A Moment Like This: A Contemporary Christian Romance Prequel Novella (The Grace Series Book 4)

by Staci Stallings

  “Lots of life is about making peace with who you are and how your life has turned out. You know I love Dani, but I think we both know she’s never really been at peace with things.”

  “I know. I thought, I had hoped…”

  “Hoped?”

  “I wanted to be enough for her. Then I thought if we got the house, this house, that would make her happy. Then Ja and this new job… but it’s like no matter what I do, no matter what new, bigger thing we get or do, it doesn’t make her happy. And the truth is, I’m getting kind of tired of trying.”

  “I’ve learned a lot of lessons in this ol’ life, but one of them I know for sure is you can’t make somebody else happy. Their happiness is not your responsibility.”

  “But she’s my…”

  “Wife. And you’re her husband. But her happiness is not between you and her. It’s between her and God.”

  Eric swiveled his head in frustration.

  “No. Now hear me out. I’m just gonna guess that you two haven’t been attending services.” She held up her hands. “And that is not a judgment or a condemnation, just an observation. Services on their own don’t fix anything, but making God important does. There were a lot of years in through there I thought I didn’t have time for the Lord, and boy, did I pay for that arrogance. Not ‘cause He was mad at me but because by removing myself from His presence, I removed myself from His help and provision too. I tried to do it all on my own, and let me tell you, that was a mistake from the get-go. You kids, this house, all the craziness and turmoil I was bouncing off of. It about nearly took us all down.

  “Then a good friend of mine suggested we come back to the church. I thought she was crazy. Sunday was a good day to try to right the insanity our world was. But she kept after me and kept after me, and eventually, I went, we went. All together. I’ll never forget you boys, all arguing about why you had to go and whinin’ about why you didn’t want to. We very nearly didn’t make it for the beatings.” She laughed, and so did Eric. “I can’t say that one service changed things because it probably didn’t. I didn’t get no bolt of lightning from the sky revelation or Holy Spirit revival or nothing like that. But when we kept going, and I kept listening, and then I started to put some of the things into practice with you kids but mostly with myself, things started to change.”

  “I don’t think Dani would go even if I wanted to,” he said.

  His mother shook her head. “You’re not listening to me, son. This is not about Dani. It’s not about fixing her or figuring her out or nothing like that. It’s about you, where your heart is, where your spirit is. If you make it about her, you’re doomed before you ever even start. You remember when I said her happiness is not your responsibility?”

  Eric nodded slowly.

  “Well, that goes for you too. Your happiness is not her responsibility.”

  Concerned confusion slipped onto his face, and his mother smiled in understanding.

  “Your happiness is between you and the Lord, Eric. It ain’t Dani’s to give or to take. When you think it is, you set her up as an idol, and that will never work. You have to decide where you are with God and what you’re going to do about it. If Dani comes along, great. If she doesn’t, that’s her side of the street.”

  “Is this how you were with Dad?” He didn’t want to ask, but he needed to know.

  “Oh, laws, no.” She laughed like that was hilarious. “That man and I had our share of squabbles, Lord knows. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on much of anything. No, most of the peace I have today didn’t come from being at peace most of my life. It came from finally surrendering all those things I got wrong all those years to God and letting Him deal with them. Your daddy and that time maybe most of all.”

  Taking a breath, she looked at him. “The truth is, I was angry at God for a whole lotta years. I cut myself off from believing in Him because of what I thought He did to us.”

  “Daddy?”

  “Yeah. I told God over and over how He should’ve done that night different. If only your dad hadn’t been assigned to that road, if only he just hadn’t pulled that car over, if only, if only, if only… And I blamed God for all them if only’s. The good news is, God didn’t turn His back on me, even when I turned mine on Him. He patiently waited for me to come back and to see that He wasn’t the one who had done it at all. All He ever wanted to do was hold me and comfort me and help me through all that. It wasn’t a short road, but eventually I did get it, and when I accepted what God wanted to give me, ah…” She shook her head and smiled. “It changed my whole life.”

