“That sounds like a horrible experience… Are you scared?” Liam asked.

  “Every day. I fear he’ll figure out his way down here and kill me… but I know that’s unlikely since he complained of going to the gas station a block away from his ghetto apartment in Portland.”

  “So you just plan to live in fear?” Liam asked.

  “No… The fear lessens each day that passes. I feel more confident in my choice and I know what I did was the right thing. Praying helps the process too,” Elana said. “Tell me… Why do you like her Liam?”

  “… I just don’t know how to explain it. It’s a God thing… I think God can place people in our lives that interrupt our plans, and that’s what I feel he did with Katie. She was an interruption and she caught my eyes and heart like nobody I have ever met.”

  “But you were on your way out of Lincoln City and her life?” Elana asked curiously.

  “Yeah… I wanted to go back to my life in Spokane. I figured we had time to see where it goes and just do long distance. I figured if it fizzled it wasn’t meant to be and if the feelings grew, we’d go from there…”

  “But?” Elana said.

  “But she got in a car accident and it made me want to be close to her more than ever. I feared losing her,” Liam said.

  “We all did,” Elana said.

  “Then I got back here and she was in surgery for so long and then the anesthesia that lasted forever… I just didn’t want to leave her side.”

  “Where did you go when my mom shooed you away?” Elana asked.

  “I was going to leave… I had enough. Then I realized, I came back for Katie, not for your parents or any other reason, but for Katie. I wanted to be near here and I feel like that’s when I realized what I needed to do.”

  “What do you mean ‘what you needed to do’?” Elana asked.

  **

  Joining the rest of the family in the hospital room, Elana and Liam came in hearing the doctor begin to explain the steps moving forward for Katie’s recovery.

  “You’ll need to be here for the next three to four days. Before being released, we will need to do some basic rehabilitation to make sure your legs and back are working properly.” The doctor placed the clipboard back onto the wall and exited the room.

  “Liam…” Katie said. Liam moved to her side and placed his hand on top of hers. Katie’s heart fluttered with joy at his touch. “Are you going to stay by my side?” Katie asked.

  “I’ll be here through it all with you,” He said smiling at her.

  18-Katie

  Exiting through the back entrance of the hospital, Katie took a deep breath of fresh air as Liam pushed her wheel chair to the curb. It might be chilly, but it’s refreshing! Smiling back up at Liam, he reached down and kissed her. Liam ran off to the front parking lot to get his truck and bring it up to the curb Katie was at. Katie’s phone rang, it was Derek.

  “Hello?” She answered looking to make sure Liam was out of sight.

  “Hey Katie,” Derek said. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine; Tell me, did you get it taken care of?” Katie asked quickly. Derek was silent for a moment before continuing.

  “Yep. Are you sure about this?” Derek asked.

  “Yeah, of course.” Liam pulled around the corner in the truck. “I gotta go,” Katie said and hung up. Beaming at Liam as he pulled up, Katie thought to herself, How did I get so lucky with this guy? Quickly getting out of his truck, he ran around the truck and wheeled Katie’s wheelchair to the passenger side door. Katie’s back surged with pain as Liam helped her into the truck, but she did not break her smile.

  “There we go,” Liam said buckling her in.

  “I can buckle my own seat belt,” Katie laughed covering her mouth. “You’re too sweet.”

  On the drive home, Katie began to think about the fact that Liam and her talked about almost everything with each other while she was stuck in the hospital, but they hadn’t talked about him leaving since the accident. She found herself enjoying the last few days in the hospital watching re-runs of The Office and playing Scrabble with Liam so much that she hadn’t thought about him leaving, until now. “What’s going to happen?” Katie asked looking at Liam.

  “What do you mean?” Katie gave him a look that communicated it without any added words. “Oh… That,” Liam said.

  “I don’t want you to leave… I have to be honest about that with you,” Katie said.

  “I don’t want to leave either,” Liam said. Katie’s stomach fluttered with butterflies. She placed her hand on the back of his neck and ran her fingers through his hair.

  “So are you going to stay?” Katie asked.

  “Yes,” Liam said.

  “It’s that easy? Just like that?” Katie asked surprised.

  “It’s not that easy… but yes, I already made arrangements with my college, I’ve transferred my credits to an online university. I spoke with my boss over at Flip Inc. and they said they have some remote work I can still do. It’s all settled, I’ll live at my grandpa’s house.”

  “Wow! I guess you have thought about it,” Katie said.

  “Yes. I knew from the moment I met you that you weren’t going to easily be removed from my life. I prayed and I’ve thought about you since we first met. I spoke to your sister in the cafeteria a few days ago and she was explaining to me how she’s scared about her ex but she’s less fearful everyday…. Leaving my life behind in Spokane is terrifying, but I think every day that goes by, like your sister, I am less scared.”

