Nursing a Grudge: An Earl Walker Mystery

Chapter 15

Earl grumbled the whole way to chapel.

“Come on,” Gloria urged. “It’ll be fun.”

“I don’t know,” Earl said. “I’m not the religious type.”

“That’s between you and God,” Gloria said. She added, a twinkle in her eye, “Not that I won’t do what I can and try to help tip the scales.”

She said it in a good-natured way, but it still made Earl uncomfortable. He was also uncomfortable with how things were turning out. The more time he spent with Gloria, the more he found himself wanting to spend time with Gloria. He wondered what his late Barbara would have thought about that. (He wondered what Gloria’s late husband would have thought, for that matter.)

The service at chapel was smaller than Earl expected. Just a few people. Four, in fact, including Gloria and him. Five if you counted the person leading the service. The place smelled of lilacs.

He asked, “Do you mind if we stick closer to the back?”

“Normally I like to sit close to the front,” Gloria said. “But you’re the guest.”

In the last row, Gloria moved the chair on the end to make a place for Earl’s wheelchair. She sat in the chair next to him.

Earl looked around the small room. Four rows of chairs, some banners on the bare white walls. Up front, a small glass table with a wooden podium on top of it. Smooth music emanated from small speakers mounted on the side walls. To Earl’s ears, it sounded like a flute accompanied by acoustic guitar.

“Not much of a crowd,” Earl said. “I thought more people went to church.”

“This is just a chapel service.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Every weekday morning, someone comes in to share a little devotional.”

“Is that like a sermon?”

“Eh.” Gloria pursed her lips, nodding her head from side to side. “More of a thought for the day.”

“So it’s not religious.”

Before she could come up with a whole reply, the speaker got up to start. While he read something from the Bible, Earl’s attention wandered.

Barbara had been the churchgoer. She had joined the committees, she had gone to the Sunday school parties, and she had attended the special events.

Barbara had never been pushy about Earl going with her. He sometimes accompanied her on Sunday mornings—afterward she wanted to stay and chat with people, maybe even go to lunch with them. He just wanted to get home.

It hurt to think about it. If he had known he was going to lose her so soon, he would have done a lot of things differently.

“What did you think?” Gloria’s voice snapped Earl back to the present.

“What?” He shook off his reverie. “Um, fine. It was fine.” He hoped there wasn’t going to be a quiz.

“I have to go to the office soon. Did you want to get something to eat?”

***

When they got to the cafeteria, Earl was relieved to see someone different handling the food. Looking at his options under the glass, he found it hard to choose. Everything smelled so good. In the end, Earl got the special—meat loaf—and Gloria got a salad.

“When do you have to be at work?”

“About an hour. The receptionist has her lunch at twelve thirty.”

Earl tried to be polite. “So, do you work there a lot?”

“A few hours here and there. I cover for the regular receptionist for her lunch and also when she needs to be out of the office for something.”