  “I wish I had that… that peace.”

  “You can,” she said softly. “But you can’t have what you don’t accept. God is right there, but if you don’t acknowledge Him and give Him some time to speak into your life, it’s as if He wasn’t there at all. You have to make that decision. He’s not going to make it for you and force anything on you.”

  “But I really don’t know about going back to church…”

  “Then don’t start there. You’ve got a Bible, don’t you? Then use the thing. Pick it up. Read it. Spend some time with the Lord—inside a building, outside a building, in your living room. It don’t matter where you start. The point is that you do start.”

  All day long, Dani had wrestled with what to do about Attabury. When she thought about just selling the thing, her spirit jangled. When she thought about renovating it, her thoughts when to Eric and her spirit jangled harder. He didn’t understand. Not that she really did herself, but he really didn’t understand. If she could just do this, then maybe…

  Her cell phone beeped and with a start she grabbed it up and swiped it on. “Hello?”

  “Hey, babe,” Eric said, and the soft moniker touched her.

  “Hey, where are you?”

  “Out at Mt. Airy.”

  Confusion and anger pummeled her. “Mt. Airy? You went to visit your mom?”

  “I did. I texted you that a couple of hours ago.”

  The texts. She stuffed the anger, knowing it was her own fault even as she steeled herself for what she knew was coming. Her glance at the clock confirmed it was nearly five. “What time will you be home?”

  “Well, it will be a while. I’m going to stay here and eat with her. If that’s okay.”

  Anger boiled, hot and searing up in her, but she held it down with all of her strength. “Of course. Yeah, that’s… fine. I’m probably going to be a little late getting out of here anyway, so I’ll pick up some Chinese or something before I get Ja.”

  “Great. I’ll be home later then.”

  Dani whacked back the hurt. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you later.”

  “K. Love you,” he said.

  Dani wanted to scream at him, but even as she sat there, she knew she was being irrational. “You too.”

  When she hung up from the call, anger filled everything such that she could hardly see anything else. Finally her gaze fell back to her work and she went back to it, vowing she didn’t need Eric or anyone else. She would buy Attabury, and she would fix it up with her bare hands if she had to.

  Her phone beeped again, and she wanted to throw the thing through the window. However, she clutched that back and answered it as if nothing at all was wrong. “Danisha Richardson.”

  “Ms. Richardson, oh, good. I’m glad I caught you. This is Caleb James.”

  She smiled at the synchronicity although she knew it was only a coincidence. “Yes, Mr. James, I’m surprised to hear from you.” And then she realized he might be calling to tell her a flat-out no. That wouldn’t surprise her today. “I hope this isn’t bad news.”

  “No. No. Not bad at all. Well, I hope so anyway.”

  That raked through her and she narrowed her gaze and leaned forward. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  “Well, something’s come up over here, something that could change the project quite a bit.”

  “Oh?” It’s fallen down, been run into and over by a truck, been set on fire a
nd left for ashes.

  “A friend of mine, well, the guy I used to work for, with on H&H, he’s starting up a new show as the producer. You might have heard of him. Derek West?”

  Of course she had heard of him, but worry over where this was going raked into her. “Yes?”

  “Well, they’re exploring the idea of starting up a new show with me, out here, doing houses, and we thought maybe you would consider Attabury being our first project.”

  Although Dani was sure she was supposed to be saying something, she couldn’t quite figure out what that was. “Attabury? For a television show?”

  “Yes. We’d at least like to talk to you about it.”

  Once again, she got nothing out.

  “The wedding’s Saturday, but we were wondering, hoping actually, that you and your husband could come out here on Friday to meet with us. Derek’s in town right now, and it would save them a trip having to come back.”

  Her eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “Friday?”

  “I know, you’re busy, and this is short notice…”

  “Uh, well, I’m going to have to check my schedule and with Eric.”

