Change of Heart (A Faith-Based Gay Romance)

Chapter 10: "The Truth Shall Set You Free"

Tomorrow morning at the Corner Café? Ten-ish?

Dean checked his watch; 10:42.

He twisted the coffee cup on the table and looked out the window. Nicholas wasn't coming. Dean had known that when he'd arrived at the café at ten o'clock sharp. He'd known it the instant he'd stood in front of the congregation yesterday and disillusioned them all.

Not all. He thought about the young people who had come to see him that morning. He thought about Timothy. He hadn't "disillusioned" them...he had lifted a very heavy burden from their shoulders. One they should've never had to bear in the first place.

"More coffee?"

Dean looked up at the waitress; mid-twenties, pretty in a plain way, friendly eyes and smile. "Uh...yes, thank you." He sighed and checked his watch again. He didn't know why; Nicholas wasn't going to show up. So, why was he still waiting? Wishful thinking? Hoping against hope?

"You're pastor Dean Mitchell, aren't you?" the waitress asked.

"Yes." He frowned. "Have we met?" He didn't recognize her as someone he'd previously met.

"No." She smiled warmly. "But I heard about what you said at the church yesterday. I think that was very courageous of you."

"Thank you," Dean said softly.

"What you said...kids need to hear that. Not just kids, but I think especially kids."

He nodded and murmured, "I agree."

Sadness filled her eyes. "I wish my younger brother had had someone...spiritual...tell him those things."

"Your brother is gay?"

She blinked and lowered her eyes. "Was," she whispered. "My parents forced him into conversion therapy and...and it was too much for him. On his fifteenth birthday..." tears glistened. "...he decided he was done. Done with the program, done with being ashamed of who he was, done with...life." She blinked back the tears. "I promise you, the message you gave yesterday...was a life-saving message. I hope you never let those who disagree with you keep you from continuing to speak out. People need to hear what you have to say."

Dean swallowed thickly. "I won't stop," he whispered, then reached out and gently squeezed her hand. "I'm so sorry about your brother." Dean thought again of Timothy, and how close he'd come to escaping the pain the only way he knew how. Dean's own guilt and pain deepened; it was programs like the one he'd worked with that had sent this young woman's brother to his death.

"Thank you," she said quietly, then asked, "Would you like anything else?"

"No, thank you." He looked at his watch one more time. "I was supposed to meet someone here, but it doesn't look like he's going to make it." He could feel his anguish of heart emanating from his eyes and the waitress didn't miss it.

She gazed at him with warm sympathy. "Maybe he just got held up. It happens."

Dean smiled weakly. "Maybe." Nicholas wasn't held up...he just wasn't coming.

When the café door opened ten minutes later, Dean was lost in troubled thoughts, staring blankly out the window, oblivious that someone had entered the establishment. He felt the presence at his table before he saw the newcomer, and shifted his eyes from the window to the person standing before him.

"Pastor Mitchell."

Dean blinked in shock. "Amanda."

The young woman looked at him, unwavering. "You were expecting Nicholas."