Unexpected Christmas Joy by Gabrielle Meyer

Author:Gabrielle Meyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-07-09T17:51:34+00:00

* * *

Jacob hung up the phone and set it on his desk, a smile on his face.

“Will you be joining her for supper tonight, too?” Bethiah asked from the outer office, peeking around the corner of the door to raise her eyebrow at him. “I’m just wondering what I can feed to the gossip mill.”

He grabbed a piece of paper and wadded it into a ball and then threw it across his office, through the door and hit her on the shoulder.

Bethiah laughed and shook her head.

“If you two are done.” Rick Johnson stood at Jacob’s door, an impatient frown on his face. “Could we have our meeting?”

Rick’s presence was like a splash of cold water. Jacob instantly sobered and stood to shake the head elder’s hand. “I wasn’t expecting you for another fifteen minutes.”

“I can see that.” Rick walked into Jacob’s office and took a seat near the desk.

Jacob closed the door connecting his office to Bethiah’s, and then he turned back to Rick. “Could I get you something to drink?”

“I’m not staying long. What is it you want to discuss?”

Jacob tried to draw from all his uncomfortable experiences as a pastor in the past. This wasn’t the first time he’d had to confront someone from his congregation and it probably wouldn’t be the last. He just knew it might be the hardest.

Sitting at his desk, Jacob opened his laptop and waited for the screen to turn on. “Did you hear about the vandalism at Kate’s house last week?”

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

“A neighbor across the street was able to catch the vandal on tape.” Jacob turned his computer to face Rick. “It’s hard to tell from this distance, but it looks like a teenage boy and you can see that the front of his car looks just like Aaron—”

“Are you suggesting my son vandalized Miss LeClair’s home?” He looked at Jacob with anger and disbelief in his eyes. “How dare you accuse him.”

“I’m not accusing him—I’m just showing you the footage, and pointing out that the car the vandal used looks just like a silver Audi.”

“Aaron’s Audi is not the only one in town.”

“Yes, but there aren’t many.”

“This proves nothing.” He leaned back in the chair and put one ankle over his knee. “Why did you call me away from my law firm to show this to me?”

“For several reasons. The first is that the vandal resembles your son, and the second is that Miss LeClair is our neighbor and a prospective member of the church. As an elder, I thought you should be aware of the situation.”

“The head elder,” he corrected.

“All the more reason to bring it to your attention.”

Rick stared at Jacob. “Is that all?”

Jacob sighed. “For now, until I have more proof.”

“As the head elder, and one of your bosses,” Rick leaned forward, “I’d suggest you step lightly where my son is concerned.”

“Is that a threat?” Jacob detested bullies.

“No. Just a friendly reminder.” He ran his hand along his comb-over. “And here’s another one.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.