Levi’s scalp prickled. “And what did you discover?”
“That maybe Savannah doesn’t deserve to have people piling on her. She was an innocent bystander in a terrible tragedy.”
“Oh, here we go.” Levi shook his head in disbelief and reached for the hand truck. “To hear Candace tell it—and from the newspaper articles I found online—someone’s dead. It seems to me that Savannah didn’t mention any of that before I put her in charge of Wren. That’s a pretty important detail to leave out. So she lied, Jasper.”
Jasper bit his lip and nodded slowly, his expression guarded yet sympathetic. “She wasn’t technically lying—she wasn’t there when the accident happened, so she can’t be blamed for anything that occurred. But yeah, she should’ve told you everything up front instead of trying to minimize her involvement. I still think you’re being way too hard on her.”
He paused, maybe to give Levi a moment to consider his words. “The thing is, bad things happen to good people sometimes—we just have to figure out how to deal with them the best way we can.”
Levi didn’t answer at first. He just stared at his twin before finally taking a deep breath. “I want to believe you, but until she can prove it by her actions instead of just words...” He trailed off and shook his head. “I’m not sure if I ever will be able to trust her again.”
Jasper pinned him with a long look. “People will often disappoint you, bro.”
Levi opened his mouth to speak, but Jasper cut him off with an emphatic shake of his head. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I think it might actually be beneficial for both of you if you took a step back and tried to understand what Savannah went through before passing judgment.”
Levi sighed heavily and crossed his arms. He knew Jasper was right, that maybe he had been too quick to judge, but he still couldn’t shake the hurt. Savannah could’ve just been honest, and they would’ve avoided this whole mess.
Like you were honest about your relationship?
Guilt swept in. He shook his head, suddenly feeling very drained. “Okay, so what do you suggest I do?”
Jasper shrugged. “It’s up to you, obviously, but maybe try talking with her about it? Just give her time to explain herself, and then go from there.”
Levi nodded slowly as he considered this advice. He wasn’t proud of how he’d behaved. He’d let himself get swept up in the drama. Assumed the worst. Admitting Jasper had a valid point wasn’t easy, but if he didn’t listen, he’d always regret letting pride keep him and Savvy apart.
Jasper’s phone hummed. He plucked it from his back pocket, then frowned as he scanned the screen. “‘This is a text from Hayley. Savannah’s at the train station. She’s headed for Anchorage. Train leaves in eight minutes.’”
Levi’s heart sank. Savvy couldn’t leave. Not now. Not like this. He had to try to stop her.
Savannah stifled a sob as the train whistle blew, bringing back the memories of all she was leaving behind. She settled in her seat and pressed her forehead against the cool glass, trying to dredge up the strength to get through this journey as tears ran silently down her cheeks. She’d been so foolish, still clinging to her silly notion that Levi would come for her, running through the station to stop the train from departing before it was too late. Through tear-filled eyes, she frantically searched the platform and the parking lot one last time but found no trace of him or his beloved truck. Her heart broke as she realized she and Wren hadn’t officially said goodbye.
The pain was almost too much to bear.
Why had she ever believed she could keep her past hidden? That no one would discover the catastrophic mistakes she’d made in Colorado? Her job loss and the fallout from her community and her employer had left a mark. Even her ex, Troy, had managed to get one last dig in by using his new girlfriend to spread the word about the accident. And now all that pain had come rushing back like water breaching a dam. It was the same hurt all over again. Crushing her until she could barely breathe. Looming over all of it was the sorrow and grief she’d experienced at the loss of a girl under her care. She’d struggled to make sense of it, to find comfort, but sometimes she felt she didn’t deserve it when the student’s family was suffering so much more.
As much as she didn’t want to leave Opportunity, she couldn’t stay. It wasn’t just the lack of a steady job that propelled her to leave—she’d never be able to handle the ridicule. Candace would have a field day, tormenting her with reminders of her failure.
