Page 46 of Rescued Duty

She had told himnot now. A very different response fromnever. He wasn’t going to let this deter him. Not from keeping her safe. And not from showing her that he could be the man who treated her right.

“It’s in the past.” She sighed.

Zack didn’t believe her. The way he’d left without a word, never reaching out to hear how she was doing, had wedgeda barrier between them. Zack didn’t want to consider the possibility of the past being unmovable.

So he’d keep praying he could show her that she could trust him. Before it was too late.

Whether that person had intended for Naya to be with him today or not didn’t change the fact that she could have been hurt far worse.

Zack wished his dad were here to tell him what to do. To help him make sense of it all.

But he wasn’t, because someone had committed arson.

R, son.

Just remember the most important word in your vocabulary. It was so important I had to tell other people about it. R, son.

No, he didn’t want to relive that moment right now.

“I want to believe you. I just need time.” Naya’s words sliced through the silence.

“I want to give that to you.” He’d wait until she was ready. “You know, my dad was the most patient person ever.”

“You want to talk about it?”

Did he? Not really. But saying it aloud might help keep it from occupying his thoughts. “It’s silly. My dad would play the ‘R game’with me when I was little. To help me practice pronunciation. Said it was the most important word in my vocabulary.”

Naya stared at him. Eyes attentive.

Zack sat up straighter to imitate his dad. “R, son. It’s important. So important I had to tell other people about it. There’s a lot of sentences you can make with r-words. Like this one: rats only go empty’n rivers.”

Naya’s eyes creased with a smile.

“He helped me with so much.” Zack needed to visit their graves again. It had been too long.

“He sounds like a great dad. I would have loved to meet him.”

His parents might not be here anymore, but he could honor them by finding out what had happened that fatal day. Even more than that, Zack could aspire to be half the man his dad had been. A man of patience and integrity.

“No matter what happens, Naya, I promise I’m not leaving.”

Because after today, one thing was clear. Someone had ramped up their threats. But why? And who was the intended target?

FOURTEEN

“I’m trying not to freak out here.” Naya spoke to Ingram on the phone. She opened her closet in search of a professional yet comfy outfit. “He kissed me on the cheek yesterday, then told me no matter what happened, he wasn’t going to leave.” Naya pulled a patterned blue-and-yellow blouse from a hanger and tossed it on her bed with a pair of dark-wash jeans.

Ingram squealed. “Girl, he likes you.”

“Yeah, well, he broke my heart once. The thought of it happening again is terrifying.”

“I don’t want to negate your feelings, but do you know that for a fact?” Ingram asked.

After several long minutes, thanks to the sling, Naya finished changing and sighed. “We were best friends one day, and the next he was gone. No goodbye. Even his grandma’s house went up for sale.” Naya plopped down on the edge of her bed. The clock reminded her she only had forty-five minutes until she’d told Zack she would pick him up. She’d crashed and slept for ten hours thanks to the events of yesterday.

“Has he done anything to make you question his character?”

Naya slid her hand through her hair. “Nothing that I can think of.” Zack had protected her yesterday. “He didn’t leave me in the car. Or on the mountain either. If that’s not enough,” Naya laughed, “he’s even reminded me of the truth of God’s word.” A smile parted her lips. “He’s not only shown interest in what matters to me; he cares about what Jesus is doing in me.”

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