across from his desk.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
I adjusted myself nervously in the chair. “Well, sir, I wanted to ask you something.”
He stared at me, studying me before he finally spoke. “Does it have to do with
Jamie?” he asked.
I took a deep breath.
“Yes, sir. I wanted to ask if it would be all right with you if I took her to dinner on
New Year’s Eve.”
He sighed. “Is that all?” he said.
“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’ll bring her home any time you’d need me to.”
He took off his spectacles and wiped them with his handkerchief before putting them
back on. I could tell he was taking a moment to think about it.
“Will your parents be joining you?” he asked.
“No, sir.”
“Then I don’t think that will be possible. But thank you for asking my permission
first.” He looked down at the papers, making it clear it was time for me to leave. I stood
from my chair and started toward the door. As I was about to go, I faced him again.
“Reverend Sullivan?”
He looked up, surprised I was still there. “I’m sorry for those things I used to do
when I was younger, and I’m sorry that I didn’t always treat Jamie the way she should
have been treated. But from now on, things will change. I promise you that.”
He seemed to look right through me. It wasn’t enough.
“I love her,” I said finally, and when I said it, his attention focused on me again.
“I know you do,” he answered sadly, “but I don’t want to see her hurt.” Even though
I must have been imagining it, I thought I saw his eyes begin to water.
“I wouldn’t do that to her,” I said.
He turned from me and looked out the window, watching as the winter sun tried to
force its way through the clouds. It was a gray day, cold and bitter.
“Have her home by ten,” he finally said, as though he knew he’d made the wrong
decision.
I smiled and wanted to thank him, though I didn’t. I could tell that he wanted to be
alone. When I glanced over my shoulder on my way out the door, I was puzzled to see his
face in his hands.
I asked Jamie an hour later. The first thing she said was that she didn’t think she
could go, but I told her that I’d already spoken to her father. She seemed surprised, and I