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Mac braced her elbow on the small table in the hospital cafeteria, rested her forehead in her hands, and stared into her cup. I just wanted a friend. Riley’s words tore holes in her heart. Tears streaked her face, dripped from her chin, and dotted the green Formica tabletop. They lay where they fell, ignored. Her son wasn’t a troublemaker. Had never been a troublemaker. He’d been taken advantage of, and she hadn’t seen it. How could I be so blind?
Charley laid a hand on Mac’s arm.
She closed her eyes. “My poor baby.”
Dane put an arm around her from the other side. “Sweetheart, talk to us.”
Mac raised her head. Her gaze swept across Dane and moved to Charley. “How much trouble is he in?”
Charley tilted her head in thought. “For the break in? None, I don’t think. I don’t have the final say in any of this, but the way I see it, Riley’s been a victim right down the line. Landry and his goon squad tried to frame him, they extorted money from him, and they beat him up when he couldn’t pay.” Her brown eyes filled with determination. “I can promise you that Landry is going away. But I don’t see anyone involved pursuing charges against Riley.”
Mac allowed Charley’s words to sink in. She cradled her cup, finally giving voice to the question shredding her heart. “How could I not know that he was in so much trouble?”
Dane pried her hands apart and held one in his. “You need to stop beating yourself up over this. You aren’t the only one feeling responsible. I saw Rafe giving Riley a hard time Friday afternoon, but it didn’t look serious, and the rain broke it up. When I asked Riley about it, he said it wasn’t anything. I bought it, even though my gut told me not to.”
He waited until Mac met his eyes. “Think about what you’ve told us about how he was raised. Is there anything in his past experiences that would prompt Riley to come to you...a woman...to help solve his problems? Add that to the fact that he’s a fifteen-year-old boy with more testosterone than brains.” He smiled when Mac’s lips ticked up. “And you have all the formula you need for disaster.”
“Dane’s right.” Charley said. “I’ve got a teenager. I’ve learned you can’t be by their side twenty-four/seven. You can raise them right, you can love them, but there comes a time when they all have to learn to stand on their own and make the tough choices.”
Charley sat back and crossed her arms. “The way I see it, Mac, the next choice is yours. You can continue to blame yourself for something you couldn’t have prevented, or you can grab hold of the second chance God is giving you and move forward.”
God? Mac rolled that around.
Let Me help you. Let Me love you.
Mac sat up in her chair. Neither of her friends had spoken, but she’d heard the words as surely as if they had.
“You OK?” Dane asked.
Mac rubbed at her forehead. She must be more sleep deprived than she’d thought. “Yes, I’m fine. I will be.” She looked at Charley. “There’s no way I can thank you for what you’ve done for me the last week. I like the idea of a fresh start. As horrible as it sounds, maybe this is what Riley and I need. Maybe once I get him home we can—”
“About that.” Dane interrupted. “We haven’t had a chance to talk about it, but I’d like to continue with our arrangement.”
The hospital’s intercom interrupted and gave her a moment to consider his request.
Mac frowned at Dane. “I don’t know that that’s a good idea. Now that everything is out in the open, he and I need to work on our relationship. Besides, he’s out of school for the rest of the week, and he needs supervision. You must have work.”
Dane folded his hands on the table. “Look, I know you have good reasons for wanting him home, but we’ve made some gigantic steps forward over the last few days. I think it’s important that we don’t lose that.” He smiled. “I think once the judge gets the whole story, the court ordered portion of our arrangement will be history. That’s great, but it doesn’t change the fact that God told me to help Riley. I want to do that. Not as a punishment but as your friend and his.” He grinned at her. “Besides, he has a truck to earn and a puppy to train.”
Mac looked at the table with a heavy sigh. “Guess I really can’t compete with that, can I?”
Dane pushed his cup aside and leaned forward. “I’m sorry. You’re his mother, and this isn’t a competition.” He waited for her to look up. “How about if we let Riley decide? I’ll make it clear to him that the truck and Jasmine aren’t at risk. We’ll work from there.”
The sincerity on his face and the comforting tone of his words produced a totally inappropriate and unwelcomed flutter in Mac’s stomach that arrowed straight to her heart. Why was this man willing to make so many sacrifices for her and Riley? The memory of her lips pressed to his heated her face. They still hadn’t talked about that. Mac stared at him and swallowed. She could live with an elephant in the room, but this pachyderm sat on her chest and wouldn’t budge. The pressure deprived her of oxygen and reason.
“I...” She licked her dry lips and fought to loosen her tongue. “We can do that. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
“Ungrateful never entered my mind. Let’s—” His cell phone rang, and he grabbed it from his pocket. “Hello.”
Mac looked on in fascination when his face flamed red.
“Maxine, I thought...”
Riley’s nurse. “Is it Riley?” Mac whispered.
Dane put a finger to his lips, laid the phone in the middle of the table, and put it on speaker. Nurse Maxine’s voice came through loud and clear.
“I don’t care what you thought, Dane Cooper. You get your shabby butt back up here and take this dog out of here immediately. This is a hospital, not a zoo.”
Mac and Charley both bit back smiles as the nurse laid into Dane.
“I’ve known you your whole worthless life, and I’ve never been more ashamed than I am right now.”
“But—”
“No buts. You’ve got two minutes.”
Dane stood, grabbed the phone, and sprinted for the elevator.
* * *
AS THE SPRING EVENING faded Monday night, Jesse placed slices of Snickers cheesecake in front of her three friends and reclaimed her seat at the table.
Randy picked up her plate and turned it back and forth as caramel oozed from the topping, her expression skeptical. “You do remember that we just started a fitness program, right?”
