Page 49 of Love in the Storm

Asa knew enough addicts in his line of work to know they could rarely be trusted. Even knowing how easy it was for addicts to pull the wool oversomeone’s eyes, it didn’t seem like a lie when Lyric said she was sober.

“Your family?” he asked.

“I pushed them away. Or they left me. I’m not sure which happened first, but it’s for the best. I hurt them. A lot.”

It took everything he had to understand what Lyric was telling him. “What made you quit?” he asked.

When Lyric didn’t answer right away, he reached for her hand and brushed his thumb over her skin. “Relax. We’re just talking.”

“I almost died,” she whispered.

The words were small and scared. The thought of Lyric being on the precarious line between life and death made him sick to his stomach. He didn’t have a good response, so he kept quiet, hoping he’d be able to settle his mind and his heart while she did the talking.

Lyric leaned against the counter beside him, and that sweet scent he’d come to love was in the air. It was everywhere.Lyricwas everywhere, and there was no getting away from her now.

“Rock bottom is an ugly place. I overdosed. I was in a coma, and when I woke up, Kendra was there.”

“Kendra Bates who works at Deano’s?” His mom had mentioned Kendra knew Lyric, but he hadn’t expected this to be their connection.

Lyric chuckled, but the sound was sad. “Yeah.That Kendra. It doesn’t surprise me you know her. She’s friends with everyone in town. Anyway, she was sitting beside the bed when I woke up in the hospital, and she said she was there to save me.”

Asa held his breath, praying for that same saving grace. “And she did?”

Lyric kept her chin down. “Pretty much.”

“How?”

“She became my sponsor.”

“Kendra is an alcoholic?” The sweet older woman who served him breakfast at least three days a week didn’t look like the alcoholics he ran calls on regularly.

“She is. She’s been sober for thirty years.”

Thirty years? That was a lifetime. No wonder he didn’t know about that part of her past.

Lyric rolled her eyes. “Don’t rewrite everything you know about her. She doesn’t deserve that.”

“I wasn’t.” He had a hard time believing it. He still couldn’t picture Kendra as a struggling alcoholic.

“At first, she was the one I called when I needed help.”

“What about now?”

“She pointed me to Jesus. It took a long time for the idea to sink in, but I wanted to think I still had a chance–that I could be forgiven. I know nothing can erase what I did, but Kendra told me God would forgive me.”

Asa sighed. It had been a while since he heard a testimony as powerful as Lyric’s. “She’s right.”

Lyric was still looking at her hands folded in front of her. As hard as this conversation was for him, it was probably even more difficult for her.

She inhaled a deep breath and pushed it out quickly. “I get it. I know you don’t remember me, but I remembered you because you stood up for me.”

“I did?”

“To the judge. I got community service instead of more jail time.”

Ten years ago, he’d believed in second chances. Now, he was a little jaded and a lot less lenient. Years of facing the worst of the world left him with little hope.

Seeing the turnaround Lyric had made reignited that hope in him.

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