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Attraction burns a hole in my gut, desire for the woman standing before me, but I shove it back down. Not the right time. Not the right woman.

“Sure.”

“Thank you so much, Maverick.”

“Sure. You ready to go now?”

“Whenever you’re ready. I don’t want to pull you away from something.”

You’re actually saving me money by not leaving me here to break the glasses I’m counting. “We can go now.”

I’ve forgotten the number of times I’ve been invited to occupy a pew on Sunday mornings, but this is the first time I’ve walked through the doors of the white-steepled church here in Stormwatch Landing.

The church is small, and the sanctuary takes up the majority of the space, though there is a communal area off to the left, through a set of double doors. The pews are organized neatly, all facing an altar with a large cross front and center. Right below are a set of large, broken chains, like the ones you’d find anchoring a ship in the harbor.

Sadie walks down the aisle in front of me, her attention focused intently on the cross. She’s been silent ever since we got into the truck, but I was honestly grateful for it. Because the quiet gave my mind a chance to wander, focusing on all the ways I wish I could help her.

A door on the right side of the altar opens, and a grey-haired man steps out. I’ve only seen him in passing and have never actually had a conversation with the pastor. Not for any particular reason other than I didn’t want to have to tell yet another person why I didn’t want to accept their Sunday invitation.

“Hi, can I help you?” he asks with a smile. As he gets closer and sees me, his eyes widen. “Maverick, it’s good to see you.”

“I’m not here for me. This is Sadie.” I shove both hands into my pockets. Smooth, Mav.

Pastor Reeves looks over at Sadie and smiles. “Hi, Sadie, I’m Pastor Reeves.”

“Hi, Pastor. It’s great to meet you.” She doesn’t offer her hand, and neither does he. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if that’s because he hasn’t already heard of what happened to her and how she doesn’t like being touched.

“You, too. Here, come sit.” He gestures over toward the front pew, then takes a seat a few feet away from her. I sit in the pew right behind her, seeking distance as I stare at the cross ahead.

No one in my family was overly religious. Honestly, until I moved here, I had never even been invited to attend church. It was one of those topics you just avoided. Politics and religion. Neither one was talked about in the Fargo house.

Yet, here I sit, a few yards away from a cross, right behind a woman I barely know. A woman who managed to do what no one else in town has been able to do—get me in a pew. Oh, boy, if Marlene could see me now. She’d never let me miss another Sunday.

“I’ve been through a lot the past few months, and I know that God is there. I know that He is the only reason I’m standing here, but I’m struggling to see the good that can come of what happened. There has to be good, right? Otherwise, what was it all for?”

Pastor Reeves smiles softly at her. “God’s plan is as much a mystery to me as it is to you, and there are so many questions we likely won’t see the answers to this side of heaven.”

“I could rationalize what happened to me if I knew there was a purpose. If that makes sense? Paul sang in chains, but he knew that he was there to do God’s work. I was trapped in a cellar alone. I’m no Paul, and I know that, but I just⁠—”

“You’re seeking reason.”

“I want to know how this can help someone else. I want to know why God saved me. Because He did. And there has to be a reason.”

Pastor Reeves’ gaze momentarily flicks to me. He looks away so abruptly that I’m sure I must have imagined it. Because surely, he is not suggesting I’m the reason. If God is up there and listening, I really doubt He’s worried about me.

And I cannot believe He would have allowed Sadie to suffer on account of someone else.

“So much evil takes place in this world because of humans and their sinful nature. But I do know that God can take even the worst of circumstances and turn them around for His glory. And it might not be something you get to see during your lifetime.”

She nods. “Before he took me, I was reading through Hebrews.”

“Ahh, yes, one of my favorites,” Pastor Reeves replies.

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

“Hebrews 11:1,” he replies.

“Yeah. It was what I clung to the entire time I was in that cellar. I had faith that God would bring me through. That no matter what happened to me in that place, He would bring me out of it.”