Page 70 of Tutored in Love

“You were right,” she said, returning attention to her plate and stabbing some egg with her fork. “I should never—”

“No, I wasn’t.”

Her head shot up, her eyebrows high. Obviously, she hadn’t expected this from him. It made him more determined to show her he was ready to change. “I was wrong—about a lot of things but especially in how I treated you. I let my baggage color my perception of you, and I... I’m sorry.”

Her face was unreadable, but she met and held his eyes. “It’s okay. I think we both did things we regret.”

Peace washed over him like a warm shower. He hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed her to say those words.

She smiled at him, and they went back to eating.

She understood.

Mind wandering to the future, his pulse picked up. What now?

She filled the silence with a question of her own. “How’s the building coming?”

As they finished their food, he told her about the walls they’d completed yesterday. She told him about braiding the girls’ hair that morning. That was why she’d been late to breakfast.

They cleared their plates and walked to the courtyard, where the others had gathered, continuing their conversation. Noah was about to ask after Grace’s family when Jane hurried over.

“Noah,” she said, holding out her phone, “it’s for you. I think it’s your mom.”

He took the phone with a frown and stepped away from the group, wondering what emergency his mother had invented to track him down on Jane’s phone. Maybe he shouldn’t have given her the number.

“Hey, Mom,” he said, working to keep the irritation out of his voice. “What’s up?” His ears attuned to the phone, he blocked out the background noise coming from the kitchen, but no one spoke. “Mom?”

He heard a sniffle, insistent beeping, a sob. His feet stopped moving, his breakfast souring in his stomach.

“Mom, what is it?”

A shuddering intake of breath preceded her unsteady answer. “Matt’s been in an accident,” she said. “I need you to come home.”

* * *

Noah threw his scattered belongings into his duffel, then started on the bedding, his mind racing to make sense of the few details he had.

Matt had been riding his road bike early that morning when a car had run into him from behind. The driver hadn’t even seen Matt because the sun was in his eyes. The proximity of the accident to the hospital had probably saved Matt’s life.

Mom hadn’t been able to specify injuries, but Matt was in critical condition. She was barely holding it together. Noah knew he had to get home, but with no car and no phone and very little money, he had no idea how he would. He doubted the limit on his single, never-used credit card was high enough to cover the expense of last-minute air travel. Maybe there was a bus—but busing through an unfamiliar country where he couldn’t speak the language?

He was rolling up his sleeping pad, brainstorming other possibilities, when Chad and Jane burst into the room.

“We have it all worked out,” Jane said, as if reading his mind. “Marcus will drive you north to Hermosillo—it’s less than two hours, and his phone has service. There’s a flight at noon with one layover that should have you in Denver by dinnertime, but you have to leave right now.”

“What?” Noah said. “I can’t—I don’t have—”

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Chad said, picking up Noah’s duffel and ushering him toward the door. “We’ll take care of your bedding. It’s all settled.”

“How?”

Jane hesitated. “I called my uncle. He’s taking care of everything.”

Relief and gratitude surged through Noah.

Yeah, Mom, he thought.They’re really good people.

Chapter 36