  “That’s fine. Just call me back when you decide if it will work. Whatever time you can is pretty much okay with us during the day. We’ve got things that night though…”

  “Oh, yes. Yes. I understand. Let me check, and I’ll get back to you.”

  The meal and time with his mother had done a lot to settle Eric’s rattling spirit, and by the time he headed home, he had made up his mind to do what she had suggested. Dani wouldn’t understand, of course, but if he just didn’t make it too obvious, maybe she would be so focused on her own life, she wouldn’t notice his.

  “Dear Lord,” he prayed with the radio off, something he hadn’t done in a very long time, “I know it’s been a while, and I know that’s my fault. I’m sorry I’ve kind of forgotten about You, and I’m going to try to do better. Lord, there’s just so many things going on right now, with Dani and her family, and the job and Jaden. I don’t even know where to begin to unravel it all. So I guess just show me that—how to unravel it, what I need to do. Show me the steps, Lord. I don’t want this to fall apart, but I feel like it is, and I feel like it’s my fault, like I should know how to fix it, but I don’t. Honestly, I don’t know what to do about any of it. It all just feels so… overwhelming.”

  He stopped the confession because if he kept going, he wasn’t sure he could contain the emotions. With a shake of his head, he let out the smallest of breaths. “Lord, the truth is, I need help.”

  Chapter 16

  Luke & Sage

  At six-thirty when Luke got home, he found Sage in the kitchen surrounded by every pot and pan they owned.

  “Something smells good,” he said, noticing the short skirt of her dress. Going over to her, he put his arms around her and kissed the side of her neck. “Something looks good too.”

  She batted him away. “Stop that. They’re going to be here any second.”

  “Maybe a few more than that. I stopped by Mrs. Murphy’s on the way home just to see if they needed any help. Let me tell you, they need more than help. That place looks like a bomb went off in it.”

  That sent worry cascading down her face. “Did you talk to them about the tuxes?”

  “No. I don’t think anybody there is too worried about that right now.”

  Shaking her head and stirring the green beans, she added some seasoning and closed the lid. “I got the dress from Mom’s when we were out there today. It’s hanging in the bedroom. Be careful. We can’t let it get messed up. I’m thinking about adding some beading across the top of it if I get a chance. There’s just so much to do.” She checked on the turkey. “That’s at least ready. I got a few of the flowers done today too. Well, at least kind of done so she can see them and let me know if that’s what she wants. I don’t know what I’m going to do if Rach doesn’t like the colors I have. I guess I could run to Wilmington tomorrow and see what other colors they have.”

  Luke leaned on the cabinet and watched her, running around, trying to fix life for everyone. Suddenly she spun on him.

  “Derek and Jayc should be here any second, and they’re going to need the bathroom. You need to go get ready. Wear that gray and blue shirt I put out on the bed. It’s ironed.”

  Knowing how much thought and care she had put into making tonight special for their friends, Luke stood and went over to her rather than to the back. Gently he put his hands and then arms around her, tucking her next to him. “I love you.”

  He had expected her to bat him away again, that she didn’t surprised him. Instead she exhaled hard.

  “I just want everything to be perfect.”

  As tenderly as a butterfly alighting on a spring daisy, Luke turned her to him and kissed her before hugging her to him. “It will be.”

  It was strange to Luke what seeing that dress again did for him. It hung next to their closet, just as beautiful as the night Sage had worn it to their Homecoming dance senior year. He hadn’t expected its return to his life to have the impact it did. However, the second he walked into their bedroom to find it hanging there, he smiled at the memories. In fact, one of the memories didn’t even have to be recalled. It was forever immortalized in the collage of them now hanging over the bed.

  Her so young and beautiful. Him so young and such a dork.

  He laughed at that. As much as some things changed, others never did.

  Not wanting to be late, he grabbed up his jeans and the pressed shirt and headed to take a quick shower. “God, please make tonight special for Sage.”

