David sat back in his chair. He was quiet a long time and Jimmy wanted to fill in the silence with information about where they lived and how old they were and other details. Then he thought of the counselor’s advice. Only answer the questions asked. So he sat on David’s bed and watched and waited.

Finally David spoke. “Wow, they look like nice people.”

“They sure do, sport.”

Then, as if all his questions were answered, he handed the picture back. It was all Jimmy could do to hold back and not ask what he thought, what was going through his mind. He thought David would ask when he could go and see Melissa and how long of a drive it would be and a million other questions.

Instead, David said, “Can we go fishing?”

Jimmy smiled and nodded. “That sounds like a great idea.”

CHAPTER 15

Melissa had resigned herself to the life of a single mom. It wasn’t her dream, but it was her reality. She had met a few men in recent years who seemed interested in her, but when they found out she had a child, their interest waned. A man who worked in a different department at the bank had invited her to dinner, but when she mentioned needing to get a sitter, he told her he’d get back to her. She knew he wouldn’t and she was right.

The divorce from Brian had left a scar she wasn’t sure would ever heal. She struggled with numbing herself with alcohol, but on the morning when she woke up unable to stop her head from pounding, unable to care for Courtney, she vowed she wouldn’t repeat that mistake.

Still, there was something empty inside, as if someone had hollowed out a place in her soul that nothing could fill. Even in her most contented moments, when she was able to pay the bills and watch Courtney go to school and just relax a little, there was an ache that wouldn’t go away.

Melissa thought the ache was the load of things in her wagon from the past. There was the memory of David and the choice she had made to let him go. There was her divorce, her inability to find a man who really loved her, and losses that added to the weight. But the further away from those events she traveled, the more she thought there was something deeper going on.

She decided that she wanted to give Courtney the experience of going to church. She took Courtney to the church Addie had attended just to try it out. When the young people were dismissed to “children’s church,” Courtney bounded out of the sanctuary with the others and Melissa settled in to listen to the message.