She checked out just before ten and, after leaving her duffel in the lobby and her phone charging behind the counter with a borrowed cord, she set out to explore the small town and find something to occupy her mind. But as she wandered from shop to shop, with no real reason to look at anything, she felt lost ... displaced . . . almost like an alien from another planet. As if she didn’t belong here. But did she belong anywhere? Finally, she sat down on a park bench in the center of town.
She felt lonelier than ever as she watched parents and children come and play and then go on their merry way. Or sometimes not so merry. One toddler threw a tantrum when his mother told him it was time to leave the sandbox. But even the child’s noisy fit looked preferable to being alone. It felt like everyone in the world had someone. Everyone except her. Brynna had never liked feeling sorry for herself, but if she were being honest, she had to admit that’s what she was doing right now. Having a pity party ... for a party of one.
So once again, she prayed. She asked God for the strength to bear this heartache and for him to help her find her way. And for something else too. She asked God for a place to go home to and a family to love and be loved by. Oh, she knew that was a lot to ask. Too much to expect. But she also remembered her mother telling her that prayers were about faith and believing that Godreally wanted to do good things for his children. She wanted to believe that she was still God’s child. Hadn’t she given her heart to him once? Certainly, he hadn’t cast it aside. Even if it felt like that sometimes.
As Brynna watched a group of children playing, she remembered how teaching her third graders used to fill that lonely place in her heart. Her school often felt like a home, the children like a family. Maybe that was enough.
Leroy was too distracted to be much use in the vineyard that morning, but at least his crew was on task. Finally, he realized part of his issue was just plain hunger. Thanks to Gina’s working guests, he’d been avoiding his kitchen, and as a result, he hadn’t eaten anything since his sandwich the night before.Women!
Determined to take back his kitchen, regardless of the females occupying it, he parked his Jeep in front of his house and was about to go inside, but he spotted Sophie’s van pulling up to the guesthouse and it fueled his curiosity. Instead of storming the kitchen, he went over to see what his eldest daughter was up to.
She was standing on the porch when he got there. “Whatcha doing, Soph?” As he got closer, he could see her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. “Everything okay, honey?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Nothing is okay.”
“What’s up?”
“I’m worried about Bree—I mean Brynna. I’ve been calling her phone all morning, but it’s turned off. That’s not like her. So I, uh, I wondered.. . I thought maybe she’d come back here. I hoped and prayed she had.”
“Did she?”
“No. She’s gone. But I wanted to know for sure. I can’t imagine how she must feel right now. You must’ve hurt her feelings pretty badly yesterday, Dad. She wouldn’t have left like that unless you did.”
“I hurtherfeelings?” He scowled. “What about mine? She comes here and pretends to be—”
“That wasmyfault. I thought it all through in the middle of the night last night when I couldn’t sleep. I practically forced her to take the job.”
“Forced her?” He shook his head. “Hard to believe.”
“It’s true. She showed up and I assumed she was the applicant you were supposed to interview. Remember? You had to go meet with Aunt Sherry, so I took over. Anyway, I found Bree standing outside the office, and when she started to ask about you and the vineyard, I just assumed she was there for the job, so I jumped right in. I made her come into the office and started the interview. In hindsight, I can see she was caught off guard by my questions, but she answered me. And instantly I liked her. She seemed like a genuinely good person.”
“A good person who tricked all of us?”
“I don’t think she meant to, Dad. I think she just wanted to be here. Shelovedit here. I know she did. And I know she never meant to hurt anyone. Iknowshe is a good person.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.” He folded his arms against his chest. “Tell me, Sophie, how well do you think youreallyknew her?”
“We spent a lot of time together. I considered her my friend, and she was very transparent about her life.”
“Really?” He didn’t like being so skeptical, but he couldn’t seem to help it.
“She told me about losing both her parents when she was young.”
“Her parents died?”
“Yeah. In a car wreck during her first year of college.”
“Oh.”
“And she told me about Dirk.Dirk the jerk.”
“Dirk the jerk?”
“Her high school boyfriend then husband. I guess he was sortof a jock and popular with the girls. Anyway, he kind of took over her life after her parents died. She said it might’ve been because she had a small inheritance and he’d lost his athletic scholarship because of an injury. So they got married in college and she used all her money to put them both through school and to buy a condo. She wanted to buy a house with a yard because she loves to garden, but Dirk the jerk wouldn’t let her.”
“Huh?” Leroy remembered how blue Brynna had been when they first met, moping over her boyfriend—that must’ve been Dirk the jerk. He pointed Sophie toward a rocker. “Maybe you should sit down, honey.”
“Thanks.” She sat, and he lowered himself onto the steps in front of her. “So I’m saying I do know her, Dad. She also told me about how Dirk never wanted kids and she did. She loves kids—that’s why she became a teacher. I can tell by the way she is with Lucy and Addison, she really does love kids.”
