Tom turned and focused his brown eyes on me. The fire made his face shine. Or maybe he was blushing. “Listen to me going on about myself. I’m sorry. I’m just the unwanted visitor here. Tell me about you.”

“There’s not much to tell.”

“I doubt that. Everybody has a story.” He nodded at my left hand. “I see a ring. So you’re married?”

“Not for much longer.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I finally realized he’s not a good person.”

“Well, there are men like that. You deserve someone better.”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“You shouldn’t talk like that. I just met you, but I can already tell that you have a good heart. It shows in your eyes. Not to mention the fact that you’re very pretty.”

This time I was the one blushing. “You’re sweet.”

“Well, how could I not be to the woman who rescued me?”

“I wasn’t even supposed to be in that campground tonight,” I admitted. “I was running away.”

“From what?”

I hesitated, but Tom made me feel safe, so I told him what was going on. About Will, about Jay, about the body on the ice, about being unable to stay there. He was a sheriff in charge of deputies like me, and I thought I’d see judgment in his face. If one of his men did what I’d done, he’d fire him. But Tom let me off the hook.

“Sometimes it’s hard to see the higher purpose from where we are,” he said. “If you’d stayed and done your duty, you might feel better about yourself, but I’d still be in my truck freezing to death. Remember that.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I can call your boss and explain if you want. If you’re worried about your job.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“We all make mistakes, Rebecca, but like I said, life has a way of taking us where we’re supposed to be. I’m glad you ran away. You saved me.”

“Actually, you’re the one who saved me,” I said, blurting out the truth.

“How did I do that?”

“You stopped me.”

“From doing what?”

I shrugged, as if it were nothing. As if it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of the universe. “Shooting myself.”

He reacted by grabbing my face with his strong hands, cupping my cheeks gently as if holding on to something precious. “Rebecca. Is that really true?”

“I don’t know. That’s what was in my head. Maybe I would have chickened out.”

“Why would you even consider something like that?”

I felt my lower lip quivering. Any moment, I would lose it entirely. I was so full of self-pity, weighed down with self-hatred, that I could hardly breathe.