Head Over Heels Read Online Free PDF Page B

stood waiting for her at the basement door.
    â€œYou could have gone in through the front. I told Pastor Tom you were coming and what you looked like.”
    â€œThat’s okay. I didn’t want to start until some of the kids were here anyway.”
    Marielle lowered her voice in case one of them came up behind her. “Don’t ever call them kids. They’re at that sensitive point where they’re too old tobe kids, but not old enough to be young adults. Some of them have to make life-changing decisions, right now or soon, and I’m trying to guide them to make the right ones. I can’t do anything to jeopardize what they’re doing here.”
    She wondered if it was her imagination, but she thought he cringed at her censure.
    â€œI’m sorry. You’re right.”
    She sighed. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Let’s go inside.”
    She began the process of unlocking the door while he stood behind her.
    â€œI thought you said the pastor was here.”
    â€œHe is here,” she replied. “Sometimes his wife drops him off when she needs the car.”
    She couldn’t help but sneak a glance at him over her shoulder. Just as she had suspected, he was checking out the old building.
    What he saw wasn’t exactly pristine. The building had probably been impressive in its day, but now it was badly in need of repair. The church board had decided the pastor needed the money to live on more than they needed the building to look nice. The old stone front definitely could stand to be sandblasted, which they couldn’t afford. But because of a couple of volunteers, the brightly colored stained-glass windows on either side of the steeple were always washed and bright.
    Yet still some of those beautiful windows needed work. A few of the glass pieces were scratched from vandals throwing stones, and the sills and edges were showing deterioration due to weather over the years.
    The mechanism used to ring the old bell inside the tower hadn’t been functional for years, but because so many of the nearby residents didn’t attend church, the community had blocked all efforts the church board made to city council for funding to restore it as a heritage site.
    The cement steps in the front had been chipped and broken in places, but that had been relatively easy for members of the congregation to repair, although the new cement didn’t match the original color or texture. The most important thing, though, was that the steps were safe. They were the only part of the building that met current earthquake standards. Still, Marielle thought the building looked stately, and respected it for its history.
    Where they were now entering, however, wasn’t so regal. Like the rest of the humble neighborhood, the back of the church, where no one of importance usually ventured, wasn’t kept up. The windows were too high to be reached with ease—except by a special extended ladder—so they weren’t washed, and no one cared about the lower windows leading to the basement. The original back door had been made of wood, but many years before Marielle started to attend that church, vandals had damaged it beyond repair. Now a stark metal door, layered with different colors of paint to cover graffiti, took its place.
    Just as Marielle pushed the big door open, Russ turned and looked at her car. “Are you going to get that roof fixed soon? I’d like to take care of it.”
    â€œI don’t have time during the week. It will have towait until the weekend. One of the parents of one of my boys works at an auto body shop. He said he’ll give me a good deal.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Once inside, Marielle locked her purse inside her desk and joined Russ at his former computer. “What do you have to do to it today?”
    He turned in the chair in which he had seated himself, and she noticed that he winced with the movement.
    â€œNot