Hold for Release by Heidi Glick

Author:Heidi Glick [Glick, Heidi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Fiction, inspirational fiction, Clean and Wholesome Novels, Religion and Spirituality
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2023-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

11

It wasn’t Easter, and it wasn’t Christmas, and yet, Jake found himself in front of Cincinnati Evangelical Free Church. He went inside.

Today, he was at a church speaking with the pastor—an actual counseling session to try to make some sense of his relationship woes with Carlotta.

When an article had a problem, he edited it. He wasn’t sure how to revise his marriage, but counseling was a good place to start.

He entered the church office. The secretary didn’t look up right away. Maybe she’d heard about his infidelity. “I’m here to see Pastor Clyde. I have a lunchtime appointment.”

She picked up her phone. “Mr. Hartman is here to see you.” She nodded, hung up, and addressed Jake. “He’s ready to see you. You may go in.”

Jake entered the door and took a seat.

Pastor Clyde leaned across his desk. “Nice to see you, Jake. How’s the leg?”

“It’s getting better. It’s fine.”

“Glad to hear that. How’s everything else?”

Jake ran his left thumb along the scratches in the guest chair. He shifted his gaze to Pastor Clyde’s desk. Matching dents covered the surface of the furniture. A mega church this wasn’t, but perhaps that was what had drawn him here. The humility of the place. “As I told you earlier, my wife and I have been having some problems. She wants a divorce.”

“I see.”

“It’s not only that. We haven’t been able to have children. And then I did something idiotic. I had a few drinks with a coworker, and I ended up sleeping with the woman. I apologized, but my wife wants nothing to do with me. I wondered what the Bible says about divorce. Sort of for my own curiosity, but also because my wife comes from a family that’s a bit religious.”

“And you? What’s your religious background like?”

“Granny took me to church sometimes.”

“God designed marriage to be a covenant. As Jesus said, in marriage, a man would leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife. By committing adultery, you’ve broken that covenant, Mr. Hartman.”

Jake held his head in his hands. He didn’t need a thesaurus to know what that meant. A promise, a pledge, a vow, a covenant. Sleeping with another woman who wasn’t his wife. Yep, he’d broken it all right. “How can I fix it?” His breath caught in his chest. “Can I fix it?”

~*~

Jake stopped by the courthouse to pick up his brother-in-law. Had it only been a week or two since he’d called asking for help, saying someone had planted drugs on him?

Pablo trotted out of the courthouse with his lawyer and then hugged Jake. “Thanks, man.”

“Thank the lawyer,” Jake said. “She did all the work.”

His brother-in-law turned to Gina Lampton, his defense attorney. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Talk about a sloppy criminal. The man who planted the drugs on Pablo worked at the mechanic’s garage where Pablo had taken his car recently to get the tail light fixed. The police found his fingerprints on the cardboard box and on the brake light, which someone had clearly tampered with.

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