Grace Alive (A Christian Romance)

Part 29

Chapter 29

“It’s over, Branson; Light on the Hill is going to go under,” I said as I pressed my fingers into the sides of my head. Yes, I was mad at my dad for what he did, but I still loved the people who went to my church. I didn’t want to see them wounded.

“You don’t know that, Zoe.” Branson was bouncing Bree on his knee and making silly faces at her.

“Jacob’s dad is going to tell the church, and my dad’s ministry will die.” I felt fearful for my family. What would my dad do? He’d worked so hard to build that church. How would he make money after it fell apart? Branson grabbed my hand and kissed it.

“It’s going to be okay, things are going to work out,” he reassured me as Bree grabbed at his hand and stuck it in her mouth.

“Ouch! Bree Bree has quite a bite now!” He laughed as he pulled the baby’s mouth off his hand. “No biting, Bree,” he said gently and looked the little girl in the face. “No biting.”

Her little lip trembled and big tears came to her eyes.

“Aw crap,” Branson said and gave me an apologetic look.

“I’m going to Light on the Hill Sunday. Do you want to come with me? Jacob messaged me that his dad was going to tell the church Sunday, and I have a feeling Mr. Whitmen is going to make a big show of this. I want to be there for my family when it happens.” I fidgeted on the couch and looked at the clock. “I better go to work. I’ll see you tomorrow then?” I asked. He smiled at me and gave me a kiss.

“Yes! Say bye to Zoe, Bree Bree.”

Bree waved her arm back and forth and drool dripped out of her mouth, her two little teeth showing.

“Bye, baby girl!” I kissed her cheek and headed toward the door. I got in my car, my mind wrapped up in thinking about my dad’s church, and drove to my job.

I walked into Little Bit of Everything, and for once I was grateful for the distraction. What if everything just exploded tomorrow morning? How was I going to take all of it? I was kind of freaking out but was trying to shove my thoughts aside as I dusted shelves, stocked some glitter, helped customers, and rang them up. It was really quite productive. The bell rang above the door, and a group of girls came in. Great. Tori and her little minions. Not the cute little yellow ones either!

“Hi, Zoe,” she said, and I could picture her spitting in my face. “Guess what?” She put her manicured hands on the counter, and I wanted to slap them off. I kept my annoyance inside, forcing it into a neat little ball.

“I heard that your little boy toy made out with his ex in the parking lot of Charlie’s last night.” She watched my face for a reaction. What the heck? This girl was reaching. She really wanted me to break up with Branson I guess, or she just enjoyed spreading rumors about people. I was with Branson last night, and he certainly didn’t make out with one of his exes unless they saw me making out with him. I blushed. The only thing Branson did last night was change a dirty diaper, watch a stupid movie with me, and eat Chinese. If you called that making out with your ex.

“Branson and I hung out last night, Tori. I think your friend saw someone else,” I calmly explained. Tori tossed her hair and made a kissy face.

“They recognized him from his video,” she said and started laughing at the hurt look on my face. God, you better help me because I’m going to kill her. How could someone who called themselves a Christian be so incredibly mean to someone else?

“Doesn’t he have, like, six kids or something?” a girl named Carrie said with a condemning look. “Was waiting your whole life for the perfect virgin all just a big joke to you, Zoe? I mean seriously! He’s a player!” The other girls all nodded.

“You’re acting so stupid! Don’t you know the wages of sin is death,” Tori said. “You should know that better than anyone. Your dad is the preacher.” Her eyes flashed at me like she was the smartest tootsie roll on the planet.

“Can I help you find anything?” I asked through a forced smile.

“We’ll look around,” Tori said, and the group of mean girls walked away, but I still felt their words in my chest. I’m sorry, I’m human. What Branson did haunted me at times. I wish…I just wish…he hadn’t done so much in his past. I closed my eyes, fighting back my frustration at Tori—and some at Branson as well. So many people kept telling me about his videos that it made me want to puke. New creation in Christ, the Holy Spirit reminded me. I nodded trying to hold back my angry tears. I couldn’t let those girls get to me; they came back around the corner eying me evilly.

“Never mind, we don’t need anything here.”

I watched them suspiciously as they went out the door. I think they stole from my store, the thought made me clench my fist. In fact, I was almost positive they stole something. I went down the aisle they had been in and looked around. I had just cleaned up this aisle. Was anything missing? I saw a box of expensive makeup not pulled forward. I had just straightened this aisle, and I knew that was not like that before those girls came in. I’d have to tell my boss to keep an eye on them when they came in next time.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, but I was pretty nervous about church the next morning. I closed up the shop and headed to Alison’s little blue house that had white shutters on the windows. Alison’s car was parked in the driveway, and I parked behind her. I usually left before her anyway since I liked being early to everything under the sun. I went inside and saw Alison curled up on the couch with a book. She smiled at me as I hung my purse up and put my shoes next to hers.

“How was work?” she asked.

“It was pretty good, though a couple girls from my old church showed up. Pretty sure they ripped something off.” I sat down on the couch beside her.

“Hmm…what are you going to do?” she asked as she reached over for her glass of juice on the end table.

“I didn’t actually see them steal it. But I went down the aisle I’d just cleaned up, and a thirty dollar makeup kit was gone. They were talking to me about Branson too,” I said and realized I was a little upset about what they said. I didn’t mean to be, but I felt like they were throwing rocks at me.

“Just ignore them. People who are under the law love to throw stones. Do you remember the story about the adulteress that the Pharisees dragged through the streets and threw at Jesus’ feet?”

I nodded as I rested my head against the back of the couch.

“They were so eager to throw stones at her. By the law they had every single right to kill her. When they asked Jesus what He would do He just simply said, ‘If you have no sin go ahead.’ Jesus then told the woman her sins were forgiven. The heart of God is always to restore, not condemn. The Father God is not condemning Branson, but you will still have people wanting to throw stones at him.”

Where did these people get this kind of stuff? I was amazed. I’d barely gone to Grace Alive, but everything Branson’s friends said to me was just pure love. It overwhelmed me; I’d never been around people who talked like they did. People from Light on the Hill just simply picked up rocks and chucked them at each other. They didn’t look at their own mess ups; they just wanted to point out everyone else’s.

“Good point, Alison.” I gave her a small smile, feeling weary of the battle going on in my head. Law verses grace—things my dad taught me were ingrained in there. Branson had told me something that I reminded myself of on a daily basis. Zoe, good things happen to those who know God loves them. When I simply thought about it my condemnation seemed to leave me. I started studying the Bible like I’d never done before too. Grace was all over the place. How come I’d never seen it before?

“I’m going to bed; I’ll see you tomorrow after church. Some stuff is going on at Light on the Hill, so I’m not going to make it to Grace Alive tomorrow.”

“I’ll pray for you, Zoe,” she said and turned back to her book.

“Thanks,” I said as I walked toward my room for the night.