The Atonement Read Online Free

he
wouldn’t. To Callie’s dismay, her friend’s prayers prevailed. Jim
survived and Callie had to think fast about what she was going to
do to neutralize the threat to her happiness that had
materialized.
    Callie knew Allen would be determined to
reconcile with Jim. At first, she tried using Jim’s condition to
her advantage. Jim was in the intensive care unit for more than a
couple of days. This, in and of itself, limited Allen’s time with
him due to the fact that patients in ICU couldn’t have visitors for
very long. During this time Callie tried to get Allen to reconsider
his relationship to Jim. She remembered their past conversation as
vividly as if it were moments ago.
    “Jim is my boy. We’ve been through hell and
high water together. There’s no way I’m not going to be there for
him now.”
    “How do you know if he even wants you to be
there? You said yourself, the last time you two spoke, he made it
clear he didn’t want to be bothered.”
    “He was only going through some changes. He
just needed some space so he could figure things out…”
    “And from the looks of things, I’d say he’s
done a pretty lousy job of it.”
    “All the more reason why I should be there
for him.”
    “You couldn’t help him before, so what makes
you think you can help him now? I mean think about how he ended up
at the hospital. Based on what that detective said, the
circumstances sound kind of shady, don’t you think? It’s obvious he
wasn’t mugged or was just some unfortunate bystander!”
    “We don’t know what happened to Jim and I,
for that matter, don’t care. That’s not even the issue. The point
is he needs our support right now. Maybe I can’t help Jim with
everything, but I’m willing to let God use me however He sees fit.
After everything we’ve been through together, I owe Jim that.”
    “Allen, I know how much you care about Jim
and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t. But at the same time, it
just seems that this brother is determined to go down and I don’t
want him to take you with him.”
    “That’s not going to happen.”
    “But how do you know…”
    “I won’t abandon him, Callie. That’s all
there is to it.”
    Trying to convince Allen to drop his
friendship with Jim went nowhere and Callie knew if she continued
to press him, she would risk losing his affection. So Callie
resorted to another tactic: she decided to control the amount of
information that passed between the two. Callie was grateful to
Pastor Bynum for suggesting that Jim not be overwhelmed by a lot of
questions and gossip until he was stronger. It gave her the perfect
cover for not revealing the details of her relationship with Allen
to Jim, and since Allen tended to have a high regard for his
Pastor’s advice it was easy to get him to agree. If Allen didn’t
bring up the subject of the relationship, it was less likely that
Jim would bring up what happened between him and Callie so long
ago. Shortly after Jim had awakened from his coma, he could barely
put two coherent words together. His doctor had even told them that
some parts of his memory might be affected for a while as well.
This, coupled with the fact that Jim spent most of the time doped
up on painkillers and other medications which made him drowsy and
unable to maintain consciousness for more than an hour at a time,
gave Callie a sense of relief for a while. Now, things were
starting to change and she knew her secret wouldn’t be safe for
long.
    The stronger Jim got, the more lucid he
became, which in turn, made him more talkative. From her
conversations with Tim and Allen, she realized that Jim was
bringing up more and more of the recent past. Although she was
certain Jim had not brought up the subject of their ‘fling’, Callie
knew it wouldn’t be long before he did. She would have to make sure
she was able to get to him before that happened – that is, if it
hadn’t happened already.
    The buzz of her intercom interrupted her
reverie and