Page 71 of Love in the Storm

“I’d love to.” The full smile on her face was genuine as she took her seat in the booth.

Jacob quickly sat across from her. “Tell me everything.”

Asa hadn’t made a move to sit. He was engrossed in the interaction between Lyric and his son. They talked like old friends who had missed each other.

His mom’s hand rested gently on his shoulder. “Breathe, son.”

Her words jolted him out of his daydream, and he slid into the booth next to Lyric.

The whole day had been a whirlwind. He’d worked up the nerve to talk to Lyric and offer her the room at his mom’s, they’d had the define-the-relationship talk, then their first date, followed by hours of packing. Now, they were sitting together with his family at a popular restaurant in town. Lyric fit in, and watching her talk to his son like there weren’t any obstacles standing against them gave Asa a surge of hope that he wanted to lock onto and never let go.

It was too early to tell, but maybe this crazy plan could work out.

24

LYRIC

Lyric piled her dark hair into a bun on top of her head. Looking in the mirror, she wasn’t impressed with anything she saw. The bun wasn’t going to work, faint shadows rested below her eyes, and her sharp collarbone jutted out from behind the scooped collar of her dress.

It had been a little over a week since she’d been officially kicked out of her apartment and two since Russell told her to find a new place. Two weeks without enough sleep was draining the life out of her.

Well, she was sleeping fine now that she was at Betty’s. She still wasn’t sure what to call Asa’s mom. Asa and Jacob called her Granny, and it felt weird to call her something different than what they did, but Granny felt too familiar. Grannies were named for their position in the family, and Lyric wasn’t family.

Lyric looked back at the bed she’d reluctantly rolled out of an hour earlier. It was so soft, and the sheets were like puffy air gliding over her skin. Moving and working this week had been exhausting, and her body couldn’t get enough of her new awesome bed.

It wasn’therbed. That was something she didn’t need to forget.

She tugged the hair tie out of her hair and shook it out. Now what?

Someone knocked on the bedroom door, and she gave herself a quick glance. They needed to leave in twenty minutes to make it to church on time. Her hair was a mess, and she hadn’t put on her makeup and wasn’t sure about the dress she’d put on.

Well, stalling wasn’t going to help anything. “Come in!”

The door opened a crack, and Jacob stuck his head in. “Are you ready?”

“Almost.”

Jacob opened the door all the way and walked in. “Good. Can I hang out in your room?”

“Sure, but it’s probably boring in here. I’ll just be putting on my makeup.”

“I don’t care.” He pulled a Rubik’s cube out of his pocket and flopped onto the bed on his back.

Jacob had welcomed her into her new home in a way she’d needed but hadn’t expected. He wanted to be around her all the time, and he didn’t always giveher a choice about it. Asking if he could hang out in her room was more than she usually got. By gently pushing his way into her personal space, he’d forced her to open up and become comfortable in ways she never had before.

Lyric turned back to the mirror and pulled half of her hair up before letting it fall. She rummaged through her limited assortment of hair ties and grumbled.

“What’s wrong?” Jacob asked.

“Nothing. Just trying to get my hair to do…something.”

“I like it like that,” Jacob said as he sat up on the bed.

“Like this? It’s just all…” She waved her hands in the air, expressing the craziness she couldn’t put into words.

“It’s pretty. You should leave it like that.”

She chuckled. “I will for now while I look for some shoes that might match this dress.” Saying a prayer of thanks that she hadn’t been forced to give up two-thirds of her things, she knelt on the floor in front of the small closet.

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