With the Father Read Online Free PDF Page B

even allowed.
      “So Father Paul,” Kate began, “Grace here
says you can eat meat. Is that right?”
    He smiled at her,
but eyed her warily as if he thought she might be setting him up somehow. “Yes,
I eat meat.”
    Kate continued on,
oblivious to anything other than her curiosity regarding his carnivorous
nature. “Good because I wasn’t sure. It’s been a long time since I went to
church. And, I’m not sure what the Church’s stance is on meat these days.”
    Father Paul
chuckled softly. “As of yet, the Vatican hasn’t taken a position on meat. Outside of Lent, of course. But, personally, I have no beef
with it.” There was a glint of mischief in his eyes that I’d seen only rarely.
Kate had that effect on people.
    “Father Paul, are
you making a joke?” Kate asked.
    He peered down at
his menu as a full-on grin took over his face.   “There’s no prohibition on jokes
either.”
    “Well, that’s a
relief,” she said, glancing back at her own menu.   “I have to be honest. I wasn’t sure what
dinner with a man such as yourself would be like.”
    “A man such as
myself?” he questioned, his laugh slightly more boisterous this time.
    “Yes, you know,”
she said, waving her hand ceremoniously in his direction. “A man of the cloth.”
    I rolled my eyes.
“Have you two actually formally met?” Kate and I grew up in Merriville ,
but Father Paul had only lived here for a couple of years. She’d left town long
before he arrived.
    They looked at one
another guiltily and then looked at me. “We’ve met,” he finally said. That one
glance told me everything I needed to know. Neither would want to say it aloud,
but I knew. They’d met at the funeral.
    “Oh,” I said,
nodding dismissively. I didn’t want to hear the words any more than they wanted
to say them.  
    “Are you still
staying at home?” The question was directed at Kate so I went back to my menu.
Nothing sounded good to me.
    “Yes,” Kate
answered. “Dad and Grace are all I have. We are family.” She sang the last
sentence to the tune of Sister Sledge. Father Paul looked at her curiously but
swallowed any question he may have had as the waitress walked up to take our
order.
    While we waited for
our food, I sat quietly, trying to disappear into the tall-backed seat. I
studied my silverware. I counted the cars in the darkening parking lot. I did
whatever I could think of to keep myself from looking around the restaurant. I
didn’t want to know who was there and if they were staring.
    “So what inspired
you to become a priest,” Kate asked after our food arrived.   I poked at my burger while waiting for
his answer and flicked some sesame seeds off onto my plate.  
    For a moment, I
wished that Arden was here with me. She would have
loved to hear his answer. Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen much of her during the
past few months. Maintaining a relationship with her had become too difficult.
I knew I could call her if I needed her, but the connection we’d once had was
missing. Me, with my inability to talk to anyone on any kind of real level, and
her, with her very alive family, it was just too hard. Out of necessity, I’d
distanced myself from her.
    I finally looked up
because an awkward amount of time had passed since Kate asked the question. I
was also interested in his answer. Similar to me, Father Paul was staring at
his plate like he expected something to move on it. Finally, he looked up and
said, “Life. Life happened. Sometimes unexpected obstacles are thrown at us,
and we have no other choice but to embrace them. Sometimes our path in life is
not of our own choosing.”
    It was a trademark
Father Paul-ism. The formerly talkative Kate stared at him and blinked.
    “I just meant that
we don’t always have a choice in things,” he added. “You have to cope the best
way you can. Grace knows what I am talking about.” He threw an encouraging and
sympathetic smile in my direction.
    If he was expecting
me to talk about