Page 92 of To Believe In You
Probably not.
She ought to get back out there. Find not only a good guy, but therightone. The one God had for her.
Hopefully Goddidhave one for her. If not, He’d have a lot of work to do on her heart to teach her to be content.
“You know I want things to work out for you.” The low timbre of Matt’s voice flooded her with longing.
It wasn’t fair that her affection waited at his beck and call, as though a little notice amounted to the love she craved. She crossed her arms on the desk. “In what way?”
His brow knit. “I want you to be happy.”
“I am.” She paused to steady her voice. “I’m very happy.”
He nodded slowly. “So the honesty thing is off now.”
Her conscience pricked. Even if they didn’t have a future, she wanted the best relationship possible with him. She wanted to ask how he was doing. But her interest in him was too intense to be healthy. Whatever friendship he offered would never fulfill her ache for more.
“We don’t have a future.” She cleared her throat, her composure draining like sand from an hourglass. “Right? But we do work together. You asked for time off. It’s short notice, but I’ll work it out.”
He swallowed visibly. Nodded. Flinched.
She caught herself chewing her lip, realized he could see the movement, and stopped. But fidgeting had been one of the few things standing between her and tears. She knotted her fingers together.
His eyes narrowed with concentration. Maybe his skin was a little pale. The scab on his temple hadn’t disappeared yet. “I need the time off to go talk to Nadia. She and her son live in Texas.”
The words cracked her defenses in half. A son.
“Are you okay?”
He laughed ruefully. “Not by a long shot. But I’m sober and trusting God’s going to be enough, whatever’s in store in Texas.”
He spoke of his faith so naturally and quickly. She could do so much better at trusting God in her own circumstances. “That’s good. I’m glad to hear it. I mean, not the part about not being okay, but sober and with faith …”
Matt nodded as he backed away from her desk. He paused at the mouth of the hallway, as though on the verge of choosing to stay. Instead, he left.
* * *
“Want to detour through the dealership?”Tim drummed his fingers on the wheel. “We’ve got a couple minutes before we have to be on the road.”
At least one of them was looking on the bright side of Matt’s return to Awestruck. His role had been finalized with a contract and a check and everything. Gannon, John, and Philip were meeting them for dinner to celebrate. With some time to spare before Philip could make it over from his home in Mariner, Tim had brought Matt to Key of Hope so he could quit and transition fully into his new role.
Little did Tim know Matt hadn’t put in his notice. He hadn’t even told Lina the band had signed him.
He’d meant to do both.
Matt studied the back entrance of Key of Hope. Despite the fresh paint and the new sign over the door, it was just another old downtown building. One that had come to mean a lot to him, mostly thanks to Lina.
Because of her, he always looked forward to his shifts. Working together eased the pain of their severed connection … or did it only keep the pain fresh?
Signing with Awestruck meant the time had come to walk away. The longer he waited, the more likely that Tim, the guys, and even Lina would press about why he was attached to a job he didn’t need.
He could blame the kids without being completely dishonest.
Chris was blitzing through the material twice as fast as Matt’s other students and had already started his own band. Never mind that they’d probably never made it through a full song—and if they had, it must’ve been an ear-splitting racket. Chris had enough passion to take him places someday, and Matt didn’t want to give up his spot on the sidelines as the boy came into his own.
After his trip to Texas, he’d broach the subject of Key of Hope with Gannon and John. If the guys really couldn’t spare him a few hours a week, he’d quit, but he suspected they’d respect a decision to finish out a commitment by seeing the semester through.
“So. Dealership?”
