Page 57 of The Prodigal Son

I step away and run my fingers through my hair. “Yes, Isaac. Because I don’t just work there…I’m a pastor.”

His brows lift in surprise. “Holy shit.”

I nod. “Yes, holy shit, indeed.”

“I didn’t know pastors could be…”

“Gay? Well, technically, yes, of course we can. But I’m not out about it. Just like you.”

He paces away from me, walking around his kitchen island before coming back to stare at me. “A pastor? Really?”

“I’m sorry for lying and not telling you.”

He watches me, his face tense in concentration. He’s trying to figure out if he should be mad about this, and honestly, I hope he’s at least a little mad. He can’t be so forgiving of people when they lie to him or abuse his trust.

But at the same time, I want to earn his trust more than anything.

“A pastor?” he asks, rubbing his jaw. “Really?”

“Really,” I reply once again. My shoulders tense as I wait for an outburst.

“You’re not like any pastor I’ve ever met,” he says with his eyes narrowed, almost as if he has a bad experience with men of faith and he’s trying to reconcile how I can be one of them.

“I’m sure I’m not,” I reply calmly.

He contemplates this for a while, staring at me like he’s looking for answers. “Okay,” he says with finality.

My eyes widen. “Okay?”

“Yeah, Jensen. Okay. I have no reason to judge you for your job or being in the closet. I’m obviously in a similar situation.”

Walking toward him, I take his face in my hands. “Do not trust so easily,” I say.

“I trust you, Jensen.” He’s so confident, and something about it breaks my heart.

“Yes, but I’ve kept this from you for weeks.”

“So?” he argues. “I kept my fuckingnamefrom you. So, we have boundaries. It’s not that big of a deal. You can be a pastor, and I can be a country singer, and to the world, we’ll just be friends. And everything will be fine.”

I let out a huff of frustration. I don’t want the world to think we’refriends. I don’t want Isaac to think it’s not a big deal.

It irks me to no end that he’s so forgiving and accepting of this news. This is why Isaac needs me. Someone has to protect him because his family has fucked him up too much.

“Relax,” he says with a smile as he grabs me by the back of the neck. “If it were any other guy who lied to me, I’d tell him to fuck off. But I don’t normally let people get this close to me, Jensen. I don’t date, and I rarely trust anyone, but I really,reallylike you. And I know you were just as guarded coming into this relationship as I was. Of course, we kept intimate details close to our chests. But it’s fine.”

I let out a heavy, surrendering breath and relax my shoulders. He leans in and kisses me. The moment his tongue brushes against mine, it silences all the fears and doubts in my mind.

He always has a way of doing that.

“Now, let’s fire up the grill, crack open a few drinks, and relax by the pool. Please?” he says with an adorable plea. When I don’t immediately relent, he sticks out his lower lip, and it’s my undoing.

“Fine,” I mumble with a crooked smirk.

It feels like a weight has been lifted, but at the same time…there is still something heavy burdening my soul. Maybe it’s the tireless claws of Eternal Harmony buried deep within my psyche. Maybe it’s the fear that either of us could be caught and our livelihoods put in jeopardy. Maybe it’s the fear that my presence is a threat to Isaac’s success.

Or maybe it’s the nagging reminder in the back of my mind that Isaac and I have many more hills to climb in our future. And we’re a long way off from anything resembling a happily ever after.

Seventeen

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