Free Wednesday's Child by Clare Revell Page B

“I’m sorry, did I really say that?”
    “You did. So would you like to see me again?”
    Her heart leapt, then fell in the same instant. “Yes, but what about Sally? She’s such a huge part of you.”
    Liam took a deep breath. “I will always love her, but she’s gone.” He smiled. “How about I take you out on Wednesday, and we see how things go?”
    “Sounds good. And I want to beat you at pooh sticks again.”
    Liam took her hand. “Surely it must be my turn to win by now?”
    Jacqui laughed. “Nope.”
     
     
     
     

7
     
    Every day for the next three weeks, Liam met Jacqui after work. The check for the laptop cleared leaving him short, but he’d manage if he ate packed lunches for the rest of the term. Jacqui worked all day, including lunch, and Liam started doing his marking in his lunch hour to leave his evenings free. The only day he didn’t see her was Sunday when she was at church.
    She tried to get him to go with her, telling him God loved him and was waiting for him to return to Him, just like He had done with her. Liam listened and then ignored her pleas, not liking the way it made him feel. Something twisted inside him each time she spoke about God, almost as if someone were poking him with a very sharp stick, chipping away at the wall he’d erected. Nothing she said could convince him to step through the door of a church. God should have saved Sally and He hadn’t.
    He decided to wait another month before he booked his ticket back to Endarra and started the search for Sally’s killers. Neither the local police nor the missionary organization seemed interested in hunting down the people responsible, so he would do it. Vengeance was without doubt his. Sally deserved at least that.
    Or was vengeance his at all? Had it ever been?
    Even as he thought that, the sharp stick inside him poked harder, almost painfully. He noticed that he was no longer trying to deny the presence of God. He wouldn’t say he was softening in his attitude as he was still mad at God, but something moved inside him. It was what Sally would call ‘God dealing with him.’
    He looked out of the classroom window at Jacqui in her waterproof jacket directing the work men before kneeling to plant flowers in one of the borders. She wouldn’t like him charging off to kill someone. It was against a commandment. He tilted his head. If he had to choose which was more important to him, right here and now, choose between revenge and Jacqui…he’d have to say he honestly didn’t know. And that floored him totally and utterly.
    For nineteen months straight he’d been fueled by anger and hatred and thoughts of revenge and now? Now someone had flicked a light on in his inmost being. A small, tiny, pinprick of a light to be sure, but a light none the less. And that someone was Jacqui.
    “Sir?” A voice broke through his musing, and Liam turned around to solve whatever problem had come up.
     
    ****
     
    Saturday they spent watching the carnival floats process through the town and wandered around the carnival site, eating ice cream and hot dogs. That evening as the sun set while waiting for the fireworks, which the flyers claimed would be the best ever in the history of carnival, Liam stood next to Jacqui on the bridge in the park, sticks in their hands. Playing pooh sticks was a nightly tradition, with Jacqui so far winning every single time, no matter on which side of her he stood. They held their sticks out over the water. “All right, on three. One, two, three.”
    The sticks fell, and they ran to the other side.
    Jacqui clapped as her stick came through first. “Yay, I win again.”
    He shook his head. “Me thinks the lady doth cheat.”
    “I am so not cheating.”
    Liam’s hand came up to cup her face, and Jacqui caught her breath as his other arm slid around her waist.
    She moved her hands to his waist, her touch so light, but centering his focus fully on her.
    Her body was soft under his fingers, and as his lips