Page 33 of Found By You
My heart raced. Wow. What was happening? I moved to join him, unable to keep away from his side. Lightly, I put my hand over his. “You’re clearly not mycaptor.” I pulled my hand back. “I’m sorry I said that, I guess I’m just feeling nervous and …” I trailed. “Never mind.”
Every part of him stilled, and he met my gaze. “I know nothing about you. I can’t … we can’t…”
More chemistry ratched up between us.
I hated myself. I felt like a woman trying to make advances or something. I pulled back and stepped away from him. “Gosh, I’m sorry. I’d better go to bed.” I moved toward the door.
“Wait,” he said quietly.
When I turned back, his eyes were intense. “I feel it too, but we’d better wait till you remember who you are.”
I nodded. “You’re right.” Burning with embarrassment, I turned back to the door, but it was locked.
McCrae pointed to the front. “Let’s just go in the front. There’s a code for that one.”
We went back around to the front of the house, and he put in the code so we could walk in.
“Okay, thank you for everything,” I said, turning down the hallway, and trying to rush away from the nervousness I felt. “Good night.”
“Good night, Sky,” McCrae said solemnly behind me.
Chapter 15
McCrae
Adrenaline spiked through me as I walked into church with Sky by my side. She looked rather amazing in Sunday clothes.
Refuge Falls Community Church was a gentle hum of conversation and fresh flowers but I could feel people staring at us. What if Sky had been my girlfriend or my wife? Wait, no, no, no. Why was I even thinking that?
My family filled nearly two full rows. We sat on the end of the pew next to Kayla. The soft melody from the piano at the front drifted through the room as the last congregants found their seats.
Pastor Jones got up, and I couldn’t help but feel his eyes on me and then on Sky. I was sure he knew. Of course, the whole town knew about everything. The town always knew.
“Today I want to talk to you all about the attributes of Jesus Christ,” he began. “We always say that we should be like our Lord and our Savior. But I think that there is a skill set associated with everything we want to be, with everything we want to become. And the first attribute that is associated withour Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is charity. That charity in the way we look at others and the way we look at ourselves.”
He paused to take in the crowd. His silver hair caught the light as he moved across the raised platform, his deep voice resonated through the rafters of the century-old building. “We have the opportunity as fellow Christians to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to care for each other, to treat each other as we want to be treated, and furthermore, to treat each other as Christ would have us treat each other. I want you all to ponder that today. How would Christ want you to treat others? Would Christ want you to give them the benefit of the doubt?”
Every word went straight to my soul.
The faint smell of Sky’s shampoo, something floral and clean, drifted to me as she shifted in her seat. She leaned into me and whispered, “I like this message.”
I realized in that moment that no matter what, I would fight for this woman. I hoped she wasn’t married. Of course, that would change things, but if the guy didn’t care enough to come find her … When he did finally care, he was going to have a reckoning with me.
Our eyes held and then she looked back to the pastor.
I stared at her red hair, the sunlight turning it to copper and gold.
The pastor finished his message and all around us, the congregation began to sing, their voices rising in harmony.
I turned to face the front but all I could focus on was her. The way she smelled. The vulnerable way she wanted me with her. The way she’d teased about how she’d insisted I take her home because I found her.
This whole thing was completely strange and perfect … amazing.
The song ended and someone said a prayer.
We got up to leave.
My mom turned around from the bench she’d been sitting on. “Hi there.”
