Page 48 of Forged in Peril

“Can you stay for a little longer? Just until I get tired,” she said, her words coming in a rush. “Which shouldn’t be long. I know it’s silly, and I’m safe, but–”

“Yes,” he said, taking a few short steps toward her and dropping onto the carpeted floor. “Of course I’ll stay, as long as you need me to. Just say when.”

“Thank you.”

The room went quiet again, save for the gentle sound of their breaths.

Despite his less-than-comfortable position sitting in the middle of the floor, and the secret that Bristol had just shared, Cam felt a warm, happy feeling spreading through his chest.

It felt right being here, next to her, her face scrubbed free of any makeup, her hair out of place, her feet bare.

It felt like a glimpse at the future he had prayed for, for so many years, where she was his wife, and she was happy.

“Cam?” she said again.

He smiled to himself.

“Bristol?”

“I’m sorry I’ve been so closed off.”

“Anyone would be. You’ve been through something traumatic. It’s normal.”

He heard her sleeping bag rustling beside him, and despite the shadows, he could picture her shaking her head, tendrils of hair escaping the confines of her bun.

“That’s not what I meant.”

She paused, and he waited, hope swelling within his heart.

“After my dad left, I promised myself that I’d never put myself in the same situation my mother is in. I never wanted to rely on a man like she did, because in my experience, men let women down.”

Bristol’s father was a scumbag for abandoning his family, sure, but was that enough for her to make the same assumption about every other man in the world?

About him?

“Anyway, I really did–really do–want to be a lawyer. I’m passionate about the law, and I like that it gives me a chance to help people,” she continued. “But the way that I left things with you when I decided to go to Columbia wasn’t right. I was a jerk, and I should have apologized years ago. I’m sorry.”

Cameron was thankful that she couldn’t see him wincing at the memory.

After dating Bristol for three years of high school, he thought that finally they had worked things out.

She’d go to school in Texas, they’d stay together, and they’d both get what they wanted.

But in the end, after planning the perfect proposal and getting down on one knee, the girl he loved had told him that she’d changed her mind, and that she didn’t want him holding her back while she chased her dreams.

They were done, and everything that he had dreamed of for the future came crashing to the ground in an instant.

“Thank you,” he said at last. “I missed you a lot when you went away. It was an adjustment, and I kept praying you’d come home, but you never did.”

He tried to keep the lingering pain from showing in his voice. It had been a long time ago. There was no point in making her feel guilty for the decisions that her teenage self had made.

On the other hand, he couldn’t pretend that he had forgotten, or that he no longer cared, or that she hadn’t broken his heart. Broken trust wasn’t easy to mend, but if Bristol was willing to try, so was he.

“I don’t pray much these days,” Bristol said, her voice lonely in the dark and the quiet. “Usually, it’s just when I need something, you know? Once I lost the habit of talking to God, it just got easier and easier to forget about Him completely.”

“Do you ever think about coming back?” he asked. “To the Lord, I mean?”

Her voice was a whisper.

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