It's Sunday morning, and I'm in church. I smell the fresh cut grass in the air and enjoy that colorful hats and jackets that have come out with the warm weather. I take my seat in the pew, And I see you, carrying the Gospel behind a boy carrying a cross. You could be mistaken for a short man under those four layers of robes and with your hair pulled back. But I see you. I see the long elegant neck, and how it strains against the collar around it. I see your wide blue eyes. I think you're only wearing a bit of powder on your face, without mascara or lipstick. That doesn't hide your sensuous mouth from me.
You stand in front of the altar and greet us. You are here for the day to substitute for the normal rector. I'm transfixed by you, you wound me to the heart. Your high, girlish voice thrills me as you narrate the various exchanges you've had during the week. You reference your husband, a smiling man in the second row. I see how you move as you take the elements back-and-forth. I can picture how your body sweats under those robes and longs to be touched. I want you. I want to know you, completely. I will have you, no matter what it takes.
And then it's six months later. I've come to see you preach at your new parish 200 miles from my home. You see me in the congregation during the homily and lose your train of thought; you have to look down at your notes and pause for a minute before you begin again. I can see you looking for your husband in the Congregation, and I know he's not there. And that's when I know I have you. I know that you'll be mine tonight. Because I know that you've thought of me as much as I've thought of you.
You're having dinner alone at a the only restaurant in town, absently reading your phone. I come to your table and greet you, and you put down your phone; your smile and your joy warms me through to the core. You invite me to sit down. You tell me about your separation from your husband. You tell me about the new church and what a strain it is. You tell me about how anxious you get about politics, and how you wish that you could just really do the work of the church, instead of worrying about the details. I sympathize with you. And then we're walking in the night, and you draw close to me and take my hand. You deliver a brief, small kiss to my lips as I turn my head, and take my breath away.