of trying to adjust to being away from home for his lackluster grades.
The cell phone ringing brought him out of his thoughts. He hadn’t bothered to look at the caller ID. The voice of the one person he had been trying to avoid for the last few days squealed from the other end. “Why aren’t you returning any of my calls?” Delilah asked.
Samson leaned his head back in his chair and swiveled it around. “I’ve been busy.”
“We need to talk.”
“There’s nothing else we need to talk about. What happened in my office the other day was a mistake.”
Delilah seemed to purr her words. “We both know you wanted it as much as I did.”
Samson couldn’t argue with her. Delilah told the truth. He hated himself for succumbing to her, so his only recourse was to keep his distance—by any means necessary. “Let’s pretend like none of this happened. We can go back to being just friends.”
“Friends? You have got to be kidding.” Delilah laughed.
Samson’s doorbell rang. He held the phone, listening to Delilah go on and on. He was grateful for the interruption. He would thank whoever it was responsible for getting him off the phone. He opened the door, and to his surprise Delilah stood on his front porch. She closed her flip phone. “Surprise,” she said, with an evil grin, moving past him into his house without waiting for an invitation to enter.
She turned and looked around. “You have a nice home, Samson. I’ve wondered why you never invited me over before.”
Samson stood by the door, never taking his hand off the door knob. “Delilah, what are you doing here?”
She removed the dress jacket from her shoulders and threw it on the chair. “Like you don’t know.” She began to unbutton her shirt.
Samson rushed from the door and grabbed her jacket. “This has to stop.”
Delilah swayed her body from side to side. “It doesn’t have to.” She continued to unbutton her blouse.
Samson’s reflex automatically threw the jacket at Delilah, throwing her off guard. She bent down to get it, but while stooped she moved closer to Samson.
“What is going on here?” Julia asked, as she whisked through the opened door.
Samson, stunned and lost for words, couldn’t talk. Julia asked again, “Samson?”
Delilah winked at Samson as she stood up. “I lost one of my contacts on the floor, so Samson, I mean Pastor Judges, stood still until I could locate it.” Delilah plastered a fake smile on her face as she faced Julia. “And I did, so I’ll be going.” She turned around and with her back toward Julia winked at Samson again. “Pastor, thank you for the advice. I feel better now.”
Delilah held her jacket in front of her, and Samson hoped and prayed she wasn’t showing too much cleavage when she whisked past Julia. Julia slammed the door behind Delilah, missing her back by inches. “Good riddance.”
“You could have tripped her,” Samson said.
“Humph. Like I care.” Julia moved closer to him. “When we get married, these home visits by your parishioners—that’s going to stop.”
Samson didn’t know if he liked this side of Julia. “Dear, you can’t dictate how I run my ministry.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “If you think for a minute that I’m fooled by the likes of Delilah and other women like her who come to Peaceful Rest, you have another thing coming.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and those women. I’m their pastor.”
“Uh-huh.” Julia never did uncross her arms.
Samson attempted to kiss her on the lips, but she turned her head so fast his lips landed on her cheek. She pulled away. “Samson, I’m going to give you the opportunity to change your mind if you want to. Are you sure you’re ready to marry me?”
“Yes, I’m ready to marry you,” Samson didn’t hesitate to respond. “You’re the woman I’ve prayed for. I love you, Julia.”
She sulked. “It’s hard to tell.”
Samson rubbed her back. “We’re both stressed, so just chill out, okay?”
Julia faced him. “I love you so much, Samson, but I’m not going to be like some of these first ladies in the city. I refuse to share you with anyone.”
“You’re not going to have to share me. I’m a one-woman man.” Samson hoped God wouldn’t strike him down. In his heart, he was a one-woman man. He just had to figure out a way to get Delilah out of his system. He would keep his distance from her—he had to.
He embraced Julia and blinked a few times when he glanced at one of the living room windows and saw Delilah blowing him kisses. Before he could react, she walked away. He squeezed Julia without once taking his eyes off the window. He had to think of a way to deal with Delilah or risk losing Julia—and that’s one thing he wasn’t ready to do.
Chapter 5
Delilah laughed all the way to her car. She got a rise out of watching Samson squirm around Miss Goody Two Shoes. She couldn’t wait to burst Julia’s bubble when she walked away with her man and the status of first lady. Samson wanted to play games with her emotions; she would show him how to play. Delilah thought about the video of her and Samson together. She wouldn’t give it to William, but she sure would use it to get what she wanted from Samson.
Two hours later, Delilah sat across from several other church members as they all discussed what the Pastor’s Aide committee would be doing for their pastor’s upcoming wedding.
Dorothy Neely, the president of the Pastor’s Aide committee, said, “Julia says she doesn’t need our help, but I feel we should be doing something. What do y’all think about helping out at the reception?”
Dorothy was the oldest member on the committee. She went to school with Samson’s mother and never let the other committee members forget it.
As far as Delilah was concerned, there would be no wedding. She leaned back in her chair and waited to see what the other eleven members had to say.
With arms adorned in big, red bangle bracelets, Michelle Thompson spoke first. “Ms. Dorothy, it is their wedding, so I think we should honor Julia’s wishes.” Some of the other members, including Delilah, nodded in agreement.
“Nonsense,” Dorothy responded. “I say we take a vote. All in favor of not doing anything at the reception raise your hand.”
Six hands went up. Dorothy smiled, but her smile soon faded when Delilah’s hand went up, making the number seven and sealing the majority. Dorothy huffed. “Well, we can at least take up a special collection so we can get them a nice gift.”
Delilah uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “No disrespect, Ms. Dorothy. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m on a budget.” Delilah looked around the room. “I can’t afford to buy them an individual gift and then donate money for another
