I WANTED NOTHING MORE than to go back to the rectory and relax the rest of the afternoon. I had no meetings, no sick calls to make, no invitations to dinner from Anna. An entire afternoon alone. Just me and Talladega.
The race was under a red flag at lap 120 after a twelve car crash on the Alabama Gang Superstretch when there was a knock at the door. Helen was standing on the front stoop.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said.
“No, no,” I said. “I wasn’t doing anything. Come in.”
“Sorry to bother you,” Helen said as she moved past me into the living room. She looked at the TV. “You still watch?”
I shrugged. “It’s the one vice I’m allowed.”
“Well, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we got a call from Katherine Shepp.”
“I guess you heard about our little dust-up.”
“She cal
