Coming Home Read online

  By David Lewis

  Sanctuary*

  Coming Home

  Saving Alice

  *with Beverly Lewis

  Coming Home

  Copyright 2004

  David Lewis

  Cover design by Lookout Design, Inc.

  Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  Published by Bethany House Publishers

  11400 Hampshire Avenue South

  Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

  Bethany House Publishers is a division of

  Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  Printed in the United States of America

  ISBN 978-0-7642-2677-9

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Lewis, David, date

  Coming home / by David Lewis.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 0-7642-2680-0 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7642-2677-0 (pbk.)

  1. Young women—Fiction. 2. First loves—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3612.E8484C66 2004

  813’.6—dc22 2003023582

  * * *

  Dedication

  For Bev,

  for always.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  THE GRANDEUR OF THE OCEAN took her breath away. Like a wide-eyed child, she sat smack dab in the middle of the beach, staring in wonder, a single rose in her lap. Surrounded by shell seekers, she soaked up every detail—the brilliant sun, the salty wind, the endless blue horizon—feeling more alive than she had ever felt in her life.

  Then gradually, as if in tandem with the setting sun, the wonder faded and she was left alone, hugging herself against the descending Oregon temperatures. She’d spent a lifetime getting here. A lifetime of planning and preparation. But now that she had finally arrived … what? The ancient philosophers were right. The journey was better than the arrival; the fantasy greater than the reality.

  Maybe I expected too much, she thought. Was it the endless grains of sand that made her feel so empty? The never-ending reach of rolling water? Or was it beauty itself—the melding of cerulean and turquoise—that reminded her of something she had once lost?

  She smiled wistfully. Perhaps it was much simpler than that. Even now, she couldn’t stop thinking of him—his playful blue eyes, the warmth of his smile, the way he’d made her laugh so effortlessly … and how much she missed him.

  She struggled to her feet, brushing sand from her gray sweats. The beach was now deserted. The rocks beyond seemed cold and unforgiving, and the sea birds chirped mournfully.

  Stepping gingerly across the beach in her sandals, making her way to the ocean’s edge, Jessie became annoyed at the clingy granules of sand between her toes. She chuckled suddenly at a memory of one of her father’s favorite shows, Star Trek, and the segment in which interstellar hippies hijacked the Enterprise for a trip to paradise, only to find it unfit for habitation. Not only unfit, in fact, but deadly. The apples were poisonous and the grass melted the soles of their feet.

  As a child, Jessie had never understood her father’s fascination with Captain Kirk and, especially, with Mr. Pointy-Ears. Even then, she suspected her father had a lot more in common with the emotionally distant Vulcan than with his own daughter. Her mother once said, “When I get well, your father will get well, too.” But Mom never got well … so neither did he.

  Jessie gazed beyond the crashing waves and kept herself from surrendering to her disappointment. The rose she carried was a fitting reminder of how her journey had begun—with an entire bouquet of roses, their blooms unopened, full of promise.

  Carefully avoiding the thorns, she breathed in the aroma of her rose, her senses filled with the fragrance of hope. A rose is worth its thorns, she reminded herself, smiling at her own inclination to ponder the unfathomable, realizing that most people accept life at face value and seem much happier for it.

  When she was ready, she stood at the edge of the moss-covered rocks, struggling against the windy roar of eternity, and tossed the rose into the ocean.

  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust …

  The rose floated, rolling with the waves. Jessie watched, allowing herself to wonder, for a moment, what might have been. Then the rose began to sink, merging with the ocean foam, until only the memory of its scent remained… .

  Chapter One

  IN THE MORNING, his bouquet of roses had seemed little more than a consolation prize. The stubbornly unopened petals, once a glorious promise of their unfolding future, now appeared to be a harbinger of their demise.

  Jessica Lehman held the flowers to her face, breathing in the fresh apple-sweet fragrance, but the lingering aromatic sensation was more in line with the foul-smelling weeds in the field behind their apartment building. At least weeds never made false promises.

  The night before they were to leave together for Oregon, a simple dinner conversation had turned into a train wreck, and now the entire evening played over and over in her mind, like the hopeless melody of a maudlin country song.

  Over salmon and chicken, she’d been prattling on about tomorrow’s trip, places to visit on the way, suggesting a quick side trip to Lincoln City once they’d settled in Corvallis, all the while oblivious to Brandon’s growing preoccupation.

  To anyone else, his sudden question would have seemed innocent—“How did your parents die?”—but she had to gather herself momentarily, glancing out the window to buy herself time. The brilliant sunset was casting purple hues across the horizon, a peaceful contrast to her sudden internal storm.

  “It’s a simple question, Jess.”