The train whistle blew one more time, and then, moments later, her car started rolling down the tracks. She couldn’t take in the full scope of the beauty around her, not after she’d just said goodbye to everyone and everything she had loved here. Before the station disappeared from view, she glanced over her shoulder for a last look at the platform, hoping that someone would come sprinting after her. But no one did. No matter how hard she tried to stop them, the tears kept coming as the train picked up speed. She was leaving all her dreams and hopes behind, moving to a big city with no one waiting for her arrival. It all felt so pointless now.
She had worked hard to make sure the youth-group incident was hidden from view when she applied for the job in Opportunity. And while it had pained her deeply to conceal such big parts of herself—her mistakes and failures—she knew it was necessary if she wanted a fresh start. How would she have covered it, anyway? Oh, by the way, Mr. Schubert, you should know that when I was chaperoning a field trip, a girl died. She’d wrestled with whether to reveal it but in the end decided she needed to put it behind her if she was to accept she wasn’t to blame.
But somehow, here on this train, with only her thoughts for company, all the memories and pain she’d been trying to avoid replayed in her mind. Forced her to second-guess her choices. Savannah hugged her knees close to her chest as she wept silently, feeling more alone than ever before. She hadn’t expected it to be so hard leaving everything behind.
“Honey, are you okay?”
Savannah turned from the window to see a woman seated across from her. She had silver hair twisted into a no-nonsense bun, plenty of laugh lines fading out from her kind blue eyes. Savvy couldn’t help but like the woman’s warm presence instantly. Savannah dabbed away at the tears that still threatened to fall. “I’m all right.”
The woman nodded slowly and then motioned for Savannah to draw closer. Hesitantly, she moved forward until she was close enough for the woman to take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze.
“My name is Martha, and wherever you’re going on this train, you can tell me about it.”
Savvy didn’t know what to say at first. She had been doing her best not to think about what she’d do for work or where exactly she was headed after she got to Anchorage—mainly because she hadn’t decided yet. All her talk about Fiji and Honolulu or backpacking in Europe had been nonsense. Because she couldn’t afford any of that.
But as Martha waited patiently for an answer, Savannah spilled everything out to her new companion: how she’d lost her job in Colorado due to an unfortunate incident involving a student who’d disobeyed the rules, how that same incident had come back around again in Opportunity thanks to Candace’s power of persuasion. How much it hurt that even after all these months, the pain was still so raw and real, and how now Levi knew more than he should ever know about her past.
The kind stranger continued to listen without interrupting as the words tumbled out until Savannah fell silent again. Exhaustion made every limb feel like it weighed about a thousand pounds. But she also felt strangely relieved now that someone else knew her story too.
“It’s just that...” She drew another wobbly breath. “I thought I had my happily-ever-after, you know? After some fits and starts, I thought he was maybe the one.”
When she finished speaking, Martha gave Savannah’s hand another reassuring squeeze.
Then she shifted in her seat. “Well, maybe he is and just needs a little time to figure it all out.”
“Oh, I doubt that’s going to happen. He’s made his choice.”
“Here’s what I can say for certain. God’s timing is nothing like ours. I’m sure you know that. Sometimes, when you are just at your wit’s end, He has a way of bringing the good stuff back around.”
Savvy sighed again. “I know that, but it’s so hard to hold on to the hope. I look around and I see all these happy couples, like my parents, and I wonder why it’s not like that for me.”
Martha smiled sympathetically. “Bless their hearts—but you can’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. God has a plan for you.”
Savannah nodded slowly and tried to take comfort in Martha’s words. As the train chugged along the track, they passed endless fields of wildflowers in full bloom and caught an occasional glimpse of a mama moose and her babies eating at the edge of a pond.
The picturesque scenes were a comforting reminder that God had His own ways of doing things and that she didn’t just get whatever she wanted. She’d accepted long ago that He was in control. But it still didn’t ease the pain.
“Can’t you drive any faster?” Levi rubbed his damp palms on his jeans, then glanced at the clock on the dash. “The train gets into Anchorage soon. I don’t want to miss her.”
Jasper, with his hands at a white-knuckle grip of ten and two, kept a steady speed. “I’m trying to obey the law. If I get pulled over for speeding it’ll take us even longer to get there. Is that what you want?”
