A Matter of Trust Read Free Page B

person before you marry
them. You think you do, but they often turn out to be someone
entirely different from the person you thought you knew and loved.
Life is just full of nasty surprises.”
    “ Are you speaking from
experience, Trish?”
    Trish tensed visibly. “Yeah. Now, it’s
time to eat.”
    What happened to you,
Trish? What turned you off of love and marriage and trust? Someday,
you’ll tell me. Then I’ll prove to you sometimes it’s worth taking
a chance on people.
    “ It sure smells good.
Thanks for having me over.” Jake took the salad from her and walked
over to the table to set it down.
    “ Sure. It’s nice to have
company and adult conversation for a change. Have a seat, and I’ll
take the manicotti out of the oven.”
    The rest of the evening passed by
quickly, and both of them took extra care to steer away from
serious topics. Jake concentrated on making Trish laugh and relax.
He helped her with the dishes and cleaning up, even though she told
him he didn’t have to, and they said goodnight early, as Trish had
Saturday morning story time to prepare for the next day. They
hugged goodbye, and Jake kissed her on the cheek, a new addition to
their goodbye rituals from the past. It was nice.
    Trish stayed up late again, and felt
exhausted when the alarm went off at six the next morning. She
gathered her materials and headed off to the Lit Center early to
get a head start on some work. Saturday mornings were reserved for
giving back to the community. There was no charge for attending
story time, and more and more kids were showing up with and without
their parents to listen to books being read aloud and to
participate in fun activities like acting out scenes, drawing a
picture board, and reader’s theater afterwards. She alternated
reading Saturdays with writing Saturdays when kids wrote their own
stories and got to sit in the fancy red velvet Author’s chair Trish
found at a garage sale and share them aloud with others.
    “ Nice crowd today,
girlfriend.” Callie came to stand next to Trish as she scanned the
room to make sure everything ran smoothly.
    “ Yes, it is. The Story
Time classes are really catching on. I had my doubts they would,
but we’re building a nice following. Some of them come back for
extra help during the week, so free Saturdays end up bringing in
money in the long run sometimes.”
    “ So, what’s on the agenda
today? Are they reading or writing?”
    “ A little of both,
actually. Today is poetry day. We’ve got several fun poems to read
to them, then they get to write their own. The best of both worlds,
I guess.” Trish smiled at her friend and business partner. “Where’s
Eva? We’re usually a trio on Saturday mornings, but I haven’t seen
her yet.”
    “ She’s finalizing this
afternoon’s session. We have a guest speaker today from The El Paso
Women’s Services. They’ll hear about some great resources available
to them.” Saturday afternoons at the Lit Center were reserved for
self improvement classes for victims staying in the battered
women’s shelter to attend. Callie and Eva talked to them about how
to find jobs, conduct an interview, apply make-up and fix hair and
dress professionally, and most of all, they tried to instill some
self-confidence, which the ladies always lacked. Eva served
particularly well in that capacity, since she had been a battered
wife herself and had moved on with her life.
    Moving on. Trish knew firsthand how
difficult that was to do. She’d been on her own since the death of
her husband over two years ago, and she still struggled at times.
She’d like to think she’d moved on like Eva had, but after talking
with Jake last night, she knew she still struggled with forgiveness
and bitterness leftover from her marriage. She didn’t want to feel
those things, but she had yet to put them behind her.
    “ Y’all need some help?
With the kids gone, I’ve got some time to spare.” Trish offered her
time gladly. Although she