Read Sunsets for Free Online Page B

than a bird.
    Then, like a bird, she sang her heart out in a praise song she had learned at her church in Atlanta. She tried not to stare at Thomas as she sang. He cried through the whole song. The tears only made his strong face more desirable.
    When he stepped forward after the service to shake her hand, his rumbling voice said, “I wrote that song.”
    They stood in front of the church talking until only four other people were left in the building. Then he walked her to her car and stood there another hour, opening up his heart to her.
    Thomas had graduated from a Christian college as a music major and wanted to become a worship leader at a church. But he was hindered by his wife refusing to attend church. They had married his second year at college and both had worked hard to make it through. After college he was hired as a music pastor in Idaho. They were married only two years when his wife turned against him. He didn’t know why. He couldn’t understand.
    As they stood in the parking lot, he told her how hard the last eight years of his marriage had been. He had lost his position at the church in Idaho and had moved to Phoenix whenhis brother offered him a job. After ten years in his miserable marriage, he was about to give up everything until hearing her testimony and song. Maybe he should try writing more songs.
    Even though it felt a little awkward for this married man to be so open with her, Alissa’s heart went out to him. All those years in a loveless marriage. All his musical talent going to waste.
    He called her at work two days later saying he had written a song and would she be willing to meet him that night at Chang’s Chinese Restaurant to help him with one part he just couldn’t get right.
    Alissa lifted the black dress and sniffed for the scent of Chinese food again. Was it her imagination? No, the essence of sweet and sour sauce was definitely still there. In her flood of memories there was only the sour. All the sweetness she had felt when she drove to meet him that night was long gone.
    Perhaps she had been too trusting. Or perhaps she knew exactly what was happening and didn’t have the maturity to resist this older man. Whatever the problem, the trap set for Alissa had been a wide one, and she had fallen in without hesitancy.
    They met regularly and talked on the phone daily. Alissa’s thoughts were filled with Thomas. What made it so intense was that they only talked. They didn’t touch. After all, he was a married man. They were both Christians. This was a spiritual friendship. She was helping him with his music, and he was helping her recover from her past.
    Thomas taught Alissa about “forgiving God.” She had never heard that concept before in any of the churches she had attended. He explained that with all the painful experiences from her past, the only way she would be able to move forward was by telling God she forgave him for all the awful things he had allowed to happen to her.
    At the time she had only slightly questioned his theology. Now she knew it was all backwards. It was the most damaging way of thinking she had encountered in her Christian life. It put her in charge, not God. But she didn’t realize how flawed that thinking was at the time.
    Then came their debut.
    Five weeks after they had met, Thomas had perfected two of his new songs and arranged for him and Alissa to sing together in church. When their harmonized voices filled that auditorium, Alissa had never felt so fulfilled. They were a hit. The thunderous applause showed they were blessing people, serving God together. Two weeks later they sang again.
    Thomas was different from any other Christian man she had known. He put a “twist” on all the basics of Christianity she had been taught. She couldn’t understand why his wife had turned against him. What moved Alissa the most was when Thomas talked about how he longed for children of his own. He shared with her the intimate details of why that was never going