Reid gave the text a thumbs-up emoji and cranked his engine, then pointed his SUV for the hospital. Hopefully, his brother would text after his conversation with the chief. Reid wanted to know if this stocking cap was on its way to Veritas, where he hoped their experts would prove that Fowler was willing to attack an innocent man to exact his revenge on Megan.
15
Megan peered out the rear car window, the rural scenery flying past. Reid was driving her and Ella to his childhood home. Unbelievable. Visiting the place where he’d been raised seemed so intimate, and she didn’t want to grow any closer to him.
She glanced at her sweet daughter sleeping in her booster seat next to her. Her chattering during the drive through the city had helped distract Megan, but as the wheels hummed along the pavement, Ella had drifted off to sleep. If only someone else had ridden in the car with them to diffuse the tension. But Micha had gone ahead to clear the route, and Russ followed at a distance in his official police vehicle, making sure no one tailed them.
She shifted into a comfortable position and sighed. This was entirely too long of a drive, and her mind kept betraying her. They had to almost be there.
“How much farther?” she asked.
Reid laughed. “You sound like Jessie on our road trips.”
“Sorry. I rarely leave the city, so this seems like a long drive.”
“Have you ever been out this way?” He lifted his gorgeous blue eyes to peer at her in his mirror.
She gazed out the window. “My family used to come out here on weekends when I was a kid.”
“So you like the outdoors then?”
She stared out the window. “I suppose. Not that I’ve done a lot of outdoor things since Ella got sick.”
“Jess and I like to hike, and we have a lot of great areas around here for that.”
She kept her eyes on the scenery. The sun sank lower in the sky, sliding behind towering pines thickly lining the side of the road. Rushing river water tumbled downstream, and she could remember the sound as she’d trekked along it with her mom and dad as a child. Laughing, playing, they’d come home worn out and happy every time.
She smiled at the memory. “I’d forgotten how much fun we used to have out here when I was a kid.”
“I love this place.” His excited tone confirmed that. “Now that I’ve come home, I don’t think I could live anywhere else. Even if it wasn’t such a beautiful part of the country, I can’t imagine ever being away from family again.”
His life sounded idyllic. On the surface, of course. He’d suffered a great loss, but he seemed to have moved on. Something she could learn from him. Could she find more happiness while Ella remained ill? To make those moments she’d faked joy for Ella to actually be real?
What would it be like to live a normal life again? Maybe heading to a resort here for a fun weekend of hiking instead of rushing away from a stalker or sitting in a hospital as Ella fought for her life.
“Of course, our church family is here,” he continued. “They would be hard to leave too.”
She studied his face in the mirror. “All those times we talked during Fowler’s trial when I told you my faith was the only thing that kept me going, and you said you were raised going to church but didn’t ever attend then.”
He frowned up in the mirror. “I didn’t really live my faith then.”
“But you do now. When did that change?”
“When Diane came into my life.” He smiled as if the memory of his wife was a good one. “At first, I went to church with her to make her happy. But then I started listening, really listening, and God opened my eyes. When I think about it, I think He was preparing me to survive her loss.”
“He could’ve let her live,” Megan mumbled under her breath.
“What?” His gaze briefly met hers.
“Nothing.” She turned to the window again.
Her mom called this part of Oregon “God’s country.” Megan could feel God’s power and majesty here as she had as a child. Too bad that it was only here. Not in her everyday life or even when she went to church.
“Do you still go to church?” Reid asked.
“Yes, with my parents,” she answered, happy he didn’t ask if she still believed in God, because she didn’t know how she would answer that question. If push came to shove, she would say she did, but these days she simply attended worship services for her parents and for Ella to experience it. She hadn’t found the courage to tell her parents that she thought God had abandoned her.
“When did you say they’d be back from vacation?”
