Hide in Plain Sight (17 page)

“And you didn’t remember it?”

“No. I asked Grams why they didn’t tell me, but apparently they thought it was better forgotten. Last night—last night I remembered, some of it at least. When I was digging the airhole, I could feel God’s presence with me. Somehow I’d lost that certainty of His presence, but now it’s back. And I remembered my grandfather’s voice, telling me to reach farther so I could take his hand. It kept me going.”

Cal held her hand between his palms, and his touch comforted her. “You feel differently about your grandfather than you did when you came.”

She nodded, wanting to articulate it. He needed to understand how she’d changed. “I can see him more clearly now, and look at the situation like an adult instead of a child. He was a strong, stubborn, fallible human being, not a superhero. He loved and he made mistakes, like we all do. But the loving—that was the important part.”

“I’m glad,” he said simply.

She turned to face him. “Understanding that made me see that I want things to be straight between us. No long silences or things left unsaid.”

“That’s asking a lot. I’m not sure I’m brave enough for that.”

“I think you are.” She had to give him the choice. Either they could take the risk of loving each other, or he could go back to hiding from the world in his safe, peaceful sanctuary.

He looked down at their clasped hands. “You know why I left. I’d started to care about you too much. I
knew the kind of life you want, and I couldn’t ask you to change. It seemed better—safer, I guess—if we parted before it became too difficult.” The corner of his lips curled slightly. “I was wrong. It was more than difficult. It was impossible. Andrea, I know that hiding isn’t the answer for me. I choose this life because it’s right for me, but I don’t want it to come between us.”

Something lifted inside her, and she wanted to laugh. They’d been so foolish, trying to protect themselves from falling in love. God had known better than they had.

“Funny thing about that.” She couldn’t help the lilt to her voice. “Being here with family again, seeing how unreasonable my boss is and how cutthroat my colleagues, made me take a serious look at what I want out of life. Maybe that security I was looking for doesn’t mean I have to have the biggest office, or make the most money.”

He was looking at her with so much love shining in his eyes that she didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry.

“I was thinking I might start a little bookkeeping business of my own, where I could be my own boss. You know any small towns that might need a business like that?”

He slid his arm around her and drew her close. “I think we might be able to find the right place. And I know a carpenter who’ll give you a good price on office furniture.”

She leaned into him, feeling his strength, knowing his character and his faith. She’d been looking for security in the wrong place, just as Cal had been
looking for peace in the wrong place. God was calling them to love and to dare, not to hide and be safe.

She lifted her face, meeting his lips, and knew this time she was home to stay.