Page 103 of In Too Deep
The Lord had brought Meg into his life to love him again.To teach him he could open his heart without it destroying him.
The Lord had seen him through the darkest moments.The cave.Ryan.The knife in his side.The explosions that should have buried them all.
But what now?
He wanted to be there for Meg, but how could he convince her of that?How could he make her see what he saw—that she wasn’t broken.And what she saw as broken wouldn’t keep him from loving her.
“Any chance your brothers want to go talk to Meg?”
“Probably not the answer.”Liam released a chuckle as he pushed through the doors into the late-afternoon sunlight.“Did she say why she is leaving?”
Noah squinted against the brightness, his side aching with each step toward Liam’s truck.“I think she felt like it was the ultimate failure when she froze in that cave.The proof she’s always feared—that she’s not good enough.I think she can’t forgive herself, so she’s running.She thinks running will stop the anxiety.And it might, for a while.”
Until it caught up again.Until the pattern repeated.Until fear found her in Pennsylvania the way it had found her here.
“So she’s convinced herself she’s too broken.And you’re going to just let her keep believing that?”
“Of course not.I tried to tell her.But she won’t listen.”Frustration edged his voice.Because what could he do if she wouldn’t hear him?
“So tell her again.”Liam clapped him on the shoulder—careful of his injury but firm enough to make a point.“Show up, Noah.Fight for her.Don’t let her walk away believing she’s not worth fighting for.That her brokenness disqualifies her from the Lord’s plan.From you.But tell her soon because she’s leaving tomorrow.”
Noah’s head snapped toward his friend.“Tomorrow?She was supposed to stay through the month.”
“She hasn’t been the same since the cave, and Virgil thought she could benefit from having some time to get settled before she starts.”
Noah looked at his friend, then toward the parking lot—rows of cars glinting in the sun—then back at Liam.
“She’s made up her mind.”
“Then change it.Speak truth to her.Not just your truth, but the Lord’s truth.Because even more important than the fact that you love her is the fact that the Lord loves her and still has great plans for her.Even with all our failure, He wants to use us.Wants to work through us.Broken pieces and all.”
Liam was right.
As much as he wanted Meg to stay, as much as he wanted her to let him love her—and he wanted those things desperately—even more than that, he wanted her to believe her story wasn’t over.Believe she was usable by the Lord.Valuable.Worthy.That she didn’t have to keep running from herself.
“I need to find her.”He couldn’t hide the desperation in his tone.
A grin spread across Liam’s face.“That’s what I’m talking about.Where to first?”
“Her cabin.If she’s not there, the clinic.If she’s not there—” Noah pulled open the passenger door of Liam’s truck.“I’ll search the whole canyon if I have to.”
Every trail.Every viewpoint.Every place she might be hiding.
“Now that’s the Noah I know.”
Liam climbed into the driver’s seat of his ’74 Bronco and started the engine.That distinctive rumble.
Noah settled into the seat and ignored the pull of his stitches.His mind was already racing ahead.
What would he say?
How could he make her understand that she didn’t have to be perfect, didn’t have to have it all figured out?That he loved her—that the Lord loved her—exactly as she was?
Panic attacks, fear, guilt, and all the broken bits.The nightmares.The freezing.The way she fell apart sometimes.All of it.
The Lord hadn’t left her alone in that cave, and Noah wasn’t going to leave her alone now.Not when she needed him most.Not when she was running scared.
He’d spent three years running from life, from connection, from the possibility of loss.He understood the impulse.Understood the fear that made you push away everything good before it could be taken.
