The relationship wasn't perfect, though. The stress level Laura showed the first week never seemed to go away. She would snap at waitresses at restaurants. One time she cried during a game of Scrabble because I was playing (as I always do with any game of strategy) defensively, not opening up moves and beating her very badly.
Meanwhile, my classes were going okay... I hadn't the experience I later enjoyed in Holmen, but some connections were definitely made. 
One of my students, Tina, sensed a certain sadness about me near the end of the school year and invited me to her church on an evening Carman, a Christian performer and minister, would be there.
The church was similar to the one Susan had belonged... at one point the congregation spoke in tongues and I felt so alone in lacking the Holy Spirit and not understanding a word shared by seemingly everyone else there. At the end of the service the minister invited everyone to come forward upon which he would lay hands. Section after section went up, and I joined the people in mine. I knelt before the minister; he touched me and asked my special needs for prayer. I just started crying, saying I couldn't tell him. He told me someone behind me loved me very much and gave me a blessing... and I realized at that moment that not only were his hands on my shoulders but another pair of hands were on my back all along. I turned around before rising, and there was Tina, kneeling behind me and praying fervently for me. I got up, Tina still praying, and I kissed her forehead and thanked her for caring so much.
What was wrong was obvious. I was still married and my wife was over two thousand miles away.
I continued seeing Laura for two months into the summer, and the sex between us became more and more kinky, and slightly less loving. I sold all the belongings I had in the house that wouldn't fit in my car, and moved to Illinois to see what I could rekindle with Debbie.