Page 43 of When Forever Stays

“You dated Dana?” I ask, my voice as sharp as knives. The mix of pride and envy I felt morphs into pure, unadulterated jealousy.

“Uh, yeah. We went out for a few months, actually.” He tugs his shirt collar away from his throat. Beads of sweat form on his forehead. Something tells me Dana thought they were more serious than Dillon did.

“Aren’t you engaged?”

He scratches the back of his neck and looks uncomfortable. “Sadie and I started dating a couple of weeks after I broke things off with Dana. I proposed a month later. When you know, you know, right?” he asks, then gives an awkward laugh.

“So let me get this straight. You dated Dana, broke up with her, and got serious with another girl right after?” My blood boils not just because of what Dillon did but because I know Dillon wasn’t the only man to do this to Dana. The doctor from the hospital we ran into did the exact same thing to her.

She deserves better.

Red crawls up the sides of Dillon’s neck. “When you put it like that, it does sound pretty bad.”

My nostrils flare and my hands clench into fists on my lap. “I guess I just don’t understand how a man can walk away from a woman like Dana, let alone move on so fast.”Hypocrite!My subconscious screams at me.

His eyes narrow. “I can assure you, Dana is happy for us.”

I scoff.

Dillon’s lips pull into a firm line. “Coming here was a mistake. I may have prayed about this but talking to you now I don’t think we’d work well together.”

Despite agreeing with him on that point, I feel a tug that this–playing again on stage–is something God is calling me to do. A feeling that promises this time playing on stage will be very different.

Dillon stands.

I rise from my seat too. “Wait.”

He looks at me, the red on his face fading back to his usual pale tone.

“You said you prayed about this, right?” I ask.

Reluctantly, Dillon plops back down and nods in confirmation. “I did.”

“Give me a few days. Let me pray over this decision too, and I’ll let you know. If after some prayer God shows me this is Hiswill, I’ll make sure this stuff with Dana won’t get in the way of following God’s lead.”

Any harshness in Dillon’s expression vanishes. “I respect that and agree.” He takes my extended hand and we shake.

“Thank you for your consideration,” he says.

I nod, then see him out.

Once Dillon is gone, I release a deep breath. “I’m not sure what You’re doing, Lord, but I’m here for it either way.”

“Thank you for all your help,” Nancy Woodhouse says, patting my back as I finish washing up tonight’s dishes. “But I don’t want you to feel obligated to keep helping out around the house. That’s not why we invited you here to stay with us.”

“I appreciate that, Mrs. Woodhouse, but I’m hoping to get out of your hair soon.”

She playfully smacks my back with the dishtowel she’s using to dry the dishes. “You stop that nonsense. We’ve both enjoyed having you here. Clarence refuses to pay someone to do what he says he can do, but he couldn’t turn you down when you offered to do it for free. Good idea calling it a ‘thank you’ so he didn’t take too big of a hit to his pride.” She winks. ”Your future wife is going to be one lucky woman.”

There’s only one woman I could ever picture spending the rest of my life with and she hates me. I swallow the lump in my throat so I’m able to reply. “Thank you, but I’m not sure if I’m the settling down and getting married type.”

“You are the marriage type, mister. The right woman just hasn’t come along yet.”

“Yes, she has,” I say without thinking.

Nancy stops mid-dry, a sly smile on her face. It’s then that I realize the cunning woman set me up with her statement. “Is that so?”

“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

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