Redemption by Karen Kingsbury Page A

friend, a sister who wanted to meet the area's newest eligible bachelor. A time or two Ryan had actually followed through and asked one of them out. But he always stopped after a few dates when he found himself comparing each woman to Kari.
    It wasn't that the women he saw weren't wonderful in their own right. They were mostly beautiful and bright and would have made great wives, no doubt. But they hadn't sat cross- legged next to him on a summer's night the year he turned fourteen and told him the secrets of their hearts the way Kari had. They hadn't stayed beside him all day fishing on the shores of Lake Monroe the summer he was seventeen or run for cover with him the afternoon the tornado siren sounded across the county.
    The other women he met hadn't shared with him a first kiss or a first dance or that first taste of love. And they hadn't shown him for the first time what it meant to love God. To really love God and want to please him.
    Ryan understood very well that Kari was married; clearly she 82
    was not the woman for him. He simply wasn't in a hurry to find one who was.
    "I don't know, Ryan, you're getting awfully old," his mom would say to him every other Sunday when they got together for dinner. "At this rate, I'll be toothless in a rocker before you give me some grandbabies."
    Ryan would laugh and pat his mother on her shoulder. "You're stubborn enough to live a hundred years, Mom. At fifty- three you're young enough for anything.
    You'll probably outlive us all."
    Practice had finished up early that day, and for some reason Ryan felt lonelier than usual, as if a piece of his heart weren't fitting quite right. He slipped on his work boots. A few hours outside in the yard would help clear his head.
    He tackled the bushes in front of his cabin first and was inside getting water when the phone rang. Max, his white Lab Puppy cocked his head and stared at the receiver as Ryan picked it up. "It's okay, Max, boy." He whispered the words and stooped to scratch Max's ears before clicking the button and answering the|
    call.
    "Hello." Max whined and gave two high-pitched puppy barks. "My goodness, Ryan, I didn't know you could sing." The voice was Kari's, but the tone was Ashley's.
    Subtly sarcastic and mixed with a teasing they'd always shared.
    He smiled and cleared his throat. "I'm working on that number. Takes me a while to warm up."
    She giggled. "Bet you don't know who this is." "The voice police? Calling to tell me I'm under arrest?" Another peal of laughter erupted on the other end.
    "Ah, yes, same old Ryan. You never change, do you?"
    "Nope, Ashley, not really." He hesitated, curious. Ashley had never called before. "Okay, what's up? No, wait, let me guess.
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    Kari's husband left her high and dry, and she's pining away for me but couldn't bring herself to call." He grinned at the audacity of his statement, certain Ashley would be doing the same.
    Instead, her laughter died, and there was silence.
    "Ashley?" Ryan's heart beat twice as fast as before. "Ashley, talk to me. What is it?"
    Her voice lacked any teasing. "Kari's husband left her high and dry, and I don't know if she's pining away for you, but either way, I had to call."
    Now it was Ryan who was silent. His mind reeled at what she was saying, trying to determine if she could possibly still be joking. "Be serious, Ashley."
    "I am." She hesitated. "Tim's having an affair. He moved in with one of his students." She paused, and he felt the wood floor give way beneath him. "Kari's spending a lot of time at my parents' house. She's been here the past few days.
    I thought you should know."
    Ryan found the nearest chair at his small dining-room table and sat down. His knees were trembling. "Is she ... is she okay?" It was the first thing he could think to ask. His emotions were bubbling within him-pain and sorrow, rage and revenge. How dare he do that to you, Kari girl? How dare he-
    "She's pretty messed up, Ryan. She says she doesn't want a divorce; she's