Page 60 of A Sunny Sweetheart for the Cowboy

“The brother I’m talking about isn’t a sibling. It’s Jesus. He invites us into His family, and then He never leaves us. It’s amazing, really.”

“I know Him.” Paisley thumbed on her phone. It might not be able to send or receive signal in flight, but she had games she could play to while away the hours. Maybe the woman would finally clue in that she didn’t want to talk.

“Oh, I didn’t know we were sisters!” The woman patted Paisley’s arm.

Paisley shifted slightly away, but she also didn’t want to bump her other seatmate and draw his attention. One side was more than enough. Why were airline seats so narrow?

She forced a smile at the woman. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to me,” the woman confided. “I was so determined to do life my own way, if you know what I mean. But I was miserable and lost. Life had no purpose. Oh, I’d think I’d found it here and there, but then I realized I’d latched onto yet another worldly thing that could never satisfy. More parties. More drinking. A better job. A better husband.” She grimaced.

Sounded like Mom, other than the husband part. Mom stuck with temporary hookups and never even pretended otherwise.

Paisley would bet her bottom dollar Mom had ADHD, too, and that was rather terrifying. Paisley had gone down some rabbit trails on TikTok and discovered all kinds of fascinating things she probably didn’t want or need to know.

“You’re not running from anything, are you?” the woman persisted. “Because Psalm 139 says we can’t run from God. ‘Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.’”

Was Paisley running from God? She didn’t think so. She knew He would never leave her or forsake her. She was running from hard things. She was also running to them, but that wasn’t anything this stranger needed to know.

Still, maybe if she turned to her Bible app instead of Woodoku, the woman would think she’d won and leave her alone. Couldn’t hurt to give that a shot. Psalm 139, she’d mentioned?

Paisley’s eyes blurred over verse 17: How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! And then there were the final two verses: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Did she want God to test her heart? No… but also, yes, because she knew He loved her. Knew she wanted that ‘way everlasting.’

Had she possibly been too hasty in her decision this morning?

That was like asking if Jane was her middle name. Like asking if she had ADHD.

Like asking if she’d fallen for Weston Kline.

Yes, yes, and more yes.

Jane was too plain a label for a girl like Paisley. Impulsive might as well be her middle name. She’d done it again, and this time… would there be a do-over? Would her boss give her another chance? Would Weston?

But she still needed to see her mother for herself.

Chapter

Eighteen

Weston hadn’t expected a dog-eared file folder bulging with multi-colored scraps of paper, but he should have. It probably all made sense to Paisley, but his brain did not operate like hers.

“You’re amazing, Weston. Truly a lifesaver.”

He looked at Cadence as they stood in the doorway to the duplex she shared with Paisley. “I don’t feel like it. Did she say anything at all?”

Cadence shook her head. “I heard her pacing around downstairs late into the night, but she didn’t say anything until this morning, when she mentioned her mom was in the hospital, and she didn’t know what to do.”

Seemed once she’d come to a decision, she hadn’t let grass grow beneath her feet or bothered to share the details with anyone. If she hadn’t confided in Cindy or Cadence or Weston, she likely hadn’t in anyone. Anyone except Weston’s mother. That was a head-scratcher, but Mom was an intuitive, observant sort. Plus, she couldn’t let anyone suffer on her watch, so it made sense she’d offered a shoulder to cry on that Paisley couldn’t refuse. But even Mom hadn’t had the details.

Weston held up the folder and a business card escaped, fluttering to the ground. “What if I can’t figure this out?” Because that seemed a distinct possibility.

“I’ll try to help, but I can’t make any promises.” Cadence’s face brightened. “Wait! She’s got an idea board in her room. I don’t know what she was brainstorming there recently, though. It could have to do with any aspect of her life, but come and see.”

Into Paisley’s bedroom? But she wasn’t there, and if there were clues, it would be helpful, since all the texts he’d sent her in the past hour remained unanswered.

Weston followed Cadence across the tiny living room to the main floor bedroom. The place was the same layout as his.

---