Page 87 of To Bring You Back
“A few years.”
“And you only heard her play bass once?”
Her silence answered.
“Then my being here a few weeks has done something for her that years before haven’t.” Years Tegan had been in the picture. Did he need to spell that out for her? “I’m not perfect, but I’ll do whatever it takes to help Adeline live with the living again.”
“Live with the living?”
“Adeline can fill you in. I have other business.”
23
An immense lawn stretched from the parking lot to the red brick building. Mature trees reached higher than the roof three stories up, somehow making the university building more imposing, even now, after Adeline had done what she’d come to do. She clicked her seatbelt as she heard the snap of Michael doing the same.
Tegan would flip out with joy when she found out about this. Getting the job would be a relief for Adeline too. She might not know what to do in her relationship with Gannon, but she could improve the way her life looked apart from him. Or at least, she could try.
God, please bless this, but only if You want me to work here. If You think staying in the church job is best, let me know.
How she’d know God was trying to tell her something was anyone’s guess, but making the request calmed her worry over that one aspect of her life.
Let me know what to do about the rest of it too.
Unfortunately, immediate peace didn’t follow.
“Where to?” Michael started the engine. He hadn’t said much all day except to answer her questions, but he’d done his job. He’d walked through her house to make sure everything was in order and had waited for hours while she dealt with the fire inspector and opening an insurance claim and packing and resume writing. When a photographer tried to follow them from her house to the college, he’d lost the man in a matter of turns.
“To Havenridge, I guess.” Tegan had texted she was there already, a small comfort.
Less than ten minutes later, Michael pulled to a stop under the carport.
Adeline unbuckled and looked up at the door through the tinted window. As soon as she walked in, Gannon would be there, wanting to talk. Harper might linger nearby too. She hadn’t scared Adeline off the property with the lingerie or bought her favor with the personal shopping. What might come next?
And then there was Matt, dingy and abrasive.
Michael opened her car door. The rest of the day, she’d gotten out when he had, never giving him the opportunity. Had she been expected to wait all those times? She didn’t even know how to get out of a car in Gannon’s world. She gathered her purse and the large tote she’d filled with toiletries and shoes.
Michael handed her a business card. “If you decide to go out, call or text day or night. I’ve been assigned to you specifically.”
He opened the trunk and lifted out the suitcase she’d packed. Before she figured out how to protest, he’d taken it in through the front door. She pressed her index finger against the crisp edge of the card. She’d been assigned a bodyguard. What was the etiquette of that kind of relationship?
To her relief, he came back out immediately, so he hadn’t acted on any grand ideas of delivering her luggage all the way up to the third floor.
“Have a good afternoon.”
“You too.” She watched him get back behind the wheel before mustering her courage to move forward. But as she approached the front door, she heard another car in the drive.
She got a glimpse of Harper in the driver’s seat before the vehicle parked by the garage.
Great.
Adeline found her suitcase just inside the door. She adjusted her tote, lifted the handle of the rolling suitcase, and then pulled it behind her into the great room.
“Welcome home.” Harper flounced in from the garage. “How are you? How was your day?”
Through the windows toward the lake, she spotted Gannon, Matt, and John sitting in a loose huddle on the patio, heads bowed. Were they praying together? Beyond them, the dogs played on the broad lawn.
“You changed.” Harper breezed to a stop next to her and rubbed the material of Adeline’s sleeve between two fingers as if to judge its worth. Without betraying her verdict, she grabbed Adeline’s hand and tugged her toward the stairs. “Let’s chat. Away from the noise.” She wiggled her fingers at the patio, as if they could hear anything from there, and pulled Adeline toward the stairs. “It’s personal.”
