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Mary crept up the driveway of the church rectory, better known as the Camden house. She was trying to sneak in unnoticed that Sunday morning, like she had done so many times in the past. This time, however, she had slept a little later than usual. Wilson often joked about her not being able to drag herself out of bed the next day, but it was all true. She never had a sleep so peaceful as when she was laying nestled into Wilson for what was left of the night- hence her arriving back home at 6:45 instead of her goal of 5:00.
Just when Mary put her hand on the knob of the back door, Lucy called out to her. Mary had been caught.
Slowly, she turned around. "What are you doing up this early?"
"I could ask you the same thing," she said, crossing her arms. "Wasn't that the same outfit you had on yesterday?"
Mary glared at her. "Lucy-"
She was not backing down. "Mary."
"What do you want me to say to you?" She knew it was too obvious for her to hide it. Besides, this was Lucy. She would have been the first one to suspect even if she hadn't been caught red handed.
Lucy sighed and approached her older sister. "It's that serious, huh?"
Mary could not contain her grin. "Yeah, it is. I'm…"
"Smitten?"
"Yeah, that fits."
Lucy could only laugh, but then pointed her finger seriously at Mary. "Be careful."
Mary rolled her eyes. "We are; we're not that stupid. He's not that stupid."
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To Mary's surprise, Wilson and Billy met her at church that morning. Wilson had picked Billy up from his mother's after Mary had left and, after Billy changed, they came right to church. This relationship had been more about him and Mary than Wilson's interaction with her family, but he still felt it would be a nice gesture for him to go to church a time or two. He and Mary were getting more and more serious with each day that passed.
Mary grinned widely when Wilson tapped her on the shoulder as she was seated in a pew. She stood and hugged him tightly, only pulling away when she heard her family's voices behind her.
"Wilson," Annie called out. "What a pleasant surprise! Mary didn't tell us that you planned on coming."
"Well that was probably because she didn't know. This was sort of an ambush-visit."
Mary laughed at him. Everything Wilson said or did was funny to her; she giggled at all the right times. Mary was really falling for him. When her family finally stopped bombarding him with tons of questions, only half of which Mary would have classified as personally invasive, they all sat down. Mary sat close enough to Wilson so that he would be constantly thinking about her, but not too close to be thought of as crude in a place of worship.
"So," Wilson said into Mary's ear as he leaned toward her, "you don't mind us coming?"
"Not at all. Why?"
"Because I did try to call you know, but your phone was off."
"Sorry, but I can't charge it with it on."
"But you know, I could have just called Kevin and gotten in touch with you that way if I wanted to."
Mary smiled. She knew Wilson was referring to Kevin's number that she had taped to his fridge this morning before she slipped out of his house. "I told you I was going to give it to you."
He laughed. "Yeah, five days ago."
She hit him playfully in the side of the arm. "Just be happy I remembered at all."
"I am." He picked up Mary's hand. "Thank you."
Mary leaned into Wilson, holding his hand in her lap and smiling as she listened to her father speak. Reverend Camden was speaking on trust, trusting in God help take you into the afterlife and protect you. As Protestants, they believed that every person has eternal life, but where you spend it is determined by your actions while you are alive. Heaven is a glorious location where there is an absence of pain, disease, sexual activity, and depression; in a sense, paradise. To be granted access to heaven, you must repent your sins and accept the teaching of Christianity into you life.
Mary thought about what her father was saying for the first time in a long time, and she had some internal questions. Of course, she would never verbalize them, but she did wonder about her own life. If she acknowledged her sins to herself and not to anyone else, did that still count? If she told someone about her sins who was not a member of the clergy, would that work? Wilson turned and smiled at Mary, containing his laughter over her furrowed brow. He loved her when she was deep in thought.
Mary went back home with Wilson after the service. She had only been apart from him for a total of three and a half hours in a twenty-four hour period, but she hated being without him. It was like she couldn't breathe when he wasn't there. She really felt like she needed him. It was killing her to be so clingy, but there was no helping it.
As the three of them drove back, they listened quietly to the radio and made small talk all the way home. Wilson kept stealing glances at Mary any chance he got. He didn't even hear Billy talking away to no one in the back seat.
He barely even noticed a short man with black hair, gray at the temples, flagging him down as he drove through the construction entrance of his development at twenty-eight miles and hour. Mary yelled at him to stop and he slammed on the brakes, sending two of Billy's action figured flying into the back of the driver's seat with a thud.
The man finally caught up with Wilson's car, only slightly huffing and puffing.
"Can I help you with something?"
"Oh, I am so sorry to ruin a return of a family outing. It's just that…"
Wilson got a strange feeling from this man. He reached for Mary's hand and squeezed it tightly, trying to protect her as best he knew how. "Yes?"
"My boss yelled at us for letting people go through the construction entrance. I'm supposed to tell you not to do that anymore."
"Sure. Um, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"
"Oh, I'm a construction manager for these twenty lots."
"I see."
Mary shook Wilson's arm, reprimanding him for being so rude. "Wilson!" she said yelled quietly.
"I'll let you three go. Just back around and go in the proper way please." Wilson nodded. "You live in the center of the cul de sac, right? The one with the lights?"
Mary laughed. "Yup, that's it." She quickly ate her words, thinking that she was implying that she was living with him, or that they were married or something like that.
The construction worker saw Mary suck in her breath and laughed at her. It was a shrill laugh- one with sinister pitch to it that made Mary shudder. "OK." He waved. "Bye now."
As Wilson drove around, he turned to Mary. "Isn't it Sunday?"
It took her a few seconds to catch on, but she did in time. "Yeah." Mary thought over that concept for a few seconds. "Didn't you say they were behind on construction? Maybe they're just trying to catch up."
"Yeah, maybe."
When they finally made their way around to Wilson's house after the sermon, Mary sat down next to Wilson at his kitchen table.
"Yes?"
She smiled. "How did you know I was going to say something?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I just did."
"I was just wondering what you thought dying was like. Do you believe in all that stuff my dad was saying?"
He looked down and then, deciding he had nothing to hide from Mary, looked back up at her. "I used to think about it a lot actually. And out of all the theories that people have told me over the years, things mostly to make me feel better, I decided not to follow any of it and make up my own theory." She smiled at him sympathetically. "I hope that dying is like an extension of life, but in a new place. Like…moving to Europe and taking all your old friends with you."
"That sounds nice."
"I mean, you can't be certain of anything, but that's what I'd want it to be. It probably won't be ideal, but as long as it's as good as my life is right now, then it'll be perfect."
She leaned in and kissed him. "I'm part of that perfection, right?"
"Possibly." A sly smiled grew on his face. "I'd need another kiss to be sure."
"Oh really?"
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A/N: Heh. Not saying anything more than that or I'll spoil it. Oh, and I've been working on this story lately, more out of sheer boredom than anything else, and it's going to be even more absurd now than I previously thought. But we'll cross those bridges when we get to them now won't we? They'll be two of them so far. Two "Bridges to Absurdity".
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Foreshadowing anyone? Review.
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