Tithing Love
Chapter III: Don't Assume
Carter had not seen Claire since the end of spring. It was now very far into summer and Claire had kept her word—she didn't once stop by the church, leaving Carter to seek her out himself. Carter kept as physically far away from the beach as he could, but it didn't stop his mind from being there constantly.
Claire and Kai were probably swimming right now. The weather was perfect for it, he thought. She was probably splashing Kai playfully with the waves, dressed in a bikini, her blonde hair bleached even lighter in the sun, and blowing him a kiss with a little wink—
No. He shook his head. This train of thought would get him nowhere. Besides which, he was romanticizing her—much more likely she had spent the day brawling with Popuri over Kai, and was right now sitting on Popuri like a wrestler, pinning her to the ground and pushing her face in the sand.
Carter laughed despite himself. This train of thought was no good, either.
Carter sighed, defeated. He felt especially bored today… "lonely" was probably a more apt description. He decided to wander over to the Clinic to go look for the Doctor. If Tim turned out to be busy, he'd chat with Elli.
When he entered, the waiting room was empty and the front desk deserted. However, almost immediately, Elli came down the stairs, a book in hand.
"Oh, hello—" she started to say, but was interrupted by a call from the Doctor in the examination room.
"Elli, are you finally back down here?! Could you come here, please? I really need your help."
"Sorry!" said Elli apologetically, half to Carter, half to the Doctor. She disappeared into the other room. Carter heard her let out a small gasp of surprise. "What on earth happened to you?!" Carter heard Elli exclaim in alarm.
Carter's felt a nervous shock shoot through his heart when Claire's voice answered. "Well, as I was saying to the Doctor, I punched Rick in the nose. It wouldn't have been that bad, but I broke his glasses and I've got shards embedded in my hand now. Did you know he wears real glass glasses? It would figure. It's been a rotten summer all around, and this is the icing on the cake," she said sourly.
"So why did you punch Rick?" he heard the Doctor ask.
"Because he had been provoking me all summer and I was finally sick of it. For some reason, he refuses to see that Popuri and Kai are absolutely perfect for each other. Everyone knows they are except him. So I went as moral support when they announced their engagement to Lillia and Rick a half hour ago—"
"Popuri got engaged?!" squealed Elli.
"Dear, let her finish, and find me some tweezers so I can start working on her hand," said the Doctor, impatiently.
There was the sound of metal instruments being rustled in a drawer. "Sorry. Here you go."
"Good. Hold her steady."
"Anyway," continued Claire after a moment, "Rick had the audacity to say that he had never been more ashamed of his little sister than he was at that moment. So I clocked him."
"So why isn't Rick here, too? Doesn't he need help?" Elli asked.
"Karen didn't think it was prudent for the two of us to walk together to the clinic. Since I'm the one with glass stuck in me, I was the lucky one who got to come. He's being mopped up back at the poultry farm."
The Doctor sighed. "I understand you wanted to defend your friend, but don't you think it was a little unfair to take out your unrelated personal problems on poor Rick?"
Claire sounded sulky. "I don't know what you mean."
There was a long pause, where all that could be heard was the small plick! of glass pieces being dropped into a Petri dish.
"Popuri and Kai want to get married at dusk, right before the Fireworks Festival," Claire blurted out suddenly. "I'm glad, because it'll mean I'll definitely have something to do that evening."
There was another slight pause, one long enough for Tim and Elli to exchange glances.
"You know, I've been wondering… when was the last time you visited Carter?" came Elli's gentle voice.
"It would be better to ask when was the last time he visited me."
"You know," Elli said hesitatingly, "It might not be my place to say—"
"It probably isn't," the Doctor said warningly.
"Well, maybe not, but I think it's worse not to say anything in this case."
"You know how I feel about gossiping about friends," the Doctor said, sounding seriously displeased.
"Well, I'm not saying anything I wouldn't say if Carter were actually here," she snapped. "Claire, I think Carter might be a little resentful of Kai."
Claire sounded dumbfounded. "But why? All I've ever wanted is for Kai to meet Carter and see how great he is."
"Maybe that's because Carter thinks you want him to meet Kai."
"Elli… that's the same thing."
"If you think about it, it's not."
"Hmm?"
Carter felt understanding wash over him—he had clearly misunderstood her. She was never dating Kai. That meant—
Unfortunately, Carter was so wrapped up in eavesdropping that he forgot how precarious his hiding position of "in plain sight in the waiting room" was. Suddenly, the declaration of "Hold on, I think we have extra in the cupboard outside," was followed by the unexpected exit of the Doctor from the examination room.
