“Hey, Eva.” Beth appeared from behind two elderly ladies. “Ryan’s dropping me off at my mom’s. I’ll see you later tonight.”
Eva nodded. Great. That left Adam to drive her home alone.
“I see an opening.” Adam took her by the hand. “Come on, we better make a break for it.”
Eva noticed that Adam’s touch was warm, although his palm felt rougher than she expected from a paper-pusher. Careful to watch that she didn’t bump into anyone, she followed Adam’s weaving between groups of people.
An expanse of solid man stood in her way, then he spoke. “Hello, Eva.”
She stopped short at the sound of that terrible voice. The voice she hadn’t heard in two years. The voice belonging to a man she’d thought she loved until he’d attacked her.
Todd!
The last time she’d heard Todd’s voice he’d bellowed drunken obscenities when Beth had helped her get away from him.
Her hand slipped out of Adam’s grasp as the clamoring buzz in her ears drowned out the sounds and faces of the people surrounding her. Todd blocked out the light of her tunnel vision, making her feel dizzy. Sick.
She sucked in air, but it didn’t help. Stars formed before her eyes. She was going to faint. Right there. In the middle of the sanctuary, she’d fall. Adam would see and he’d know. He’d tell Ryan. And Ryan would go after Todd.
No!
Stepping back until her bottom connected with a pew, Eva gripped the solid wood until she felt a fingernail crack. The pain helped her focus, helped her calm down a shade. She tried to make her mouth work, but nothing came out despite hearing herself scream on the inside.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes,” she croaked.
“This is my wife, Susan. We’re up from Grand Rapids visiting my in-laws who attend here.”
Eva’s eyes widened when she took in the pretty woman standing next to him with a pink bundle of baby in her arms.
The woman’s eyes narrowed as if recognizing her. But they’d never met. “Nice to meet you.”
She felt the warmth of Adam’s hand at the small of her back.
“Everything okay?” Adam’s voice sounded far away, as if he was talking from the other side of a long tunnel.
“I—” Eva looked back at Todd. The urge to yell and pound on him overwhelmed her, sapping her strength. He acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever passed between them.
“Todd, honey, we better go. Dad’s pulled the car up front.” Susan shifted her pink burden and moved toward the door.
“Look, Eva…” He reached out a hand but let it drop with a sigh. He gave her an awkward smile and then nodded toward Adam. “Take it easy, okay?”
Eva didn’t know if she responded. Her knees shook, and her stomach lurched. Sweat broke out along her hairline. She really was going to be sick.
Why here? Why now?
“Eva?” Adam touched her elbow.
She shrank away from him.
“Who is that guy? Did he say something to upset you?”
Eva closed her eyes with a quick shake of her head. Seeing Todd upset her. Seeing him happily married and blessed with a beautiful baby girl infuriated her. How could God be so cruel? Todd had flourished, while Eva was stuck in a hellish purgatory she couldn’t climb out of.
She felt the gentle pressure of Adam’s hand return to the small of her back. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
Adam drove with the heat cranked to full blast. He kept glancing at Eva huddled in her seat. She hadn’t quit shivering. He wanted to pull over and gather her into his arms, but he didn’t trust the wildness in her gaze. The fury. He feared he might make matters worse by offering unwanted comfort.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“Old boyfriend?”
She glanced at him with haunted eyes. “Yeah.”
The ex-boyfriend was a giant of a man who looked far too clumsy for a petite thing like Eva. He struck Adam as one of those unmotivated types with boring stability stamped across his forehead. Eva needed someone who’d keep up with and challenge her. Maybe she had bossed the big dude around too much. Maybe that was why he’d left her. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
Adam glanced her way again and she looked close to tears. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. Tears weren’t good. A snappy Eva he understood, but a sad Eva busted him up. “It’s okay to unload.”
“I don’t want to unload. Why don’t you unload? What are you doing here, Peece?”
He braced himself for the unleashing of that pent-up anger. “What do you mean?”
“You’re the green bean heir. Why’d you buy my cherry orchard? To play nice and sweet so you could get in good with the growers to rip them off somehow? A guy like you can’t be serious about working a farm. Do you really think you belong here?”
Adam knew why he was here, but Eva wouldn’t believe him if he explained the calling that had filled him the day he saw the orchard. Maybe it was part of how God had whispered through the branches to woo him back into the fold like a sheep gone lost. Adam didn’t know.
All he knew was that he had to have the land. It was bigger than his grandfather’s farm, but it beckoned with the same promise of a simpler, better life. Away from his past where so-called friends looked at him with greed-filled eyes. And women wanted him more for what he could do for them financially.
Adam desperately needed a simpler life.
Explaining the whys would be a waste of breath. Eva struck him as a person who needed action, not words. Proof. Besides, she was hurting. Bad. If she wanted to take it out on him, he could handle it.
He pulled into her driveway but didn’t shut off the engine. The hum of the heater pouring out warm air masked the silence. Adam turned toward her. He didn’t want her to bolt, not yet. “What if I do belong here?”
She stared at him with her sweet mouth hanging open, looking as if the world around her had crumbled. “I miss the way things were.”
He gently touched her shoulder, wishing he could ease whatever it was that tore her up. Wishing he could promise her that she’d never get hurt again, but that was not the way life worked. “I’m sorry.”
Just then, Ryan’s truck pulled in next to them and the moment was lost. Eva exited the car and made for the house quicker than a jackrabbit.
Adam shut off the engine and got out.
“What’s wrong with Eva?” Ryan wore the concerned look of a brother ready to defend his sister if needed.
“She’s upset about some guy who showed up at church.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed, as if weighing the truth.
Adam couldn’t blame him. He’d be concerned, too, if it were his sister. He looked up into Ryan’s gaze without flinching.
Finally, Ryan slapped him on the back. “Come on, man. Eva’s bound to have something good for lunch and we can talk her into going skiing. She doesn’t get out much, and it sounds like she needs an afternoon of fun.”
Eva wouldn’t look at Adam throughout the meal. His eyes had a way of luring her in and keeping her. She had to prove that she could do this job. Mouthing off like that to her boss was a good way to get fired. Instead, Adam had understood