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His guilt, over not getting to Gavin on time, had been a wedge that drove them apart. He had faced God with anger. She had retreated into faith, believing everything would be okay.
He hadn’t wanted to fail her, not Lexi with her silky brown hair that hung in a curtain past her shoulders. She parted it on the side and it had a way of falling forward when she worked. It was the sweetest and the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He sighed and moved away from her.
“Colt, don’t walk away.”
He walked back to her side, took her hand and led her away from the building site where curious eyes watched and a few people whispered and nodded in their direction.
He knew what those people were saying. The whole town was talking about the two of them getting back together. As if it meant something to find them buried in that basement together.
“Remember what you said on our first date?” He let go of her hand.
“I wanted a real family, the kind that went to church together and took walks. I was a kid, Colt. I had dreams of what a perfect family looked like. I didn’t know then what I know now, that there’s more to it.”
“And I promised to give you that family.” He hadn’t.
A few years ago, they had been talking about having children. Colt had embraced the idea, picturing a little girl with her eyes and his hair. Or maybe the other way around. Definitely a girl with Lexi’s heart.
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned as Reverend Garrison walked up. Reverend. It was still hard to call Michael by that title.
“Hey, how are the two of you doing over here?” Michael picked up a stone and stacked it on the pile. “Some of these stones are engraved with dates of the first settlers’ weddings. If you see them, try to separate them. I think they would be perfect for the landscaping project.”
Colt didn’t answer. He gave his friend a look and went back to stacking blocks. Michael had found a way to remind Colt that he and Lexi had been married here.
“We’re just reminiscing, Michael.” Lexi smoothed her hair back from her face and gave Colt a look that he’d seen before.
“There’s a lot of that going on.” Michael Garrison stopped working and pulled off his gloves. Colt ignored his matchmaking friend. Michael had brought up—more than once—that Colt and Lexi had spent six long hours stuck in that basement, the two of them and God. Maybe that had been God’s way of giving them time alone to work on their relationship.
Michael never left God out of the equation. That made Colt a little itchy around his neck.
“We’ve got a lot to get done.” Colt stacked more blocks in the wheelbarrow.
“Snake.” Michael pointed. Colt wasn’t fooled. He’d already fallen for Lexi’s little joke.
And then it hissed. Colt jumped back, and Michael laughed. Lexi’s laughter was soft, a little husky. He glanced her way and tried to pretend the snake didn’t matter. It slithered away and he reached for another block.
“We’re having a Labor Day picnic here on Sunday after church.” Michael said it as if it meant something. “We could use some help with the grills.”
Of course. Colt had known it had to be something. “I can help. What time do you want me to be here?”
“Church starts at eleven.”
Colt glanced from his ex-wife to what could soon be his ex-friend. Colt hadn’t been to church since before the divorce. Since Gavin’s death.
His partner’s death wasn’t the only thing that had driven the wedge between him and God. Somewhere along the way, he’d gotten angry. He just hadn’t gotten it, the whole God thing.
He couldn’t forget an auction from when he was a kid, when land from his family farm had been sold off, piece by piece.
Church at eleven. Lexi watched him, teeth holding her bottom lip and blue eyes wide, waiting. He wasn’t going to make a promise that he might not keep. All of his life he had been proud that his word was good, it was solid. People could count on him to be there for them.
Sometimes he let them down.
“Colt, you don’t have to come to church.” Michael stacked another stone and moved away. “But you can be here to cook. You’re not getting out of that.”
“I’ll be here.”
Lexi was still looking at him, as if she wanted more from him. His radio crackled, and Bud’s voice filtered into his ear.
“I have to go. There’s a dog wandering in a field outside of town. It might be Tommy’s.”
“Let me know if you need me. If it’s a stray, I have room in the kennel.”
“The ark, you mean. That place of yours is starting to get attention from the city council.”
“The animals have to be taken care of. Maybe you should try the animal shelter idea on them again. This might help them to see how much we need a place for strays and unwanted pets.”
