Jessica had known drill sergeants who scared her less than Stella did. The woman looked like she was ready, willing, and able to slice Oscar抯 throat with nothing but words. Then she whipped around to say something more to Jessica, but before she could, Oscar slipped right in between them.
Oscar抯 nose was just inches from Stella抯。 揓esus made wine from water at that wedding in the Bible, didn抰 he??
Stella popped her hands on her hips. 揇on抰 you throw that up to me. Of course he drank wine, but he didn抰 sit out and brew it in his backyard.?
Oscar抯 face relaxed and he chuckled. 揓ust think of it this way. We抮e doing all the church folks a great service. Folks will need a place to go on Sunday morning to repent for the sins they commit at the bar on Saturday night.?
Stella抯 face turned scarlet. 揑抦 going to get a petition going to shut down that bar before you even get it ready to open. I抣l take it to the city council and棓
揧ou can scream and yell, but my lawyer says nothing is standing in the way of turning the old church into a grill and bar, plus what can the city council do??Jessica had been taught to respect her elders, but standing up to Stella after the way she抎 treated Risa felt right梐nd good. 揗y church isn抰 even in the city limits, and it is zoned commercial. Maybe Uncle Elijah did that so that he could turn it into something else, like a bar, later. But I do know that all the screaming and yelling you do will not change a blessed thing, Stella, so save your breath.?
揥e will stand in the middle of the parking lot and sing hymns in a peaceful protest on Tuesday night,?Stella threatened. 揑抦 going to tell everyone to come, and we抣l have a petition for them to sign. We抣l just see who has power in Riverbend.?
揑f you get hungry, send someone into the bar for a burger. Maybe we will run a special on a hamburger, chips, and a cold drink that night.?Oscar chuckled. 揜isa is a mighty fine cook, and I抦 sure all that singing might make people hungry.?
Stella finally dropped her finger and glared at Oscar and Jessica. 揑 wouldn抰 put a foot in that place.?
揑t抯 nothing but a white frame building.?Jessica was surprised that her voice sounded so calm.
揑t抯 a church, a place to worship God,?Stella shot back at her.
Jessica tried one more time to reason with her. 揑t has not been a church in ten years.?
揂nd God don抰 want it to be a church anymore. He sent straight-line winds to knock the steeple off the roof.?Oscar chuckled.
揋od didn抰 do that,?Stella argued.
揑 believe He did. He makes the wind blow, according to the scripture, and He sends all kinds of signs. Evidently, He doesn抰 want that old place to be a church, and never did, or else it would have taken off when Elijah built it,?Oscar argued. 揧ou can believe what you want, but me and Jessica have some shopping to do.?He tipped his hat toward her. 揧ou have a nice day now.?He turned to walk away, and Jessica followed him.
揋od will rain fire and brimstone down upon that church if you continue with this horrid idea,?Stella shouted at them.
揕et her have the last word,?Jessica whispered.
揟hat抯 a hard thing to do when she抯 bad-mouthing you girls,?Oscar growled.
揑 know, but you can抰 fix stupid,?Jessica told him.
He chuckled. 揋uess that抯 one way to look at it, but some duct tape over her mouth would surely stop it for a little while, and I would so enjoy slapping a strip across her lips.?
揘ope.?Jessica found boxes of screws and nails and turned to Oscar. 揑t would just make her explode, and then someone would have to clean up the mess on aisle one.?
揑抎 offer to do the job for free敆Oscar was back to growling棑but you抮e right. Let抯 get what we need and go home.?
There was that word, home, again. It didn抰 matter how many hymns Stella and her cohorts sang in the church parking lot, there was no way they could take that away from Jessica.
Chapter Seven
Jessica turned her back to the shower spray and let the pulsating water massage the aching muscles in her back. In the past two days, the team had torn down half the pews, stacked the backs and seats over to one side of the bar, and taken the ends to the storage room. Wade had drawn up plans for the bar, but they hadn抰 voted on whether to put it against the wall shared with the kitchen or on the end that had been the pulpit.
Another thing that they had to think about was the baptism tub behind the pulpit. Curtains covered the oversize bathtub, but something would have to be done about that. An idea to fill it with whiskey or vodka popped into her head, but that might really cause lightning to come down through the rafters and strike her graveyard dead.
She turned off the faucet, stepped out of the shower, and wrapped a towel around her wet hair and another one around her body. Then she padded into her bedroom and continued to think about the baptismal. The thing was simply a nice deep bathtub with stairs leading down into it. When it was filled, it would come up to a grown person抯 waist, and maybe to a teenager抯 chest. Once she抎 finished drying her body, she dressed in a pair of sleep shorts and an oversize T-shirt. She picked up a mystery book she抎 been reading about a small town where young, newly married women were being killed. She propped two pillows against the headboard and settled in to finish the story.