Page 67

Weston managed not to grin. “Sounds good. I’ll have the same.” He laid his menu on Jude’s and leaned toward Rayna. “See if you can get our order into the kitchen before the Cavanaghs, if you don’t mind. I’d hate to wait that long.”

“Um, sure.” She glanced over to the boisterous bunch around the middle tables then back at Weston. “We’ll have to catch up on old times.”

As if.

Chapter

Twenty

Paisley finally found her charge cord in the pocket of her backpack and plugged her phone in just before she and Kait left for the hospital.

“I can’t believe you’re not glued to your cell,” Kait commented as she angled out of the apartment parking area. “Trust me, I never lose my cord or forget to check messages.”

Paisley hadn’t forgotten, exactly. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to see any more messages from Weston. The last ones she’d read had started to sound desperate, and she could do without being guilted… or reminded. “I’m talented. I can misplace or forget anything.”

Kait chuckled. “I remember that about you when you were a scatterbrained little kid. Some things never change?”

“I guess.” Paisley wanted to reject her sister’s oh-so-amusing reminder, but it was all too true. “Being an adult is hard. There are so many more things to juggle than I ever dreamed.”

“Too true. So, becoming a Christian wasn’t a magic wand?”

“Why would it be? I’m still the same person.” Loved by God the way she was, right? Why was that so hard to remember? To cling to?

Kait shrugged. “I guess I’m trying to understand the whole Christian thing. Why did you do it?”

Paisley thought back. “Because I was drifting. I felt unloved, like no one cared what happened to me. Mom sure didn’t. Nobody seemed to stay.”

The woman on the plane had reminded her of that verse about Jesus being a friend who stuck closer than a brother. Or, in Paisley’s case, closer than a sister.

“Seems funny to think of you moving constantly and still frustrated that no one stuck with you.”

“I know. So hilarious.” Paisley barely managed not to snap at her sister. Were Kait’s questions genuine, or was she only looking for another chance to laugh at Paisley?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. Maybe I should have said it seems ironic.”

“One of the other ski instructors invited me to her church’s college-and-careers group. They all seemed to have everything together, and they told me it was the love of Jesus. That He would never leave me.”

“Not in a creepy sort of way?”

“Not at all creepy. Jesus is God. He loves us. He died to provide a way for humans to have a relationship with Him.”

“Weird. How does dying to that?”

“He rose again.”

“Nobody does.”

“Jesus did. There’s all kinds of historic proof. If you’re a reader and really want to know, I can hook you up with some of that research.”

“Yeah, sure. It sounds intriguing, at least. So, you’re saying Jesus changed your life by not abandoning you?”

Meeting Earl last night had thrown Paisley into a spiral, but Kait’s questions reminded her she was more than her genetic material. God had sought her out and showered love on her. That wasn’t her overactive imagination. That was her reality, her foundation.

When she’d been a kid, she’d had one of those roly-poly toys with a weighted bottom. She’d been fascinated, trying to tip the thing over, but it popped right-side-up no matter what.

Was it sacrilegious to think of Jesus as a roly-poly toy? It seemed kind of wrong, but it fit. Paisley’s life was never going to be truly upside down so long as she stuck with Jesus. The devil could try to knock her off her balance, just like he had been doing, but he wouldn’t succeed. Not with Jesus at her core.

“Paise?”