The rest of the week had been very busy for Pastor Dan. Between sermon prep and meetings, he didn't have a lot of time to think about what happened on Tuesday. On Sunday, he delivered his sermon and after the service was chatting with a few people. He noticed Carl Flemmings hanging off to the side. Finally, Carl came up to him. "Great sermon, Pastor." Dan never knew what to say to that. "Thank you, Carl." Dan sensed something was bothering Carl. "Everything okay, Carl?" he asked.
"Did Annette come to see you, Pastor?" Carl asked. Dan couldn't lie.
"Yes, she did," answered Dan.
"What about?" asked Carl.
"You know I can't disclose that, Carl. She told that to me in confidence," Dan said.
"It's about our sex life, isn't it?" Carl asked. Dan grimaced.
"C'mon Carl," Dan replied. The two stood there in silence for a moment. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Dan asked.
"Yeah," Carl said. "There's this lady at the firm. It started out very innocent, but..." Carl's voice trailed off. "I feel so damn guilty, Dan." His voice broke. Dan had never seen him like this.
"Let's walk around the corner," Dan said. They walked over to an area of the church that was more private. "Carl, I'm not judging you, okay? Everyone makes mistakes."
"It's just that I love Annette so much, but something happened." Carl said.
"What do you mean?" asked Dan.
"She started asking me to do things that we've never done before...you know...in the bedroom." Carl said. "Like...sex stuff."
"Things that you are not comfortable with?" Dan asked. He couldn't help but wonder what it was.
"Yeah," Carl said. "Pastor...you ever had...anal sex?" Dan was a bit taken back by the question.
"Well, Carl, I prefer to keep my relationship with my wife private, but back in the day...yes, I have." Dan said and couldn't believe he said that.
"I mean...you...did them?" Carl asked.
"Yes," Dan said. "For lack of a better term, I...penetrated...them. Is that what you mean?"
"Yes...and no," Carl said. Dan could not help but show his confusion. "She likes it when I do that to her, but...she also likes to do it...to me."
Dan was silent for a moment. "Carl," he said. "Let me say this. I personally believe that anything you do within the confines of your marriage that you and your wife enjoy is perfectly fine. There's nothing to feel guilty about." Dan paused. "But this thing with the lady at your firm? You have to deal with that, Carl."
"I guess the reason it happened is because Annette just freaked me out with that butt thing. I mean, I'm not gay, Pastor." Carl cracked a smile which was refreshing.
Dan smiled too. "It doesn't mean you're gay, Carl. It just means you like different things, that's all." Dan paused again. "Did you like it?" Odd question for a pastor to ask, Dan thought.
"I guess I did a little, but I'm just not that experimental, you know. It freaked me out and I just pulled away from Annette and it led to something with this lady at the firm."
"I get it," Dan said. "You need to talk to Annette. Y'all need to get this out in the open and deal with it and you probably need to see a marriage counselor. Now I advise on spiritual matters, not marriage things so it can't be me."
"I understand, Dan," he said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Dan said. "There's one other thing...and I hate to bring it up, but...you can't be a deacon and cheat on your wife, Carl."
Carl looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean that since I know about this, I can't let you continue to be a deacon...unless you put this on the table with Annette. I won't fault you for cheating, but you have to end it with this lady and you have to try to work it out with Annette, alright?"
"I get it, Pastor," Carl said. "I'll talk to her. Thanks again for the talk."
"Anytime, buddy," Dan said.
Dan's church was the rare church in his denomination that didn't do church on Sunday night. When he first came to the church, the Sunday night service had dwindled to less than twenty people. He made a motion to the deacon board to cancel the services and the deacon board brought it before the congregation and it passed. Instead, Dan came home after Sunday lunch with family and friends and took a 1-2 hour long nap...unless it was football season. But even in the summertime, he liked to try and stay awake for a baseball game, but usually he fell asleep. After a nap, he usually had a few meetings, sometimes with the deacon board, sometimes with someone else. After the meeting(s), he usually came home and went into his private study, complete with a door lock and everything to keep the kids out. He had a hidden mini fridge in that room. His wife knew about it, but the kids did not. He kept some cold beer and an assortment of alcohol in there. The leadership in his denomination traditionally were against alcohol, but in the past decade or so, they had adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy of sorts. In other words, don't advertise that you drink and don't be seen buying alcohol, but if you drink it in private, no one will care.
Dan had learned early on in his career to keep two cell phones. One was very private. Only family and very close friends had that phone number and no one from the church. The other was a church cell phone paid for by the church so that he could be reached in emergencies. Only leadership had that number. Every week there was a "deacon on call" who would handle minor things, but only called him if it was something major.
Dan had just poured himself a whiskey when his emergency church phone rang. When he answered, he heard the voice of Henry Willis, the deacon on call for that week. "Hey Pastor. We have a problem."
"What's going on?" Dan asked.
"The Flemmings had a big blowout fight. I guess Annette left Carl and she's at the church. I wasn't sure how to handle this one so I called you," he said.
"Thanks Henry. I'll take care of it. I'll call Carl right now. Keep that phone on in case I need you." Dan said.
"Will do," replied Henry. Dan hung up and called Carl right away. When he answered, Dan could tell he'd been crying.
"Well Pastor, I told her," he said.
"I take it that it did not go well," Dan said.
"She told me that she had slept with another guy too. I guess it's all my fault," Carl said.
"Nonsense," Dan said. "It's never one person's fault. Do you know where Annette went?" He already knew, but he didn't know if Carl knew and he didn't want to reveal her location if he didn't already know.