Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

Clay had seen enough evil in police work that he’d already worked through questions about injustice, about why God let bad things happen to good people. But it didn’t stop a few persistent, unanswerable questions from popping up now and then. Clay asked them when they came though, knowing that ignoring them wouldn’t help and wouldn’t strengthen his relationship with God the way the hard stuff did, much as he didn’t like going through it at the time.

“Are you doing okay?” Clay asked Summer quietly. He’d prayed for her, especially on the hike up this morning. The things she’d been through... He understood more after hearing part of her story why she struggled with faith the way she did, even though he knew God hadn’t abandoned her.

“I’m okay.”

“Seriously?” Clay wanted the real answer, not to just be brushed aside. Besides, if she wanted to back off a little from their growing friendship, she’d picked an impossible time to do it. The three of them were going to be stuck in a relatively small cabin indefinitely.

“All clear.”

Not that Noah being with them would give Clay and Summer much time to talk privately.

Clay followed Summer to the cabin. The front was a wide deck that looked out over the landscape below. There were four steps up to the deck. The front door was off the deck—Clay hoped there was a back door because while having only one entrance and exit meant less places to protect, it could be bad if they needed to escape in a hurry.

He leaned back around the side of the house. The windows were wide enough to serve as exits if there were an emergency, something Clay was hoping to avoid.

He stole another glance at Summer. Despite her initial protests, she looked more relaxed here at the safe house than she’d looked in Moose Haven for a while.

Clay felt relaxed up here too, like it was easier to see clearly on the top of the world.

For the first time since he’d left Treasure Point, he could think through that situation, analyze what he’d done wrong—the mistakes that had shaken his faith in himself as an officer of the law. And he came up with...

Nothing. Well, almost nothing. He should have listened to Kelsey, his cousin, when, months ago, someone had been trying to kill her and she’d had suspicions that someone in their police department was the would-be killer. That had been his only mistake. And while it was a big one, nothing else had indicated who the traitor was. There had been no clues. Thankfully, Kelsey was okay, and didn’t blame Clay for not believing her gut instinct.

The man who had tried to kill her bore all the blame, she’d told Clay. Clay hadn’t done anything, which was what grated him so badly. He hadn’t done anything. But still, the situation itself, his cousin being in danger...

It hadn’t been Clay’s fault.

Somehow a weight lifted, he felt even lighter. Then looked up at the sky.

Did You allow those things to happen so I’d end up here? Do You sometimes allow something we view as bad because of the fact that You are working all things for our good?

The questions he asked God didn’t have immediate audible answers. But something that felt a lot like peace edged over his heart.

He looked back at Summer. Tried to exhale some of his worries about her safety.

You’re taking care of her too, in this situation, right, God?

Yes. God was in control, had His good purposes in mind. Clay just had to learn to let his trust rest firmly on Him.

Summer took a sip of coffee and winced. She hated coffee, but mornings in the cabin were cold if no one had kept a fire going overnight, which none of them had because the weather hadn’t been forecasted to be especially cold.

Well, the weather hadn’t gotten the memo. All of her was cold, down to her toes. She shivered, then took another sip of the nasty brown liquid some people apparently liked. Noah watched her with amusement. Clay was still sleeping since he’d taken the first watch last night.

She was about a third of the way through the coffee when Clay walked out. “Is that coffee?” He raised his eyebrows. “I thought you only drank tea?”

Summer sputtered a little, having attempted another sip. “I’m freezing.”

Clay smiled and shook his head, then reached into his backpack and pulled out a box of Irish breakfast tea. “I’m sorry I wasn’t up sooner. Want to trade?”

Before she could stop him he’d started heating the water. She watched as he steeped the tea for her, finding something spellbinding in the fact that the same hands that were prepared to defend her from any threat were now gently making her tea. It seemed so domestic and such a contradiction but also so Clay that she just smiled.

She took the tea from him, handed off the coffee and sat in the silence, feeling for half a second like she could imagine a future like this. Her and Clay as...something. Friends? More? They would have to see, but she wanted him in her life.

Wanted a life like this. With some peace. Rest.

Summer glanced out the window. They were on top of a ridgeline. That summarized her desires for life well, didn’t it? Rest on a ridgeline.

“I’ve got to call Moose Haven in a minute so I may step out onto the deck,” Noah said to Clay, glancing at Summer as he did so.

So much for her few minutes of peace. Everything about the investigation slammed back into her mind, creating dark corners and shadows and worry where a few minutes ago there had been quiet and calm.

If Noah was concerned about her trying to overhear his conversation, he didn’t need to be. Summer was done with interfering. She’d tried to get involved, tried to help with the investigation and do some good, and it hadn’t helped. If anything, it had hurt.