Page 77 of Here With Me

“I think it’s too late.”

“Maybe you just need to start with step one.”

“What is that?”

Gary jingled his keys in his pocket. “Go to Costa Rica. Figure out if you want this position or if you want something else. Ask God to make it clear to you.”

“You want me to leave?” That didn’t seem like the thing Gary would say after his pep talk about God changing callings.

“I do. Maybe God is changing you for something other than Costa Rica. Something better…not because Costa Rica isn’t good, but because God’s plan is always best. If you’re seeking after God, your passions may change. That’s God’s doing. Follow Him where He leads you. Maybe it will be back here, maybe it won’t.”

God’s doing? Could his change of heart really be God’s working? His phoned buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out and glanced at the message from Lance. His director had changed his flight time. If David left now, he could make it in time for the next one.

Gary nodded next to him. “I’ll talk to Sadie. She told you to leave anyway. So go, David. You have our blessing. Find what God’s leading you to do. Trust Him. Not your supporters, not your preconceived notions, but God. He will lead you.”

“Thank you.” David walked out of the ER with purpose.

He pulled out his phone and typed a response to Lance’s earlier message.

Ready or not, he was returning to Costa Rica.

In the light of day, things didn’t look any better. In fact, they looked worse.

The wrecker slowly dragged Mrs. Allen’s car out of the hardware store as glass crunched beneath the tire wheels. Once the car was cleared from the building, the wrecker towed it away.

The town square was quiet. It seemed folks had slept in after the excitement of searching for Lottie last night. Sadie stood alone outside the store—well, except for Otis, who had moved to the middle of the playground across the street. His bronze eyes were trained on the disaster that was Hoover’s Hardware. At least he’d been safe last night.

Careful to miss any large chunks of glass, Sadie unlocked the door and stepped into the store. Instead of the order she’d created, chaos ruled. The glass counter that sat in front of the main window was shattered, the old-fashioned register bent and broken. The car had stopped before it had taken out the aisles—small blessings—but the shattered glass was everywhere, even embedded in the walls. Thankfully, the car had not affected the structure of the building, and she’d been able to stay in her apartment last night. But her mom was right, there was no way the grand reopening could take place next week. Unless they opened with a boarded-up front window and no front counter.

Not to mention Mrs. Allen’s insurance had already called this morning and said they’d only cover a few thousand dollars’ worth of damage. Nowhere near the amount they would need. Sadie didn’t have extra money laying around to repair the store. Everything she could scrape together would need to go to the bank to cover the loan, and even then, she was still short. There was no money to fix the damages.

Her throat burned and her vision blurred. She’d failed. Four generations and she was the one to ruin the family business. She’d gambled her heart, her business, her savings. Her life. And she’d lost.

Lost it all.

At least Lottie had slept soundly all night. She was healthy and being spoiled at Sadie’s parents’ house this morning. Her mom had made cinnamon rolls, and Lottie ate two of them.

Silence reigned in the hardware store. David was gone. She wasn’t sure why that had surprised her after she’d told him to leave. But when she’d gone back to the waiting room and her father said he’d left for the airport, it had been like a punch to the gut. She missed his presence, his friendship, his help. But he didn’t want a partner, he didn’t want…

Her.

A hand gripped Sadie’s shoulder, and she jumped away with a screech.

“I’m sorry, Sis.” An apologetic look crossed Romee’s face. “I thought you heard me open the door and my footsteps crunching the glass. I wasn’t exactly quiet.”

Sadie hugged her sister, letting the strength of her embrace soothe the thoughts, the painful reality that she’d lost it all.

“I’m here, Sadie. We all are. Anna can be here next week, and Toby and Clara can be here tomorrow. We’re going to get through this.” Romee’s voice oozed confidence.

If only Sadie could latch on to that, believe that with her siblings’ help things would be better.

“It’s not that simple.” Sadie let go of Romee and turned back to the mess of her store as she walked farther in, taking in the mess. “We can’t fix this.”

“Of course we can.” Glass crunched as Romee walked toward what used to be the front window. “We’ll get this place cleaned up in no time.”

“It’s so much more than that.”

“A little sweeping, some organization?—”

---