  Chapter 17

  Caleb & Rachel

  “You ready?” Caleb asked as he cleaned Rachel’s kitchen, which would be his kitchen in a matter of days. She’d been upstairs getting ready as he cleaned and straightened everything he could find downstairs. He had called it quits at Mrs. Murphy’s at six-fifteen, thinking Rachel would be ready when he got here, but he found her fighting to get the kids ready instead.

  “Uh, yeah. I just want to grab the cookies for all of them, and we’ve got the two presents for Liv and Aidan under the tree still.”

  In the interest of simplicity, they had opted to do a gift exchange for the kids and nothing for the adults other than good food and being together.

  “How’d the house go after I left?” she asked, gathering things quickly before gathering her children as well. “Come on. Time to go see the boys.”

  Rhett hopped to his feet as Rachel helped Nat to hers.

  “Come on, Miss Ma’am. Time to go.”

  “Okay. We’ve got to get that bathroom done tomorrow though. There’s just no way around that. The rest of it is livable, not great but if we can get the floor down and a little furniture in there, it won’t be awful. The paint may have to wait.”

  They headed out the door, and Caleb scooped up Natalie.

  “Did you check the stuff out in the shop?” Rachel asked as they settled the kids in the back.

  “Derek did. He said we can probably make some of it work. I was going to go over to the church, but I never got that far. That tile in the bathroom was fighting me tooth-and-nail all day.”

  Once inside the car, Rachel glanced over at him. “What did Jaycee think of it?”

  “Oh. I think she liked it. They both did.” He started the car and headed out. “Did you get a chance to call your mom?”

  Rachel shook her head. “We barely had time to get ready. I’ll try to stop over there tomorrow on the way out to the house. It’s just so crazy, you know? That they would even think about buying it.”

  “Yeah, but the good thing is, we wouldn’t necessarily have to finish it to get it sold if they do. Of course, we’d finish it so they could move in, but if that works, it could be the answer to a whole bunch of prayers.”

  Her words skidded to a stop, and reaching across the seat, Rachel took his hand. “What about the other thing?”

  “The show?” he asked as if he di
dn’t know, which he did. It had been on loop in his head and heart all day long. Thinking about it and praying about it and thinking about it some more. It hadn’t been out of his thoughts for more than minutes at a time.

  “Yeah? What do you think?”

  “Well, I called Danisha Richardson today to see if they can maybe come out Friday so we can talk about it with Derek, but if she’s not on board, I think that’s going to be a tough one because I’m already kind of committed to doing Attabury. I’d hate to just leave her high and dry.”

  With a half nod, Rachel’s gaze grew even more serious. “But you’re thinking about it?”

  Caleb thought through it all, and there was no reason to lie. “Yeah. I am.”

  Fear didn’t touch the feeling those two words brought up in Rachel. Derek and Jaycee said he could do the show here, but good intentions had a way of going awry. Worse, they wanted her to help, and she had no idea how that would work. She wasn’t a contractor, not to mention the fact that she already had a job. She couldn’t just quit.

  When they pulled into the Bakers’ driveway lined with Christmas lights, she tamped down all the disparate emotions and focused on getting them all out of the car and into that door. Life was coming at them so fast all of a sudden, and she just wanted to tell it to slow down already. However, with no control over any of it, she forced life over the thoughts and feelings and followed him up the back walk.

  Huddling closer to him to keep out the decided chill, Rachel showed Natalie the lights on the roof. They hadn’t had time to do any on their house, but next year,… Her heart jumped at that thought. Next year. Only five days away now. Yes, next year would change everything.

  “Hey! You made it,” Luke said, greeting them with a swing of the door. “Merry Christmas.”

  And just like that, they were welcomed into the warm embrace of friends.

  Hellos and Merry Christmases came at them from every direction as they followed Luke into the warmth of the kitchen.