Despite her quibbles over some of the twists and turns her life had taken, everything was, ultimately, exactly as it should be.

Praise you, God. Thank you.

She cried and praised Him, praised Him and cried.

The woman who delighted in tidy math quotients enjoyed feeling as though she understood God’s plan. She liked clear guidance and guarantees. It made her comfortable to believe she had a degree of power over her brother and her relationship with Sebastian.

But God was bigger than her wishes. His methods didn’t always suit her. Often, He didn’t make her privy to His ways. Sometimes, she couldn’t fathom His plan. And in the end, she had no power to wield.

He was the only guarantee she was going to receive.

Fortunately, He was the only guarantee she needed.

Her task: to surrender.

If God could accomplish His will for Dylan so beautifully, then He could accomplish His will for her and Sebastian, too.

Still sniffling, she texted Sebastian.

Meet me at the garden next to the hospital in an hour?

Years ago, the industrial building adjacent to the hospital had been demolished. A husband had purchased the lot in order to show his appreciation to the doctors and nurses who’d saved his wife’s life. He’d turned the rubble into a lavish garden for hospital staff, patients, and community members.

Sebastian responded immediately.

See you then.

Sebastian had been trying not to sink into depression over Leah.

Her brother was recovering, and so, of course, Dylan was her priority. The fact that she hadn’t asked to speak with him until now didn’t necessarily mean that she was fine with their breakup. He’d been telling himself that she might still be willing to take him back.

He hadn’t convinced himself.

Fighting down stress, he sat on a wooden bench in the garden, elbows planted on his knees.

It scared him to want something as much as he wanted Leah. Especially because he wasn’t sure what to do to convince her to give him another chance.

If you want to express how you feel about me, I recommend that you tell me, she’d said to him once.

So he’d decided to do just that. To tell her. That’s what he’d shown up at her house the other morning to do. But then Dylan had injured himself, and the time hadn’t been right since for an honest conversation between them.

Was the time right now?

Had he chosen the right approach? Not only did simply telling her that he loved her—putting himself out there like that—terrify him, it also seemed too simple.