to be hurt.”
“No one has an answer to why bad things happen. But look at the people who were protected. He put Tommy in front of Gregory Garrison’s office at the right moment, in time to be saved. What if he had been somewhere else? What if I had gone to my basement? What if Chico hadn’t been running loose, and you hadn’t brought him to me? Where would you have been?”
“We still can’t find Tommy’s dog.” Colt said it like a last-ditch attempt at proving her faith wrong.
“I’m praying Tommy’s dog is out there. We’ve found other animals that we thought were lost for good.”
“That’s the difference between me and you, Lexi. You have faith that He really is up there, taking time for us. I look at this town and wonder where He was that day in July when we needed Him. I wonder where He was when Gavin got shot on that highway outside of town.”
“He was there with Gavin, and now Gavin is with Him.” She flinched against the anger in Colt’s eyes, but she didn’t back down. “And on that day in July, He was sheltering a little girl this town named Kasey, and watching over a boy named Tommy.”
“So He saved some and not others. Look at this ravaged building, right next to the church, but the church is still standing.”
“I think you lost that argument. The church is still standing. Solid. I think that sometimes bad things happen and we find faith to get through, to find purpose and to move on.”
“Is that what you’ve done, found faith?”
“Yes, I’ve found faith, Colt. I’ve found what I spent my childhood searching for.” And what she thought she’d find in a marriage to him. It had taken divorce for faith to become real in her life. “And whether you want to admit it or not, you still have faith. You’ve just buried it beneath anger and resentment.”
“I can’t have this conversation right now.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to preach.”
He laughed and leaned, his forehead resting against hers. “Yes, you did.”
No, she hadn’t. But it felt good, to be able to defend what she believed. Church was more than a place she went to hide. It was more than the fairy tale she’d believed in as a child, the place she went to, looking for a happy-ever-after.
Finding faith was the one good thing that came out of her divorce.
Colt knew that he should back away from Lexi. But he couldn’t. He had almost lost her in that tornado. Not a day went by that he didn’t think about that, and about his life without her in it. But she wasn’t really in his life, not now. He had made that choice, to separate and then divorce.
He stepped back, aware as always that she was beautiful. She was a city girl who wore blazers and scarves. She had come to him with everything, and nothing. She had wanted a family. And babies.
She wanted lots of babies.
His guilt, over not getting to Gavin on time, had been a wedge that drove them apart. He had faced God with anger. She had retreated into faith, believing everything would be okay.
He hadn’t wanted to fail her, not Lexi with her silky brown hair that hung in a curtain past her shoulders. She parted it on the side and it had a way of falling forward when she worked. It was the sweetest and the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He sighed and moved away from her.
“Colt, don’t walk away.”
He walked back to her side, took her hand and led her away from the building site where curious eyes watched and a few people whispered and nodded in their direction.
He knew what those people were saying. The whole town was talking about the two of them getting back together. As if it meant something to find them buried in that basement together.
“Remember what you said on our first date?” He let go of her hand.
“I wanted a real family, the kind that went to church together and took walks. I was a kid, Colt. I had dreams of what a perfect family looked like. I didn’t know then what I know now, that there’s more to it.”
“And I promised to give you that family.” He hadn’t.
A few years ago, they had been talking about having children. Colt had embraced the idea, picturing a little girl with her eyes and his hair. Or maybe the other way around. Definitely a girl with Lexi’s heart.
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned as Reverend Garrison walked up. Reverend. It was still hard to call Michael by that title.
“Hey, how are the two of you doing over here?” Michael picked up a stone and stacked it on the pile. “Some of these stones are engraved with dates of the first settlers’ weddings. If you see them, try to separate them. I think they would be perfect for the landscaping project.”
Colt didn’t answer. He gave his friend a look and went back to stacking blocks. Michael had found a way to remind Colt that he and Lexi had been married here.
“We’re just reminiscing, Michael.” Lexi smoothed her hair back from her face and gave Colt a look that he’d seen before.
“There’s a lot of that going on.” Michael Garrison stopped working and pulled off his gloves. Colt ignored his matchmaking friend. Michael had brought up—more than once—that Colt and Lexi had spent six long hours stuck in that basement, the two of them and God. Maybe that had been God’s way of giving them time alone to work on their relationship.
Michael never left God out of the equation. That made Colt a little itchy around his neck.
“We’ve got a lot to get done.” Colt stacked more blocks in the wheelbarrow.
“Snake.” Michael pointed. Colt wasn’t fooled. He’d already fallen for Lexi’s little joke.
And then it hissed. Colt jumped back, and Michael laughed. Lexi’s laughter was soft, a little husky. He glanced her way and tried to pretend the snake didn’t matter. It slithered away and he reached for another block.
“We’re having a Labor Day picnic here on Sunday after church.” Michael said it as if it meant something. “We could use some help with the grills.”
Of course. Colt had known it had to be something. “I can help. What time do you want me to be here?”
“Church starts at eleven.”
Colt glanced from his ex-wife to what could soon be his ex-friend. Colt hadn’t been to church since before the divorce. Since Gavin’s death.
His partner’s death wasn’t the only thing that had driven the wedge between him and God. Somewhere along the way, he’d gotten angry. He just hadn’t gotten it, the whole God thing.
He couldn’t forget an auction from when he was a kid, when land from his family farm had been sold off, piece by piece.
Church at eleven. Lexi watched him, teeth holding her bottom lip and blue eyes wide, waiting. He wasn’t going to make a promise that he might not keep. All of his life he had been proud that
