CHAPTER 3

LYNN AND TOMMY Lynn was going to eat breakfast with Tommy out on the wide stone veranda beside the sparkling pool. From there, they could see the beautiful forest below and the roaring waterfalls in the distance. It was Lynn’s favorite spot in the massive mansion.

They both ordered hearty Texas omelets because they liked many of the same foods. While they ate breakfast, Lynn filled Tommy in on her newest assignment. She was going to Georgia to help a married couple repair their relationship and avoid a painful divorce. According to the detailed assignment page, the couple was destined to have a very large family, seven children to be exact. That future would never happen if the couple separated.

Tommy would be going with her on the mission. The plan was for Lynn and Tommy to pretend to be a happy couple so the troubled husband and wife might remember what love looked like and decide to stay together themselves.

With their suitcases packed and loaded, Tommy and Lynn headed toward the private airfield where the seasoned pilot was already warming up the sleek airplane and performing the necessary pre-flight checks. The pilot always insisted on doing the inspection himself. He trusted the maintenance crew, but he simply could not fly comfortably without personally checking everything first.

They planned to stop briefly in Hawaii before catching another flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Their hope was to meet the married couple at church on Sunday morning.

Lynn pulled up the couple’s photo on the Anything app on her phone and showed it to Tommy. Tommy smiled and said, “Good-looking couple.” He was right. Donna was a strikingly pretty woman with soft brown hair, and Mike was a tall, handsome man with broad shoulders. Lynn shook her head and quietly remarked, “What could people that good-looking possibly fight about? It’s baffling.”

Once they arrived in Atlanta, Lynn rented a large black SUV because she loved driving them. She always said you sat up high enough to see everything better. Tommy used the GPS to locate the couple’s church in an upscale area called Buckhead.

When they pulled into the parking lot, Tommy looked around in surprise and said, “Fancy church. They even have valet parking. Cool.”

Tommy and Lynn carefully and quietly tried to locate the new couple without drawing attention to themselves. Before officially meeting Mike and Donna Stevens, they needed to make friends around town because later they planned to meet the couple again during a vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Donna had recently won a free two-week vacation from a local radio contest. Everything was included: hotel rooms, food, drinks, and stacks of free tickets to attractions around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The trip worked perfectly for Lynn and Tommy’s mission.

Luckily for them, the church was holding a large catered dinner on the beautifully landscaped grounds that evening. It was not the usual church potluck. Long white tables were covered with elegant food trays and glowing lanterns. More importantly, it gave Tommy and Lynn plenty of time to mingle and become acquainted with Mike and Donna.

Mike and Donna Stevens had been married for almost three years. Deep down, they truly loved each other, but lately they had become furious with one another.

A few weeks earlier, Donna had come home and calmly informed Mike that she would be traveling to Florida for a weekend work trip with her boss for company training meetings.

Mike immediately became angry and suspicious. He snapped, telling her that her boss was only trying to get her alone with him. Donna became absolutely livid and accused Mike of not trusting her.

Mike fired back, “It’s not you I don’t trust. It’s that sorry excuse for a boss you have. He just wants to get you by yourself to do whatever he wants.”

People always say you should never go to bed angry, but that was exactly what Mike and Donna did that night.

The following day was Donna’s day off, so Mike secretly drove down to the arts and crafts store where Donna worked. He had met her boss a few times before when he picked Donna up after work.

Inside the colorful craft store, Mike approached Donna’s boss while carrying several clay-working kits in his arms. Pretending to be interested in pottery, Mike asked questions about beginner clay projects he could make. Donna’s boss was friendly and helpful, gladly explaining the different tools and materials.

While pretending to browse the store, Mike glanced toward the back aisle and suddenly exclaimed, “Oh wow, there’s Daryl Scruggs. He just got out of prison. I went to high school with him. Never did like him.”

Mike lowered his voice dramatically and continued, “The jury called it a crime of passion, but murder is still murder. He caught his wife with another man in their bedroom and shot the guy with his pistol.”

The truth was, Mike had completely invented the entire story. Not one word of it was true. He was only trying to scare Donna’s boss into leaving his wife alone.

Mike thanked the man for helping him with the clay supplies and casually left the store.

The next day, Donna discovered exactly what Mike had said to her boss, and she was furious beyond words. She became even angrier when she learned her frightened boss had suddenly transferred to another store in South Carolina and skipped town altogether.

When Mike returned home from work that evening, he immediately noticed two packed suitcases sitting in the hallway near the front door.

Before he could even ask about them, the beautiful crystal punch bowl from their engagement party flew across the room and exploded against the wall beside him, shattering into hundreds of glittering pieces.

“You want me to leave?” Mike cautiously asked.

From somewhere down the hallway, Donna screamed, “I don’t care what you do, but you can’t stay here!”

Mike quickly called one of his friends, who agreed to let him stay for a while.

About a week later, Mike’s buddy awkwardly sat him down and said, “Look, man, I love you like a brother, but you need to head back home or find somewhere else to stay. You know what they say gets old after three days? Fish and house guests. Seriously, I’m sorry, but my wife says you gotta go, dude.”

Mike finally worked up the courage to call Donna. Before he could even ask about coming home, Donna immediately started fussing about their upcoming Tennessee vacation. She wanted to sell Mike’s half of the trip to one of her friends for two thousand dollars.

