Evie pulled the hood over her head. “I’ll be fine.” She smiled. “Thank you for worrying about me, though.”
All he wanted to do was cuddle up on the couch with her in his arms and watch the storm rage. He tucked his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Be safe,” was all he dared say.
She stood there an extra moment, watching him like she was trying to get up the courage to say something. The trouble was, he had no idea if the longing he saw in her eyes was a mirror of his own feelings or hers. If she yearned for him, she hid it much better than he did.
She opened the door, braced herself against the wind, and shut it behind her.
The house moaned as if it missed her already too. He glanced around at the furnishing, the quilt she’d thrown over the back of the couch, his and her shoes tucked next to one another by the bench. This was the first place he’d ever walked into that felt like home. And he was smart enough to know it was because of Evie. She was the one who brightened and warmed it.
A branch scraped against the siding.
“Lord, if You could see to it to turn Evie’s heart to me, I don’t want to lose her. Even more than I don’t want to lose this ministry. I’ve loved serving these people in Thy name, but if I have to give it up to keep her, I will.”
His stomach grabbed and he sat down on the couch. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to align himself with God’s path.
“Dear Lord, Thy will, not mine. But please. Please, don’t ask this of me.”
An eerie silence answered. Seth cracked open his eyes to see the trees standing tall, their branches still. The howling had ceased. The tempest calmed.
He didn’t have an answer, but God had sent peace.
* * *
Evie craned her neck to see the sun part the clouds. “Look.” A ray of sunlight streamed through, hitting some far-off place with a spotlight. “I used to think that when that happened, someone had died.” She grinned as she picked up her soda and sipped.
“It’s how they show it in the movies.” Maisie speared a slice of chicken.
“True.” Evie stared at her plate. She’d craved a Caesar salad for two days, and now that she had it, she could hardly take a bite. The look Seth had given her as she’d left had caused such aching inside of her.
“You’re not hungry?”
“I’m hungry for something I can’t have—more like someone I can’t have. Ugh! Why am I so attracted to men who are unavailable? First Owen, who was an emotional child, and now Seth, who I’m married to but can’t touch.” She threw her fork into the lettuce and heaved a sigh.
Maisie dabbed her napkin at the corner of her lips. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“No, it’s not.”
Maisie’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief.
“I didn’t want to fall in love.”
Maisie leaned forward and placed a hand over Evie’s. “As your friend, I think you should tell him. If you want more, he needs to know about it. Men aren’t mind readers. Heck, half the time they can’t figure out what we want when we say it outright. But that doesn’t mean we don’t give them their best chance.”
Evie smiled. She’d resolved to lay her heart at Seth’s feet, but since that moment of strength, she’d wavered. “But what if he doesn’t love me back? It would be so awkward—until death do us part—if he wasn’t attracted to me. We’ve both had guys who liked us more, and it’s always a recipe for disaster. I don’t want an annulment, because I love him too much.”
Maisie shook her head. “This has got to be the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had.”
“Well, I’m the weirdest friend you’ve ever had.”
“Truth.” Maisie went back to her salad.
Evie picked at hers for a moment. There was something else on her mind. “I think you’d really like our ministry. You should come next Sunday.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Maisie’s response was so flippant that it didn’t give Evie much hope. But one invitation did not a convert make. She’d invite again, and again, as a friend. And even if Maisie never came, she’d still have the best friend ever. Who else would stand by her as she married a man she’d never met and then listen as she cried because she loved him?
She drove home, listing all the reasons why she couldn’t tell Seth that she was in love with him. She played a hundred scenarios out in her mind, and only one of them was satisfactory. But a 1-in-100 shot wasn’t the kind of gamble she was willing to make.