  “You think God wants us to be together?” Katie asked.

  “I don’t know God’s will, but he allowed my heart to have room for you. I love you Katie,” Liam said. Katie felt Liam’s love wash over her; she felt amazing and didn’t even notice the pain in her back in the moment of intense emotion.

  “I love you too!” Katie said grabbing his hand on the seat. “I love you so much… You are so good to me!” Katie said squeezing his hand. “Could we stop by the church?” Katie asked. Liam looked confusedly at her.

  “I think you need to get home and get some rest,” Liam said.

  “Please…” Katie said with a smile and puppy dog eyes.

  “Okay, okay…” Liam said taking the turn down the street towards Grace Baptist. As they pulled into the parking lot of the church, Liam looked out the windshield to see Derek, the youth group and Harold all standing with a shovel next to the church building. “What is going on?” Liam asked surprised as he parked in a stall next to all the people.

  “Get out of the truck,” Katie said smiling. Liam got out of the truck and shut the door. Katie rolled her window down of the truck as Liam approached Derek.

  “What’s going on?” Liam asked looking at the shovel in Derek’s hand. Derek reached the shovel out offering it to Liam.

  “We are breaking ground on the youth building,” Derek said. “We want you to do the honors.” Liam looked back at Katie.

  “What? I thought the upgrades were going to be done instead?” Liam asked surprised.

  “Katie got it changed, she does have pull with the board with her family after all…” Derek said as he grabbed the shoulder of Harold. “Harold here stopped by the church yesterday and said he wanted to help with the youth! So he’s going to help us.”

  “Wow!” Liam said jumping up in excitement. Katie’s heart was filled with joy to see Liam so happy. Running back over to his truck, he went to Katie’s window and laid a big giant kiss on her lips. “This is awesome! How come you did this?”

  “You were right Liam… Those kids needed this,” Katie said smiling. Liam went over and started high fiving the kids that were there. Taking the shovel, Liam jammed it into the dirt and broke the ground.

  19-Liam

  12 months later…

  “Is Helga bringing the giant scissors?” Liam asked Katie as he kissed her on the cheek while she fried eggs on the stove top.

  “Yep, I already called her and made sure. She said she’s struggling getting use to the idea of me not being around…” Katie chuckled.

  “I’m sure it’ll take some time. She was so cute at our wedding with Jeffrey, I think they are good with each other,” Liam said. Liam wrapped his tie around his neck and stood next to Katie waiting for her to tie it.

  “How did you ever get along without me?” Katie laughed. Liam shrugged.

  “I have no idea,” Liam said. “Could you be sure to put out the fire in the fireplace before you leave?” Liam asked sitting down at the kitchen table.

  “Of course… It only happened once Liam!” Katie said dishing up his eggs onto a plate. Bringing the plate over to the table, Katie kissed him on the cheek. “Here you go Mr. Liam Franklin,” Katie said beaming.

  “Thank you Mrs. Liam Franklin!” Liam said smiling as he took a bite of his eggs. Looking at the clock on the wall, Liam noticed it was only ten minutes until eleven. Finishing his eggs quickly, He wiped his mouth with his napkin and headed towards the door. Stopping, Liam turned and ran back over to Katie landing a kiss on her lips. “Thanks for breakfast dear, I’ll see you at the ceremony!”

  Rushing out the door, Liam jumped in his truck. Backing up out of his driveway, Liam thought about how much had happened over the last year. The wedding, inheriting his grandfather’s house and the youth building being built. It’s been a good year Lord!

  **

  Arriving at the church, Liam began helping finish up the final touches for the big opening day ceremony. He walked the gymnasium to make sure the dodge balls were lined up for the competition that afternoon. Walked through the classrooms for the different special groups and then met with Derek and Harold in the sanctuary of the youth building.

  “This turned out amazing,” Derek said looking around.

  “It really did. I’m glad,” Liam said. The front doors opened and Katie’s grandfather came strolling in, Liam ran up to him and gave him a hug.

  “The improvements to the sanctuary are perfect, I didn’t have any issues with them Liam. You managed to change it enough by yourself to make me more than comfortable and I appreciate it greatly,” he said shaking Liam’s hand vigorously.

  “Good. I want you to be able to sit with Katie and I in service and it sounds like that is going to happen now,” Liam said. Katie’s grandfather nodded as kids and parents began to line up outside the entrance doors. Glancing at his phone, he saw it was almost eleven, the time for the grand opening. The back door opened as Katie came into the room.

  Wrapping his arm around Katie, Liam kissed her on the cheek as they peered across the crowd of people just on the other side of the doors. “You did it,” Katie said to Liam. He tightened his arm around Katie.

  “No, we did it,” Liam said smiling at her as he kissed her.

  The End.

