CHATPETER ONE
"Dad, do you think I was born too late?" Justin asked his father.
"Boy, what are you talking about? You were born at full term."
Randy told him.
Shaking his head Justin chuckled. "No, I mean time wise.
Sometimes I feel I should have been born when men were men and treated their family and friends with respect and you could truly trust them."
The bitter sting of who he thought his best friend was is still very raw.
Randy put his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Justin, there are some things that we'll never know, why did Carl betray your trust, why did Amanda betray your love, why did they betray you together? They can say it just happened, they can try and make excuses, but in the end it is what it is, and about the only thing you can say you know for sure is that they were both weak and without regard to their own responsibilities."
"I keep replaying it in my mind and no matter how many times or how many ways; I just don't understand how they could have done that to me." Justin threw down the shovel he was using to help his father plant some new trees in the orchard.
"Son, listen to me, you put in so much work at the Law Firm and into your relationship with Amanda you lost what was important, and it's not the Law Partnership or even thinking that maybe Amanda would have agreed to marry you."
Randy picked up the shovel that his son threw down and handed it back to him. Patted him on the shoulder and stepped back. "You forgot the reason you wanted to become a Lawyer in the first place and most importantly you've left God out of the entire equation, and we both know that with Him out of it nothing will be equal."
Justin looked up at his father who stood a good four inches taller than himself but he never felt he was ever at a different level than him until that moment.
"I know what you're trying to do Dad, and you can talk all day about it, but me and God, we don't talk anymore."
"Listen to me, one day you'll have to forgive yourself and Him for what happened with Caroline.
It wasn't your fault and when you finally allow yourself to grieve properly you'll come to understand that."
His heart broke every time he saw the pain in Justin's face when the memory of that awful night was relived.
"That's easy for you to say Dad, you weren't there, I was driving and I lost control of the car."
He shuttered and put his hand on his stomach.
"You tell me things always happens for reasons, but why did Caroline have to die, what was the point in that?" without waiting for his father to answer Justin stormed away and back towards the house.
"God, look into his heart and see the love he has for You, the love that he's buried so deep within.
