The Best of Everything by Kimberla Lawson Roby Read Free Book Online Page A

want to take a moment to, first, thank You for just being You. Then, we thank You for our marriage, for the wonderful life You have given us, for keeping us in great health and for the food my beautiful wife has prepared for us to eat. These and many other blessings I ask in Your son Jesus’ name, Amen.”
    Alicia squeezed her husband’s hand. “Amen.”
    “This smells delicious.”
    “It does, but I hope it tastes good.”
    Phillip was in the midst of eating his salad but reached his fork into the dish of roughy and sliced a small piece of it. He took a bite and nodded. “It’s very good. Excellent.”
    “I’m glad.”
    “You know I love baked fish.”
    “Yeah, and that’s why I wanted to make it for you.”
    “And I appreciate it.”
    Alicia tore her dinner roll in half and glanced over at her husband, who looked so happy and more content than he had been in days. She watched him and prayed that their marriage would be okay. She was willing to work hard at making things right on her end, but she prayed that Phillip would at least meet her halfway. She prayed that he would eventually come to understand why she couldn’t simply dress in an average sort of way or simply be pleased with the idea of only shopping maybe once a month. She knew Phillip was fine with living that way, but she hoped that maybe he’d come to realize that no two people were alike and that they each had different wants and desires when it came to certain material possessions.
    “So, I was chatting with your dad today, and from the way he was talking, he wants to keep me around for a very long while. He even talked about my possibly heading up Deliverance Outreach at some point or maybe a new location in a different city.”
    Alicia thought back to what Charlotte had told her earlier and while she wanted to be happy for Phillip, she felt somewhat indifferent because if he continued working for her father, it would be years before he made the kind of money she needed him to make. But she kept her thoughts and ideas to herself because she didn’t want to ruin the wonderful evening they were having.
    “Really? So, when is he talking about starting a new location?”
    “Well, right now the focus is on the construction of the new building, so I’m sure his plans for me will be a little while off. But that’s more than fine with me because I love my current position, anyway. I love what I do, and when you can do what you love for a living, there’s nothing much better than that.”
    “I know you have a lot of loyalty toward my dad, but I also hope you don’t lose sight of what some of your other options might be. I know you don’t want to leave Deliverance and that you feel you earn a fair salary, so all I’m asking is that you keep an open mind.”
    “There’s so much I can do right here, though, and I’m so excited about it. We meet with the architects tomorrow, but even when we saw the preliminary designs a few months ago, they looked out of this world. I’m just happy to be a part of a church like Deliverance and be a part of something a man like your father founded only a few years ago. As a matter of fact, the church is growing so quickly and we’re adding so many new ministries and programs that I really wish you would reconsider taking the PR position. The church has always hired a PR firm to market and promote our ministries and events, but your dad, along with the rest of the elder board, all agree that we also need someone in-house working a lot more closely with the people inside the church.”
    “My mom and I talked about that this morning, but I’m worried that if I take the job, I won’t ever get my novel written.”
    “I think you can do both.”
    “Maybe, but with so many new programs starting up at the church, it won’t be long before that PR position switches from part-time to full-time and that means I’ll be working eight hours or more every day.”
    “I think that’s a long time off, and the important