Free Secretly Yours: A Christian Valentine's Day Romance (Riverbend Romance Novella Book 1) by Valerie Comer

happen again.

    ~*~

    Lindsey pushed the cocoa mug into his hand and took a step back. How could a man talk about God’s love like that and still make her feel singled out? Special? Not just as a Christian, but as a woman?
    “Cocoa ready?” yelled Madison.
    “Yes,” Lindsey called back. Her voice sounded unsteady.
    “Ready or not, here I come.”
    Nick chuckled. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”
    Lindsey snuck a peek at his face as he took a sip of the cocoa. “Is it okay? Sweet enough? Hot enough?”
    He grabbed her gaze and held it with all the power of an industrial-strength magnet. “It’s perfect.”
    “I’ll take this to my room.” Madison lifted one of the remaining mugs. “I’m texting with Erica.”
    “Didn’t you just spend all day with her?” teased Nick.
    “Yeah, but she’s my best friend. We always have stuff to talk about.” She disappeared down the hallway, walking rather than sliding for once.
    Probably eavesdropping and telling Erica all about it.
    “Another facet of love,” Nick said softly. “Wanting to spend time together.”
    She knew about that. Since the moonlit snowshoe the week before, she’d wanted nothing more than to be with Nick. But he scared her. Or maybe it was that she scared herself.
    How could she trust love? God’s love, or her own? Look at her mom, who’d been married three times and never been happy. Was Lindsey doomed to the same fate?
    She wasn’t going to let her mother dictate her view of love anymore. Nor Greg.

    ~*~

    Lindsey sat on the edge of her bed and picked up the little devotional book.
    Not Nick, either. For some reason she’d crammed everything she thought she knew about love in a tiny box. Then into the corners around it, she’d poured her own history and understanding of God’s love.
    Maybe it was time to reverse that. No, even more radical. Completely throw away the box. Let God’s love be big. Be invasive. Let it soak into the fabric of her soul.
    Just the thought felt like trickles of refreshing water into the dry cracks of her life. She’d been so busy holding things together, trying to cushion Madison from Greg, trying to be a nice, stable person, she’d forgotten the joy she’d once had in the Lord.
    Lindsey turned to a random page in the little book and found a quote of Isaiah 61:10. I am filled with joy and my soul vibrates with exuberant hope, because of the Eternal my God, for he has dressed me with the garment of salvation, wrapped me with the robe of righteousness. It’s as though I’m dressed for my wedding day in the very vest: a bridegroom’s garland and a bride’s jewels.
    Exuberant hope. Joyful celebration.
    Yes, she was ready to open herself to that kind of love. Where that would lead with Nick didn’t matter. Right now her soul craved to revel in the fact that God came in like a mighty champion to rescue her, a damsel in distress.
    It was enough.

Chapter 14

    Lindsey lived for moments like this. Outside the church kitchen, the banquet hall buzzed with murmured conversation and the clink of silverware. Several of the teens perched on high stools, playing a medley of songs on guitars. The room flickered with candlelight that glittered off gowns before being swallowed by the darkness of black suits and tuxes. The teen wait staff carried trays from table to table.
    In here, florescent lights illuminated every work surface. The commercial dishwasher hummed incessantly as teens tried to stay ahead of the incoming plates.
    Other helpers now busily plated cupcakes, half of them swirled in frothy pink clouds and half tailored with smooth chocolate frosting and crisp pink hearts. Lindsey drizzled a squirt of chocolate syrup over each plate before it went out.
    She released a long breath as the last tray disappeared. They’d done it! Suddenly she was famished.
    The three kids who’d been at her side since early afternoon collapsed against the counter. Lindsey raised her right hand and high-fived them each in turn.