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Was she?
Cadence kept her mind off that and all these other strange coincidences that got her here. She’d run into Emily unexpectedly, driven here mindlessly, run out of gas just in time, only to be five minutes away from shelter.
But no, this wasn’t meant to be. It had just happened, right?
She scrolled through her contacts and found Sarah’s number next. Sarah was her one true friend at the office. She texted her:“Hey, I’m not going to make it in on Monday… or for the whole week. An emergency came up. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ll give you more info soon. Thanks for being such a great friend!”
Cadence sighed. Taking a week off unexpectedly wasn’t something that anyone did at WhiteBoulder. She probably should take that time to find herself a new job. What if she did it here? At the soap shop, of all places? Cadence let out a grim snicker. That would be quite the pay cut, and quite honestly, exactly what she needed.
With her heart skipping at such a strange turn of events, she texted Emily next. “Hey, the craziest thing! I have your purse… and your cards and your keys and… actually I’m in Harvest Ranch. I’m guessing since you invited me to housesit that you’re okay if I stay at your place for the night? And uh… my credit card is in my purse, too, so can I use yours? I will pay you back for everything. I’m good for it. Call me!”
She sent out the text. Emily would probably be in bed by now, so there was no way that she was getting this, but at least Cadence’s conscience felt better about pulling Emily’s card out and kissing eighty bucks goodbye. Her gas tank was full as she got back into the polyester-covered seats and drove for Sudz.
This was really happening. The first thing that she noticed as she drove into the historic downtown area was that the streets were abnormally quiet, so unlike the busy streets of Nashville that were teeming with busy city life into all hours of the night.
As Cadence traveled down Main Street and then turned a left on Maple, her maps told her that she was directly in front of Emily’s place. Lifting her chin, she saw the cheery soap sign through her dashboard. The Sudz Shoppe was set in the middle of a three-story red brick building above a store called Threads and Hems. That meant that Emily’s apartment was on the third floor.
This place was just so cute. Of course Emily lived here. Cadence already noticed the lush plants on the balcony, a few wilting.
Yeah, they could use a little watering.
She parked in front of a bright canary yellow door. Her car was the only one on the street. Instead of feeling terrified, she felt comforted at the peace resonating here. Taking Emily’s keys, she pulled herself out of her car. The jagged metal digging into her fingers was the only thing that felt real about this moment.
It took her a bit of time to find the right key that could get the door open, and after that, even longer to actually get it to work. She’d always been terrible at new locks, but soon she managed to get it to turn. The door swung open, showing an indoor stairwell leading up to the stores. Closing the main door behind her, she took the stairs past the sweet-smelling soap shop until she reached the third floor.
Taking a deep breath, Cadence fumbled with the keys to get that final door open. The sweet smells of lilac and vanilla and cinnamon drifted up from the soap shop. This would be interesting to live with such strong scents. It would either make her sick or super hungry all the time… or both, since she was pregnant.
She got the door open and grappled around for the light switch in the foyer. As soon as she got the lights on, they illuminated an adorable living room connected to a kitchen with cupboards painted in barn red. The plump white couch looked especially tempting.
After her long drive, Cadence just wanted to collapse into the nearest soft thing and sleep until she could no longer feel. Another tear squeezed past her eyelids; this time it was partly from relief and partly exhaustion. She shut the door behind her and locked it as she stumbled into the bedroom at the far end of the apartment.
The four-post bed definitely belonged to Emily with its white gauzy chiffon draped over it, and the little sparkling fairy lights woven through that. Cadence remembered something similar when they were roommates, though this was a touch less gaudy than before and more elegant.
She collapsed into the bed in her gold dress. Her body ached from the day. She’d need to raid the drawers and see if Emily had left any clothes behind, especially pajamas or even an oversized T-shirt. The friends weren’t exactly the same size. Emily was a cute, diminutive, little thing. Cadence was tall, like a model—as Emily had always claimed. Well… at least Cadence was strong.
She laughed into the pillow. She was back in another strange home, and turning, she saw… Mousy. It wasn’t exactly the same Teddy bear, but it looked so similar to hers that her stomach leaped at yet another sign that she’d come to the right place.
A sign? Why was she thinking this way? And yet, this last touch was the final straw that made the coincidental feel a little more purposeful. This could be God speaking to her. Was it?
Was it?
God, do you hear me? Are you really here? If you are, well… I don’t actually know how to talk to you and hear you back, but I… I guess you already know that if you really know who I am. I’ve never asked for your help before, and I don’t know how this works, but I figure that I haven’t been too much of a nuisance before now… so if you could help me out here, I’d definitely appreciate it.
A thought occurred to her—she’d never felt His hand so much in her life before.You want this baby alive, don’t you, God?
She felt a peaceful feeling so strong, so powerful that it almost made her cry out with—with joy maybe? She wasn’t sure, only that she realized that she was talking to someone tangible here. Someone was listening and could help, and yes, she knew in an instant, that this baby must live.
She swallowed, wondering why something so insignificant was so important, and yet, nothing about this felt trivial.I’m going to do everything in my power to keep this baby safe, but this is tougher than anything that I’ve ever done, so I’ll need your help more than ever before.
Why had she gotten into this trouble in the first place? A part of her had known that Lacy might be one of those players. He was too smooth, too practiced. How did someone like her fall for someone like him anyway? Cadence was educated with a good job; she should’ve known better, and yet, nothing had filled that emptiness that she’d felt from before. She’d been so tired of not having anyone to call her own. She’d been looking for a place to belong, a home. Was this how her mother felt? Scared and alone?
I guess, first things first. I need to confess… I was a fool to fall for Lacy.
Again she felt comfort, a warmth spread through her of understanding and love. God knew what she had done and loved her still. It was so strange a concept to understand, since she’d only assumed that religion was a place of judgement and fear, yet she felt none of those things, just a desire to be the kind of mother that her baby needed. She took a deep breath through her tears.I’m going to do better. I don’t know how. Can you show me how to do that, too?
Nothing in the world had taught her how to love and to be loved, but Cadence had a feeling that she was about to learn that lesson in powerful ways. This child was only the beginning, wasn’t it? She continued to pray. It made her feel so much better, though that didn’t mean that she wasn’t scared or sad, only that she felt like she was in God’s palm now, and maybe she had been all along and didn’t know it.
I’m not alone, am I?
