He Hits You? Suck It Up So I Locked Them in With My Abusive Husband novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Back Pew

Jean's POV

On Sunday I sat in the back pew of the church where I had been baptized, between Lucy and Nate.

Nate wore a clean white shirt and kept his hands on his knees.

Lucy held her purse in her lap with both hands.

I had not gone back to my mother's house.

I had not been to the bank.

I had sat on Lucy's kitchen floor on Thursday until the floor stopped feeling like the worst place in the world, and then I had made a decision.

If the people who told me to suck it up wanted a public place to say it, I would give them one.

The eight sat where they always sat.

The uncle and aunt were in the fourth row.

Both cousins slouched beside them, one of them looking at his phone.

The family friend sat near the aisle with her Bible open.

Carol was in the third row, small and straight in her best cardigan.

Diane sat in the front pew, alone, with a handkerchief in her hand.

The pastor climbed to the pulpit and unfolded a sheet of paper.

"Brothers and sisters," he said, "this morning I carry a message from one of our own."

I felt Nate's shoulder against mine.

"It's a letter from Conway Slocumb, written from his treatment program. He asked me to read it to you."

A low murmur went through the pews.

"I have sinned against my wife," the pastor read. "I have let drink make me into a man I do not recognize. I am sick, and I am ashamed. I ask this congregation to pray for me, and for my wife, who is overwrought and not herself."

"Amen," said somebody in the middle rows.

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