The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Olivia and her mother live together in a small house where they share a bedroom. Every Monday since she was a little girl, Olivia’s mother makes a delicious peach cobbler from scratch; this cobbler, though, is not for Olivia and her mother to eat, it’s reserved for Reverend Neely, the reverend of the church they attend. Olivia watches her mother make the cobbler each time, memorizing the steps and her mother’s techniques. She’s fascinated by the process. Each Monday, Reverend Neely comes to their home that is secluded from the rest of the neighborhood and sits at their kitchen table, eating the peach cobbler until it’s all gone.

Each time after he finishes eating the peach cobbler, Reverend Neely and Olivia’s mother disappear into the bedroom. She makes it clear to Olivia that she is not to talk about this ritual with anyone, and Olivia does not. As a young girl, Olivia doesn’t understand what is going on, but as she gets older, she realizes that Reverend Neely and her mother are having sex. For years, Olivia believed that Reverend Neely and God were one in the same—no one ever clarified for her, so when the reverend visited her house and disappeared into the bedroom with her mother, she assumed it was God visiting her home.