Page 5 of Sinned

“I know. I’m sure everything will be fine. It’s a village in the middle of nowhere. What could happen?”

Liam shrugged. “You’d be surprised. Sometimes things happen when you least expect them.”

“Yes, I know. God works in mysterious ways.”

“Get out of here before your mother yells at me for making you late,” he said. “And send my love to her and the rest of your family. I just might take your place at the table while you’re gone.”

“Do it. Momma would love that.”

* * *

“Come sit,” Momma called out. “It’s time to eat.”

Sunday nights were always family dinner night at the McArthur household. No matter what was going on or where we lived, we always knew Sunday was dinner at home. My sister Josie and I sat in our seats next to each other in the dining room. Our older brother Thomas dropped into his chair across from us with a crooked grin. As far as dinner went, not much had changed since we were kids.

“So Charlie, is this the last supper?” he asked.

Thomas was two years older than me and the spitting image of our father with his thick dark red hair and brown eyes. Josie and I had our mother’s inky black hair and light blue eyes. At only a year apart people always thought she and I were twins.

“Don’t call him that,” Momma said as she lightly smacked the top of Thomas’s head. “You know I’m the only one he lets call him Charlie still.”

Even though Momma’s family immigrated from Italy when she was a girl, she still had a thick Italian accent. Her dark hair had streaks of silver in it and while on rare moments I could still catch her brushing her waist length hair, she usually wore it up in a bun.

I shot Thomas a sly grin as he dramatically rubbed the top of his head.

“You know, this is why I moved out,” he said.

“Give me a break,” Josie said. “You moved out because we don’t have a basement for you to live in.”

“If you’re asking if this is the last Sunday dinner before I leave, then yes, Tommy it is,” I said knowing he hated his nickname more than I hated my own.

“You’re really going to Peru?” he asked.

I nodded. “There’s a small, remote village in the mountains they’re working to bring clean water and electricity to. There’s an old church there they fixed up but they don’t have a priest there to take residency until the summer. So I’ll be there until he arrives.”

“I still can’t believe you’re a priest,” Josie said.

“It was a beautiful ceremony,” Momma said. “You looked so handsome in your vestments. Nonna would have been so proud.”

“Whatever,” Thomas said. “You’ve been doing this for a year, you were at that seminary for four years, and that was after four years of college. You’re twenty-eight years old, but have you even been with a girl?”

“Tommy!” Momma snapped, her eyes wide with horror.

“You know he’s been with plenty of girls,” Josie said. “He dated all the time in high school and college. All my girlfriends were crazy about him.”

“Just because he dated them doesn’t mean he’s been with one,” Thomas said as he raised his eyebrows. “You know, physically.”

Muttering, Momma blessed herself as she entered the kitchen.

“I know he and Mina Kirkland did some stuff,” Josie whispered as she leaned across the table, towards Thomas.

I’m right here you know,” I said.

I looked at my brother and sister and shook my head, my eyes wide. I wasn’t ashamed of sex, I just didn’t want my prior sex life to be the topic of our Sunday dinner.

“What? You’re not dumb, you know girls talk,” Josie said with a shrug.

“What did Mina say?” Thomas asked as he leaned forward. “Was he any good? Can I be proud of my little brother?”