Page 83 of Rescued Heart

As Bianca reached the top steps to the wardrobe building, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Probably Grace telling her she was running late. Except her screen showed Frances’s name.

Bianca swiped the Accept button and stepped under the shade of the building’s roof. “Hey, Frances. Perfect timing.”

“Oh, honey.” The clank of dishes and mumbled conversation hummed in the background behind Frances’s voice. “Based on your last text, it sounds like I should have called you last night, but three ball teams and a baby-reveal party showed up all at once and stayed all the way until closing. We ran out of pie and specials. Tips were a blessing, but my feet mooed until my head hit that silk pillowcase you bought me.”

“I turned you into a silk fan, didn’t I?” Bianca leaned against the siding. “Wish I could have helped fill in for you guys. I promise I would have only dumped one, maybe two drinks in someone’s lap.”

Frances’s chuckle floated through the phone and felt like an embrace. Not as good as Eddie’s hug—or rather, the one she’d given him—yesterday. “Doubt that. Weren’t you a waitress in one of your movies?”

Bianca shifted the phone to her other ear. “Don’t watch that movie. I never should have done that part either. The language alone did not glorify God?—”

“We all have things we’re sorry for doing. Stop rehashing what I know the Lord has forgiven you for. Tell me about your boy Eddie instead.”

Where to start? “First, he’s not actually mine. It’s more like a partnership. Like the one you and your cook, Ace, have.” Bianca pressed her lips together as if to remember her and Eddie’s almost kiss from the river. “Though, he’s better than any man I’ve ever dated.” Bianca rubbed her palm across her forehead, and her fingers grazed her healing stitches.

“Don’t look for a man that’s better than the last. Look for one who points to the Lord. Now, I’m sorry to say, I only have four more minutes left on my break.”

Bianca pressed her other shoulder against the building and spotted Grace coming down the sidewalk. “I don’t have much time either.” She explained the shortened version of Mary and what Zack had told her. “I thought if I couldn’t fix the stuff in my family, I could at least get Eddie’s family restored.”

Frances hmm’d. “Unfortunately, some things aren’t ours to fix. King David realized that the Lord’s earthly dwelling place was lacking in comparison to the luxury he lived in. He wanted to build God a temple. Except God told him no. He wasn’t the man for the job.”

A gust of wind swept around Bianca. Dirt hit her face, and she tucked further against the trailer’s siding. “Okay…how does that story apply to me?” It didn’t exactly provide hope.

“For one, shouldn’t it remind us of God’s timing? David could have pouted, wallowed in pride about how it should have been him to build the temple because it’d been his idea, but instead, he kept following God and prepared his son for the task. Sometimes we can get too focused on the result and forget Who’s actually in charge.”

“I just wish I could do more. I did bring Eddie his favorite marshmallow milkshake. You really need to add it to your menu. It’s almost as good as your apple pie milkshake. And of course, I apologized. But I don’t feel like it’s enough.”

“Forgiveness is more than feelings, honey. Emotions aren’t always based on truth. But you know what is?”

Bianca inhaled. “God’s forgiveness.”

“If we try to earn it, we’ll fall short every time. If this Eddie is a man after God’s heart like you’re painting him to be, it’s not about striving to be perfect around him…Yeah…I see it, Ace, I’ll take care of it. Give me one more minute…Sorry about that, honey.”

Bianca smiled. “Maybe you should ask Ace out for coffee at someone else’s restaurant sometime soon. He might quit barking at you.”

Frances huffed into the phone. “I don’t need you trying to set us up like the rest of the town. I stand by what I promised myself, that I wouldn’t mix a personal relationship with Ace’s and my business partnership.”

Bianca stiffened. Wasn’t that what she had secretly been hoping would happen between Eddie and her? If she could stop messing things up between them.

Grace walked up the steps as her thumbs flew across her phone.

“Hey, Frances, I gotta go. But next time, I need to talk to you about Nathan.”

“What’d he do now?”

Bianca stood by the door with Grace, who was staring at her phone. “Hopefully nothing else.”

Frances grunted. “I’m only a phone call away. Don’t forget to read your?—”

“I finished Romans this morning.”

“Good girl. Keep reading. You won’t regret it.” Bianca heard Frances’s smile in her tone.

Bianca hung up and slipped her phone into her pocket.

Grace opened the door for her with one hand while she typed with the other. “I’m almost done with this email. I think the outfits are on the third rack on the right wall.”

Bianca zigzagged through the racks of clothes and made it to the far wall. Except there sat Riley on the floor, her phone in her lap. Two racks of ballgowns surrounded her. Apparently, everyone was longing for a break today.

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