Rekindled Hearts

“I’m doing all right.” But his gaunt appearance worried Colt.

“Are you going to keep the farm? Some of the people who took hits as hard as yours are talking about selling out.”

“Nah, I ain’t going anywhere. This is all I know. At least I have a roof over my head. It’s a little leaky now, but it’s a roof.”

“Leaky?”

“Well, seems it was damaged by the tornado.”

“Have you contacted your insurance?”

The old farmer sighed. “I did, but I guess there’s a problem with my policy.”

“Walter, did you tell anyone?” Colt’s face got a little hot.

“I tried to call some government office, but got put on hold. And you know I can’t hear on the phone.”

“Let’s take a look around this place.” Colt started walking and Walter followed, slower than he used to be, stepping a little more cautiously. How many older farmers like Walter were being ripped off or ignored?

As they walked, Colt realized that a window in the back bedroom of the old farmhouse was still busted and the little leak in the roof was big enough for a basketball to fit through. Shingles were gone from another section.

Someone had to get out here and do something. Colt should have done something. He just hadn’t realized. There were so many people needing assistance it was hard to keep up with who had been taken care of, and who hadn’t.

“Walter, I’m going to make some calls for you, but in the meantime, I’ve still got some tarps in my Jeep that I keep on hand for situations like this. Let’s get a tarp over your roof and a piece of plywood over that window.”

“I sure appreciate that, Colt, but you don’t have to. I called my boy, and he’s coming down in a week or two. He told me to call you, but I told him it could wait.”

“Walter, you should have called.”

The older farmer looked down at boots that were scuffed and worn. Those boots of his probably took on water just like the roof.

Colt pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “I have to make a call, but how about a sandwich? I have a couple in my lunch box.”

“I can’t take your lunch.”

“Nonsense. I stick it in there in case I get stuck on a call, but I didn’t need it today.” Colt opened the car door and pulled out the lunch box and grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler in the back of his rig. “Go have a seat on the front porch and I’ll be right with you.”

He watched Walter hobble away and then he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Michael Garrison.

“Michael, this is Colt. I’m out at Walter’s farm….”

“Is it Charlie?”

“I haven’t seen the dog yet. But Walter really needs some assistance out here. I’m going to put a tarp on his roof and board up a window that got blown out, but he’s having problems with insurance. I’m not sure if he even has food.”

“I’ll get right on it, Colt. You’re a good man. And thanks for volunteering to cook on Sunday.”

“Volunteering my…”

“Foot,” Michael provided.

“Yes, my foot.” Colt ended the conversation. Sunday, church and Lexi. He’d rather walk on glass than face her and God on the same day, in the same place.

Sunday morning Lexi stood on the steps of the church, waiting, and still praying Colt would show up. People passed her on the steps, some smiling or saying hello, others involved in their own thoughts, or conversations with the person next to them. They didn’t notice her alone on the steps.

Standing there on the steps, she realized that more than the landscape had changed since the tornado. People had changed. Lives had really changed. She watched as Nicki Appleton, a preschool teacher in town, got out of her car with Kasey, the toddler that Gregory Garrison had found at the Waters cottages near the river.

The child held tight to Nicki’s hand, and looked for all the world as if they belonged together. What would happen to Nicki’s heart when the little girl’s family was found? Lexi didn’t want to think about that, or the pain the child’s leaving would cause.

Instead she focused on Heather Waters, standing next to Pastor Michael—as Lexi liked to think of the reverend. He just seemed more down-to-earth and reachable than the title Reverend implied. The two, Heather and Michael, had found love, lost love, after the tornado. They gave her hope for her own life, her own broken relationship.

And Maya Logan and Gregory Garrison. The two had fallen in love and were getting married. Two very different people, and the tornado had brought them together and made the differences melt away. They were going to adopt little Tommy and give him a forever family.

Footsteps behind her. Lexi turned in time to see Michael’s niece, Avery, slinking past her. The teenager looked as if she was up to something. The girl had been doing so much better since she came to High Plains to stay with Michael; the return of this sneaky side surprised Lexi.

“How is school going, Avery?” Lexi stopped the girl.

Avery’s mouth opened and she blinked, but then she smiled. She was a pretty girl, fresh-faced and not at all the dark teen she had tried to be at one time.

“Oh, good. You know, just hanging out.”

“I could still use help feeding dogs, if you’d like.”

“Umm, yeah, maybe sometime. Heather’s keeping me pretty busy.”

“Good. Well, maybe when you have more time.”

Avery nodded and darted off.

Lexi’s friend Jill walked out the door and stood next to her. They had prayed together the previous evening, not just for Colt, but for the community and the hearts and lives that were still healing.

“He’ll be here.” Jill squeezed Lexi’s hand. “He can run from God, but he can’t hide.”

“He didn’t say he would come to church.”

“But he might.” Jill, always optimistic.

Lexi smiled, but it wasn’t easy. Her life was hanging in the balance, waiting for the pieces to come together again. For a long time she had waited, thinking Colt would come back to her. As much as it hurt, she was starting to accept that maybe his coming home wasn’t the best thing for her. Last night, for the first time, she had prayed about moving on without him.

She still wanted him to have faith. Even if he wasn’t in her life.

Jill hugged her. “I have to get inside. Will you be okay?”

“I’m okay. I’ll be inside in just a second.”

“Okay. Gotta run, though. The choir is getting settled and I can see Linda looking for me. She’s not smiling.”

“She never smiles.” Lexi turned to look inside the church at Linda, who really was a happy and loving person. The choir was her place in church. She’d been there for nearly fifty years. “Go, I’ll be fine.”