nodded once. “All right.”
When he left the shelter after almost two hours, Gabriel had a handful of handouts featuring statistics, demographics. But he hadn’t seen these statistics. Susan was right. He hadn’t been out in the trenches.
That would change tomorrow afternoon.
Susan wasn’t sure she’d gotten through to him, but she knew one thing for certain: he’d gotten through to her. She chided herself for getting distracted by his eyes, the color of dark chocolate and so penetrating that she wondered if anything ever got past him.
She thought herself prepared to impartially lead Reverend Gabriel Dawson on a tour of the Galilee Avenue area the next day. She’d dressed carefully—for both the minister’s benefit and to acknowledge that they’d be doing a lot of walking—in a pair of blue pants, a cream twinset rimmed in blue, and comfortable flats.
She’d expected him to show up in one of his designer-looking suits, clothing that would immediately peg him an outsider in the neighborhood, as maybe a cop or a government worker. Susan’s mouth dropped open when he stepped into the reception area.
“Gorgeous, isn’t he?” Jessica said.
Susan started, dragging her gaze off the minister, who stood chatting with Christine at the front desk. “I…He—” She cleared her throat and started again. “We’re going on a walk around the neighborhood.” As if to prove her words, she snatched up a stack of the shelter’s brochures.
Jessica grinned at her.
“What?” Susan snapped.
“Oh, nothing,” Jessica said. Susan’s sudden ill-temper made her smile.
“And why are you even here?”
“Just dropping this off for you, boss.”
Susan rolled her eyes at the “boss” label. Though she was, she always viewed herself as more of a battlefield coordinator.
“Enjoy your date.”
“It’s not a date,” Susan said. “I’m just showing him what we do.”
“Whatever you say,” Jessica said with a smirk.
“Good morning, Reverend,” Susan called out, approaching him.
“Hello there. Good to see you again.”
His eyes took in her appearance and he smiled. Susan was grateful she’d spent a little extra time on her makeup this morning. Not, she told herself for the umpteenth time, that that had anything to do with Gabriel Dawson.
Liar, liar. Pants on fire. The line the twins used when they played a game came to her and Susan’s mouth quirked up in an involuntary smile.
“Have fun,” Jessica called.
Gabriel lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
The day was just right for this sort of outing. The city had been blessed with a week or two of Indian summer and people were out and about, taking advantage of the warmer days. Before long, chilly temperatures and then out-and-out cold would descend on the city. For now, however, they could enjoy the reprieve.
“This is one of my favorite things to do,” Susan said.
“Walk?”
She nodded. “There’s nothing like fresh air. That’s one of the reasons I love Colorado so much. Of course, I’ve never been anywhere else but here, but I’m glad this is home. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“I’m starting to feel the same way,” he said. “I’ve been here for three years now, and wonder what took me so long to make my way to this part of God’s country.”
Susan directed their path. “We’ll head up Galilee, then turn down some of the side streets.” He fell into step beside her, walking on the street side of the walk. “Three years? I thought you’d just arrived in Colorado Springs a few months ago.”
“I am new to this city, but I’ve been in Colorado since I got out of the Marines.”
“What brought you here?”
He glanced at her and smiled. “The lure of fresh air. That and snow.”
“Well, we get a lot of that. So you should be thrilled.”
“Tell me about how you got started working at the shelter.”
Susan looked up at him, wondering if she should tell the whole story, wondering how or if he’d judge her if he knew. A moment later, she realized she couldn’t be anything except totally honest. Not only did she pride herself on being a woman of integrity, but also he needed to know that she knew what she was talking about.
She handed him one of the brochures. It featured a woman and child embracing as they shared a book together. “We’ll be passing these out today,” she said. “Not too long ago, I could have been that woman on the cover.”
For just a moment he looked surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what you think,” she said. “My husband got caught up in drugs. Even before that, he had a temper. He could get really ugly when he was angry or thought he’d been slighted in the least bit. I was the outlet for his anger.”
Gabriel’s mouth tightened. “You’re still together?”
“No,” she said. It could have been a trick of the light, but Susan thought she saw his jaw loosen a bit when she said that. “He died a few years ago. He OD’d.”
“So that’s when you took up the crusade to save other women?”
“I’ve never thought of my work as a crusade, but I suppose it is,” she said. “And to answer your question, no. That came a long time later. After the healing. After living in the shelter. After rededicating myself to the Lord and getting my life together.”
Not comfortable being the focus of their conversation, she deftly turned the tables. “You were in the military.”
Gabriel nodded. “Marines.”
“Semper fi and all that.” She glanced up at him. “What does that mean anyway?”
“It’s short for semper fidelis, always faithful.”
Susan smiled. “Really? I like that. It works on a couple of levels, including a faith-based one. So how’d a big, strapping marine end up as a minister in Colorado Springs?”
“Being faithful to my calling,” Gabriel said. “I’ve always ministered to people whether I was ordained or not. But accepting the call to ministry in this way enabled me to put my own faith on the line for a higher cause.”
“And people shooting at you in a war isn’t a higher cause?”
The edges of his mouth curved up. “Yes, but…”
She
