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When he found her in the hotel restaurant, she was already nibbling on toast while studying the reports. She had one leg up with her foot anchored on the seat, looking settled. She didn’t notice him until he was standing across the table.
“Don’t look so miserable,” she said when he sat.
“You and your sister don’t make it easy.”
“Can we please call a truce? We’re in a nice hotel having breakfast. Why don’t you relax while you can? You’ll enjoy yourself more.”
“I don’t want to enjoy it more, or relax. You shouldn’t be so laid back about it either. This isn’t a walk in the park. There is still the chance of things going wrong, and there’s less than a week left until the meeting.”
“After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think I’m taking this seriously?”
“No. I’m sorry. I know you are. I worry, so it’s hard to see you looking so calm with your leg up like it’s a regular day.” He tried to hold back a smile, but when the corner of her mouth lifted, he let one slip out.
“It’s a regular day for someone. But honestly, I’m tired of regular. I’ve spent the last year hiding from someone who probably wasn’t even looking for me. I’m tired of not doing anything. Being here with you and training, even the meeting with Tony has stirred me up. I don’t know what’s going to happen after this, but what Idoknow is, I don’t want to go home to normal. I might die, I get it. Every time I walk outside, I could die. But more likely, we’ll get through this, and you and Maddy can continue with your work and bring down a very bad man. You’ll help a lot of people, and I get to be a part of that. If I drop out of this because I might get hurt, then you lose everything you’ve worked so hard for. I’ve weighed both sides, and I’m willing to take the risk. Yesterday you said you are too.”
“Yesterday I didn’t have much of a choice. Maddy should know better than to pull a stunt like that.”
“You can’t be surprised.”
“I’m not.”
“And remember, it’s not the first time my life has been in danger.”
“You mean the human trafficking thing.”
“Yeah.”
“Maddy seems to think it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“I know.” Charlotte dropped her head. “She thinks I’m exaggerating. But I’m not. And it’s not really a story I can tell her.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’d like to hear about it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve been curious.”
“It happened by accident. I was in a place I was never meant to be.”
“Which was?” He wondered at the look on her face. “You don’t want to tell me?”
“It’s not that. I, uh—I was on a missions trip to Venezuela with a married couple who worked down there. My church supported them.”
“A mission’s trip?”
“Yeah.”
“From a church?”
“Yes.” She took a breath. “I went with a team that the couple took over to see the work they were doing. Part of the trip we spent visiting a home where they housed girls who’d been rescued from trafficking. They were the ones who had no family to go home to. We were there to do some handyman work on the building and make it more comfortable for them, as well as to learn about what they had faced and what we could do to help when we went back home.”
“You’re a Christian?”