He brushed hair back from her face and found it easy to smile. “Don’t ever change, Lex.”
“I haven’t changed, Colt.” Lexi’s whispered words caught up with him as he walked away and he nodded, because he didn’t know what to say. And she was wrong. She had changed.
She was stronger than ever, proving she didn’t really need him.
Chapter Two
Colt drove out of town, in the general direction of the area where the dog had been spotted. As he drove, he could see the faded—and sometimes ripped—signs that Tommy had put up right after the tornado, when they first realized Charlie was missing.
Gregory Garrison had searched the area, looking for that dog. He’d even tried a new puppy. Nothing worked. Tommy only wanted the original Charlie. Colt didn’t blame the kid. That dog had been the boy’s family.
As he drove, he passed where Marie Logan’s body had been found. Colt had insisted on being the one to give Jesse the news about his wife. He remembered the look on Jesse’s face. The disbelief. Maybe a little betrayal. What a thing for a man to go through, finding a Dear John letter and then something like that happening.
Colt pulled up to the farmhouse that had once been beautiful and well maintained. Time and age had started the deterioration of the place. The storm had done the rest. The chicken houses that had helped provide when times were lean had been ripped off their foundations in the tornado and strips of sheet metal were blown across the county. Some of those pieces of metal were still wrapped around trees.
The old farmer came out of the house, bib overalls and work boots. Colt stepped out of his car and met the other man in the middle of the yard.
“Hey, Walter, how are you?”
Walter, worn and haggard, shrugged slim shoulders. “Seen better days, Colt. Seen better days. Drought last year and now this. It makes it hard to be a farmer.”
“Yeah, it does.” Colt looked around, at barns and outbuildings that looked as run-down as the farmer standing in front of him.
“I thought they’d send a county officer, not the town chief of police.”
“The city voted to extend the city limits out a mile, Walter. I can usually get here sooner than county, anyway. So, about that dog.”
“I seen a dog, back in the field. It was a shaggy brown thing. I heard in church that they’re still looking for that boy’s dog. I couldn’t remember what it looked like.”
“I’ll drive out through your field and take a look. But it doesn’t sound like Charlie. Walter, are you doing okay out here?”
His wife had passed away a year ago. His kids had moved off, finding jobs in town and giving up life on the farm. Colt remembered when he had wanted to trade farming for anything but farming.
“I’m doing all right.” But his gaunt appearance worried Colt.
“Are you going to keep the farm? Some of the people who took hits as hard as yours are talking about selling out.”
“Nah, I ain’t going anywhere. This is all I know. At least I have a roof over my head. It’s a little leaky now, but it’s a roof.”
“Leaky?”
“Well, seems it was damaged by the tornado.”
“Have you contacted your insurance?”
The old farmer sighed. “I did, but I guess there’s a problem with my policy.”
“Walter, did you tell anyone?” Colt’s face got a little hot.
“I tried to call some government office, but got put on hold. And you know I can’t hear on the phone.”
“Let’s take a look around this place.” Colt started walking and Walter followed, slower than he used to be, stepping a little more cautiously. How many older farmers like Walter were being ripped off or ignored?
As they walked, Colt realized that a window in the back bedroom of the old farmhouse was still busted and the little leak in the roof was big enough for a basketball to fit through. Shingles were gone from another section.
Someone had to get out here and do something. Colt should have done something. He just hadn’t realized. There were so many people needing assistance it was hard to keep up with who had been taken care of, and who hadn’t.
“Walter, I’m going to make some calls for you, but in the meantime, I’ve still got some tarps in my Jeep that I keep on hand for situations like this. Let’s get a tarp over your roof and a piece of plywood over that window.”
“I sure appreciate that, Colt, but you don’t have to. I called my boy, and he’s coming down in a week or two. He told me to call you, but I told him it could wait.”
“Walter, you should have called.”
The older farmer looked down at boots that were scuffed and worn. Those boots of his probably took on water just like the roof.
