the world isn’t going to bring Daddy and Riley Jo home again. And this kind of talk is really upsetting to Mama.”
“You think I’m trying to upset her?” Abby handed him the cell phone. “Take a close look. Are you going to stand there and honestly say that if you had seen this little girl, you wouldn’t have given her a double take—and wondered if it could be Riley Jo?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Hawk slid the cell phone back across the table to Abby. “Riley Jo’s either dead or she’s somewhere far away with Daddy. Either way, she’s not going to show up in Foggy Ridge. You’re the only one who doesn’t get that.”
Abby pushed back her chair and stood. “Laugh at me all you want. But I’m going to find out who this girl is.”
Chapter 5
Abby sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the cell phone picture of the Riley Jo look-alike she had seen at Murchison’s and still stinging from Hawk’s remarks.
A knock on the door startled her.
“It’s Jesse. Can I come in?”
“I guess,” Abby said.
Jesse opened the door and closed it, then flopped onto the bed. “Whatcha doing?”
“Not talking about the girl I saw.”
“Hawk says it can’t be Riley Jo.”
“Hawk says a lot of things. Doesn’t make him right. Why are you here?”
Jesse bit his lip and didn’t answer.
Abby softened her tone.
“What’s wrong? You can tell me.”
Jesse toyed with the hem of his T-shirt. “Hawk said God is a joke, and the sooner I realize it, the better off I’ll be.” He glanced over at her. “Do you think that?”
Wow. She hadn’t seen that coming. “You know I don’t. It took me until six months ago to figure it out for myself. But God is real, Jesse. He’s no joke. And He’s with us every minute.”
“Hawk said if God was good, He wouldn’t allow all the suffering in the world.”
“And I think if Adam and Eve had obeyed God, there wouldn’t be any suffering. Evil changed everything, and lots of bad things happen now. But God is still good. He hasn’t changed and never will.”
Jesse slid off the bed and faced her. “So you don’t think He’s mean for letting Daddy and Riley Jo disappear?”
“I wish they hadn’t disappeared. But I don’t blame God. People—good and bad—make their own choices. Sometimes those choices hurt other people. But if God controlled every move we make, we would all be puppets. I wouldn’t like that. Would you?”
Jesse pushed his hands deeper into the pockets of his khaki shorts. “Do you think Mama would be mad if I went to church with you and Grandpa?”
“I doubt it. I think she wishes she could trust God again.”
“Do you trust Him?”
Abby paused to think, feeling totally unprepared for Jesse’s probing questions. “I’m learning. The Bible says we should live by faith and not by sight. I think that means when we’re in the dark, we have to take a step forward and trust that there will be light on the path in front of us.”
Jesse cocked his head, his eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“Okay, imagine God holding a flashlight so the beam shines on the ground in front of us. We can only see so far, but we keeping walking, trusting Him to move the light in front of us with each step we take. We get as much light as we need to keep moving, but we still can’t see down the road.”
“I get it.”
“I’m thrilled you want to go to church with us.”
Jesse flashed a toothy grin that would soon keep another orthodontist in business. “I was in the attic and found the Bible storybook Daddy used to read to me and Riley Jo. I took it to my room and read the whole thing. Did you know there was a donkey that talked? And water that turned into wine? My favorite story is the one about three guys with weird names who got thrown into a fiery furnace and didn’t burn up because they trusted God. So cool!”
Abby nodded. “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I love that story too. What’s also amazing is that they told the king they would trust God even if He didn’t save them. I’d love to have that kind of faith. I don’t yet.”
“It only has to be the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain.” Jesse smiled proudly. “Told you I read the book.”
Abby stood and hugged her brother. “Go tell Grandpa what you just told me. I’m excited.” And she was scared.