Page 48 of Stealing Kisses

“You’d think they’d never seen a professional athlete,” Baylin joked.

“Maxwell is thrilled to have Teddy here…moves some of the spotlight onto someone else,” Janie Lyn confided.

“Is it difficult?” Baylin asked. “Being with a celebrity football player?”

“It isn’t always easy,” Janie Lyn answered. “I don’t imagine any relationship is, regardless of what careers those involved pursue.”

“It just seems like the travel and the schedule and the lifestyle add additional layers of challenges.”

“I’m sure they do for some couples. Maxwell and I face life head on. Whether handling the uniqueness of his career, my family history — which, as you know, is another issue entirely — or anything else that arises, we lean on one another, and we always putusfirst.”

“What about all the time he’s away?”

“Football differs from baseball in that they play fewer games, but I’d guess that between training camps, meetings, preseason, the regular season, and postseason opportunities, the time commitments are similar.”

“Is he ever home?”

Janie Lyn chuckled. “Homebaseis Green Hills.Homeis wherever we are together. I attend as many games as I can around the projects I have going with The Christmas Collection project here. And when the strain of being apart gets heavy, I travel to be with Maxwell.”

“I’m not sure I can do that with the farm.”

“It’s not the same situation, that’s true,” Janie Lyn allowed. Sympathy filled her kind eyes. “Henry Ford said,Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.Conversely, if you look for solutions, you and Teddy will find them. If you love one another, then building a life together— however that looks with Green Hills as a home base and intentional planning around his baseball schedule to spend time together — is worth whatever it takes to follow your hearts.”

If you love one another…

Did they?

Baylin snuck another glance Teddy’s way. Their eyes met. That had happened all morning, all throughout church.

When their hands had touched during the service, their fingers entwined. Neither pulled away.

They’d only known each other a few days; they’d only confirmed their feelings toward one another hours before.

Did Cupid always work so fast?

A litany of questions ricocheted around her brain.

Am I merely a conquest Teddy wants to win?

He’d made it no secret that he didn’t like to lose. And he’d been adamant that she change the way she lived. Was the attraction between them just another game?

Despite the doubts creeping into her subconscious, Baylin’s heart yearned to try, yearned to love.

Belief that Teddy felt the same way dominated her considerations. And weren’t belief and faith one and the same?

Mr. Mitchell’s sermon that morning had focused on faith.

He began the lesson with a quote attributed to Bill Gates,With great wealth comes great responsibility.

Then he shared a photo of the 1962Amazing Fantasy #15edition of Stan Lee’sSpider Mancomic book, which said the same thing:With great power comes great responsibility.

Next, Mr. Mitchell had asked everyone to turn to Luke 12:47–48…

The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. Fromeveryone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

And to read Matthew 21:22…

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

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