Saint (Priest, #3)

by Sierra Simone

“So,” Jamie says as everyone settles back in their seats, “I do have a question actually. How does one become a monk?” I recognize immediately that he’s trying to be polite and helpful and shift the conversation to something less embarrassing to me. Little does he know. “Well, if you’re Brother Patrick,” Brother Amos says, grinning behind his beard, “you come in through the gift shop.” The brothers all laugh; this is a perennial fave. It’s the “Free Bird” of Mount Sergius stories. I usually never mind it being a favorite because it is funny, but now with Jamie and Elijah here—Elijah who still knows so little about why and how I came to the abbey—it feels like agony waiting to happen. Elijah straightens up. “Sorry, you said through the gift shop?” “Oh yes,” Brother Crispin says. “One morning, right after the gift shop opens, Brother Patrick comes staggering in.” “In his pajamas,” Brother Amos adds. “Walks right up to the counter where we keep our cash register and says to me⁠—” “‘I’d like to become a monk, please,’” Brother Amos finishes for him. Brothers Thomas and Titus are already cracking up.