A Thousand Miles

Part 25

That could not have gone any worse. Shane turned his back on the door JoLynn just walked out of. Sure, she could have yelled or thrown something. But that couldn't possibly have been worse than facing the utterly betrayed expression on her face, or the humiliated tears.

    No. He shook his head slowly. Better if she had slapped him than the calm resignation—the acceptance—when she learned how the man she loved had broken her trust.

    He picked up the page that had just ruined everything. Dropping this bomb wasn't really what he'd intended when he invited her in. All week he had waited for the right moment to tell her. Maybe tonight at dinner...

    She was going to find out soon enough. And she had a meeting with Truman Monday, during which this news would surely come to light. At least now she knew what was coming. She wouldn't be totally blindsided like last time.

    Shane dropped onto the banquette bench and sighed wearily, watching through the opposite window as she made her way to her car. He could go after her and plead his case. But what would that be? That he'd been an ass on the day she met him, but he wasn't anymore? So what if he'd had a change of heart these past months? That would do her no good next week when she would go to that meeting and Truman would take it all from her, shattering her entire world, and crushing her dreams. All because a couple months ago Shane had been amenable to the idea.

    What he wouldn't give right now to be able to talk to his dad about this. His dad was the only friend he'd have left in this whole world by tomorrow. But what advice could his father give him, anyway? When his world had fallen apart, he ran away. He dumped every memory of what had been and moved on, looking for a fresh start and a place where his grief couldn't find him.

    JoLynn's engine revved to life outside. But he didn't want to watch her go. He stood, crossed to the kitchenette, and pulled a cup from a cabinet. The sound of tires crunching gravel told him when she'd gone.

    Maybe that's what he should do, too. Maybe he should fire this old beast up and hit the road. Just disappear to a place where no one knew him, and there would be no reminders of JoLynn and Mel and Curtis...of the pain his arrogance had caused others. But could he leave his father? He stared at the empty cup on the counter.

    "What now?" He pushed the question out of his constricted throat. "What do I do now?"

    The meager prayer felt alien on his lips. He hadn't sought direction from God since his father's abandonment of their faith decades ago. And there was no reason to expect that God would now provide any direction to such a faithless disappointment of a man.

    But an answer came anyway. Clarity pushed away a week's worth of indecision. Whether it was God's direction or not, he knew what he had to do next.