Tomorrow's Sun (Lost Sanctuary) - By Becky Melby Page 0,103
of a petal near two embroidered letters. She stood and moved the lamp.
HS. “Hannah.” She breathed the name. Lifting the quilt as if it were made of tissue paper, she held it high, stretching her arms wide. She thought of Adam’s words, “The rose wreath is a symbol. It means someone died on the journey.” All this time, she’d imagined Nana Grace’s gnarled fingers making the tiny stitches. Had Hannah made it after her mother died or when the love of her life hadn’t returned home? Had her tears dampened the fabric as she traced leaves and petals, or had memories coaxed a smile as she worked?
Emily sat on the pew and draped the quilt over her knees. Someone died on the journey. Hannah’s grief produced a thing of beauty. Emily turned her eyes to the cross. Lord, can You make something beautiful from mine?
CHAPTER 28
Emily sat beside Jake on her front step. She swatted a mosquito on her arm and missed then smashed one on his bare knee, leaving a bloody streak. It was the first time she’d seen him in shorts. Now she’d not only gawked at his tanned legs, she’d touched one. “You don’t think this is too mean?”
“It’s giving her a taste of her own medicine.” He smacked a mosquito on her forehead.
“You’re sure it won’t backfire?”
“Positive. I casually worked Heidi into a conversation with Adam the other day. I asked him what Lexi thought of her.” Jake’s eyes glinted with mischief in the glow of the light above the door.
“And?”
“Lexi told him Heidi looked like a freak from a wax museum, had the personality of the White Witch of Narnia, and hung on me like an octopus with a million tentacles.”
“I should have introduced myself to this old love of yours when I saw her at Chances.”
“She is not an old love. She is an old mistake.”
“So you’re no longer drawn to ice queens?”
“I’ve changed my criteria a bit.”
“You do realize that no one will be good enough in Lexi’s eyes.”
“Yeah. Could you explain that to me from a female point of view?”
“Women of all ages compete for men’s attention. Dawn Anne said she and Sierra started fighting over her husband when Sierra was only three months old.”
“That’s insane.”
“It should make you feel very special.” She clapped her hands, killing two bugs with one blow.
“It makes me feel like I will never, ever understand women.”
“That’s a given.”
Jake fingers grazed her cheek and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’d like to try understanding one of them. Maybe, with a little help.”
“If we wait too long she’ll be asleep.”
“Can we continue this conversation later? You’re leaving tomorrow for a whole week, you know.”
“Maybe. Go home, take a bath in bug spray, and wait”—she deepened her voice to her best imitation of Topher—“for me to call ya’, Cob.”
Jake’s face lost every trace of softness. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever, bro.”
With an eye roll and a wave, she walked into the house, watched the time on her phone morph from 10:14 to 10:15, and poured a glass of tea while she waited for 10:20. Jake hadn’t called her, so everything must be in place.
“Go back to bed. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
Lexi shook her head and folded both arms over her belly. “Feel my head, Grandma. Is it hot?” The heating pad under her pillow was another one of Naomi’s genius ideas.
Adam threw his backpack on the couch and shoved a book in it. “She’s faking it. She’s just trying to wreck all our plans.”
“I am not. I really want—” Grandma motioned for her to lean down to where she sat in the recliner so she could feel her head. Her expression changed from annoyed to concern. Yippee for heating pads.
“You do feel warm. Adam, get that bottle of ibuprofen out of the first-aid kit in the clothes basket in the kitchen.”
Lexi shot a told-you-so look at her brother as he stomped past her. She took the medicine Grandma gave her, hoping it wouldn’t hurt her if she really didn’t need it, and walked off to bed, moaning softly on her way. “I’ll try to sleep.”
She went to the bathroom first. Grandma wore a ton of makeup. There had to be something gray in her drawer. Sure enough, eye shadow just the right color for a nice shadow under her eyes. After an appropriately long time, she staggered out, leaving the fan on in the bathroom, and walked down the hall, touching the wall with one hand