Tim and Carter found themselves face to face, and both immediately turned beet red from shock and embarrassment. Carter found the only actions his surprised brain was willing to urge his body to perform were to step back, reach blindly for the doorknob behind him, and exit. Tim fortunately had the presence of mind to graciously clear his throat to cover up the sound of the door gently closing behind Carter.
Carter had never been happier to perform a wedding in his life.
Half the town was gathered on the beach as Carter proclaimed Kai and Popuri husband and wife and gave them permission to kiss. Considering Kai's "popularity" in the town, Carter suspected the crowd wouldn't have been nearly as large if people weren't already gathering for the Fireworks Festival.
Rick, Carter noticed, had a very large band aid on his nose that didn't quite cover his skin's bruised discoloration. Carter was relieved that though Rick looked highly annoyed, he didn't do anything to disrupt the wedding ceremony. It may have been because the two blonde bridesmaids, one in a slinky high cut skirt and the other in a simple cotton sundress with a large bandage wrapped around her hand, looked ready to tackle him when Carter asked the crowd if there were any objections.
After the ceremony, Kai opened up a fine-looking bottle of wine and started pouring for all who were there. After crowding around the newlyweds and offering congratulations, couples one by one started to drift off to secure good places on the beach to watch the fireworks.
Carter looked for Claire. She was sitting by herself on the end of the dock dangling her bare feet into the water, her wine glass in her off hand as her right was too swaddled in cloth to grip it properly. Taking a deep breath, Carter went over to her.
"Hey, stranger. I see you finally met Kai," said Claire stiffly, not looking at him as he took a seat next to her.
"Well, yes. It was rather unavoidable," Carter said with a weak chuckle. "He's very nice. I'm sorry I was so reluctant to do it earlier."
"Well," said Claire, finally looking at him. "I'm glad you can admit when you're wrong."
Carter chuckled again, this time with some enthusiasm. "Well, before you heap all the blame on me, I might point out that you were a bit in wrong yourself."
She looked surprised. "What did I do?!"
"You never explained to me that you weren't romantically interested in Kai. I thought that… um, that he was trying to play you and Popuri for fools. That's why I didn't want to meet him."
Her eyes went wide. "But how could you think that?! I told you that I was good friends with Popuri! Do think we wouldn't have compared notes?"
"No, you never told me you were friends with Popuri—in fact, I got the impression that you didn't like her very much. When you told me that you were friends with one of the siblings at the Poultry farm, and that you 'argued with the other over Kai a lot,' I thought you meant you were friends with Rick."
She stuck out her tongue. "With Rick?! Please! Even without Kai, we rub each other the wrong way." She paused. "But Kai's my best friend, and that's all. I thought you knew that."
"Well, I know that now."
She regarded him with a piercing look. "So, actually… was that the only reason you didn't want to meet Kai?"
He felt distinctly uncomfortable and his heart began to beat faster. "Of course. What, um, else could there be?"
She squinted, closely examining his face, which was ever so slightly flushed with embarrassment. After a moment, she smiled. She swished her feet playfully back and forth in the water, looking rather satisfied. "Well, I had a pretty terrible summer without you, I'll have you know. This ceremony has probably put a pretty penny in your pocket—you should buy me a gift to make up for ignoring me all summer."
Carter smiled. "I'd love to, but I didn't receive more than Popuri's usual weekly donation to the church; it was all she could afford. I don't get a salary, you know, so I need to live off of money like that."
She looked utterly shocked. "This town doesn't pay you a salary…?!" She glowered darkly. "You know, just when I think things around here couldn't annoy me more…"
"Claire, please be reasonable."
"You be reasonable! You can barely afford to feed yourself as it is. I always thought that you took a vow of poverty, or I else would've… Honestly, what are you going to do when Popuri moves away?!"
While Carter never felt unhappy before with his lack of material wealth, at the moment he felt extremely self-conscious. Hastily, Carter added, "You don't need to look so upset. I get plenty of support from my other parishioners."
"Oh, really. From who, exactly? Perpetually-in-debt Jeff or Cliff, the minimum-wage wonder? Do Elli and Barley even pay you to baby-sit their kids for most of the work week, or do they just feel free to take advantage of you?"
"They do pay me—but I don't like to ask for a lot of money from my parishioners," Carter countered. "They have their own financial problems. They give what they can afford. I have a roof over my head and clothes on my back. When you think about it, I'm quite blessed. I feel content."
Claire started to open her mouth again but she restrained herself. She smiled tightly. "I should really stop talking. I can see that I'm feeling more slighted on your behalf than you do for your own. We just made up, and so we should be enjoying ourselves."
"I'm glad you feel that way."
