Page 72 of Love in the Storm

Nothing was going to go with this dress. She didn’t want to change, but none of her shoes matched. She’d found the dress a few weeks ago at the thrift store, and she’d been so excited to wear it that she hadn’t thought about shoes.

Sitting back on her heels, she sighed again.

“What’s wrong now?” Jacob asked.

“Sorry. Nothing is wrong.”

Jacob climbed off the bed and sat on the floor beside her. “You sure?”

She looked at Jacob, and the expression on his face melted her heart. It was the same expression Asa used when he saw her struggling and had decided he was determined to help.

Lyric swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m a little nervous about going to church.”

“Why? You said you go to church.”

“I do, but I used to go to church in Silver Falls.”

“But you told Dad you wanted to go to church with us.”

The conversation hadn’t exactly gone that way. Asa had asked her in private if she wanted to come to church with them, and Jacob had overheard and practically accepted the invitation for her.

“I do want to, but it’s a new place, and I’m just a little scared.”

Jacob sat up straighter. “I used to not want to go because Dad made me sit and be quiet, but now I like it. My friends are there, and the old people are really nice. They love me.”

Lyric chuckled at Jacob’s description of the church. He was doing a good job of selling it, and she had no doubt they all loved the outgoing kid. Her on the other hand? They had plenty of reasonsnotto like her.

Jacob patted her arm. “Just say hey to everybody, and they’ll love you too.”

If only life was as simple as Jacob made it out to be. She wouldn’t blame these people for not accepting her. Not after what she’d done.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “It’s easy to love you, kid. Me? I’m not everyone’s cup of tea.”

Jacob scrunched his nose. “You mean that hot tea stuff Granny likes? Why would you want to be tea?”

Lyric laughed and hugged him tighter. “You’re a barrel of laughs. What I mean is, I’m not as loveable as you.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I haven’t been loved as much as you have, and that’s okay. You deserve all the love.”

“Don’t your parents love you?”

That was a knife in her heart. They’d loved her immensely once, but now she wasn’t sure where they stood. “Um, I think so.”

Jacob lifted his head. “You think so? How can you not know?”

How much should she say? Jacob was always so open with her, and she wanted to be honest with him. But he wouldn’t understand the reasons why a mother and a father might not be in their child’s life anymore.

“Um, I haven’t talked to them in a while.”

“Dad always tells me I should know he loves me,even if he’s not always around to say it. Like, he tells me at least ten times a day, but he means when I’m at school and stuff. He still loves me even when he’s not with me.”

She hummed and brushed a hand over Jacob’s soft hair. She liked that Jacob was a toucher. He liked hugging her, and she needed someone to hug. Win-win.

“I know your family loves you,” she said.

Jacob leaned into her hand as she continued the rhythmic caress of his hair. “Sometimes, I wish I could talk to Mom,” he whispered.

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