“Julian,” Tc called, “How’s it going?”

Julian stopped in front of the couple.

“Good, everything’s good,” he smiled and then looked to Eve, “And you two?”

“Aww, we’re fine too,” Tc smiled.

Julian hated himself. He hated himself for doing what he had said he wouldn’t do. Tc was a pastor, he was Eve’s husband, and he didn’t deserve this…not at all.

“Great,” he nodded, “Well, I should get going. I’ll see you two at church tomorrow,” and he left.
---

Eve still hadn’t done what Tc anticipated for her to do. He had been waiting for her to tell him the truth. He didn’t want to call her out on it and make her feel guilty, so he acted as if nothing happened; Tc acted as if everything was normal. Doing it this way was actually better, because he didn’t want to accuse her of something and then for it to be false…Eve would then be upset with him for doubting her. So he would just wait.
---

Julian sat in the last pew as he stared forward and listened to Tc preach. He saw the back of Eve’s head, but his eyes moved back to her husband.

“And now the children are going to come up with their teacher and recite what they’ve learned,” Tc said as he handed the microphone to the Sunday school teacher.

“Okay, children, shhh…” she quieted the bunch and then turned towards the congregation, “We were learning about the story of Moses and how he led the Israelites out of Egypt,” she smiled, “And what are we going to tell everyone that we’ve learned?” she spoke to the children.

“THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!” they all yelled into the microphone.

“Now we’re going to go down to each of you and you say the one you can remember, okay?”

They all nodded. She then pointed the microphone to one six year old kid and he blurted one out.

“Thou shall not kill!” he grinned.

“Yes, that’s right,” she pointed the microphone to another, “Your turn.”

“Hmm, honor thy mother and father?” he questioned her more than stating it, which made everyone laugh.

“Yes,” she laughed.

“Uhh, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”

At the sound of that, Julian cleared his throat, stood up, and walked out of the sanctuary. Tc was the only one who saw this since he’d been facing everyone. He wondered where he was going. Maybe the restroom?

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

This time, it was Eve who dropped her Bible and bumped her head on the pew in front of her, causing a loud thud. Tc looked to her, and wondered what happened. He then stared off into space as the children recited the rest of the commandments.

J-L-C? Tc thought, and then it all made sense.

It all made sense to why Julian left, and why Eve was all of a sudden clumsy. Both of their actions had happened with two commandments that were related to one another. Tc then looked to Eve again, and she smiled up at him. He saw her beautiful face and wondered where he went wrong, and then he smiled sadly down at her.

J-L-C…Julian L. Crane. Tc now knew who Eve had been with.

The looks across the room at each other, the nervousness when they were close to each other…there were so many signs, and he didn’t see them.

Why, Eve…why? He thought to himself desolately.
---

“Tc, honey? Why are you so quiet?” Eve asked him as they drove to the restaurant for lunch.

Some other church members were meeting them; they’d always have lunch dates with them on certain Sundays.

“I’m just thinking.” He said as he pushed on the gas when the light turned green.

“Thinking? Thinking about what?”

“Hmm, about taking a little break from the church. I’ve noticed that I’ve been spending most of my time with the church and on my sermons, that I’ve been neglecting my wife,” he smiled over to her.

Maybe, just maybe he could make it work with him and Eve, and he wouldn’t have to hear about how she and Julian got involved.

“But Tc, the church is your life…”

“You and the church are my life…God, you and the church, but I know that I put God first, and that’s how it should be, but He understands that I shouldn’t ignore you, and He wouldn’t want me to,” Tc grabbed Eve’s hand and brought it to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it, “Well, we’re here, baby,” he placed the car in park, turned off the ignition and opened the door.

Tc ran to the other side of the car and opened the door for Eve, after she got out, he shut it. They began walking to the entrance of the restaurant when he realized that he forgot something in their car.

“Ahh, Eve, take the keys out of your purse and push the ‘unlock’ button, I forgot something that I wanted to give to Brother Albert.” He walked back after he saw the lights on the car flash, which meant that the doors had unlocked.