  Bonus

  Prologue

  Each of us has moments of impact in life. Sometimes it’s in the form of love, and sometimes in the form of sadness. It is in these times that our world changes forever. They shape us, they define us, and they transform us from the people we once were into the people we now are.

  The summer before my senior year of High School is one that will live with me forever. My parents’ relationship was on the rocks, my brother was more annoying than ever, and I was forced to leave the world I loved and cared about in Seattle. A summer of change, a summer of growth, and a summer I’ll never forget.

  Chapter 1 ~ Jess

  Jess leaned her head against the passenger side window as she stared out into the endless fields of wheat and corn. She felt like an alien in a foreign land, as it looked nothing like the comfort of her home back in Seattle.

  She was convinced her friends were lucky to not have a mother who insisted on whisking them away to spend the entirety of their summer out in the middle of nowhere in Eastern Washington. She would have been fine with a weekend visit, but the entire summer at grandpa’s? That was a bit uncalled for, and downright wrong. Her mother said the trip was so Jess and her brother Henry could spend time with her grandpa Roy, but Jess had no interest in doing any such thing.

  On the car ride to grandpa’s farm to be dropped off and abandoned, Jess became increasingly annoyed with her mother. Continually, her mother would glance over at Jess looking for conversation. Ignoring her mom’s attempts to make eye contact with her, Jess kept her eyes locked and staring out the window. Every minute, and every second of the car ride, Jess spent wishing the summer away.

  After her mother took the exit off the freeway that led out to the farm, a loud pop came from the driver side tire and brought the car to a grinding halt. Her mom was flustered, and quickly got out of the car to investigate the damage. Henry, Jess’s obnoxious and know-it-all ten-year-old brother, leaned between the seats and glanced out the windshield at their mom.

  “Stop being so annoying,” Jess said, pushing his face back between the seats. He sat back and then began to reach for the door. Jess looked back at him and asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to help mom.”

  “Ha. You can’t help her; you don’t know how to change a tire.”

  “Well, I am going to try.” Henry climbed out of the car and shut it forcefully. Jess didn’t want this summer to exist and it hadn’t even yet begun. If only she could fast forward, and her senior year of High School could start, she’d be happy. But that wasn’t the case; there was no remote control for her life. Instead, the next two and half months were going to consist of being stuck out on a smelly farm with Henry and her grandpa. She couldn’t stand more than a few minutes with her brother, and being stuck in a house with no cable and him? That was a surefire sign that one of them wasn’t making it home alive. Watching her mother stare blankly at the car, unsure of what to do, Jess laughed a little to herself. If you wouldn’t have left Dad, you would have avoided this predicament. Her dad knew how to fix everything. Whether it was a flat tire, a problematic science project or her fishing pole, her dad was always there for her no matter what. That was up until her mother walked out on him, and screwed everybody’s life up. Now he’s gone and out of the country on a three month hiatus. Jess figured he had a broken heart and just needed the time away to process her mom leaving him in the dust.

  Henry stood outside the car next to his mother, looking intently at the tire. Accidently catching eye contact with her mother, Jess rolled her eyes. Henry had been trying to take over as the man of the house ever since the split. It was cute at first, even to Jess, but his rule of male superiority became rather old quickly when Henry began telling Jess not to speak to her mother harshly and to pick up her dirty laundry. Taking the opportunity to cut into her mom, Jess rolled down her window, “Why don’t you call Grandpa? Oh that’s right… he’s probably outside and doesn’t have a cell phone… but even if he did, he wouldn’t have reception.”

  “Don’t start with me Jess,” her mother scowled at her. She watched as her mother turned away from the car and spotted a rickety, broken down general store just up the road.

  Her mom began to walk along the side of the road with Henry. Jess didn’t care that she wasn’t invited on the family trek along the road. It was far too hot to walk anywhere, plus she preferred the coolness of the air conditioning. She wanted to enjoy the small luxury of air conditioning before getting to her grandpa’s, where she knew there was sure to be nothing outside of box fans.

  Jess pulled her pair of ear buds out from the front pouch of her backpack and plugged them into her phone. Tapping into her music as she put the ear buds in, she set the playlist to shuffle. Staring back out her window, she noticed a cow feeding on a pile of hay through the pine trees, just over the other side of a barbed wire fence. I really am in the middle of nowhere.

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  Acknowledgements

  First and foremost, I want to thank God. God’s salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us all the ability to have a personal relationship with the creator of the Universe.

  I also want to thank my wife. She’s my muse and my inspiration. A wonderful wife, an amazing mother and the best person I have ever met. She’s great and has always stood by me with every decision I have made along life’s way.

  I’d like to thank my editors and early readers for helping me along the way. I also want to thank all of my friends and extended family for the support. It’s a true blessing to have every person I know in my life.