Colt pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “I have to make a call, but how about a sandwich? I have a couple in my lunch box.”
“I can’t take your lunch.”
“Nonsense. I stick it in there in case I get stuck on a call, but I didn’t need it today.” Colt opened the car door and pulled out the lunch box and grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler in the back of his rig. “Go have a seat on the front porch and I’ll be right with you.”
He watched Walter hobble away and then he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Michael Garrison.
“Michael, this is Colt. I’m out at Walter’s farm….”
“Is it Charlie?”
“I haven’t seen the dog yet. But Walter really needs some assistance out here. I’m going to put a tarp on his roof and board up a window that got blown out, but he’s having problems with insurance. I’m not sure if he even has food.”
“I’ll get right on it, Colt. You’re a good man. And thanks for volunteering to cook on Sunday.”
“Volunteering my…”
“Foot,” Michael provided.
“Yes, my foot.” Colt ended the conversation. Sunday, church and Lexi. He’d rather walk on glass than face her and God on the same day, in the same place.
Sunday morning Lexi stood on the steps of the church, waiting, and still praying Colt would show up. People passed her on the steps, some smiling or saying hello, others involved in their own thoughts, or conversations with the person next to them. They didn’t notice her alone on the steps.
Standing there on the steps, she realized that more than the landscape had changed since the tornado. People had changed. Lives had really changed. She watched as Nicki Appleton, a preschool teacher in town, got out of her car with Kasey, the toddler that Gregory Garrison had found at the Waters cottages near the river.
The child held tight to Nicki’s hand, and looked for all the world as if they belonged together. What would happen to Nicki’s heart when the little girl’s family was found? Lexi didn’t want to think about that, or the pain the child’s leaving would cause.
Instead she focused on Heather Waters, standing next to Pastor Michael—as Lexi liked to think of the reverend. He just seemed more down-to-earth and reachable than the title Reverend implied. The two, Heather and Michael, had found love, lost love, after the tornado. They gave her hope for her own life, her own broken relationship.
And Maya Logan and Gregory Garrison. The two had fallen in love and were getting married. Two very different people, and the tornado had brought them together and made the differences melt away. They were going to adopt little Tommy and give him a forever family.
Footsteps behind her. Lexi turned in time to see Michael’s niece, Avery, slinking past her. The teenager looked as if she was up to something. The girl had been doing so much better since she came to High Plains to stay with Michael; the return of this sneaky side surprised Lexi.
“How is school going, Avery?” Lexi stopped the girl.
Avery’s mouth opened and she blinked, but then she smiled. She was a pretty girl, fresh-faced and not at all the dark teen she had tried to be at one time.
“Oh, good. You know, just hanging out.”
“I could still use help feeding dogs, if you’d like.”
“Umm, yeah, maybe sometime. Heather’s keeping me pretty busy.”
“Good. Well, maybe when you have more time.”
Avery nodded and darted off.
Lexi’s friend Jill walked out the door and stood next to her. They had prayed together the previous evening, not just for Colt, but for the community and the hearts and lives that were still healing.
“He’ll be here.” Jill squeezed Lexi’s hand. “He can run from God, but he can’t hide.”
“He didn’t say he would come to church.”
“But he might.” Jill, always optimistic.
Lexi smiled, but it wasn’t easy. Her life was hanging in the balance, waiting for the pieces to come together again. For a long time she had waited, thinking Colt would come back to her. As much as it hurt, she was starting to accept that maybe his coming home wasn’t the best thing for her. Last night, for the first time, she had prayed about moving on without him.
She still wanted him to have faith. Even if he wasn’t in her life.
Jill hugged her. “I have to get inside. Will you be okay?”
“I’m okay. I’ll be inside in just a second.”
“Okay. Gotta run, though. The choir is getting settled and I can see Linda looking for me. She’s not smiling.”
“She never smiles.” Lexi turned to look inside the church at Linda, who really was a happy and loving person. The choir was her place in church. She’d been there for nearly fifty years. “Go, I’ll be fine.”