  She’d brought her napkin to her mouth, dabbing it slowly—her mind racing. In her experience, one question was never enough. They always led to another, and then another, and none of them were simple. She must have made some kind of deferring remark, but she couldn’t recall exactly. She might have said, “It was a sad time,” without answering his question at all.

  Brandon removed his own napkin from his lap, placing it on the table. “We’ve been dating for how long now?”

  “Uh … let’s see,” she said, glancing at the dat
e on her watch as a humorous gesture. “Six months?”

  Brandon wasn’t amused. “It might as well be a week.”

  She pursed her lips.

  “It’s not just your parents, Jess. Or your past. It’s everything. I know you want to live in Oregon, but do you have any other dreams? Anything substantial?”

  You don’t want to know about my dreams, she thought, waiting for him to finish. He ended with the typical cliché, the one that is rarely spoken with honesty, “Maybe it’s just me, Jess. Maybe I just need more than you can give.”

  Brandon bowed his head slightly as if defeated or acquiescing to something bigger than himself. She felt her eyes fill with moisture and while stung by his criticism, she didn’t want to lose him. She wanted to make this relationship work. After all, the whole thing was her fault. She opened her mouth and willed the words to come.

  “My mother died when I was twelve… .”

  Even now, after all these years, the words sounded empty on her lips. Impossible to believe. Brandon looked up, meeting her eyes, and for a moment it seemed hopeful.

  “She was sick for a long time.” Jessie paused and added a lie. “I thought I told you.”

  Her stomach clenched as Brandon’s frown transitioned into an expression of disbelief. He shook his head, his shoulders rising

  slightly as if to say, So what? And she felt a sudden mixture of emotions—mainly anger, but a little stupidity, too. Anger with Brandon for making her say it, and stupidity for how difficult this was. Normal people adapt to loss and death. How many times over the last twelve years had she told herself that?

  She forced another smile, still hoping what she saw in his eyes wasn’t true.

  “Jess …”

  “Brandon, can we talk about something else? I’m getting another headache, and we need to leave early tomorrow. Have you gotten any munchies for the trip, because I’ll be stopping by the store to get a few personals. I could pick up a Sports Illustrated. Do you have the latest? You know, the one with the—”

  She was about to say, Royals on the cover, but stopped because Brandon was shaking his head again. “I thought I could do this, Jess.”

  “Do what?”

  “I’m not going.”

  She stared back at him for the longest time, watching as an expression of stone now masked his usually soft handsome features. He leaned back appraising her, shaking his head softly but deliberately. “This isn’t working.”

  She reached over and covered his hand, but he pulled away. She felt embarrassed, wondering if anyone had noticed, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Brandon, you’re making too much of this.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?”

  She glanced furtively about the restaurant. “Can’t we work through this in private?”

  “What do we have to work through? Tell me. I don’t even know. Do you?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “You have issues, Jess.” He turned from her as if dismissing her. When he looked back at her, his eyes were cruel. “What happened to you?”

  “Brandon—”

  “How did you get this way?”

  She blinked, and the first tear slipped down her cheek.

  “Have you considered getting help?”

  “Brandon, please …”

  “I’m serious, Jess. Psychiatric counseling. Therapy … drugs … the full meal deal.”

  Jessie rose slowly from her seat, her legs weak. “Please … I need to go… .”

  Jessie lifted the roses to her face one last time, then raised the lid of the Dumpster and idly dropped them in. She paused at the back fence, looking out over the campus. What a way to end my college years. Yet she couldn’t help thinking their breakup was a fitting punctuation to the four years that had seen more failure than success. If romance had been a class—Romantic Love 101—Danielle Steele would have given Miss Jessica Lehman a big fat D minus.

  She noticed a couple of early birds tossing a baseball in the distance and thought of Brandon’s passion for baseball statistics. At this point, taking into account all the boys with whom she had contemplated marriage, she was batting oh for nine.

  She smiled bitterly. High school doesn’t count. Oh for four, then. Four serious boyfriends in the space of four years. In the end, with a few minor variations here and there, they’d all said the same thing: Who are you?

  “You okay?” Her roommate, Darlene, leaned against the doorframe of the apartment building entrance, still in her nightshirt and sweat pants, a bandana over her tight black curls.

  “Never liked yellow roses anyway,” Jessie replied.

  “Me neither,” Darlene said.

  Jessie picked up her suitcase and carried it down the driveway to her Honda hatchback. A week earlier, the two had graduated from Wichita State University, Darlene with a degree in social work,

  Jessie’s in finance. Having been accepted at Oregon State University at Corvallis as a tutor for summer students, Jessie had two weeks of free time before her summer job began. In the fall, she would begin her MBA program. Originally, she and Brandon had planned to attend together.

  Darlene shuffled down the walk in her sheepskin slippers.

