Page 102 of In Too Deep
“Were you not listening to the woman?She just said nothing over ten pounds.”
Caught.
Noah shrugged—a careful movement that didn’t pull too much—and pulled on his jacket.He grimaced when the motion tugged at his stitches anyway.
Liam eyed him with a calculated expression.That particular look that said he was reading between the lines.“You want to talk about it?”
“Nope.”
“You want to talk about Meg?”
Noah’s jaw clenched.“Definitely not.”
He brushed past Liam into the hallway—antiseptic smell, fluorescent lights, the soft beeping of monitors from other rooms—but his friend fell into step beside him.
They made it to the elevator before Liam spoke again.
“So you’re just going to let her go?”
Noah jabbed the down button harder than necessary.“She made her choice.”
“Did she?Or did she make a decision out of fear and you’re too stubborn to fight for her?”
The elevator doors opened with a soft ding, and Noah stepped inside.Liam right behind him.
“She doesn’t want me, Liam.She made that pretty clear.”
“That’s baloney and you know it.”Liam hit the button for the ground floor.“That woman is in love with you.Trust me.”
“You’re wrong.”
Noah’s chest tightened.He stared at the decreasing floor numbers—3, 2—willing the elevator to move faster.To get him out of this building.Away from the room where she’d ended things.
“She’s leaving.”
“Because she’s scared.”Liam’s voice softened.“Same reason I left Nimue in the hospital last month.”
That got Noah’s attention.
He turned to look at his friend, who was studying the elevator floor like it held the secrets of the universe.
“Yeah, I didn’t tell you guys that part,” Liam continued quietly.“The doctor came out and told us that Nimue’s heart had stopped during surgery but that she made it through.All I could think of was how close I’d come to losing her.I panicked.I went to meet my brothers at the airport, but I had bought a cheap ticket to get through security, and you have no idea how tempted I was to just get on that flight and leave it all behind.The fear, the pain, the realization that I could love her and lose her.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t leave.That is the difference.”
The elevator dinged—floorGilluminated—doors sliding open to the lobby, but neither of them moved.
“Only because of my brothers.”A small smile tugged at Liam’s mouth.“They showed up, called me on my garbage, and reminded me that Nimue was the best thing that had ever happened to me.They also reminded me that I could in fact lose Nimue someday.That love doesn’t come with guarantees.But no matter what I faced, the Lord would be there with me.Walking me through it.”
Noah stepped out into the lobby—polished floors, potted plants, people waiting in chairs—Liam beside him.
But his steps faltered.
His prayer in the cave came back, crystal clear.A moment of peace and clarity.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Everything seemed like it was coming together.Like for the first time in a long time he could see how the Lord had been carrying him through his pain, his grief.Through three years of loss.
The Lord had brought him to the canyon to heal.To find refuge in the vast quiet spaces.
