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year after you’d gone to discuss the situation. At that point it was pretty obvious you weren’t coming back. They decided that sinceyou abandoned Pastor Nick, he had legitimate grounds to divorce you.”
    “What?” Maura was shocked they would even suggest such a thing.
    “I know. I couldn’t believe it when I found out. I guess they figured they couldn’t hold your actions against him so they were trying to be decent … give him an out so he could go on with his life but not lose his job.”
    “Or maybe they just wanted him to remarry so there’d be a pastor's wife to oversee the Thursday morning women's devotion group.” She hated the tone of sarcasm that crept into her voice. After all these years, she should be over it.
    “Maybe. I don’t know what their motivation was. All I know is that Nick turned them down. Why would he have done that if he didn’t still love you?”
    Maura didn’t have an answer. Nick was nothing if not principled. The fact that he’d made a vow to be united with Maura “till death parts us” was probably enough to keep him married to her. On the other hand, if he was shown proof that his marriage was over and could be made null and void in the eyes of God and the church council, wouldn’t he have jumped at that? That is, if he wanted to get out.
    But Maura didn’t want to think about that now. It was old business, and she had new, more pressing matters in front of her. “I have no way of knowing what Nick was thinking,” she finally told Rachel. “What I do know is that I’ve got a rundown old theatre that needs to be overhauled, and I have to figure out how to make it a viable enterprise.”
    Rachel took the hint. “Seems to me, first you need to decide exactly what purpose you want it to serve.”
    Maura pursed her lips. “That's a good point. I guess I haven’t thought about it as anything other than a theatre for live productions.”
    “Just because that's what it was doesn’t mean that's what it always has to be. A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but a building sure can.” Rachel winked at her.
    Maura laughed, enjoying how easily they’d slipped back on the old shoe of familiarity. “Okay, since you’re so full of good ideas, what are some other uses for the space?”
    Rachel leaned back in her chair, eyes cast at the ceiling. “Well, you could put in a screen and turn it into a movie theater. Or you could turn it into a type of convention center … a place to have meetings and such. Or you could put in tables and make it a dinner theatre.”
    “Or I could do it all.”
    Rachel narrowed her eyes. “Just how many buildings do you think you inherited?”
    “No, no, listen. I could do it all in one building.” Maura felt her cheeks flush with excitement. “One of the conditions of the will is that we put on at least one church performance, so we have to keep the live theatre aspect, which I want to do anyway. But I don’t think that alone will bring in enough revenue. If I installed a retractable screen, we could also have special movie viewings. And with the new businesses that are thinking of moving this way, we could certainly rent it out for corporate meetings.”
    “What about dinner theatre?”
    Maura chewed on her lower lip. “Okay, that would be a lot harder. I don’t think there are any cooking facilities in the building, and to install a professional kitchen would be too expensive. But we could probably offer some kind of dinner-and-a-show package in conjunction with one of the restaurants in town.”
    “That's a great idea.” Rachel nodded, catching Maura's enthusiasm. “I envy you, Maura.”
    Was she serious? “Me? Why?”
    “Because you’ve got this great opportunity to make something out of practically nothing. You’re reinventing your life. What I wouldn’t give for a chance like that.”
    Rachel's wistful tone surprised Maura. From where she sat, Rachel had the perfect life: a great husband, two kids, the house with