Page 20 of The Convict Gets His Girl

It was not a good Lyme morning. If she'd still been in Houston, she would've slept in and spent the morning trying to kick her headache and fatigue. As it was, her dad had banged on her door like she was still a teenager, gruffly barking orders to get up and around.

Not for the first time, she considered staying with one of her cousins or at the old motel on the edge of town. Her nose wrinkled to remember it as she'd driven by.

She locked the door and turned on her bare feet to race down the sidewalk to the drive, throwing open the door and hopping inside.

Henry scowled as he backed out of the driveway. "Took you long enough. Thought you would've outgrown being late."

She didn't engage, instead just slipping on her sandals and rifling in her bag for a ponytail holder. Without a mirror in the backseat, she did the best she could to pull her hair up and into a bun.

The worship team was already playing when they walked into the church and took the same seats her family had had since she could remember. The wood paneling inside had been painted and updated in the years she'd been gone, and the carpet had been replaced.

Otherwise, it was the same as before. Once they found their seats, she set her Bible down beside Gemma before stepping away to the bathroom. She splashed water on her neck and worked on breathing exercises to find her center and reset her mind.

Rushing through the morning and being stressed wasn't what her body needed right now. She closed her eyes and listened to the soft music as it echoed in the bathroom, her hands slightly shaking. A stall flushed, and Jewel moved to the side of the sink, digging for her lipstick and mascara.

She swiped them on as a strikingly beautiful woman came out of the stall and washed her hands. Black hair falling past her shoulders, she smiled kindly and said, "Hello."

Jewel nodded and murmured a reply before applying her mascara.

"That's a beautiful shade of lipstick on you," the woman said.

Jewel smiled and blinked back tears, closing the mascara and putting it back into her bag. "Thank you, that's so sweet. I really needed to hear that today, you have no idea."

The woman leaned against the counter and dried her hands. "Anytime. Are you alright?"

Jewel shrugged and looked at herself in the mirror, taking a deep breath. "I will be eventually. I just moved back home so I can sort some things out and take control of my life. No worries though. I'll figure it out."

The woman tilted her head, then she thrust a palm out. "I'm Taylor, and I'm new to town too. I'm the new librarian."

Jewel shook her hand, warmth spreading with hope of a new friend. "I'm Jewel. I'm joining my family's veterinarian practice after years of telling them no."

Taylor hummed thoughtfully. "Family, am I right? Damned if you do and damned if you don't."

Jewel chuckled as Taylor paused and wrinkled her nose. "I probably shouldn't say that in church, huh? If I'm struck by lightning, make sure they put something nice on my tombstone."

Jewel laughed and grabbed her bag. "I think you'll be fine. God's got enough to worry about without monitoring for language in church. Although don't tell my teenager I said that."

Taylor laughed and followed her out of the bathroom. "Fair enough. It was nice meeting you."

"You too," Jewel said, as they both slipped back into the sanctuary and to their seats.

Landry grinned at the crowd from the stage and talked between the songs about how good life is, then they started another song as the pastor walked up.

Jewel frowned and looked around slowly, but didn't see Chase. He wasn't playing on stage with the rest of his brothers, which was odd. She remembered him playing with them when they were kids and would do specials.

When the music ended, Chase strode from the back of the church up the side by the wall and slid into their family's pew, Hunter joining him in the end.

From the back, all the Williams' brothers looked nearly identical. Same broad shoulders, same tilt of their head, same light brown hair, their haircuts the only difference. Not for the first time, she berated herself for mixing up the two brothers all those years ago.

Her mind wandered to the past until the pastor began to speak about the woman at the well. She sighed as her shoulders slumped.

She was so tired of this guilt and anger at herself for her past. She knew everyone made mistakes—she'd thought of Chase's words on the porch since yesterday—but that didn't make her feel any better about it.

When the message was over, she followed the crowd to the front door of the church, forming a line to shake the pastor's hand.

"Well, well, we meet again," a soft voice came from behind her in line.

She looked behind her shoulder and smiled. "Taylor, I was hoping to run into you."

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