Free A Time to Surrender by Sally John

sun visor and sunglasses. They fell beside the chair onto the sand. She jammed her elbows against her thighs and buried her face in her hands. Her cell phone protruded from between fingers. Even from this distance he could tell she was crying hard.
    Typical and yet . . . Jenna must have just received a phone call. And Kevin was halfway around the world where people blew up other people on a regular basis.
    “Dear God.”
    A humongous wave crashed over his head. Its force rolled him like tumbleweed underwater. Righting himself, he wiped stinging salt water from his eyes and nose and turned. The boys on the surfboards were behind him. They’d managed to dive through the wave. His friend Hawk was treading water between them. Grins and riotous howls and thumbs-up came at him from all five. They were learning quickly and having a blast.
    Danny looked again at Jenna. Cade Edmunds was kneeling in front of her. He put his arms around her. Her face went against his shoulder.
    Danny swam toward shore. In the shallows he tripped, caught himself, and lunged to where Jenna sat. Prayers and obscenities yammered in his head. How was it he could simultaneously pray for Kevin’s safety and curse the United States government up one side and down the other?
    He knelt next to Cade. A corner of his mind registered that his married sister snuggled in the arms of her boss was not a good thing.
    “Jen? What happened?”
    She raised a tear-streaked face and blubbered. “Nana called. Beth Russell is coming!”
    Catching his breath, Danny stared at her, dumbstruck. “Huh?”
    Jenna nodded.
    He groaned, sat down on the sand, and rolled onto his back. His heart bucked like a bronco as he gulped for air. Uncle BJ’s girlfriend from years before he and Jenna had been born was coming? Big deal.
    “Danny!”
    He tilted his head to look at her. Between gasps he said, “I repeat, huh?”
    “Nana says I should meet her!”
    “Yeah. So? We knew she might come. I want to meet her. Why wouldn’t we?”
    “Oh!” She cried in frustration.
    Cade still had one arm around Jenna. The dude was beginning to irritate Danny.
    Jenna wiped a beach towel over her face. She accepted a water bottle from Cade and took a few sips.
    “Jen,” Danny said, “it’s what I said the other night, isn’t it? Your imagination is in overdrive.” He sat up. “Kevin is not Uncle BJ. He is not in Vietnam. You are not Beth Russell. He is not going to run off on you and create another life with someone else.”
    “It’s more than that. It’s Nana and her—” She pressed her lips together, a combination of pout and wail suppressor.
    If the stranger hadn’t been sitting right there, Danny would have talked about their grandmother, about how strong she was, about how she’d received Tuyen with open arms because Nana trusted God knew what He was doing. What was a reunion for Nana with her old friend Beth? It’d be a party by comparison.
    Cade said, “What about Nana?”
    Jenna burst into fresh tears and jumped to her feet. “I’m sorry! I just can’t handle this anymore!” She grabbed her bag and hurried away toward the boardwalk.
    Danny stood.
    Cade rose beside him. “I’ll go after her.”
    “No.” He took a moment to look directly at the sunglasses that hid the man’s eyes. “It’s a brother’s job.” He waggled a thumb over his shoulder. “The guys are doing great, but you better stay with them.”
    “Yeah.” Cade’s jaw worked. “Right.”
    Without another word, Danny went after Jenna.

Fifteen
    O n her third Sunday at the Hideaway, Skylar declined Claire’s third invitation to attend church with the family. She went for a hike.
    It was early September. The never-ending Southern California sun refused to take a break. It heated up the pleasantly cool morning in record time. Sweating, she climbed a winding, rocky path through live oaks and pines, some in full growth, some bare and blackened.
    The Beaumonts’ church must be a humdinger. Even with