First Time: Ian's Story (First Time (Ian) Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

were incredibly
creepy, and I sure as hell wasn’t taking advice from them.
    Danny was probably right. I
needed counsel from a higher authority. Prayer had never steered me
wrong. Well, it had. With Gena. And my girlfriend before her. And
countless other times. But that was usually because I ignored any
insight it gave me, anyway. I just need a
sign , I told God silently. Anything will do.
    There were two old women ahead of me as we
entered the church, plodding along like the oldest tortoises in the
fucking turtle social security office line. I shuffled behind them,
not really walking, but taking a step and stopping until there was
room to take another without running them down. One rummaged in her
purse the entire time, muttering about the collection and how she
hadn’t put in as much the week before.
    Then, it happened.
    The old woman made a little “whoops” noise,
and a sandwich baggie of coin rolls flopped from her hands. A
red-striped wrapper burst apart as it hit the floor, scattering
pennies—fifty of them—at my feet.
    Well, I had asked for a sign.
    * * * *
    “ So, to clarify,” I said slowly as I crumpled my
sandwich wrapper and pushed it into the deli bag with the other
trash. “You didn’t actually curse out Sister Beth.”
    “ God, no, what the hell,
Uncle Ian?” Danny shook his head and took a drink from his soda. “I
would never swear at a nun, obviously. I could just imagine
snapping and doing it. She thinks she runs the church. And I don’t
mean St. Basil’s. I mean the big-C Church.”
    It was a nice day to be outside, talking
about cursing at nuns. I rolled up my sleeves and looked out at the
river. The Williamsburg Bridge arched across, creating an extension
of the city’s skyline over the water. I’d been feeling slightly off
all day, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. I realized that for
the first time since Gena had left, I was actually optimistic about
the future. My life wasn’t over, just because my marriage was. I
was capable of meeting new people and rebuilding my life. There was
actually a chance I could be happy, again. If not with Penny, with
someone else.
    But, for right now, I was
going to concentrate on being happy near Penny.
    Danny checked his phone. “Okay, I’ve got to
go. You wanna walk with me?”
    I shrugged. “It’s a nice day, why not?”
    I threw my trash in a can as we walked, and
carried my jacket over my shoulder. I couldn’t say the summer air
smelled fantastic—we were in New York, after all—but the afternoon
sunshine matched my mood, and the temperature was surprisingly mild
for August. People were out walking and cycling and jogging…
    A short blond with her hair in a ponytail
was running toward us, her fantastic tits held firmly in place by a
purple sports bra she hadn’t bothered to put a shirt over. Her tiny
running shorts were just tight enough that the rearview would be
spectacular. If I’d been paying more attention to her face and not
being the lecherous old man that I was, I would have noticed it was
Penny before she caught me staring.
    She slowed down as she reached us and pulled
out her earbuds.
    “ Penny,” I managed, exerting
Herculean effort to not look down at her chest. “This is an
unexpected surprise.”
    “ All surprises are
unexpected. That’s why they’re surprises,” Danny said, and I
redirected all that superhuman effort into not elbowing a priest in
the gut in front of the woman I wanted to go on another date
with.
    “ This sarcastic bastard is
my nephew, Danny,” I explained, and I hoped she understood it as a
disavowing of responsibility for anything he might do to embarrass
me.
    Her eyebrows shot up. Danny had told me
before that many people are shocked to meet a priest and realize he
has friends and family outside of his parish. This was the first
time I’d really seen that in the wild. But she wasn’t rude, and
extended her hand to take Danny’s. “Oh. Nice to meet you.”
    I gave him the brush off.