“That’s different. Accidentally getting your girlfriend pregnant isn’t illegal.”
“I’ve been arrested.”
Zoey twisted her lips to the side. “Really?”
“And I’ve done drugs.”
“Oh.”
“It was a long time ago, when I first started college.”
“I never knew that.” Apparently, she didn’t know Linc as well as she thought. Maybe she knew him better than most people in the Bay, but what was that really saying at this point? What else had he kept from her?
“I straightened myself out before too long, got the scholarship. Made good grades.” He stared straight again. “Mama D would say by the grace of God.”
“She would say that.” Amazing grace, even. The lyrics from their wedding rolled through her head.
“Broken people make mistakes.” He huffed. “Again, obviously.”
She glanced over her shoulder again. “Amelia isn’t a mistake, Linc.”
“No, I didn’t mean her.” He shook his head. “I meant my choosing Kirsten.” The steering wheel creaked under his grip. “I pursued her, stayed with her when it was clear she was running around, getting into stuff. It’s my fault Amelia is in this situation.”
“Maybe partly, on a technicality.” Zoey shifted sideways to look at him, the seatbelt pulling across her chest. “But to that same point, she wouldn’t even exist without your so-called mistakes. God works all these things out for good.”
He cut his eyes to her. “Everything?”
“That’s what the book of Romans says.” Zoey shrugged.
“Even fires?”
She swallowed, images from that fateful night flickering. The drifting ash, the smoke in her throat. The incessant strobe lights, the piercing sirens. “Even fires.”
“You really believe that? Or are you spouting what your missionary parents would say?”
She drew a breath, thinking. “Both.”
He shook his head. “How do you do it? Stay so positive.”
“How do you stay so grumpy?” Zoey smirked.
“That comes easier.”
They rode in silence, save for the soft rock playing from the radio. Yellow wildflowers and green mile markers flashed past the window. Zoey tapped her fingers on the middle console, restless. “Being positive all the time can be hard too.”
“Then why are you?” He picked right back up, like the conversation hadn’t stalled at all.
“People need me to be.”
He frowned. “What about what you need?”
“You sound like Elisa.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” Zoey adjusted the air vent off her face. “It’s just a habit, you know? Keeping people’s spirits up, finding the bright side.”
“Sometimes there’s not one.”
