“I drove to Richmond this morning. Sold it to one of my clients. He was beyond thrilled.”
“Did you make a profit?”
“A huge one. I’m going to loan the Jacob family their insurance deductible money.”
“What?”
“It’s the right thing to do. I know it might sound a little crazy, but I really want to do this.”
“I know they’ll appreciate it.”
“I’m going to give it to them tonight when we take the presents over.”
“You sure you want to do this? It’s a lot of money.”
“It is, and I realize there’s a risk that I might not see it again, but I think they’ll pay it back. I’m offering them zero interest, but they’ve got to have the money to get started, else they could be stuck for who knows how long.”
“I know. I’ve been racking my brain over it too. I think it’s a good thing.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d think so. I’m going to see if Orene would mind if I come up to stay more often.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I was thinking today that I could run my business from here, it would kind of force me to take my hands off the wheel a little—”
“And quit micromanaging?”
“That too. Plus, being here with you, and Orene, it just feels right.”
“That’s exactly how I felt about Chestnut Ridge when I came here. It felt safe, even though I didn’t know what all the pieces of the puzzle looked like.”
“I understand that now. I’m really sorry I wasn’t more supportive about your decision to move here. I knew it was out of necessity at first, but I didn’t recognize the peace that you gained being here until spending time here with you.”
“It’s hard to explain.” Natalie pulled over in front of the church where the nativity was set up.
“It is.”
“Want to go see?” Natalie’s eyes were filled with hope.
“Heck yeah!” They bailed out of the truck and walked over, listening as the children dressed in robes told the story they all knew so well. One of the lambs was sort of stealing the scene,probably calling for its mother, who called back in an annoyed “baaa-aa.”
“No wonder they didn’t want live animals on the stage. What is the saying, never act with kids or animals? Scene-stealers… all of them!”
The lamb suddenly spotted its mother and nosed right under her belly, practically lifting her right off the ground. Luckily, the focus shifted to the star of Bethlehem, which had just been lit high above them on the tallest tree.
“I wish we’d picked up Orene to see this,” Natalie whispered.
When the play ended, it was with quiet jubilation that they walked back to the truck.
Natalie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She smacked her pocket trying to quiet it and answered.
“Hey, babe,” Natalie said into her phone. “Yes. We’re on our way back now. Is everything okay?”
She glanced toward Sheila and rolled her eyes. “Yes. We’ll see you there.”
“He’s dying for us to get back to Orene’s.”
“He misses you. Isn’t that sweet?”
