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Then, understanding dawned in her eyes, as she looked back at Griff. She understood that the man who had just been killed that morning was the liar that she had almost moved in with. He could almost see the questions swirling on her face, but her eyes went back to the boy in front of him. Griff was so proud of her when she pushed whatever she was feeling aside, and focused on him.
She took a step forward, tentatively, as though she wasn’t sure. Then, she closed the distance between them and put her arms around Rodney.
To Griff’s surprise, her tender touch broke through whatever barriers Rodney had erected, and he lay his head on her shoulder and began to sob.
Chi patted his head like he was a little boy, and murmured reassurances to him.
Everything would be eventually okay, Griff knew. Not for a long, long time. Rodney had a lot of nightmarish days to get through. A lot of things he was going to have to process, and hopefully, this would pull Rodney from whatever edge he’d been on, and draw him closer to the Lord. And eventually, everything would truly be okay.
Griff knew that was the best case scenario. There was also the possibility that it would push him back, away from a God who would allow his mother to kill his father.
Hopefully, the discussions they’d had about free choice, and being responsible for your own decisions would resonate with Rodney, and he would remember that both his mother and his father acted independently of what God wanted and of what Rodney could do with his life. He didn’t have to allow them to determine his future.
Of course, he would also have the grief of working through the tragedy of losing both his parents, no matter how upset he was with his father, possibly his mom as well. Losing a person’s parents was never easy.
Knowing that the diner would probably become a gathering place for the community, Griff turned to the stove. He already had the oven on. And he needed to be ready to serve comfort food to a shocked and grieving community.
While he did that, he prayed. Surely God could take this tragedy and use it for good. He prayed that God would help guide Rodney in the direction that he needed to go. And not allow this to turn Rodney away.
Maybe it was a little bit selfish, but he hoped that somehow this tragedy would also draw Chi and him together.
Chapter 17
Chi flipped the open sign closed and leaned against the door, not able to contain her sigh of relief. It had been a long, hard day.
James was gone.
She could hardly believe it.
Finding out that he was married had totally killed any feelings she had for him. It was disgusting, the idea of being with another woman’s husband. She had zero interest in that. But, still, it was hard to believe that the living breathing person she spent so much time talking to over the last few months was no longer living and breathing.
The last she’d seen him, standing at the gala with another woman in his arms, so alive, so bright and vibrant. Even if he had been a jerk and a liar and a cheater, she hadn’t wished death on him.
She couldn’t say for sure if she had been his wife that she wouldn’t have done the same thing. She hoped not, but emotions were hard things to control, and anger and jealousy and hurt were some of the strongest.
Still, the focus had to be on Rodney at this point. The poor kid. He was just launching into life, and to have this happen would certainly affect everything he did from then on.
