Page 69 of Letters of Faith
His face melts into shock as the words hit him. My heart aches to wrap my arms around him and soak up the presence of his strength, but not this time. He can’t save me this time, because this time, he was the one to break me.
Chapter 30
Grayson
Georgia loves me—but she left.
Shelovesme,butshe left.
The words infiltrate my brain, but they won’t sink in.
Her car rumbled out of the driveway fifteen minutes ago, but I can’t move from where I was when she left.
I should have told her about the stupid letter—I meant to. I was going to, even, but I was afraid of this—of her walking away. Now she’s gone, and I don’t know what to do. She asked for time, but I don’t want to give her time. I want to drive to her house and make her talk to me, but that would contradict every time I’ve told her to be selfish—to find what she needs and take it. Pushing her won’t help, so I’m stuck here, staring at the door, silently praying she comes back.
The silence rings in my ears, and I can’t take it anymore. I pull my phone out of my pocket, dialing a number I never thought I would.
It rings several times. I’m about to hang up when my brother’s voice comes from the other side. “Hello.”
I can hear the confusion in his voice. He hasn’t even been gone an hour yet. I struggle to put words to why I’m calling, but the truth is I don’t know. It’s not like Brooks can call Georgia and make her change her mind, but I just needed—someone. Georgia is usually my someone—so Brooks will have to do for now, at least until I can thinkof a way to get Georgia to talk to me.
“It’s Grayson,” I say, stating the obvious.
“No, really? I never would have guessed from my caller ID.”
I don’t have time for sarcasm.
“Why did you get your tattoo?” I ask, ignoring his attempt to be funny. I don’t think he can handle the switch in conversation because silence follows my question.
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I check to make sure he’s still there. It still shows connected, so I place it back to my ear and wait.
“It means—”
“I know what it means,” I interrupt. “I want to know why you got it.”
There are muffled whispers on the other side of the phone, and heat creeps up my neck as I think about Emryn on the other side, listening to the conversation.
“You know what? Never mind. I’ll talk to you later.”
My thumb hovers over the screen, ready to hang up, when Brooks calls my name. I don’t answer, but I don’t hang up. He must think that’s good enough because he continues, “I got it as a reminder.”
“Of what?”
My entire body aches with the pain of all the choices I’ve made in my life—all of them leading me to places of heartbreak. So, I have to wonder what Brooks knows that I don’t because from where I’m standing, it doesn’t seem like he knows heartbreak.
“Do you know that night I came to your office for an interview?” he asks.
“Yes. What about it?”
“That night almost led to my divorce.”
Shock hits me in the chest. That night, I had been the worst version of myself. I thought Brooks was a deadbeat who’d come out of the woodwork, trying to take advantage of me and the success of my business. I’d been cruel at best, and when Brooks realized he wasn’tgoing to get anywhere with me, he’d said he was only trying to save his family. He’d left after that, not looking back, and I’d chalked it up to him trying another angle to get the job. But then he’d gotten a different job and started reaching out without the position hanging over our heads, and ever since then, he’s kept calling and showing up. Now we are here, and I realize I’ve been the worst kind of brother. If I were him, I’d hang up the phone and never speak to me again.
“I didn’t know.”
“Of course, you didn’t know,” he scoffs. “How could you have? I didn’t either. I thought I was just walking into a job interview, only to meet my big brother, but I guess that’s part of why I got the tattoo. We don’t know God’s plans for us, but we can guarantee they are meant for our good. It took me a long time to realize that.”
“What about you and Emryn? How did you fix that?”