Mike stubbornly replied, “No way. I’m going on that trip. We’ve been married three years and haven’t done anything fun. Every vacation we stayed home just to save money. I’m going to Tennessee, and I’m gonna have a blast.”

Donna coldly answered, “Well, I’m not riding in a car with you all the way to Tennessee.”

Mike offered to sell her half to Donna’s friend because he could see how much her friend wanted to go. With that, the phone went silent. Then Mike heard another big crash before Donna came back to the phone. Mike assumed it was the Stevenson-engraved crystal party platter from the wedding. Before Donna ended the call, she told Mike they would both go. She would meet him at the hotel in Pigeon Forge. We will just get separate rooms.

As usual on Sunday, the couple went to their church. They had to go because they both had duties to perform to help with the dinner on the grounds. They were both greeters, and they did the prayer-partner thing together after the sermon.

As Lynn and Tommy met their targets in the greeting line, they asked them if this church had prayer partners each Sunday, and Mike told them to come see him after the service. “I’ll be up front by the stage.”

Mike and Donna were avoiding each other like the plague, but they also knew they had to do the prayer-partner thing together in a little while. After the sermon was through, the preacher called all the prayer partners to come up front. He told all the parishioners that anyone who needed prayer could come forward.

The prayer couples came up, and quite a few parishioners came forward to be prayed for. Lynn and Tommy got in the line that led to Mike and Donna. They could hear some noise coming from up front near the stage. It was Donna telling Mike quite loudly to get a motel room until Saturday, when they leave for the Tennessee trip. Mike said, “We can talk about that later.”

The couple prayed for about five different people. When Lynn and Tommy came up, Mike asked, “What do you have that Jesus can help you with today?”

Lynn spoke up and said, “You know, we’ve been married about 10 years, and we are very happy, but I think we all need prayers sent to heaven to help our lives get better. We would like that one, please.”

Lynn could be real simple sometimes.

After the prayers were through, everyone headed out to the big dining hall to enjoy the feast. They had ham, turkey, chicken, steaks, shrimp, a myriad of vegetables, and every kind of dessert you could think of.

Donna got a plate and purposely sat at a full table of people so Mike could not sit with her. Lynn and Tommy were trying to scope out where Mike might be sitting. They grabbed some food and headed right over to spend some quality time with their new buddy Mike. Sadly, he was sitting all by himself.

Lynn waved to Donna, motioning for her to come over. When she was ignored, Lynn stood up and, in a reasonably loud whisper, said, “Donna!” and motioned again for her to come over. When she was still ignored, Lynn sat down with a puzzled look on her face.

Mike said, “Donna is not wanting to be around me right now. She is mad at me for embarrassing her at work.”

Tommy asked, “What happened?”

Mike said her boss was hitting on her for a weekend in Florida, and he had put a damper on his plans.

Tommy inquired, “How did you do that?”

Mike said, “I just told him a little story about a wife, a man, a gun, and prison. I don’t know why he became so upset,” Mike said with a big old grin on his face.

Her boss transferred to another company store in South Carolina.

As Lynn was finishing her overflowing plate from the buffet, she noticed some empty seats near Donna. She made a beeline toward her. Lynn wanted them to be BFFs ASAP.

Lynn sat right down beside Donna with a giant piece of triple chocolate cake. She brought an extra plate to share with her new friend.

Donna said, “I hope you’re not trying to be on his side. He is wrong. He is so, so, so wrong.”

“Oh no,” Lynn said. “I love Tommy, but men are stupid. I have seen a lot of stupid from Tommy too.”

Donna said, “I mean, I love Mike, but if we don’t have trust, what is marriage?”

Lynn said, “You are so right. In the vows it says forsaking all others.”

Donna said, “I don’t have anything to be forsaken about. My boss and I were going on a business trip, and that’s the end of the story. Mike can have some time out, maybe forever, if he does not apologize and beg me for forgiveness and promise to never do this to me again.”

Donna and Lynn had a good time running down men and pigging out on the rich chocolate cake. They took turns going back three times for more.

Donna invited Lynn to a spa day if she could afford it. Lynn assured her, “Tommy and I are moneyed up. He is a salesman for Rubbermade.”

“Oh, really?” Donna asked. “What does he sell?”

Not her strong suit, Lynn quickly thought of a reply. “Kitchen towels,” she answered quickly.

Donna asked, “Isn’t that made out of cotton?”

Lynn quickly said, “Well, yes, it’s a new line of products they are selling.”

“A new invention?” Donna asked. “Can I get some?”

Lynn replied that they were so new, they were not available to the public yet.

Mike had to go help put all the folding chairs and tables away in the dining room. The church used the big hall for other things besides dining. Tommy offered to help his new friend.

After they were through, Mike asked Tommy if he would like to go play some pool. Of course, Tommy went with him. The bars were closed on Sunday, but Mike knew a great little pizza place that had two pool tables and cold beer.

As Tommy was racking up the balls for pool, Mike asked if he wanted a beer. Tommy said, “No, I am driving.”Mike offered to sell her half to Donna’s friend because he could see how much her friend wanted to go. With that, the phone went silent. Then Mike heard another big crash before Donna came back to the phone. Mike assumed it was the Stevenson-engraved crystal party platter from the wedding. Before Donna ended the call, she told Mike they would both go. She would meet him at the hotel in Pigeon Forge. We will just get separate rooms.