Page 68 of A Sunny Sweetheart for the Cowboy

She’d nearly forgotten where she was… and why. They were only a few minutes from the hospital now. Paisley swiveled in her seat, suddenly sure of her answer. “Yes. Jesus saved my life exactly like that. He loves me, messed-up, scatterbrained, Paisley Teele, the one who chases daydreams and the end of the rainbow and the source of light.”

“The one who is incredible.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. I won’t deny the scatterbrained bit, but that’s because your mind was leaping across the pond from one lily pad to the next on a path only you could see, and you’ve become an incredible person that way.”

“Huh.” Paisley had to laugh at the mental picture Kait provided. “I think God gets the credit for orchestrating those jumps.”

“You think? I wish I believed in someone — anything — that made order out of my chaos.”

“You can believe in that Someone. It’s Jesus you’re looking for.”

“Hmm. Maybe. Tell me more later. Now… about Mom.”

Something solid settled in Paisley’s gut. “Have you heard from the hospital again?”

Kait shook her head. “I think Mom might have half-faked some of that to get you to come home.”

“She did look good for someone who almost died a few days ago.”

“But I don’t think she faked being back on drugs. Why would anyone do that?” Kait flicked the turn signal on as the hospital parking lot came into view.

“Because she got back with Earl,” Paisley guessed. “It reminded her she had unfinished business with me.”

“That’s probably it, because if that guy is clean, I’m a monkey’s uncle.” Kait angled into a parking spot. “I’m sorry to drag you from your perfect life for this mess.”

“My life isn’t perfect. Not even close.”

“I won’t believe you if you try to convince me you don’t have cute cowboys clamoring for your attention. You work on a ranch, after all. And you’re so stinkin’ cute yourself.”

“I’m not cute.” Paisley huffed a laugh. “But there are some adorable cowboys. You’re not wrong about that.”

“Some?” Her sister’s eyebrows tipped up. “Or just one?”

“One. If I haven’t messed things up by dropping the ball and coming south.”

“I doubt it. If he’s meant to be, he’ll still be around.”

“It’s not just that. It’s… I have a lot of responsibilities. And I kind of left without assigning all of them to others.” Like all the Fourth of July stuff.

“I’m sorry. The timing stinks. But I sure hoped you could stay for a few days, now that you’re here.”

This was the sister asking questions about God. Weren’t eternal things more important than jobs? Even, possibly, more important than romance?

Oh, Weston. How could he possibly understand? Well, he couldn’t if she didn’t explain herself. And her phone was charging back at Kait’s, because she couldn’t do anything right.

No. She wasn’t going to talk to herself that way anymore, remember? Even if it were true… but it wasn’t. Maybe the cord was defective… or maybe the battery. She was having a lot of trouble with her cell phone, even considering her issues.

Also, she ran a great activities program at Sweet River. Yes, she sometimes forgot a piece, but not usually. She’d created systems that worked for her. They wouldn’t make sense to anyone else — though Cindy tried hard — but that didn’t matter, so long as they worked for her.

“I’ll have to see how long I can stay. I really need to call in and see what’s up.”

“That’s fair.” Kait stared at the hospital. “Ready to face Mom?”

“Do you mind if I pray out loud before we go in?”

Kait blinked. “Sure. Have at it.”

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