Page 71 of Rescued Faith

“Was he part of one of your investigations? A suspect?”

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Worse. He was my boss.”

Bryce was ready to hunt the man down, but he didn’t dare say a thing. He might lose it completely.

Penny opened her eyes, stared blankly at the ceiling. “He told me it would be fine. That he wanted to marry me. And of course I couldn’t tell anyone. Not even Jude, who was my partner at the time, or I would’ve been fired. I thought Carter had my back though. Would protect me, and once we were married it would be worth it. So I kept waiting. Then one night I walked into his office and found him cheating on me. With another woman in the bureau. An intern.” She dropped her gaze to Bryce. “So I left. And I promised myself I wouldn’t depend on a man like that again. Ever.”

“Not every man is like that.I’mnot like that.”

“But where you see love, all I see is a lot of potential for heartbreak and destruction. A weakness someone might exploit.”

“But real love makes us stronger. Better. Look at my parents. Jude and Andi. And what about right now? Penny, we’re good together. Isn’t it helping that you’re not stuck here alone? That we can lean on each other?”

“I’m not denying it works out great for some. Just not me. I can’t let myself be that dependent. That weak.”

“But sometimes when we’re at our weakest, we finally see what we need.”

“What do you mean?”

He might as well lay it all out there. “I know what it’s like to be broken and weak, because when I realized you weren’t coming back, I fell apart. Completely. But it was then that I also found I needed someone a whole lot bigger than me to put me back together. My mom, Andi, Logan, and I found that faithJude had been talking about was real. That man we met at the bakery, John, he leads a discipleship group, a Bible study I go to.”

She looked at him then. “You believe that God stuff?”

“Yeah. I do.”

Her eyes narrowed and her voice grew soft, almost like she was talking to herself. “That’s what it is.”

“Whatwhatis?”

“The change. I knew something had changed in you. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.”

She saw a difference? Maybe God was working in him after all.

But it sounded like it would take more convincing to show her that love wasn’t always so self-destructive. Because as far as he was concerned, it was love that beat clearly in his heart for this amazing woman. He wanted a chance to show her that it was worth it. That he was worth it. That God was worth it.

“Penny, I believe that God is real. That He cares. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but we’re going to get out of here and do everything we can to get your family back.”

TWENTY-THREE

Penny stopped rearranging the shelves. The space was still too small, closing them in. She should be out finding her family.

“Maybe He is real. Maybe He actually does care. But I can’t stay here any longer doing nothing.” She shoved against the door. Nothing. She tried again, but it didn’t budge. She rubbed her sore shoulder. “I need more space. A running start.” She gritted her teeth and was about to throw all her body weight against it when Bryce grabbed her and held her tight.

“It’s not gonna open that way.” His strong arms kept her from falling to the ground.

“I have to try.” She tried to pull away from him, desperation taking over.

But Bryce’s grip was solid. His voice quiet. “Whatever they did to block this door, they jammed it good. Help is on the way, Penny. We need to sit tight and wait a little longer. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep going.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do nothing.” Her voice came out as a weak whisper. She needed to do something before the panic came back. Her sister and the kids were out there at the mercy ofevil men, and it was her fault. She never should’ve come back to Last Chance.

“Hey, did I ever tell you about the frogs?”

“What?” Her gaze landed on Bryce, his eyes steady, a glint of humor teasing. How could he find anything funny about this?

“I never told you about that?”

He was distracting her. Obviously. But hey, if it kept the panic at bay…by all means. “You never mentioned a story featuring frogs, no.”

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