Page 90 of Share with Me

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Dude, that can only end badly.” Matt emphasizedbadlyas if it were the end of all things.

Ivan knew Matt was serious. But what did Matt really know about such things? He couldn’t even keep his own marriage together.

“I’ll take that under advisement.” Ivan folded his arms across his chest and sat back.

The Scrolls bookstore was eerily silent this morning save for the occasional hum of the heating unit. They almost cancelled their Bible Study this week because almost everyone was out of town save for Matt, Sebastian, and Ivan. But since they wouldn’t meet until the first of the year, Matt decided they’d have one more this Tuesday morning before Ivan went to Savannah with SISO for the rest of the week.

Maybe Ivan shouldn’t have come. He was exhausted from last night’s fundraising event. It had been a mixed bag of emotions for him. Exuberance at being able to hold the Stradivarius and Guarneri in his hands. Exasperation that it was over and he was back to borrowed violins. Cheaper violins.

Such is my life. Always stuck with cheap.

He chided himself. The Vuillaume wasn’t cheap. He couldn’t even afford it.

It wasn’t the violin. He was cranky because he was exhausted. And the week wasn’t even over. Waking up at four o’clock with Brinley on his mind and being unable to sleep was already a bad start to his long day. After this Bible Study he had to go home, pack up his bags, and head for the SISO studio for a final rehearsal. Later this afternoon they had to catch the bus for their string of holiday concerts in Charleston and Savannah, wrapping up Saturday night.

Long week.

So. The last thing Ivan needed now was for his old buddies to excoriate him and intervene in his relationship with Brinley Brooks.

“Didn’t you hear a thing Pastor Gonzalez said?” Matt asked.

“Yep. What he said.” Sebastian didn’t look up from his iPad.

“Better yet, what the Bible said.” Matt threw his arms up.

“Yep. What the Bible said.”

“Stop echoing Matt, Seb.” Ivan hadn’t been more irritated with his friends than this morning.Maybe I need more coffee.

“Two words. Unequal yoke.” Matt shook his head at Ivan. “You cannot fall in love with an unbeliever, Ivan. It will hurt both of you. Ask me how I know.”

“I hear you, Matt—”

“I don’t think you do, Ivan. When Giselle and I married, I was unsaved. We couldn’t agree on anything. Whether we should go to church at all. How we were going to raise our future kids—which we ended up not having. See what I mean? If you can’t agree on the basics, your marriage has no foundation. Don’t make the same mistake I did.”

“Marriage?” Ivan asked. “We’re just going out. Nothing might come of it.”

“So you’re just friends?”

“Pretty much.”

“Haven’t held hands? Kissed?”

Ivan knew he couldn’t tell Matt. It would only work against him. Matt was on a roll here.

“Dude, all I’m saying is that, inherently and innately, you two come from different perspectives. It’s inevitable that you’ll disagree on God, on Jesus, on church, on life, on everything.”

“Not everything.” They seemed to agree on their comfort level with each other though Ivan would have to admit that was basal and physical. Then again, the kisses meant something to him. “She came to our church Sunday. You saw her.”

“Whether she went to church or not, her heart is not in it.” Matt didn’t let up.

“You don’t know that, Matt.”

“She is unsaved. Her heart does not belong to Jesus.”

Well, okay. Matt has a point there.

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