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Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d always thought he would come back to her and they would end up together. Even if that meant she would live in Raleigh, she would do it. But the trouble was, he’d never asked. He hadn’t done anything to show that he wanted her, besides asking her to dance and then ditching her for Charlene.
More tears fell down her cheeks. It was like she was in one of those corny romance movies, wallowing in the absolute worst moment where the heroine feels like she’s lost everything.
“Lucy.”
Startled, Lucy looked up and found Raine walking toward her. He was wearing a swimsuit and a white shirt that exposed part of his chest. His blond hair made him look like a beach bum, though she knew he wasn’t.
Why should it surprise her that he was here? His house was only a mile down the beach. But she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She stopped walking.
Raine opened his arms. Before she knew it, she was crying and clinging to him.
For a long time, Raine just held her. “I promise you, it’s going to be all right.”
Part of her was happy she was being held by him, but she forced herself to pull back. “No. I shouldn’t have acted that way. I wanted to make Matt jealous, and it was wrong to use you.”
Raine dropped his arms and sucked in a long breath. “You know, I didn’t sleep much last night.”
“Because I hurt you.”
Raine hesitated. “It’s okay.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I didn’t sleep because I was worried about you. I’m glad to see that you’re okay. It’s clear that your heart is broken, but you’re okay.”
Lucy stared at this man she hadn’t known for very long. If things were different, she might have fallen in love with him. Which was stupid, because she’d told him just last night that maybe they could work out. But Raine had known she was lying.
She wiped her eyes. “How come last night you told me that things would never work out with us? Because I felt like you might want them to.”
Raine let out a long sigh. “Philippians 4:13.”
“I’m not as good at the scriptures as you are.” Which was kind of funny, because although she had considered herself a Christian her whole life, she’d only been taking the Bible seriously since she’d started studying with Raine and heard how he’d changed his life.
“I will tell you that Bible verse, but first let me say I can recognize a con. I learned a long time ago how to tell when someone’s lying. Last night, when you acted like something could be between us, I knew it wasn’t true. I could see how hurt you were.”
She nodded, fighting back another round of tears. “That makes sense. But that still doesn’t tell me what the scripture means.”
A smile played at Raine’s lips. “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”
“What do you mean?”
Raine released another long breath and then took her hands. “I know you’re hurting and you didn’t mean what you said, but I would still love for things to work out with us. When you said that, every part of me wanted to just ignore that you were lying and let this little game play out.”
She was confused again. “But you won’t.”
Raine shook his head. “That’s why I quote the Bible. ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.’ I can even resist when you’re weak and vulnerable and you want to kiss me and you tell me things I want to hear.”
Guilt surged inside her. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
He embraced her. “Of course you should’ve. Because I’m your friend. I’m a safe place. And I have faith that things will work out.”
“What does that mean? With us?”
Raine shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s like what pastor Henry says. The Lord has a plan. That’s all we get to know. We don’t know how that plan plays out in our lives; we just have to do our part and trust in Him.”
Lucy held him tighter. “I don’t know why I got lucky enough to meet you and be your friend, Raine. I’m grateful you came to South Port. I’m really grateful.”
“I’m grateful too. There’s also another reason I wanted to talk to you today.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, this might be super … low level compared to everything that just happened in your life.”