Jesse picked up her fork. “Moderation is key. One piece won’t hurt you.”
Alex cut off a small bite and nipped it off her fork. Her eyes fluttered. “Jesse, where did you get this recipe?”
“The women at Valley View Church put together a cookbook for a fundraiser a few months ago. Karla McAlister is an old family friend, so I bought one.” Jesse studied her own fork. “Let me tell you, those ladies are serious about their cheesecake.” She slipped the bite of dessert into her mouth, and groaned. “And I can see why.”
Charley chewed. “If this isn’t illegal, it should be.”
Jesse propped her elbow on the table, put her chin on her fist, and directed her attention to Charley. “Speaking of illegal... Spill. What happened at the hospital today?”
Charley looked down at her plate. “You guys know that I can’t talk to you about an ongoing investigation.” Three groans meshed to echo around the table. “But I can tell you that Mac’s son has been a victim from the start. I think we’ll see that resolved pretty quickly. They released Riley from the hospital right after lunch.” She looked at Jesse. “He chose to go back to Dane’s house.”
“That much I knew,” Jesse said. She pushed her plate aside. “So tell us, how did Dane and Mac seem with each other? Did you catch any...” She searched for a word vague enough to get her point across while preserving her brother’s and Mac’s privacy and gave it up as impossible. “Romantic vibes between them?”
Her three friends sat up straight, dessert forgotten.
“Romantic?” Randy asked.
“Dane and Mac?” Alex looked at Jesse, her eyes narrowed in speculation.
“I don’t think my part of the story can hold a candle to yours,” Charley said. “Dish it.”
Jesse threw caution and their privacy to the wind. These were her sisters, their relationship forged by years of trust and shared experience. The fact that Mac had infiltrated that circle in a week should have seemed strange, but it didn’t. She told them what she knew.
“She kissed him?” Randy studied Jesse. “In broad daylight?”
“Yep,” Jesse confirmed. “Right on the mouth.”
“Wow,” Charley said. “And I think that might be an understatement.”
“Your take?” Alex asked.
Jesse grinned. “I think there’s some serious attraction going on. Dane’s in denial. You know my brother’s story. He’s nursed that pain for a long time, but I think he’s about chewed all the flavor out of it. And Mac?” She shrugged. “I don’t think she’d recognize romance if it walked up and smacked her.” Jesse chewed her lip. “That’s really sad, but I think that’s a good thing, at least for the moment.”
“Because...?” Randy asked.
Jesse rolled her eyes at her red-haired friend.
Randy raised a hand. “No, I think we’re on the same page here, but tell us just so we’re sure.”
Jesse crossed her arms and sat back. “Because romance is the least of Mac’s worries right now. I like her, a lot, but until she accepts Christ into her life, I don’t want her chasing after my brother.”
Alex nodded and held out her hands. “Then if Christ is the key, let’s give it to Him, shall we?”
* * *
WHO KNEW THAT SILENCE could be so overwhelming? Who knew that silence could breed such voices in her head and her heart?
Let Me help you. Let Me love you.
Mac closed her eyes against the words. Not a memory so much as repeated again and again. She could hear them as clearly as if someone stood next to her and whispered them in her ear. They made her heart long for...what exactly? She paced, fingers twisting at her waist, as the answer her new friends had been shoving at her presented itself. God?
Mac sank into a chair, closed her eyes. “God, are you there?” Her breath shuddered on the question.
I would be your God, but I would be your Father, too.
Warmth accompanied the words. They slid across the wounded parts of Mac’s heart like honey. Sweet, thick, and impossible to ignore. She swallowed.
“But...”
The single word trailed off, shrouded in uncertainty and years of deception.
Deception? Mac mulled the word. Recognizing deception meant acknowledging an opposing truth. Isn’t that what she was trying to teach Riley?
Daughter, you long to show your child a better way. I long to do the same for you. You love your child, and I love you.
Mac wrapped her arms around her waist and held the words close. I love you.
She was thirty-four years old.
She had no memory of ever hearing those words directed at her.
Will you accept—?
“Yes!” The single word filled the room, and Mac clapped her hand over her mouth. She’d just interrupted God.
Joy rolled over her in waves as the echo of heavenly laughter filled her soul.
The laughter brought peace.
The peace brought tears.
The tears washed a lifetime of oppression and bitterness from her heart.
That moment of emptiness came with a relief Mac never believed possible. The next instant, love beyond anything she’d ever imagined filled the emptiness. Mac gulped. She’d thought escaping The Body would bring her freedom, but she’d never been free until now. In that second, she understood what her new friends had tried to share.
She grabbed for her purse, searched for her phone, and finally dumped the contents of her bag in her lap to find what she needed. Who should I call first?
Charley had shown her what friendship meant.
Alex had given her a Bible.
Jesse had prayed with her.
Randy had offered support.
Mac shook her head. It didn’t matter. They’d be thrilled regardless of the order. She stabbed numbers, grateful when Alex answered her phone.
“Hey, Mac.”
“Alex, I prayed. I mean...I get it...I...” Mac stopped when her words tumbled out with no rhyme or reason.
The little pastor’s wife squealed. “Oh, my goodness, Mac! We were just praying for you.”
“We?”
“I’m...we’re all at Jesse’s. Can I put you on speaker?”
“Yes.” She closed her eyes as muffled words filtered through the phone.
“It’s Mac. I think she has something she wants to tell us.” There was a brief rattle, then Alex’s voice. “OK, Mac. Say that again.”
Mac took a deep breath as fresh tears streaked her face. “Guys, I get it. I just had the most amazing conversation with God. He...” She swallowed. “He told me He loves me, and He wants me to be His daughter!”