Page 54 of Below the Far Horizon
His entire chest lit up as well. He tried to calm himself down. After all, she might be going to tell him that she never wanted to see him again, or that they were going to need to figure out how to navigate the waters of their parents having a relationship and her not wanting to see him, or she might be wanting to tell him that she wanted their parents to move into his house, so she would never have to see him.
Why did all the negative things have to go through his head? Why did he focus on those things?
He set the tool he’d been using down and picked up his phone.
Okay. When?
He sent the message back, trying not to think about it too much. He’d just focus on what he was doing and let things happen the wayGod wanted them to. God knew what he wanted, he prayed for it enough, but he needed to accept God’s will, if that’s what it was.
Would today work? Eleven o’clock?
Trevor glanced at his phone when it dinged and then glanced at the time. An hour from now.
He wished she would have said now, so he didn’t have to sit and think about it for sixty minutes.
He grabbed his phone and typed a quick message.
I’ll be there.
He sat back down and tried to focus on the stool he’d been making. Furniture seemed to be more his style, since the crafty things he could do, but he couldn’t decorate. His dad was right, he and Grace would make a great pair, since he could make the bones, and she could make them look beautiful.
Still, making furniture was nice as well. And he loved working with wood, taking pieces that didn’t look like anything, and seeing the potential inside of them. He liked thinking about how they used to be trees, growing in the woods, reaching out to the sky, maybe home for squirrels or rest for a bird or a place for deer to rub their antlers on. Now, they had a second life in the home of a human family, bringing joy and beauty to wherever they ended up.
The whole life cycle fascinated him, and he was honored and happy to be a part of it.
The next forty-five minutes crawled by. He almost quit ten minutes early, but then what in the world was he going to do? It would only take ten minutes to walk to the healing garden, and if he left too soon, he would be early. But five minutes early was better than fifteen minutes early, since he would get there and start pacing, upsetting anyone who had been going there to find peace and quiet and comfort. He didn’t want to do that. The healing garden meant too much to too many people for him to despoil the serenity folks found there.
It was an interesting choice for Grace to make, and maybe in a waythat showed how much she wanted to get along and not fight when she said whatever it was she had to say.
Maybe she had something good to say. Something he wanted to hear. He tried to tell himself that, although he had a hard time convincing himself that that was true. But maybe he just needed to let go of his expectations and show up. Just show up with no preconceived notions and no thoughts on what he expected from her.
Or on what he expected from himself. Other than to be kind and compassionate, no matter what.
He found himself walking faster than he normally did down the street toward the healing garden. Even if he got there early, he could enjoy the beauty and serenity, and it could help calm his soul and prepare him for whatever Grace wanted.
But to his surprise when he arrived, she was already there. There were no cars in the parking lot, so when he walked around the turn and saw a woman standing with her hands behind her back, looking at the waterfall, his favorite spot, he knew it was Grace even before she moved, and the sunlight caught her hair, shining like a halo around her head.
His heart skipped a beat. It probably always would every time he laid eyes on her. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to get it to stop.
Maybe he should move somewhere far, far away. But he wouldn’t do that until after his father was gone. Because he wasn’t going to leave his dad. That was the reason he moved back. He wasn’t going to be a coward and run from a woman.
“Trevor,” Grace said as she turned, her hands going to her throat, her eyes opening wide. “You’re early.”
She almost looked like she wasn’t expecting him. He had said he was going to be there, hadn’t he?
“So are you,” he said, stating the obvious.
“I know. I was hoping to draw a little inspiration and maybe calmness and courage.”
Courage? What did she need courage for?
He walked over, stopping within five feet of her. Plenty of space between them, but not so much that they couldn’t hear each other over the sound of the water. It was soothing and beautiful and absolutely perfect. Vera and Dominic had done an excellent job in designing it.
“Maybe that’s what I was thinking,” he finally said as he turned toward the water, putting his hands behind his back. He didn’t know what else to do with them, because he was tempted to touch her. And that wouldn’t be appropriate.
“Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. Especially after what I said at the picnic.”
“You were just saying what you meant. How you felt. There’s nothing wrong with that. No one expects you to pretend something you don’t feel.”