Eve made her way inside when she was informed that she had gotten a call and that she could take it in the other room. She followed the waiter, and found that she didn’t have a call, but that Julian was there waiting for her.

“Julian, whatever it is, I don’t have time.”
---

Tc found what it was he was looking for and then headed back into the restaurant, but only to find his wife not there.

“Mr. Russell, Dr. Russell had a phone call, but she said for you to sit without her and she’d be back,” the waiter told him.

“Ohh, okay, thanks,” Tc said politely and made his way to a group of members from the church and sat down with them.
---

“Eve, wait,” Julian grabbed her arm, but she pulled it from him roughly that it made him fall back a bit.

Julian didn’t realize it, but he had just knocked over the intercom microphone and it had turned on. Whatever they would say…everyone in the restaurant could hear.
---

“Eve, you can’t just leave…we need to talk.” He pulled her back to him.

“Talk? Talk about what?! We have NOTHING to talk about! What happened between us was a mistake,” she gritted her teeth.

“You don’t really mean that, do you Eve,” he dipped his head low and began to kiss her neck.

“Julian…please,” she moaned, “I have to get back to Tc.”

“Tell me, Eve, before you go,” he looked into her eyes, “Tell me that you enjoy my touch…tell me.”

“I enjoy it,” she whispered as her head began to spin.

“Say it, Eve…say it,” he continued to kiss her neck as his hand found her breast.

“I enjoyed your touch.”

“Tell me that you love it when I was inside you; when we were moving as one,” he breathed heavily.

“I loved it when you were in me, Julian…God, how I loved it!”

Everyone at the table looked to Tc, who was just sitting there dumbfounded, shocked…embarrassed. His heart broke; to hear his wife declaring her love to another man just ripped him up inside. Tc slipped off the gold band that was around his ring finger on his left hand and twirled it between his fingers.

Eve managed to free herself from Julian and made her way out of the room they were in and joined Tc and the rest of the members at their table.

“Did you find what you were looking for, honey?” she smiled down into a teary eyed Tc, “Honey, is everything alright?”

“Mr. Crane, you do know that the intercom turned on,” the waiter came into the room and asked.

Eve looked up towards the speakers frightened, and then looked back down to Tc. He wasn’t wearing his wedding ring, for now it was lying on top of the table. A tear made its way down his cheek. Just then Julian came from around the corner and met eyes with Tc. Tc swallowed before standing up.

“Give me the keys to the car, Eve,” he asked her without any feeling in his voice.

“Tc,” she began crying, “Please, just let me explain…”

“Eve! Just give me the DAMN keys!” he held out his hand.

She reached into her purse and handed him the keys.

“Tc, where are you going?” she asked, but he ignored her.

Tc walked out of the restaurant and got into the car. Eve ran out after him, as did everyone else, and watched as he backed up, put the car into drive, and took off.

“TC!” Eve screamed, “WATCH OUT!”

Tc was about to exit the parking lot and make a left hand turn, but didn’t look to his left, so when he drove out into the street, a big pick up truck rammed into him on the driver’s side.

“NOOOOOOO!” she cried as she rushed to the crash, “TC! TC!” Eve screamed.

Some men from the church ran forward and tried to help Tc out, as Julian ran over to Eve and pulled her from the accident. She turned around to see who had their hands on her, and when she saw that it was Julian, she got hysterical.

“Let go of me!” she pushed him from her, “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” she sobbed, “My husband is hurt because of YOU!” she pointed at him, “I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!” she pounded on his chest.

In the background, the ambulance siren could be heard and in a matter of minutes, they arrived. Julian had stepped away from Eve. He hurt to see her hurting…especially when the paramedics informed her that Tc had died on impact.

“No,” she shook her head in shock, “No, no, NOOOOOOO!” Eve ran to his body that was under the white sheet, “Tc, please…I’m sorry! I love you. I LOVE YOU!” she cried as she hugged him through the covering.

Everyone at the site shook their heads at Eve. Some felt sorry for her, but most were just ashamed of her actions, for this was all her fault.