Forbidden Guest House novel · Chapter 15 of 32

Chapter 15: Coffee Hour

I scrolled the comments with batter on my thumb.

Saw this coming. Poor Marlys.

Her grandma would die all over again.

How much for Room Nine? Asking for a friend.

Leif came down the back stairs, saw my face and took the phone.

He handed it back very gently.

"I'll answer it," he said.

"No."

"I'll say it's my fault."

"It's not anybody's fault. Nobody did anything wrong." I wiped my thumb on my apron. "That's the whole point."

The clock over the stove said nine fifteen. Second service at Our Savior's let out at ten thirty.

Then coffee hour in the fellowship hall.

Marlys had chaired it every Sunday since before I was born.

"Hedy," I said. "Can you finish breakfast alone?"

"I can finish breakfast in my sleep. Where are you going?"

"Church."

Leif looked at me.

"Can I come?"

"You'd better. You're in the picture."

I went upstairs.

I stood in Room Nine for a minute with the eleven letters in my hands.

Then I untied the kitchen string and opened the last one.

The fellowship hall smelled like burnt coffee and lemon bars.

There were maybe eighty people in it.

The old woman from table six was at a card table with her cane.

Marlys stood at the front by the bulletin board in a pale pink cardigan and her pearls, holding a plate of bars.

The room got quiet when I walked in.

Then it got quieter when Leif came in behind me.

Marlys set the plate down.

"Kari," she said, in her softest voice. "Honey. I don't think this is the place for you this morning."

"It's a church," I said. "It's exactly the place."

"We've all seen the photo," Marlys said. "Nobody's judging. You've been under a lot of strain."

"You are," I said. "You're judging. You just do it quietly so it sounds like praying."

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