Page 9 of Wait for Me

Madly?

Logan stopped outside Marie’s door, and stood there.

Just stood there.

In some of their arguments throughout their short-lived marriage, Marie had accused him of having married her on the rebound. It could be true. Logan had been engaged to a twice-married wealthy businesswoman, who had abruptly broken off their engagement and had eloped with someone else to wherever.

Whatever.

Logan lifted his knuckles to knock on the heavy door. It opened before his hand reached it.

Marie peeked out through the partially open door.

“You’re forgiven,” she snapped.

And then she slammed the door in Logan’s face.

Chapter Four

Summoned by a child to a morning Bible study, Marie was only too eager to be there to have something to do while the cruise ship was at sea. Due to her jet lag, she had been up since three in the morning, and had gone to the gym and pool and back to her empty stateroom before sunrise.

However, now that she was sitting in the same space as her ex-husband, Marie didn’t feel like she belonged, as if three years of being gone had erased all feelings of familiarity in this once-family.

The fifteen-minute Bible study had turned into twenty minutes, as little Jonas had insisted that Mrs. Ping read them the riot act—uh, participation rules—the first five minutes of the all-too-important meeting.

Everyone had to sit down quietly. No cell phones allowed. No texting.

“Sit and listen,” Jonas had warned them twice.

“If you do not have a Bible, a paperback one will be provided for you,” Mrs. Ping added. “We look at paper, not pixel.”

Somewhere in the twenty-first minute, Marie thought she was going to snap.

“How did David cut off Goliath’s head?” Jonas asked.

“What?” Marie gasped.

Sitting on the other side of Mrs. Ping, Logan must have seen Marie’s concern. Instead of looking at his own Bible, he leaned over toward Mrs. Ping’s large-print Bible, and started to mumble. “Ah, decapitation.”

“I thought we’re reading the children’s Bible,” Marie said. “He’s only five.”

“I’ll be six next year, Mommy.” Jonas tugged her arm.

Great.

Marie tried to even out her breathing. “Why don’t we get to the details of decapitation later? Like when he’s thirty years old.”

“Decaf?” Jonas’s eyes lit up. “Like coffee? Decaf coffee.”

How did this child leap from decapitated to decaffeinated?

“Not decaf. I mean…uh, stuff like that. We’ll talk about them when you’re older, okay?”

“Stuff?” Jonas asked. “Did they stuff Goliath’s—”

“Stop!” Marie pressed a hand to her chest.

“Mommy.” Jonas shook his head. “I already know that David killed Goliath. I wanna know how he did it exactly. Did he use a light saber?”

---