Page 85 of Gideon

“Who’s the owner of the house?” He already knew.

“Fairfax. I was so stupid. But I was desperate. Had to put food on the table for my family and keep a roof over their heads, so I sold it to him.”

“Of course you would. Anyone would.”

“All I did was delay the inevitable. Now I’ve gotnothing, and I don’t know what we’re going to do.” He choked.

“I’m really sorry.”

The man sniffed and went inside. Gideon turned and watched as he sat in the last pew, resting his arms on the back of the seat in front of him before dropping his head onto them. His back jerked in a soundless sob.

Gideon trudged down the steps when another car arrived. He expected it to be Mae, but it wasn’t.

“Hey Barb,” Gideon said when a woman got out. It was clear she’d been crying. “You okay?” His hand was already curling into a fist in expectation of what she would say.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone else would be here.”

“What happened?”

She tried to speak, but her words were blocked by tears. Gideon put a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay.” But that was a lie. Nothing was okay. “Can you tell me what happened?”

She pressed her fingers against her mouth as she fought for calm. “I don’t know what to do. Mr. Fairfax cancelled his order with me. It’s the only reason I’ve kept my business running, even with the discount. Without him, I’m ruined.”

“When did this happen?”

“Less than an hour ago. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You’ve come to the right place. Nikki’s inside.” He put his arm around her to steer her toward the church. “There are a few others, too.”

He waited at the bottom of the steps until she was inside, then he walked out to the road and looked for any other vehicles approaching. There would be more, maybe not coming to the church, but there would be a lot of people hurting right now.

Fairfax was attacking this town because of him. Reasserting his power in case anyone had gotten any ideas.

He headed back to the church but stopped at the steps. Going back inside now would only confuse things. He stalked around the yard for a few minutes. “I don’t know what to do,” he prayed. “Has everything come to a head for a reason? Was this all on purpose to lead to something?” He scrubbed his hand across his mouth. “I’ve done everything I could think of. What more do you want from me?” He looked up at the sky through the trees. “Why did you bring me here?”

He had been ready to go. He’d made his decision, but how many times had he done that since arriving? How many times had he tried to leave and then something happened to stop him? And here it was again. Maybe there would never be a right time to go, but if he left now, he’d be leaving a trail of destruction.

“Should I stay?” But he couldn’t stay. He’d pushed that as far as he could. Or had he?

Chapter 22

“Dad, you in there?”Gideon called through the garage door. “Dad!”

“Hold your horses.” Joey opened the door at the side and stuck his head around the corner. “What?”

“Hello to you too.”

“Hey,” Joey grunted, then, “Happy? What do you want?”

“I need a place to stay for the night. And I need somewhere to stow my truck.”

“Why?”

“Because if the mayor finds out I’m still in town, he’ll kill me.”

“Literally?”

“Uh…quite possibly, yes.”

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