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“Amazing ones,” she replies, then lifts her coffee mug. Her mood falls slightly, her smile fading just a bit.

“You okay?”

“I’m nervous. I know it’s silly, but I’d kind of just decided I wasn’t going to see them again. I love those kids, but the last thing I wanted to do was hurt anyone. Now I have to break their hearts all over again.”

“You aren’t responsible for what happened to you, Sadie. Just like you aren’t responsible for how they react to the truth. They should have called and reported you missing, even if it meant nothing was wrong. That is not your burden to carry.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“That you’re hurting because you know they should have called, too? Yes.”

“I would have. I was up a while last night, trying to put myself in their shoes, but I just couldn’t imagine not at least attempting to look into it. Especially since I clearly wasn’t answering my phone. And, I don’t know… Maybe they did, but I was with them for seven years. In all that time, I never took a single sick day. I was on time every single morning and stayed until the kids were ready for bed.”

“They should have looked for you. And it’s okay to be upset that they didn’t.”

She takes a deep breath. “Thanks. I needed that reminder.”

“Always. And I’ll be here to remind you later, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah.” I smile at her. “The bar is staying closed tonight.”

“Really?”

“Really. I am taking my first sick day, and you and I have plans.”

“We do?” The excitement on her face only furthers my own.

“We definitely do.”

Her cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink. You have pancakes to make, I remind myself when the desire to pull her into my arms again becomes so strong I can barely stand it.

To keep myself rooted where I am, I begin whisking, and she lifts her Bible.

“Can you read it out loud?” I ask her. I’ve begun to crave the Word in the same way I desire water when I’m thirsty. I feel like I spent my whole life believing things were one way, only to have Sadie blow into my life and show me another way entirely.

And I can’t get enough.

She looks up at me and smiles. “I sure can.”

SADIE

Reading through Luke out loud to Maverick helped to stifle some of my nerves. So, by the time nine thirty rolls around and there’s a knock at the door, I don’t feel nearly as sick to my stomach.

I just can’t shake the feeling that they let me down. An emotion that didn’t even hit me until last night when they interrupted that moment between Maverick and me. Then, of course, I felt so selfish for being frustrated in the first place.

They clearly had no idea, and both Bella and Darren seemed so genuinely sorry that they didn’t realize something was off. Shouldn’t they have? For seven years, I worked for them. Shouldn’t they have known me well enough to know that I wouldn’t have left without a goodbye?

And that I especially wouldn’t have not answered my phone? Did they even call?

Get it together.

Maverick and I walk together to the front door right as someone knocks again.

“You okay?” he asks me.

I thread my fingers through his, taking strength in his steady presence and the God who has never left my side. “Yes.”