Until the End of Time by Danielle Steel Page A

a day off, which was rare for her. Bill got home half an hour later and found her in the kitchen. He was seriously depressed.
    “I’m sorry I invited them,” she apologized, and he pulled her into his arms. But he was upset about something else.
    “I honestly don’t care. I don’t want to see them again, not for a while anyway. We have better things to do. They’re petty people with small lives, trapped in a little box. They can’t stand the fact that I walked out of that box, with you. And I’m so glad I did.” He smiled at her.
    He had made a decision on his walk. He had never kept secrets from her, but he had for the past three months. It wouldn’t change anything to tell her, but she had a right to know the truth. He gently took his arms from around her, opened the drawer in his desk, and removed the two letters. “I’ve been wanting to tell you about these. I didn’t have the guts, and I didn’t want to worry you. I got a letter in March offering me a church in Wyoming as full pastor, and I turned it down. I wouldn’t do that to you, Jenny. I know how important it is for you to be in New York. So you don’t need to be afraid. We’re not going anywhere. But I’d like you to look at their original letter. I just got another one today. They haven’t found a minister yet, and they’re begging me to come. It’s everything I want, except it’s twenty-one hundred miles from where we want to be. Other than that, it’s perfect. At least somebody wanted me, even if I turned it down. They got my résumé from that service I signed up for. I told the agency I wanted to stay in New York, but I guess they sent some of them around the country. This church in Wyoming responded immediately.” He looked flattered as he handed both letters to her. Jenny read them, appearing nervous, and she gazed at him with frightened eyes after she read them both.
    “Are you considering this church?” She was visibly panicked. They both knew it would mean giving up her career. She couldn’t move to Wyoming and consult in New York, given her demanding clients, and her work was very hands-on. The only two churches that had wanted him so far had been in Kentucky and Wyoming.
    “I told you, I turned them down. We’re not moving to Wyoming. But they’re nice letters, and they sound like good people. I just wanted you to see it. I haven’t dared show you the first letter untilnow.” And the second letter sounded even more desperate than the first one. They had offered him more money and reminded him that the pastorship came with a house. “I felt wrong not telling you about it, Jen. At least it was an option.” He didn’t want her to think he was a total loser, and had no offers at all, or wasn’t trying. He truly was trying to find a church and a job.
    “I’d have to give up work if you took it,” she said, and he could see that she was close to tears as he put an arm around her to reassure her.
    “I won’t do that to you, Jenny.”
    “But you need a church. What if you can’t find one?” There were tears in her eyes.
    “I will. It may take a while to locate one around here. I can do the chaplaincy work till then. It’s something to do.”
    “But that’s not what you want,” she said miserably. It had never occurred to her while he was studying that he wouldn’t find a church. They had had no idea how scarce available churches were, or how far away. She didn’t want to hold him back, but she wasn’t ready to give up her career and move to a place like Wyoming, and she knew she never would be. Bill knew it too.
    “It has to bless us both. Not just me,” he said calmly. “It sounds great, though. All we have to do is find something like it around here.”
    “What if we don’t?” Her eyes were huge in her face.
    “We will,” he said, trying to exhibit an optimism he no longer felt. He had written hundreds of letters with copies of his résumé in the past six months, and this was by far the best offer