he looked up at Taylor. “Big decision, huh?”
She looked at him with vacant, hollow eyes that worried him to no end.
“Tell you what.” He put out his hands in invitation to hers, and after only a moment, she laid her hands in his as she too leaned forward. “We should pray about this. God knows the right answer. God knows what we should do, what the best thing is for everyone involved.”
Taylor nodded slowly, took a breath, and closed her eyes.
It was then Greg realized the prayer would be up to him. He, too, closed his eyes, feeling the weightlessness of her fragile hands in his. “Dear Lord, we come to You today with a huge decision. We know You already know the best outcome and how to get us to it. Please come into our midst with Your wisdom and understanding. Guide us to the best decision, and give us the peace and the courage to take that route. We ask this in Your Holy Name. Amen.”
“Amen,” Taylor whispered. Sitting back, she pulled in a long breath and let it out slowly as she shook her head. “Does this ever get any easier?”
“It will,” he said, the strength in his voice coming from faith rather than knowledge. “We’ve just got to keep believing that God is in this with us.”
Her gaze came up to his. “In the fire?”
Surprise lit through him. “Uh, yeah. I guess so.”
She nodded slowly and squinted like she was seeing something he didn’t. “They turned the furnace up seven notches.”
Greg raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Who’s they?”
Standing, Taylor took out her phone. “I have to call Yoli.”
“O… kay.”
Taylor left Greg where he was sitting, dialed the number and went over to the window. She was one small step away from the right decision. She could feel it.
“Hey, Tay, what’s up?” Yoli asked. “I’ve been thinking about you. Is something going on?”
Quickly, Taylor relayed everything that was happening including the decision she was faced with. “What do you think I should do?”
“Better question: what do you think you should do?” Yoli asked, and although it should have made her angry, Taylor knew then her own heart.
“I think it’s time to see just how committed to telling all of these lies Chris really is,” Taylor said. “If he wants to do this that bad, maybe he’d like to tell them to two judges.”
At two o’clock just before her parents arrived, Taylor had one more thing to attend to. Going in to Mitchell’s office as Greg waited in the lobby for her parents, she closed the door and sat down.
Mitchell lifted his eyebrows in concern. “Everything okay?”
Sitting ramrod straight, Taylor pinned her gaze to him. “They don’t know. Some of it, I’m sure they suspect, but they don’t know all of it. And they’re not going to know.”
Slowly Mitchell nodded.
“They are one reason I’m going to do this. They don’t deserve to be dragged through the mud because of me. None of them do. Chris deserves whatever he gets, and so do I. But they don’t. Understood?”
Mitchell nodded. “Perfectly. But just so you know, Taylor, you didn’t deserve it either.”
She was one breath away from replying when there was a knock on the door. She checked Mitchell with a look before going to let them in. It was time to make sure her rotten decisions didn’t wreck any more lives.
Chapter 4
“I will get this in the works,” Mitchell said at the conclusion of their meeting, “and we’ll see what happens.”
“Thank you for meeting with us,” Thomas said, shaking his hand.
Mitchell shook all the other hands in turn, coming to Greg last. His grip held a moment longer than Greg had anticipated, and with the others already headed out, Mitchell ducked toward him. “How is she? She okay?”
That was always a dicey call at best. Today, it was even less sure. “I hope so.”
“Take care of her,” Mitchell said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I know something.”
“K. And Mitchell?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. It’s nice to have another one of the good guys on our team.”
Mitchell smiled and nodded. “Nice to know I’m on the good guys’ team.”
Taylor followed her parents out only to find Greg hadn’t followed as well. “I’ll see you when I get home. I just want to talk to Greg a little.”
“Okay, honey. We love you.” Her mother hugged her, and Taylor returned the gesture. “See you at home.”
Wondering what was taking him so long, Taylor turned back for the office just as Greg came out looking