the ministry. You know how that is.”
Vickie nodded. “I do. How are you dealing with challenges of being First Lady?”
Sandra gave a false smile. “So far, it’s been nothing but rewarding. Andrew and I are closer than ever and that makes it easy.” Even if the job had been killing her, she would never admit it to Vickie for fear the woman would use the information against her somewhere down the line.
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Vickie said. “The challenges will come. I can promise you that. If you need an ear, I’ve got one to give you.”
Sandra thought she heard sincerity in Vickie’s voice, but she couldn’t be sure. “Even though you don’t believe in what Andrew and I are doing?”
Vickie glanced toward the men chatting near the pastry table. “Pastor is right. It’s a done deal now, and we all want good things to come from it.”
Sandra still wasn’t sure she could trust Vickie, but the old saying “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” came to mind. “We’re having a home blessing ceremony a couple of weeks after we move in. Why don’t you and Pastor join us? We’d love to have you.” As an added bonus, Sandra would get to rub Vickie’s nose in the grandness of the place.
“I don’t see why not,” Vickie said. “I’ll call you later in the week and we can coordinate our schedules.”
Sandra nodded. She couldn’t wait for Vickie to see how the Lord had elevated her and Andrew. They and Showers of Blessings were new news while Praise City was old school, old news. She welcomed the contrast in the two churches viewers were certain to see when the television show aired.
Chapter 14
Six months later
Andrew paced in front of his desk in his church office. His day had started badly and gotten worse. What was he going to do? His financial situation was nowhere near as dire as it had been before he’d won the lottery, but it was pretty bad. How could he have lost so much money so fast? He wiped his hand down his face.
“Okay,” he told himself, “don’t panic. You can fix this.”
First things first. He had to find five hundred thousand dollars to pay his debt to his bookie. He had the money, but he didn’t have easy access to it because it was in a trust for his boys. It would take some legal finagling to get that money without Sandra’s knowledge since there was no way she’d sign for him to get it.
So all he had to leverage were the horse farm, their new house, and the church. He had convinced his father-in-law to allow him to get a mortgage on the horse farm, he’d put less down on the house than Sandra thought he had, and he’d been dipping a little in the church discretionary fund. Of course, he planned to repay them all before Sandra, or anybody else, found out. He was just having a turn of bad luck. Things would change for him. He was convinced of it. He only needed time.
He turned at the sound of the intercom on his desk. He walked over and pressed the button. “Pastor, you have an un-scheduled visitor. A Mr. Bert Taylor. He wouldn’t state his business.”
He didn’t have to. Andrew knew who he was. “Send him in,” he said. “I’ll see him.”
Instead of greeting his visitor at the door, as he normally did, he went and sat at his desk. He needed the protection provided by the furniture. He pulled a pad out of his desk drawer and pretended to write. He heard the door open but ignored it as if he hadn’t.
“Hello, Pastor.”
He didn’t even look up when he heard Bert’s voice. “I told you never to contact me here,” he said, still pretending to write.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Bert saunter to the desk and drop down in one of the visitor chairs. When Bert leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the corner of the desk, Andrew was forced to give him his attention.
“That’s more like it,” Bert said, meeting Andrew’s eyes. “I don’t like being ignored and I don’t take orders from dead-beats who don’t pay their debts.”
“You know I’m good for it,” Andrew said.
“What I know is that you owe me five hundred grand.”
“Don’t I always pay?”
Bert took a toothpick from his shirt pocket and stuck it in his mouth. “You’ve never owed this much before. And you’ve never avoided me the way you have for the last month or so. I don’t get a call, a visit, nothing. Makes me wonder about my personal hygiene.”
Andrew grimaced as Bert laughed at his own joke.
Bert removed his feet from the desk and leaned toward Andrew. “I hope you’re not trying to cheat me, Andrew. You’ve got a good setup here with this church. I’d hate to have to ask your deacons to make good