“But that doesn’t mean it’s been super easy to grow up with a dead brother.”

“Life isn’t easy. If you want to find out how hard it can be, then mess up as much as I have. If you want to save yourself a lot of grief and jail time, then start taking responsibility for yourself.”

“But—”

“No buts. Don’t blame anyone else for your mistakes. Especially not Ethan. He doesn’t deserve it.”

She set her chin at a defiant angle, but then her shoulders relaxed. “Fine. Does this mean that you’ll fix up my car?”

“On a trial basis.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” Her face brightened and she lifted a hand for him to high-five.

He didn’t reciprocate.

“Fine,” she said. “Leave me hanging. Can I give you a hug?”

After a reluctant sigh, he nodded.

She came around the table and leaned down to wrap her arms around him. “Thank you, Luke.”

Several miles south of Luke’s apartment building, Finley pulled to a stop on the side of a country road. This location would look unremarkable to the rest of the drivers who passed it today. Yet this particular spot, bordered on both sides by nature, had so profoundly impacted her life that her knees were already quivering. It was anything but unremarkable to her.

A Nissan zoomed by. She couldn’t make out much about the driver, except that he was male and didn’t look her way.

She took a fortifying breath and exited her car. Picking her way around shrubs and beneath trees, she reached the place where Chase’s car had crashed to a halt.

His Jeep had left a path of destruction. It had gouged the earth and cracked one young tree clean in half.

Numerous times, she’d come here. Sometimes on Chase’s birthday. The anniversary of his death. The anniversary of the day he proposed.The anniversary of what would’ve been their wedding.

The first several times, it had looked as though the damaged young tree would not survive. A large section of it had, indeed, died. Gradually, though, the remaining section recovered. It gained height and breadth.

Finley rested her palm on the dark fractured piece of its trunk. Anyone who cared to look closely would always be able to see the harm that had been done to the tree. Her vision traveled upward. But anyone who cared to look closely would also see life. A canopy of brand-new spring leaves arched above her.

She would always bear the mark that Chase’s death had left on her. But that didn’t have to stunt her future. It didn’t have to mean that scars couldn’t become a part of a beautiful whole. God held life in His palms, and He was calling her to continue living and growing.