Claire nudged herself a little closer to Carter and gave him a small smile. "I'm glad Popuri and Kai got married today—I had given up hope of having someone to watch the fireworks festival with. If you weren't forced to be on the beach today, I probably would have ended up watching it by myself."
After gathering up his courage, he admitted, "Well… our misunderstanding notwithstanding, I would have been glad to come watch it with you anyway."
She beamed at him. "I was hoping that was the case."
The next day Claire came to the church so early that Carter answered the door in a bathrobe hastily thrown over his undershirt and boxers. She stood at the door, cheerfully holding a basket that was over-laden with food from her farm.
"Claire," Carter said, feeling embarrassed and a little exasperated. "I thought we were going to drop this subject. Please don't feel that you personally need to support me. I'm not a child. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of—"
"—me!" she said, interrupting him. He looked at her in surprise. "You see, I find that I'm so busy at the farm that I tend to skip breakfast, even though it's the most important meal of the day. However, if I were to have someone that I had a standing appointment to eat breakfast with…"
She smiled so roguishly that he couldn't help but chuckle. "…You'd be less likely to skip it," he finished for her. "Alright, you win. I'd be happy to be your breakfast buddy." He opened the door wider to let her past. "I'm quite blessed to have such a caring friend, Claire."
"Well, eating breakfast with an attractive, interesting man isn't quite the sacrifice you're making it out to be," she said, grinning at him, and he couldn't help but smile in pleasure at the compliment. She strode past him into the church. "So where should I set this up?" she asked.
"Um… follow me," said Carter, looking around and then deciding to take her to his small living space in the back. He led her through a door in his side of the confessional chamber, and they ended up in a small, sparsely furnished, but very neat cell. Carter was relieved that Claire didn't notice—or at least didn't comment on—how very small the space was. "It's like a secret—you'd never know this was here!" she said, admiring how neatly hidden the room was from the official part of the church. She went over to the window. "And you got a great view of—wow, the church has a huge backyard!" she exclaimed in surprise.
Carter chuckled. "Yeah, it's my best kept secret. It's nice to have that place to myself."
She smiled. "Hey, I got a great idea—let's eat out there instead! You get dressed, and I'll go out and set it up."
"That does sound great. I'll be out in a few minutes."
She looked his blue bathrobe up and down. "It's nice to see you in a color for a change. You know, you should put on something other than your vestments—it's too hot to wear something that heavy, anyway. Today's gonna be a scorcher."
"I'll see what I can do," he said and she left. Unfortunately, Carter didn't own any other clothes other than his vestments and his pajamas. There was nothing to do but dress as usual, though he decided to leave his thick frockcoat off. Donning his usual black trousers and a black shirt, he left off his priest collar so he could leave the top button open for a small amount of ventilation. He joined Claire outside.
She had brought enough food to feed a pack of hungry wolves. "Wow, this looks great… it's too bad Cliff's not here to share," said Carter, surveying the bounty.
"Not really," Claire said, shortly. When Carter looked at her in surprise, she blushed a little as she said, "It's more fun, just the two of us… don't you think?"
"I suppose," Carter smiled. "Conversation will be much easier, that's for sure."
Looking a bit fallen, Claire scooted a little farther away from Carter and hastily changed the subject.
"Have you ever met Won?" she asked. When Carter shook his head, Claire continued, "He's always selling these really expensive apples that he claims are special, so this morning I decided to buy one." She held it up for Carter to see. "It looks perfectly ordinary to me, but he says it's all in the taste. I've been curious about it for a while, so I figured we could try it out together. At the very least, it's always nice to have an apple off season, don't you think?"
"I agree. So what kind of apple is this?"
"Ah… he called it a AEPFE apple. I forget what that stands for, but it sounded impressive. Here, hand me a knife and I'll cut it up."
Carter rummaged through the basket and did just that. Claire cut two generous slices off the apple. "Cheers!" she said, and they bit into the pieces. After a few seconds of thoughtful chewing, they both started to laugh.
"Ah man… I totally got ripped off. After living in the city, I usually consider myself streetwise, so this is really embarrassing!" she said, shaking her head.
"Well, it's still a delicious apple nonetheless—" Carter began, chuckling to himself, when the call of "Carter! Are you here?" echoed from inside the church. "Ah, excuse me…" he said with a frown, getting up.
"I'll be here," she said, biting into the overpriced apple again. Carter opened the back door to the church and went inside. He smiled in relief when he saw it was only Tim who wanted him. "Good morning, Tim. Can I help you with something?" he greeted the Doctor warmly.
