Page 70 of Love in the Storm

“They didn’t keep in touch with you?”

Lyric shook her head.

That was something Asa couldn’t understand. He couldn’t turn his back on Jacob. Ever. Asa’s mom wouldn’t have done it to him either.

Still, he didn’t know the circumstances in Lyric’s relationship with her parents. She’d said there was a lot of hurt that hadn’t been mended.

“Do you want to fix your relationship with them?” he asked.

“Of course. I made my amends to them, but at the time, they weren’t very confident I would stay sober. After seeing the way they looked at me and pretty much shut the door in my face, I’ve been afraid to try again.”

“Dad!”

Asa and Lyric both turned at Jacob’s call. He dodged tables on his way across the restaurant. Asa’s mother walked at her own pace behind him.

Lyric gasped, catching Asa’s attention. She stared wide-eyed at Jacob.

“What’s wrong?” Asa asked.

“He looks just like you,” she whispered.

Asa heard it so often that he’d gotten used to it. Lyric’s shocked expression morphed into a smile. The similarities between him and his son might help Lyric relax while meeting his family.

Jacob jerked to a stop by the table. “Dad, I finished another model!” He held up the blue car, careful to balance it on his palm.

“It looks great, bud.” Asa gently lifted the model and inspected it. “Where are we putting this one?”

“I was thinking the second shelf, on the left side.”

Asa had built the narrow shelves on Jacob’s bedroom wall last year, and the kid had already filled them with a wide range of classics.

Jacob’s attention fell from the car, and he peeked around Asa. “Are you Lyric?”

Lyric had the look of a deer in headlights. “Um, yeah. You must be Jacob.” She stood and extended a hand to him, then tensed. Her pleading gaze cut to Asa just as Jacob took her hand. She whispered over Jacob’s head, “I don’t know what to do.”

Asa’s mom strode up to them with a beaming smile. “Hello, you two. Lyric, it’s so good to finally meet you.” His mom opened her arms and gave Lyric a full-on mom hug.

“Oh, it’s great to meet you too. Thank you so much for letting me stay with you. I know I’m a stranger, but I promise not to be a bother, and–”

“Lyric.” His mom held up a silencing hand. “This will be good for both of us.”

Jacob stepped well inside Lyric’s personal space and craned his neck to look up at her. “Granny gets lonely when I’m not around to entertain her.”

Asa covered his mouth with a hand and scratched a pretend itch on his cheek.

The shiny model car in Asa’s hand caught Lyric’s attention. “Did you really make that?”

Jacob grabbed the model from Asa. “I did. This is my favorite. I have two already on my shelf!”

“Ford Thunderbird.” Lyric lifted her hands as if pulled toward the car like a magnet, then linked her hands in front of her. “1959?”

“Yeah!” Jacob shouted.

“My dad had one,” Lyric said. A grin spread over her face, and her gaze was glued to the model.

“No way!” Jacob rounded on Asa. “Dad, can we have one?”

“No, buddy, but maybe Lyric can tell us more about it over dinner.” Asa winked at Lyric, hoping it was okay to volunteer her to talk about something that might be classified as “the past.”

---