Chapter 1
Nova
“Nova Claire get up, we are heading to church in thirty minutes” my momma Catherine was never happy with me pushing us to the limits when I wanted to sleep in on the weekends. Especially when it was a Sunday morning. That also may have had something to do with my daddy Henry being the pastor at This Little Light Pentecostal Church.
“I’m up. I’m up.” I mumbled to myself. See I was not a morning person by any standard. But I tried to be the most optimistic, especially on church days.
I ran to the bathroom and took a fast shower without washing my hair. Momma caught onto that as soon as I walked into the kitchen to eat a bowl of oatmeal. “Nova, honey how many days are you gonna go before you wash your hair?” She spluttered. Clearly over my shenanigans this morning.
I swallowed a bite of oatmeal before answering, “I will wash it tonight momma. For now some dry shampoo will do my hair some good.”
She gave me that unimpressed look, but then looked at her dainty wrist watch. “Well honey you are down to ten minutes. Go fix your hair and get dressed. We can’t be late again.” Yeah.. I may have made us late once or twice.
I took my last bite then rinsed my bowl in the sink. I wasn’t gonna have time to put my dark brown hair in curls this morning, so after some dry shampoo, I clipped it all up and pulled some pieces down in the front. It was still a bit chilly outside in mid march, so I grabbed a long sleeved maxi dress and decided that was good enough.
On the car ride to church we listened to gospel music. I absolutely loved to do that. It got me excited for church and woke me up.
Pulling into the church parking lot, momma turned the music down to talk to me. “Now honey I love you. But you gotta start putting more care into your appearance. You are beautiful no matter what. But if one of us slacks, then your daddy looks bad. We can’t have that in front of the church.” I knew deep down she was right. So I just nodded.
Grabbing my Bible and notebook that said ‘Blessed’ on the front I told her I would see her in there and made my way for the church entrance.
“Oh Nova there you are! Come on.” My best friend Leigh said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me to a pew with some other girls.
“I heard they moved here from California” I heard Katie say.
“No I heard it was New York.” Said Tessy.
I looked at the two girls talking then at Leigh. I loathed gossip, but curiosity peaked my interest. “Who are y’all talking about?”
“Catcher Jones.” They all three practically turned into puddles the way they swooned over this guys name.
“Look there he is!” Screeched Tessy.
You ever have those moments where you are having heart palpitations and you think something may be wrong with you, only to realize you have set your eyes on the single most beautiful person you have ever seen? Well there I was thinking I was having a heart attack, only to realize my heart was acting crazy because of this boy.
But then I remembered what my daddy always told me growing up. “Jeremiah 17:9 tells us The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” So I said a quick prayer and turned away from the beautiful boy.
Leigh nudged my shoulder with hers. “You okay?” She had a warm smile on her face that was highlighted by her sunshine hair and big green eyes.
I told her I was good. I didn’t want to waste anymore time on someone I didn’t even know. I opened my notebook to a new page. I loved taking notes when daddy would preach. I wanted to be able to come back and look at it later.
“Good morning everyone. We have a nice crowd this morning. Also I see some new faces. Good morning to our newcomers.” I listened as daddy opened up the service. Daddy always liked me to sing, but I didn’t want to step in anyone’s way, so I always waited until the last person sang.
“Good morning everyone.” At that moment I glanced up and noticed three rows back that boy was starring at me. I quickly looked at my momma and she gave me a reassuring smile. I strummed the chords and began singing ‘I’ll fly away.”
When I was finished I rushed back to my seat and tried to get my breathing under control. What was wrong with me anyhow?
“Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 43, verses 18 and 19.”
My page was full by the time daddy was through with his sermon and I felt such a hunger to grow closer to the Lord. I went up to the altar and prayed for him to do a new thing in me. I just didn’t know that new thing would end up being love for a 17 year old boy.
After telling people bye, I made my way to my momma’s car before I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I jumped which caused him to smile.
“I didn’t mean to scare you ma’am.” He had a rough voice that seemed older than he was. “I wanted to introduce myself. I’m Catch…”
“I know who you are.” I interrupted. “I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude.” Those palpitations were back with a vengeance.
He smiled, and my stomach took flight. “It’s alright. A pretty girl like you can be rude to me anytime you want.” Was all he said before he placed a cowboy hat on his tousled blonde hair and winked at me, before walking away.
The first time I met Catcher Jones my heart was jumping everywhere. The last time, he would leave it broken and lying on the ground.
