“Amen,” the congregants said.

Then, everyone did something I hadn’t seen before. The members applauded. Even though Reverend Haywood’s sermon had ended minutes before, people stood, not moving from their seats and clapped.

I could feel the heat rising within Jeremy.

When Reverend Harwood waved, then turned toward the back doors, I breathed. Usually, the guest pastors personally greeted the members, but we’d been told at the beginning of the service, that he had to catch a plane to New York right after our service. So there would be no meet and greet.

But then, I guess, Jeremy had a different idea. He didn’t say a word when he hopped out of the pew faster than I could follow and by the time I caught up to him, he was standing at the back door (where Reverend Robinson or our guest pastors normally stood) and he began holding his own meet and greet as the first members exited the church.

I sighed. He was not giving up. He’d been lobbying, calling each of the twelve members of the board, letting them know of his interest. Many had the same questions that I had for Jeremy: What about school? Wasn’t he too young? Was he ready for that kind of leadership when he hadn’t held an assistant’s position?

I stepped to the side and people shuffled through the aisles, pressing to get to the front door. From my vantage point, I watched Jeremy in the vestibule, his countenance much different now. He was full of smiles and warm handshakes. He even kissed a couple of babies. He was a pastor on a political campaign. I guess it was all the same.

Dru tapped my shoulder. "You okay?"

"Oh, I didn’t know you were here.”

“Yeah, girl. I was in my normal seat in the back with my mom.”

“Oh, she’s here?” I said, looking over at the section where Dru and her mom normally sat. “I wanna say hello.”

“She’s gone now. You know she sneaks out before the benediction. She said she only came to church today to see me since I never come home.”

I laughed. It was kind of funny that Dru stayed on campus since she’d grown up less than a half hour away. But her mother’s loss was my gain because we’d been roommates all four years at Xavier.

“But whatever,” Dru continued. “She can come and see me here every week from now on ‘cause I’m not gonna miss another Sunday service. Not until someone finally steps into the pulpit, and tells the truth and shames the devil about Reverend Robinson.”

I shifted and looked away from Dru, feeling bad for a moment that I hadn't told my best friend about Reverend Robinson's second family. Even though we believed Shaniqua, we still didn’t know for sure if it were true. And neither Jeremy nor I wanted to spread any rumors about anyone. That was not how we rolled, we didn’t gossip. And we weren’t going to start doing that now.