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She also had no idea what type of physical force it took to punch someone so hard they died. She pressed her eyes closed and felt the swaying of the Earth as it spun through space. How did someone do that? Had he felt bad about it at all?
For a minute there, Luke had sounded like he still thought he hadn’t done anything wrong. Hannah wasn’t sure, because he hadn’t finished his explanation of how he felt. She’d kept her hand in his, but it had been harder than she’d anticipated. He’d killed another human being with those hands.
She definitely had to work through some things when it came to Luke, and she reminded herself that he wasn’t the same person now as he’d been then. She had experience with the men who came from River Bay, and almost all of them that she’d interacted with had been repentant, changed, and sorrowful about their behavior.
Nate, Ted, Dallas, and Slate had gone on to face their own problems and rebuild their lives one square at a time. Luke was doing the same thing.
She drew in a breath as the warm sun painted gold on the backs of her eyelids. So much had changed today, and Hannah felt so insignificant. At the same time, she felt perfectly sure that God had been aware of what was happening on the beach. He’d sent the older gentleman to her.
He’d sent her to Missy.
He’d sent Luke to Connor. Then Tamara and Gill Weeks. He’d definitely been aware of the situation, and Hannah believed with her whole mind, body, and spirit that Connor would be one hundred percent fine.
“Okay,” Luke said. “Yes, we’re going now. We’ll meet you there.”
She turned back to him, already knowing their day was about to get longer. “The hospital?” she asked anyway.
He nodded and handed her phone back. “I hear hospital food is pretty decent these days.” He tossed her a small smile that didn’t contain nearly any wattage. “Gotta be better than what I had in prison, right?”
Hannah smiled too, glad he wasn’t going to beat himself up over the incident. At the same time, she suspected he would—in private. He’d paint over everything with that mask until he was alone, and then he’d crack and break.
It was what she would likely do too, and she sent up another prayer that she could find a way to be present when Luke needed a soft place to fall.
