Page 94 of Wait for Me

Marie hugged him. “Yes, you are. And I’m going to give you another job.”

“How much does it pay?” Jonas tried to deepen his voice.

Logan coughed.

Marie laughed. “What have you been teaching your son?”

“He’s your son too.”

The doorbell rang. Logan went to get it.

Jonas held Marie tighter. “Don’t go! Don’t go!”

“Jonas, your new job is to pray to God every day for Mommy until I come back to you,” Marie said. “Can you do that?”

From the corner of her eye, Marie saw Mrs. Ping come down the hallway. She would be taking over as soon as Marie left.

“What should I pray for?” Jonas wiped his eyes.

“We can start with the fruit of the Spirit. That should take you nine days.”

“I don’t like all fruits. Only yellow kiwis.”

“It’s a metaphor—never mind. Daddy will tell you what the fruit of the Spirit is. Won’t you, Logan?” Marie looked up.

Logan had opened the door to a man in sunglasses.

“Hey Keenan,” Marie said. “Meet Logan Urquhart, the father of my son.”

Marie wasn’t sure if it was a weird way to introduce her ex-husband, but the words went out of her mouth before she could edit them.

Logan tried to shake hands with Keenan O’Tierney, but the latter extended his left hand, making Logan do the same.

“So you work for Esperanza?” Logan asked.

“With her,” Keenan replied. “We both own Mendenhall Security.”

Marie let the men talk while she focused on Jonas. “Will you ask God to keep us safe?”

“And bring you back to me.” Jonas hugged her. “You don’t have to see Daddy if you don’t want to. Come home to me, Jonas Ukulele.”

“What?” Marie’s eyes widened.

“You can live with me in the basement, Mommy. It’s a big place, and we can play all day like yesterday.”

Marie chuckled. “Jonas, remember that God cares for us and He loves us.”

“Yes.”

“God protects us no matter where we are. I will see you soon.” Marie kissed her son on the top of his head.

“How soon?” Jonas Ukulele asked.

“Very soon.”

“Very, very soon?” Jonas knotted his eyebrows together. Now he looked like Logan when the latter was concerned about something.

“Sooner than you think.”

---