Leaving Yesterday Read Online Free Page B

death, of Kurt’s resulting fall. They’d all been praying for him, just like I had, for the past few years. “This morning I got a call from Kurt. He’s in rehab and in the process of turning his life back around. …” I blinked the water from my eyes, wanting to see their faces. “Ladies and gentlemen, it would appear that my prodigal is on his way back home.”
    “Well, hallelujah!” Ken shouted and the others added their own praises, each voice building my joy. We had all been praying for Kurt’s return, even though it seemed it would never come. Through the years I’d begun to wonder if we were just wasting our time, praying about something that God couldn’t be moved on. In this moment I was so glad that I’d never expressed my doubts to this group, never let them know how much I feared that God was not listening. Now I stood before them and shared their joy, with no spoken words of which to be ashamed. It was a perfect way to end the meeting.
    After the meeting, Ken asked me to come into his office and motioned me to take a seat. “This can’t top what you’ve shared, Alisa, but you’re doing a wonderful job here. Folks have noticed and the overseers have voted to move your position to full-time, starting this fall. Pay would be significantly more, of course.”
    “I could use that.” I didn’t have to say why. He knew Rick and I were separated, our future unclear, but with the way things were headed, I was likely going to need more of an income at some point. “My only concern with going full-time would be needing to be home for Caroline after school. At least when she’s not at Rick’s.”
    “Of course. I knew you would feel that way, and I’m sure we could work it out so that you do some of your afternoon work at home.”
    “Sounds good.” I stood up to return to my office, but he waved me back down. “There is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about, but not in front of everyone else.”
    I dropped back into my chair. “What?”
    “You know that editor friend of mine I’ve been telling you about? Well, I sent him a couple of articles that you’ve written and a CD of your talks. He’s interested in talking to you.”
    “Really?” I tried to keep my voice steady, but the jolt of excitement that hit me with this news dwarfed the news about going to full-time. Speaking was something others wanted from me. Writing was something I’d always dreamed for myself. A book! Nick had always been such a reader, and to be able to put at least a little of his life on the page forever … This day was turning out to be the most wonderful in recent memory.
    “Here,” Ken continued, handing me a printout, “he gave me a list of things he’d like you to e-mail him. A summary, chapter titles, an opening paragraph, I can’t remember what all. I’ll be praying that God will lead you in this, as He has in all things.”
    “Thanks, Ken.” I took the paper from him and returned to my office, happier than I’d felt in a long time. As disjointed as my life had been for the last few years, the pieces were finally beginning to fit back together.

    I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about how I would spring the news of Kurt’s turn to my husband. Tonight was obviously the right time, since he always picked Caroline up from softball, then ate dinner at the house before loading Caroline and her things into his truck for her three-night stay. We had planned it that way so Caroline could see things were still okay between us, that we didn’t hate each other. The one thing we had done right through all of this was to try to make our separation as easy as possible on her, no matter how hard that made it on us.
    Should I tell him when he walked through the door? Let him eat first? I ran the various scenarios through my head, and in my fantasy, no matter when I gave the news, his reply was always the same. He always said, “All this time, you were right. I wish I had believed like you