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Once it was prepared, she carried the bowl along with a glass of water to her small dining room table. If she’d been home earlier, she would have lit a fire. Instead, she settled for putting some music on, and while she ate, she tried to distract herself by scrolling through her social media.
It worked for a bit, but as she finished eating, the worries came back to haunt her.
She wasn’t responsible for what was going on, and as far as Kayleigh was concerned, she’d done all she could to get to the bottom of the incidents. She’d contacted the authorities about the thefts and provided them with all the information they’d requested.
Unfortunately, the person coming from headquarters might think that her efforts weren’t enough. If that happened, her job could be in jeopardy.
The very thought caused a knot to tighten in her stomach.
Kayleigh knew that worry was useless—she’d been taught that since she was a child—but that knowledge never managed to keep the worries at bay.
After discovering that Kayleigh tended to worry about pretty much everything, her parents had taught her Bible verses to recite when worry began to consume her thoughts.
As she cleaned up her dishes, she murmured a couple of the verses, hoping they’d calm her thoughts. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
That night, it didn’t, and worry continued to prey upon her mind.
Her phone rang as she was in her bedroom, preparing her things for the next day. Seeing Liz’s name on the screen, Kayleigh answered it with a feeling of dread inside her.
“Hey, Liz,” she said. “What’s up?”
“Just calling to see what you think about the possibility of someone coming from headquarters.”
“I suppose it’s not a surprise,” Kayleigh said as she put a clean pair of socks and underwear into her duffle bag. “The thefts were bound to get some attention.”
“It was the incident reports you sent.”
Kayleigh zipped up the garment bag that contained her work outfit for the next day. “I didn’t have a choice. They were significant enough that we had to involve the insurance company. Even if I had contacted the insurance company directly, eventually word would have gotten back to headquarters. It was inevitable.”
“Have the cops come up with anything?”
“Not the last time I talked to them.” Kayleigh picked up her duffle and garment bags and carried them out to the spot by the door leading to the garage, where she’d installed some hooks and a bench with storage underneath. She set the duffle on the bench seat and hung the garment bag on a hook in preparation for the morning. “The security tapes didn’t reveal anything, which doesn’t make sense.”
As they talked, Kayleigh moved on to her nighttime routine. She removed all her makeup, applied her skincare products, then brushed her teeth.
Liz was used to talking to Kayleigh as she did all of that. She knew if she called Kayleigh after about seven-thirty, she was going to be privy to Kayleigh’s nighttime routine.
“Well, I hope you don’t worry too much about things,” Liz said, well aware of Kayleigh’s tendency to worry. “We have your back.”
Kayleigh appreciated that, but she knew it might not make much difference. “Thanks. I guess we’ll just have to see what they say. Whoevertheyis.”
They talked a bit more, then Kayleigh told her she had to go, so they said goodbye. In some ways, Kayleigh wished that Liz hadn’t called because their conversation had ramped up her already high worries over the situation.
After she made sure the house was locked up and the alarm was armed, Kayleigh returned to her bedroom. She crawled into bed, then picked up the notebook, Bible, and sketchbook from the nightstand.
After putting on her favorite playlist on her phone, Kayleigh stared at the books in her lap for a moment before choosing the sketchbook and setting the others aside. She flipped it open to a blank page, then picked up a fine point black gel pen and began to write out one of the verses that had been playing in her mind.
Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.
It definitely wasn’t the first time she’d written out a decorative version of that portion of John 14:27—and probably wouldn’t be the last—but she tried to do it a bit differently each time. Once the outline of the words was done, she picked up her colored pencils and worked to fill them in.
The coloring gave her a focus, not just on the act but on the words. The music also helped, and by the time she’d finished coloring a little while later, she was feeling settled enough to open her Bible and continue with the reading plan she’d picked for the year.
When she got to the end of the passage for that day, Kayleigh spent some time in prayer before finally opening her journal and jotting down a bit about what had happened that day and how she felt about it. Because most of the people in her life would just tell her not to worry, she often resorted to spilling out her thoughts and feelings in her journal, where she would be offered no judgement.
By the time she slid down under the comforter, Kayleigh felt a little more calm, confident that she’d be able to handle whatever lay ahead.
Of course, with a couple of days still until the Remington representative arrived, her worry was sure to resurface.
