“When you hit bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up unless you want to let the trials of life defeat you. It does help to have a strong faith, though.”

“I used to—or thought I did—until God ignored my pleas to enlighten my husband and let my son die.”

Christi’s pulse stumbled.

She’d lost her son?

Tough as her own situation had been these past few years, no one she’d cared about had died.

“I’m sorry.” Lame. But without knowing any of the details, what else could she say?

“Thank you.” Beth dabbed at her nose with the tissue and closed the lid on her meal, as if the sight and smell of food had suddenly grown distasteful. “I don’t talk much about what happened—and we’re new acquaintances—but I sensed the day we met that you’d been through the fire. That we were kindred spirits and that I could trust you.”

Too bad Jack hadn’t felt the same at their reunion.

But it was heartening to know a new acquaintance recognized the changes in her—and realized they were genuine.

“I appreciate you saying that—and I assure you I’ll keep anything you share with me in confidence.”

Beth pressed a crease into the folded paper napkin beside her plate. “The bottom line is my son died because my husband pushed him to be something he could never be.”

While Christi tried to absorb Beth’s revelation, the woman told her in a handful of tear-laced sentences about all the years her pleas to her husband had fallen on deaf ears . . . how she’d begged him to forget about his dreams of an athletic son and instead encourage the boy’s artistic talents . . . and the fateful high school graduation gift that had precipitated Jonathan’s death.

“Oh, Beth.” Christi laid her hand over the woman’s clenched fingers. “I had no idea.”

“Few people do. Steve and I always kept our disagreements about Jonathan to ourselves. In every other way he was a wonderful husband and father, but that was a constant conflict. And after Jonathan died . . .” She wadded the tissue in her fist. “I couldn’t stay with him. How could I forgive him not only for what he did to our son but for ruining my life and the future I’d hoped for?”

As Beth’s question hung in the air between them, Christi’s stomach bottomed out.

From everything Jack had said in the past couple of weeks, he’d felt exactly the same after her betrayal—his life ruined, the future he’d hoped for in tatters.

And having heard Beth’s emotional story, it was easier than ever to understand why he’d be as unwilling to forgive as her boss.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump all my troubles on you.” Beth pushed her meal aside.