AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“See? There is something. Just tell me.”
“Fine. So Matt texted me last night and wanted to talk, and I texted him back, but he hasn’t responded. And his daughter told me that her mother was over and they were all eating dinner. So I don’t know.”
Raine took a seat on a little pier and she sat next to him. “What is the best thing for Lucy? I guess that’s my question.”
Lucy had to admit that with Raine so close, and after spending such a casual day together, she was dang attracted to him. It wasn’t just that he’d come into her life during a crazy time. They’d met the other day in the hardware shop with all the falling duct tape, then gotten to know each other during the ride and stargazing, and he’d just met one of her best friends and seemed to take it all in stride. She wasn’t sure where she stood with Matt, but Raine didn’t seem like the jealous type.
She reached out and lightly traced a hand down his cheek. “You’re a good man, Raine Birch, but … I don’t know where I’m at in my relationship with Matt. I’m sorry. I don’t want to lead you on, but I can’t tell you that I’m over him. I’m not.”
Raine took her hand, turning it over and kissing the back of it. “That’s okay.” He smiled at her and dropped her hand. “I told you, we’re friends. That’s all. Even if you get back with this Matt person everyone talks about, I still want to be your friend. And I need a friend. It was a lot of fun today, meeting Bridezilla.”
Lucy grinned, and she could feel his sincerity. “It was fun.” Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out and checked it. “Dawn says you’re invited to the wedding.”
He laughed. “Well, tell her I’d love to go.”
Her phone buzzed again. Her amusement faded as she saw the new message.
“What?” Raine asked. “Is Bridezilla demanding something?”
Lucy sighed. “Um. Bridezilla says that you should be my date to the wedding.”
Raine put his hands up. “I’d love to, but … it’s your choice.”
“Are you okay if it makes me happy to have you coming, especially if Matt is bringing Charlene?”
He put his arm around her. “We’re friends, with the ex in or out of the picture.”
Lucy texted Dawn back, confirming she would bring Raine as her date. It would be so much better to show up at the wedding with him than to turn up pathetically alone.
Chapter 10
The Bible reading had gone better than Raine thought it would. Not that he had expected anything from reading the Bible with both Pastor Henry and Lucy. He’d only been reading the Bible himself for a couple months.
As they finished up reading the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Henry shut his Bible and smiled at Raine and Lucy. When Raine had told Pastor Henry the day before that Lucy would join them for Bible study, the pastor declared it was a good idea. They had studied the words of the sermon, and peace filled Raine’s heart.
The pastor focused on Raine. “Raine, I know you had mentioned possibly getting baptized a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t said much about it, because I wanted it to be your decision. But after reading the words of the Savior, what do you think?”
“I do want to get baptized. I want to put the Savior first. I want my life to be like His life.”
Surprising him, Lucy reached out and put her hand over his. “I like that. I was baptized years ago, and over the years, it’s made me glad that even though I don’t know everything about God, I do know that He felt it was important His son get baptized. And that was something I could do.”
Raine’s mind was whirling, and not just because Lucy was happy for him. Over the last two days, he’d been ignoring his brother’s phone calls. He didn’t want to hear Truman talk about some deal he wanted to work on. He didn’t want to explain how much he was changing. So he’d just hunkered down and worked on his house. Lucy had also kept him busy. She’s asked him last night to come over and help work on some projects for Dawn’s wedding. She’d been putting together a gazebo in the backyard. He had helped her with various projects so far, and then they would inevitably go for a walk on the beach or take a motorcycle ride.
The truth was, he couldn’t reasonably say that he just wanted to be her friend any longer. Of course, he had to be her friend, because he didn’t want to hurt her. He would do whatever she needed him to do, but he had growing feelings for her. More feelings than he should have.
Pastor Henry grinned at him. “You tell me when you’re ready, and I’ll help get things together. It can be performed in the ocean, if that works?”
Raine had never really thought about where he would get baptized. But getting back to his roots in the ocean felt right. “Okay.” He had no idea what this would entail, so he said, “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
“Yep. But Raine, I want to tell you that when I met you a couple months ago …” The pastor cleared his throat. “Are you okay if I talk freely in front of Lucy about that night?”
“Of course.” His stomach flipped over despite his words. He hadn’t thought about it in a while. He had just been acclimating to this new life. He had felt so lost and so confused. Truly, he’d experienced a miracle when Pastor Henry had found him on that bench.
Lucy gave his hand a little squeeze as she shot him a confused look.
He grinned at her. “I guess this is what friends do with each other. They’re kind of vulnerable sometimes.”
Pastor Henry cleared his throat again. “When I saw you that night, how you were just staring at St. Paul, I was overcome with the spirit. The spirit was telling me that this man needed a home. But not just a home like South Port.” He grinned and then looked at each of them pointedly. “Not that South Port isn’t a great home. The spirit told me you needed to remember that God is your home. That no matter where you go, who you’re with, or what you’re doing, God is at the center of you. He is the rock and the fortress you can always count on.”
