Page 51 of Fallout

He trudged back down the hallway to the Emergency department. Soon enough, he’d have to get back to work, but taking about three days off sounded better.

Destiny turned first. The look on her face made it all worth it. She hurried over. “Is your mom okay?”

He managed to nod.

Blake, Violet—who must have come back from seeing her father—Clare, and Gage gathered around them.

Jasper wanted to rub his chest, but that would be a bad idea. “How is your father?”

Violet said, “He’ll be all right, but he doesn’t like being back here where he got fired from, so he’s complaining loudly about the quality going downhill.”

Gage said, “So that was your mom.”

Not a question.

Clare elbowed him. “Gage! We said we’d ease into it.”

Jasper looked at his boots, feeling the tug of a smile on his lips. There was nothing funny about his mom’s fragile mental health, but no one in this group was lying to anyone else anymore. It felt good that all the secrets were out.

They knew Destiny’s condition.

The can of worms that was his mother had been opened.

They all knew now why he had a scrollworkCtattooed over his heart. So he could keep the memory of Caleb close.

Now they could move on.

Clare said, “Everyone, hold hands. We’re going to pray for Elaine Hollingsworth that she can rest, heal, and get the care she needs.”

Jasper couldn’t let that pass without a question. “Does that help?” Maybe it only helped them to feel like they were doing something. “Does it actually change things?”

Gage said, “It can.”

Destiny squeezed his hand. “When I pray, I do feel better just doing it. But I’ve also seen circumstances change. I’ve seen people totally turn their lives around when they never would have been able to do it on their own. I’ve seen marriages restored. People healed of addictions. Medical miracles. Financial donations that meant a single mom could pay her rent. God does all kinds of things. And He even sent some crazy women to save me because they were ‘in the neighborhood.’”

He loved that smile of hers. “I’d like to hear all about it.”

She squeezed his hand again. Clare prayed.

Jasper closed his eyes because it seemed like that was what you were supposed to do. The case was out of control, more like multiple simultaneous investigations. His family was still a mess. His personal life was a mountain to climb. And there was barely time to think any of it through, so much was happening so fast.

But in the prayer, he did find something he had never felt before.

A whisper of peace in his soul made him wonder if there wasn’t something to this Christianity thing after all.

Not just because it seemed like everyone in his life believed.

But because it might be true.

TWENTY-TWO

Two Famous Ones rode up front, and Clare and Destiny sat in the middle row of the black SUV. She hadn’t asked if it was an armored vehicle, but they’d pulled out of the parking garage in the basement of the Vanguard building like they were the presidential detail. All to pay Brent Rammington a visit because he’d called and requested a meeting.

After two rounds of sniper shootings, no one was taking any chances.

It didn’t matter that no one had died.Yetwas the word the Famous Ones would use. Destiny just prayed and asked for protection. She thanked God that Jasper had been wearing a vest when he was shot right in the chest.

She’d lain awake half the night thinking about it…and the prayer and their conversation. How he’d looked when he had to go back to work and she and Clare had left. He probably worried over what she was thinking after learning the truth about his mom. A whole lot of yearning, which she had seen in his expression, like he’d wanted to stay with her. Like maybe he didn’t want to leave her side right now.

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