"Hello, Carter. My wife sent me…" The Doctor drifted off, looking Carter up and down in slight perplexity. "You're dressed… rather informally today," Tim said at length, sounding curious. "I don't think I've ever seen you without your coat and collar on the whole time I've known you."
Carter gave a light, self-conscious laugh. "Oh well. It's so hot today, so…"
"Ah. Well, Elli wants that book back she lent you. She and Mary have been arguing over the wording of a quote in it, and it looks like the only way the fight will end is with proof."
"Ah, certainly." Carter had been reading that book to Claire, but their reading sessions had been obviously suspended since summer began. It was rather unfair of him to keep it around so long for no reason. "Let's get it. It's in my room."
As they entered, Carter started running a finger along his bookshelf looking for the book, and the Doctor took up a position looking out the window while he waited. Carter found it and turned around to find that the Doctor was surveying the scene of Claire waiting outside with a strange look on his face. The Doctor then looked back at Carter with a face that plainly said that he didn't quite approve of the situation. Carter looked back at him, slightly confused. Tim was usually very pleased when people donated food to the church.
"You know…" Tim began, but stopped himself. "Never mind. I need to go return this book to Elli. She'll be glad to have this back."
Carter smiled. "I hope it produces a favorable outcome. If not, you can always slip back here and breakfast with Claire and me to avoid the aftermath. There's plenty of food."
"Ah… maybe. I don't think Claire will enjoy the intrusion, however."
"Nonsense! I know she really likes you. I'm sure she'd be glad to have you join us."
The Doctor smiled uncomfortably. "Perhaps you don't know her as well as you think you do. Well… I really need to get back to Elli. I'll see you later." He made a hasty exit, leaving Carter puzzled. Did Tim and Claire have a fight?
He returned to the backyard to find that Claire had finished her apple-half and was smearing jam onto slices of toast. "Hey!" She greeted him. "Who was it—or was it work related?"
"It was just Tim," said Carter, sitting back down across from Claire. He watched her face carefully to see if it betrayed any annoyance with the Doctor, but only a broad smile graced her features.
"Doctor Tim? Aww, I would have liked to have said hi. He's good people." She held up some carefully wrapped chicken eggs. "Anyway, try some of these boiled eggs; I made them in the hot spring."
Strange, they weren't fighting. Carter shrugged it off and helped himself to some of the proffered eggs. Right now he'd rather satisfy the demands of his stomach than the demands of his curiosity.
"Somehow I think you've been looking even better lately," said Claire idly one day in mid winter. To Carter, it seemed like fall had just flew by.
"Well, eating well does put a spring in one's step, I've found," Carter replied, standing at the podium and shuffling his notes. "But the way you feed me I have to be careful not to get fat."
"Eh, I like a man with a little meat on him," she replied, pouring generous helpings of tomato soup out of her thermos into mugs. "That pinched look didn't do anything for you."
"I guess that's why I never got much attention from the girls," he said jokingly, as he accepted a cup from her. She settled into the front row and signaled she was not quite ready for him to begin. Her original one time offer to beta-test his sermon had lately developed into a weekly ritual. Every Saturday afternoon she showed up at the church with sandwiches and soup, and listened to him speak and offered him criticisms.
Today, it was snowing rather hard, so he half expected her not to show up. However, at a quarter past two the door opened and there she was, wrapped up in a thick overcoat and wearing a long homemade rainbow-colored scarf—her second ever knitting project (the first had been a clumsily knit green scarf that she gave him for his birthday, made with the very first ball of yarn she ever spun).
"Is that the reason…?" she said in a musing tone, settling back into the pew. He looked at her strangely but she just smiled and waved her hand dismissively. "Well, Carter, gimme your best shot," she said.
"Actually, I haven't had a lot of time to write this week, so I don't have anything new that's nearly finished enough to use. I was thinking of reusing an old one instead. What do you think?"
"As long as it's not that weird one with the dead mom and the alarm clock, I don't think anyone will mind," Claire said, coming over to the pulpit and looking at Carter's notes. "Which one were you thinking of choosing?"
"I'm not sure. I wanted your opinion." Together they looked through the notes a few minutes until they found one they both thought would be good.
"It's been a while since I read this one. Let me practice it," he said.
"No problem," she replied, sitting back down.
Carter began his sermon. Not thirty seconds in, Claire interrupted abruptly—"So, uh, can priests of your sect marry or what?"
Carter looked up from his notes in shock. "Excuse me?"
"You know… like how Anglican priests can get married. I was wondering if you could, too." She looked as if she knew the answer, but was wondering what he would tell her.
"Um…" Carter wasn't sure what to say. "Why do you ask?"
Her smile softened. "Why do you think?"