  “What’s the rush?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s not even eight yet.”

  Jessie shrugged and made a face.

  “He’s not worth it, Jess.”

  Jessie sighed. “This isn’t about him.”

  Darlene gave her a knowing squint. Of all Darlene’s mannerisms, this was Jessie’s least favorite. “I’ll miss you, roomie. I was thinking we’d have a few more days to hang out. Drown our sorrows in chocolate sundaes and French fries.”

  Wistfully, Jessie looked past her apartment building, seeing the spires and rooftops of the university buildings beyond. Four years of memories. There was plenty of opportunity to wax nostalgic, and not even that was tempting. She was itching to get on the road. Eager to end this chapter of her life.

  This morning she’d modified the plans originally made with Brandon. She would drive to Lincoln City first, a small town on the Oregon coast, and sleep on the beach if accommodations weren’t available. It occurred to her that she might simply pitch the whole postgraduation plan. Get a job somewhere. College was starting to feel too much like limbo anyway.

  “If I don’t go now, I might never go,” Jessie replied, rearranging the luggage. It was a silly excuse. No matter how long she waited, nobody, nothing, was going to keep her from this trip. She’d been planning it since her sixteenth birthday. Time to pull the trigger. Finally. Boyfriend or not.

  Darlene crossed her arms, looking intently at Jessie. Their eyes met, and Jessie felt a sting of regret. Now that they were saying good-bye, it seemed as if their friendship had hardly begun. She wondered if Darlene felt the same way.

  She reached for Darlene and they hugged tightly. “Take care of Cubby,” she whispered. Cubby was Darlene’s Labrador mutt, whose misshapen features bore some resemblance to a bear cub, and who had an insatiable appetite for ear rubs, not to mention an inexhaustible upbeat temperament. Cubby seemed happy whatever happened—empty dish, full dish, it didn’t matter. “Be the bear!” Darlene had once exclaimed when Jessie had been depressed over a test score in statistics. They’d both laughed until their faces hurt.

  Darlene’s expression was a mixture of worry and hope. Jessica slammed the hatch shut. Darlene crossed her arms again, and her eyes were glossy, reflecting the late-morning sun.

  “I’m going to lose it if you do,” Jessie said, forcing a smile, which must have looked like a grimace.

  Darlene wiped her eyes. “I’ll be praying for you, Jess.”

  Jessie smiled again. It had almost become a private joke between them. The first time Darlene had ever said she’d pray for her, Jessie had been annoyed enough to retort, “Like that ever helped anyone.” Darlene had shot back, “I knew there was a reason we were roommates.” But Jessie never let Darlene get started, nipping every religious discussion in the bud the mom
ent things got too personal.

  “You can’t stop me from praying for you,” Darlene had replied once in frustration when Jessie had drawn a determined line in the sand.

  Ironically, in the two years they’d been roomies, Jessie had never dared to reveal that she and Darlene had a lot more in common than she was willing to admit. In fact, Jessie had been raised in a Christian home herself, complete with weekly trips to church and Sunday school, with two weeks in the summer spent in Vacation Bible School. But an admission of that magnitude would have opened the floodgates.

  “Will you call me when you get there?”

  “I’ll be fine, Darlene.”

  “Will you …” Darlene’s tone was tentative. “Will you be see-

  ing your grandmother on the way? I guess I forgot where she lived. Was it … Grand Junction … or … ?”

  “Colorado Springs,” Jessie replied absently, remembering her grandmother’s call about a year ago while Jessie had been out shopping. Darlene had answered the phone, and they must have spent a good half hour in conversation. When Jessie returned, Darlene filled her in and commented on the pleasant chat. “Your grandmother wants you to call her when you get in. You never said she lived in Colorado. I guess her number has changed, ’cause she wanted you to have it… .”

  Jessie was reluctant to explain, so she didn’t. After a few days, however, Darlene was still pressing. “Have you called her yet?”

  “I don’t talk to my grandmother,” Jessie finally admitted.

  “Why not?” Darlene asked, which only led to another argument, another painful truce, and yet another line drawn in the sand.

  Now Darlene appeared to consider Jessie’s reply. “So it’s … what? An hour, hour and a half out of your way?”

  “Too far south.”

  “Oh … yeah. Sure.”

  They hugged again and minutes later she was on the road, heading for her glorious ocean.

  Chapter Two

  SHE DROVE NORTH from Wichita on I-135 and tried not to think. She planned to take I-70 all the way to Denver, then travel north on I-25 to I-80 going west and then I-84 to Oregon. She listened to a country station for most of the morning, and then she slipped in a Dixie Chicks CD and clicked to number two, her favorite. Natalie crooned: “She needs wide open spaces, room to make a big mistake… .”