"There's a revival meeting at the church," Jackson announced.
"And?" Alleghany asked in an uninterested tone.
"It'll be a chance to socialize. Pretty much everybody within 30 miles will be there."
"With dried-up, god-loving hypocrites? No thanks." She'd had a pastor in bed before. All men were the same underneath their clothes. The one exception being most men with a liberal viewpoint didn't hide behind a pulpit, declaring they were more righteous than those in the world. "Christians are just like the rest of us except we don't hide behind masks."
"Well, I'm going."
"Have fun." Her body language communicated quite clearly she didn't care where he went or what he did.
He slammed the door on his way out, ignoring the dogs who came to be pet by him. He tried to be nice. He tried to take her out somewhere where there'd be other people and that was the thanks he got. Nothing he did was good enough for her.
Was he so unlovable, so undesirable that she could find nothing at all to like about him? He could make her happy if she would give him half a chance. She could make him happy if she tried, but she didn't. How was he supposed to get past her defenses? Not a single thing he had done so far seemed to work even a little.
He started up the engine and grimaced. He'd let his temper get the best of him. He didn't really want to go anymore than she had, but he wasn't going to let her think she was right. It was a matter of pride.
On his way there, he passed a funeral procession going the other way. He pulled off to the side of the road, not because there wasn't plenty of room to keep going but out of respect.
8 cars that all looked loaded to capacity with people followed the hearse, mourning the departed. It gave him a morbid thought. If he were to die, the only ones who would grieve his absence would be his dogs. Maybe Elmer if he heard about it in time, which he probably wouldn't. Alleghany might attend the burial just to dance on his grave as the happiest widow these hills had ever seen.
It was a cheerless contemplation and it didn't do anything to improve his mood. He felt more angry, more bitter, and more depressed than ever.
Cars and wagons and even cars pulled by horses surrounded the little country church. More crowded than it was on a Sunday morning, not that he'd ever been to confirm that.
He stewed during most of the revival, ignoring the fine singers and most of the sermons, of which there were 3 from 3 different preachers, until the last preacher said something that caught his attention.
"The old devil wants to see you kept in chains: a slave to your anger, your passions, your sins. He wants to keep you from getting the grace that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ."
The devil wasn't going to keep him from getting salvation if he wanted it, he thought, his anger suddenly burning brightly against Satan.
"Friends, there is someone who can set you free. Maybe you don't feel loved today. But there's someone who will always love you, who loves you even now. It's unconditional love that He offers to you. You come just as you are and He won't sit idly by. Like the prodigal son's father, He runs to meet you. So come. Let me pray with you."
And Jackson did want to come all of a sudden. He wanted God's love so bad he could taste it. He longed for it with his whole being more than he'd ever longed for anything in his whole life. Even more than he desired Alleghany and that was saying something.
So he went up front and prayed the sinner's prayer while the congregation sang "Amazing Grace". The pastor, who was the very same pastor who had married him, was happier than he'd been when he'd married him and Alleghany.
Which brought to mind his absent wife. What was Alleghany going to say when he told her he'd decided to become one of those dried-up, god-loving hypocrites. He didn't think it would endear him to her. He had a feeling he'd just nailed the final nail in the coffin of his marriage.