Page 52 of Worth the Trip

“What keeps you from carrying all of them home with you?”

A laugh left me because that question had found me faster than expected.

“Nothing, apparently. Ask my daddy.”

Recognition showed up in her face.

I rubbed my thumb against the condensation on my glass. “Dependable people get rewarded with more dependency. That system works great until the dependable person starts running low.”

Nolani sat back slightly.

“People get comfortable with what you can survive,” she said. “Then they start mistaking survival for permission.”

“Exactly.”

We left it there.

That was enough for lunch number one.

I wasn’t trying to turn a good meal into group therapy because we’d discovered overlapping dysfunction.

“What does faith look like in all that?” she asked.

“Correction.”

Her brows rose. “That wasn’t what I expected.”

“God got a long-standing disagreement with my savior complex. He keeps reminding me stewardship and omnipotence are different job descriptions.”

That made her smile. “And do you listen?”

“Eventually. Consequences got tuition.”

Her laugh came out full this time, head tipping back as one hand went to her stomach.

I sat there smiling like I’d accomplished something.

Probably because I had.

That sound?

Yeah.

I wanted another one.

“Lennox tried cooking for Mama after one of her treatments once and seasoned a whole pot of rice with cinnamon because he grabbed the wrong container. Refused to admit anything was wrong until Daddy asked why dinner tasted like breakfast had lost its way.”

Nolani laughed harder. “Stop. He fed it to everybody?”

“With confidence. Put parsley on top like presentation could save it.”

“You’re lying.”

“I wish. Daddy ate half a bowl out of loyalty and hypertension.”

She leaned forward, laughing into one hand.

“You’re doing this on purpose.”