Page 68 of Gideon

“I know. But among all the bad stuff, there’s good as well. People are still coming to the church, and my mom is more herself than I’ve seen in a long time. She used to do hospital visits all the time. She loved it.”

“That’s very kind of her. Tell her thanks from me.”

“I will. Where do you want me to meet you?”

“It’s not far to the hospital from here. I’ll head that way and see Dad, then meet you there. You can text me when you arrive.”

“I thought your phone was about to die.”

“Oh, yeah. It is.”

“I’ll meet you up in his room if I don’t see yououtside. I’m so relieved they let you go. We were praying for you.”

“We?”

“At church. About twenty-five people were there last night. We can’t do much right now, but we can pray. Looks like God answered.”

Gideon frowned. Was it God? “I’ll see you soon.”

He hung up and started walking.

Nikki peppered Gideon with questions all the way back to the motel.

“I don’t mean to put any pressure on you,” she said when she parked the car. “But people are ready for more. To fight back. At least, a little. I guess I thought that, after the way you’ve been treated by Fairfax and Cole, you’d be more ready to fight than ever.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. Hearing all the good things that are happening with the people in town is great, but I didn’t come here to fix anything. I came here to get things in order with my dad. Maybe repairing some amount of our relationship. Or at the very least, finding some closure. But putting this town’s fate in my hands…I’m nobody.”

She touched his arm. “Not to me you’re not. I can see what Eric saw in you. It makes so much sense. If God believes in you, then you have to find a way to believe in yourself, or at least trust Him.”

“Like I said, I need some time to think.”

“Okay.” She tucked her hands in her lap and looked out the window, waiting for him to get out of the car.

“I forgot to ask about Isabel. Have you heard anything?”

“No.”

It would be so much easier to leave all of this behind, especially when there was so little he could do. But there was one small thing that was still possible. If he could confirm for Nikki that Isabel was okay, at least he could leave her with that reassurance, even if that was all he could give her.

“I’ll stop by Fairfax’s place and check on her.”

“What? Really? What happened to you needing time to think?”

“I don’t need time to think about that. That’s simple.”

“You don’t think Fairfax will have a problem with you turning up on his doorstep?”

“Not if he doesn’t know I’m there.”

“Oh. Great. Even better. I’ll come too.”

“No, you won’t.”

“I can help.”

“I’ll work better alone. I’ve been trained for this stuff, remember?”

“I thought you said you weren’t in the special forces.”

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