Remember Me? (Book 1) COMPLETED

Sunday Morning

KATHERINE

Betsy was gone by the time I woke up, neck sore, on the living room couch. The smell of coffee lifted me to my feet and I padded into the kitchen.

Sunday morning. Finally, enough was in order at Wayward for me to get a break. Adelaide, the board member that had taken over Outward Relations when Nick resigned, had narrowed the pool of CEO candidates to two strong individuals. Both intelligent leaders. No history whatsoever with my grandfather.

Unlike Octavia.

Finishing my coffee, I got ready for church. As I dressed, I grimaced at the thought that this would be my first time attending since the Christmas play. Erland and Matthew went every week. Truth be told, every moment I had at Wayward, I spent studying my mother's Bible—a gift from her when I told her about how I gave my life to Jesus. But reading and praying only do so much, and I had to catch myself from speeding when I realized I would be ten minutes late to service.

I spotted Betsy, Mom, Erland, and his friend Bella three rows from the front, on the right side of the aisle. I decided against disrupting them by coming up in the middle of the sermon, so I settled for a seat in the back row by an usher.

About five minutes after I arrived, a businessman arrived. He seemed to wear something like a suit, but the sweat-stained shirt and holey soles of his scuffed shoes made him appear like he'd fallen on hard times. He looked left and right, as if searching for someone. When his amber gaze fell on me, I jumped as if shocked by a jolt of electricity.

Nick.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot. If he hadn't been uncomfortable before, he certainly was now. But whatever he was here for, it was clearly important enough for him to swallow his pride and sit in the aisle across from me.

Seeing him now reminded me of everything Victoria had told me three months ago, when she was in jail. How he'd thought I had cheated on him. I had to wonder, did he know that it was my grandfather's manipulation? That it was a lie meant to tear us apart? If he does, that would explain his vehemence in wanting to help me when I first arrived here. If not, maybe he still had some reason to doubt the viability of me cheating. Maybe somewhere, deep down, he knew that it had been an excuse to leave me.

I wondered now, for the first time, if Nick and Victoria had married because they had felt trapped by their decisions. Why throw away a good relationship and a best friend for nothing?

I studied him out of the corner of my eye as the pastor preached. He almost seemed to squirm in his seat at the words spoken over the church. His face, at one point arrogant and hard, now seemed solemn, almost grief-stricken.

"Jesus Christ bought you by his blood," he said, leading the congregation to lower their heads in prayer. "When you accept him into your life, the old man in you dies and you are born again in the spirit. If you are here and you know your heart is not right with God, but you want to get right, you want to be made new—raise your hand."

To my eternal surprise, Nick raised his hand and went up to pray. At the end, when the pastor invited those who prayed to speak with him, I caught a glimpse of Nick through the crowd as I made my way to Mom, Betsy, and Erland.

"Hey, Kat!" Erland hugged me around the middle. "Did you just get in?"

I shook my head. "Sat in the back. Didn't want to distract you by coming in."

"Sounds like you," Betsy said with a half-grin. She hugged me and looked like she wanted to say more, but her eyes were caught by something behind me.

"What do you want, Nick?" Erland crossed his arms.