Zenith in Love (Zenith Series #5) - Leanne Davis Page 0,50

and ready to lift the enormous weight without assistance. Jim always offered his help because Martin wouldn’t ask for it.

Besides, it got him away from Kayla temporarily.

Putting in a full day there was tough, but Kayla made it much more enjoyable. No harm in fun and flirting if the job got done on time and it was a good outcome.

Sighing, Jim thought making it as good as possible could never be enough and that fact bothered him. Kayla misinterpreted him by thinking he was feeling dour and sour. He suffered from heavy guilt knowing that the church and community could not provide for all of those in need. The most vulnerable always seemed to be forgotten. They were incessantly behind the eight ball, no matter how many donations, volunteers, and strategic fundraisers they held.

But it felt nice to know Kayla appreciated what he did much more now.

The career of a pastor was not a lucrative profession.

Jim finished cleaning up, filing the receipts, and reporting the volunteers’ hours. That was the part of the bookkeeping he handled. A conversation with Stacy centered on the need for more perishables and a discussion of where to invest the most recent donations. Clara made jokes and Janice suggested venues where he and Kathy could get married. Jim cringed. Crap. That needed to be made clear once and for all. Since the church was closed right after the shooting, his breakup with Kathy wasn’t known to very many people yet.

He left the warehouse that the food bank operated out of, palming his keys and sliding into his car seat when he noticed a lone car in the corner of the parking lot. Kayla? Her sedan was as nice as Kathy’s. The guards’ car was idling close by. He walked to her car, leaning on the rim of her open window. “What are you doing now? Did you wait here the whole time?”

“No worries. I wanted to wait. Wanna grab some dinner? It’s a perfect summer evening. How about a run to the beach?”

He knew she was right. The warm July sun and clear sky were bright and inviting. “Yes.”

She grinned and said, “Good. You skipped out on a date with me. I deserve at least that much. So you’re buying tonight, Pastor Jim.”

He nodded. He didn’t mind treating her, but hoped she understood there would never be expensive meals in five-star restaurants with him. No dinners at The Four Seasons on the Seattle Waterfront; his budget couldn’t accommodate such choices and he wouldn’t have anyway. Considering where he came from, the thought of wasting money on such extravagance… yeah… No. He wondered how Kayla would handle the realities of his job and how closely he had to watch his expenses because of it.

“Get in.” She grinned saucily as he got into her car, trailed by the guard in his car behind them. Jim rolled his eyes at the deja vu moment with the intrusive guards.

Kayla drove to the Waterfront and slipped into a parking spot next to a small hot dog stand.

Dinner?

She grinned. “They have the best hot dogs. Have you tried them?”

“No,” he replied as he fell into step beside her. Really? A hot dog stand? He pulled out a twenty and got eight bucks back in change. At least he could handle the cost of dinner.

Holding her wrapped hot dog and swishing her pop around, Kayla tipped her head and said, “Let’s go sit on the log over there.”

A huge trunk of driftwood, bleached smooth and bright from the sun and surf awaited them. The waters of the cold Puget Sound lapped the pebbled shoreline in a soft rhythm. A warm breeze drifted over their skin, blowing her hair all about her face.

Wearing shorts, she folded her legs up and sat on them before unwrapping her tasty meal, and taking a bite. Jim did the same and she caught his eye and started smiling. Eyebrows raised, she asked, “The best, right?”

“Wow, yeah. These are really good.”

“Yeah. I used to sneak down here with Rob. He’d put on a hat and dark glasses and we’d pretend he was ordinary. Which he always was to me. But not to everyone else. We’d buy a couple of hot dogs and walk on the beach sometimes.”

“You mention Rob a lot. What about your real dad? Doug? Neither you nor Kathy mention him very often. Aren’t there any little memories he shared with you like you share with Rob?”

She shrugged, staring out at the water, squinting at the