Faith picked at her sandwich, staring out at the ocean instead of filling her growling stomach. She’d volunteered all morning and forgot to eat breakfast, so she should’ve been gobbling up everything in sight right now. Instead, she was lost in thought about Amelia.

“Is something wrong with your sandwich, sweetie?” the waitress asked as she passed by to refill her sweet tea.

“Oh, no. It’s great. Just have a lot on my mind.”

The waitress eyed her for a moment longer and smiled. “Well, that water out there always soothes my weary soul. I’m sure it’ll do the same for you, honey.”

Faith nodded and smiled as the woman moved to the next table. She didn’t know why Amelia’s plight was bothering her so much, but she’d barely slept last night thinking about her. That tiny little freckled covered face hid so many hurts.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Faith turned to see Brandon standing there, a penny between his thumb and index fingers stretched out in front of him.

“Jeez, man, do you ever go to work?”

Brandon put the penny on the table and tugged at his scrub top. “I think this should be an obvious answer, Faith.”

She laughed. “You seem to show up everywhere I am. Are you following me?”

Brandon slid into the chair across from her. “Yes. I’m a former CIA agent, but now that I’ve told you, I’ll have to kill you.”

“Can I finish my sandwich first?”

“Since I know how good their sandwiches are, I’ll allow it.”

Faith loved being around Brandon. He made her feel at ease and even somewhat at home. She no longer felt like a stranger in January Cove.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I guess so. Just a little overwhelmed.”

Brandon slid the penny across the table. “My offer stands.”

Faith picked up the penny and put it in her pocket. “I need all the money I can get.”

“So what’s going on?”

“There’s a little girl I met yesterday. I had lunch with her. Her situation has me rattled. I feel like I need to do something more for her, but I don’t know what.”

Faith spent a few moments recounting her lunch with Amelia as Brandon listened intently. When she was finished, she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

“Wow, that’s a terrible situation. How can I help?”

Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. Who was this man? How was he so amazing? And why hadn’t some smart woman snatched him out of bachelorhood yet?

“I wish I knew. I feel so helpless.”

“Well, let’s see if I can help. When I have a problem, I like to think about what successfully solving it would mean.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Like, in a perfect world, what would you want to see happen for Amelia?”

“Well, I’d want her in a safe home full of love and food and everything she needs to be happy. I’d want her to stop getting bullied at school too.”

“So how do we move her toward that goal?”

“I don’t know, Brandon. That’s why I’m picking my sandwich apart and staring at the water. I told you, I’m not cut out for all of this.”

He smiled at her and covered her hand with his. “Yes you are. That’s why this is bothering you so much, Faith. God is calling you to action on this girl’s behalf.”

She felt his words in the deepest part of her soul. He was right. She felt like she was here, in this moment and in this particular place, for a purpose. But she had no idea what it was.

“When I sat across from her, I felt like…” she said before stopping herself.

“Like what?”

“I don’t want to say. It’s stupid.”

“Just say it, Faith. What did you feel like?”

She drew in a deep breath. “I felt like I was supposed to be her mother.”

She swallowed hard and waited for him to react. To laugh at her. To shake his head in disbelief at her wild notion. But he just smiled and squeezed her hand.

“Then there’s your answer.”

“Come on, Brandon. I’m not even a resident here. I have no paying job. And I’m certainly not vetted as a foster parent. There’s no chance I could adopt this little girl.”

“Maybe you’re right. But maybe you’re wrong. Look, as a doctor, I learned a long time ago that there are many solutions to a problem if you’re willing to get creative.”

Faith shook her head. “I came here to get answers about my birthmother, not to become a mother myself.”

“Which one feels more important to you right in this moment, Faith?”

“It doesn’t matter. I have to get my head out of the clouds. This is never going to happen. I just need to focus on helping Olivia at the charity and getting back home.”

Brandon cocked his head to the side. “Maybe you’re already home, Faith.”

* * *

Brandon couldn’t get their conversation out of his mind as he laid in bed trying to get to sleep. Faith was the most interesting woman he’d ever met. She was a conundrum sometimes, an unsolvable equation that vexed his mind.

He tossed and turned as he thought about how to help her. She was obviously worried about the little girl she mentioned, and he wanted to help her. But wasn’t this what he always did? Got involved with women who had major problems that he felt obligated to solve?

He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t do it again. He wasn’t going get wrapped up in drama or problems or worries or strange entanglements. He was going to focus on his work as a doctor and get back to the Middle East to help the people he left behind as soon as possible. Only he didn’t want to leave her behind now either.

* * *

Olivia lifted the box of food onto the table and dropped it with a thud. “You wouldn’t think a box of cookies would weigh so much!”

“I could’ve helped you,” Faith said laughing.

“I know, but I’m trying to build up my muscles. My husband, Ed, wants us to do one of those crazy obstacle course things this summer. You know the ones where you crawl through mud and call it fun?”

“Yikes! That sounds…scary?”

“To me too,” Olivia said with a laugh. “But I love him, so I’ll do it.”

Faith had been working with Olivia for a few weeks now, and they’d developed a great friendship. She felt like she’d known her all her life, or like maybe this was what having a sister would feel like.

“So, we’re going to sell these cookies at the carnival this weekend.”

The HOPE carnival was both a fundraising event and a fun time for the kids they served. It would be down on the boardwalk on Saturday, and Faith had volunteered to be the face painter even though she had no perceivable artistic talents.

“Will Amelia be there?” Faith asked nonchalantly. Olivia smiled.

“Yes, of course.”

“Have you heard anything about her situation lately?”

“Only that her mother got arrested again last weekend. Drug possession.”

“Oh no. Where’s Amelia?” Faith asked, her heart starting to race a bit.

“She’s in a temporary foster situation. But I think they’re hoping to find her a permanent situation soon. She’s been tossed around a lot.”

Faith sighed and closed her eyes. She wanted the best for Amelia. She had started spending a lot more time with her, eating lunch and occasionally taking her for ice cream.

“You really love that kid, don’t you?”

Faith smiled sadly. “Shockingly, I do.”

“Why is that a shock?”

“I guess I never thought of myself as the motherly type. I lost my mother when I was young, so I never really considered having my own kids as a life goal. And I was never a big fan of kids anyway.”

“Sometimes life throws us the odd curveball.”

“If Amelia gets adopted, will they be local?”

Olivia bit her lip. “Probably not. It could be anywhere in the state, or even out of state.”

Faith looked back down at the paperwork she was working on and tried not to let Olivia see her tear-filled eyes. “Well, I hope they find her a great home then.”

* * *

Faith stepped into the boat, the uneasy feeling of the water bobbing beneath her feet. Brandon had promised her that his friend was an experienced boater, but even now she was second guessing her decision to go on this little aquatic adventure.

“What if there aren’t any dolphins?” she asked, turning back toward Brandon before stepping fully into the boat.

“So you think that dolphins may have disappeared from the ocean overnight?” he asked with a smile. “Then we should call the local news!”

“Very funny,” she mumbled, finally making her way onto the small boat. “When you said dolphin cruise, I thought you meant in a larger boat.”

Brandon put his hand on her back and ushered her into a padded seat before taking his spot next to her. “This is the best way to see them.”

Faith peered over the side of the vessel. “But we’re so close to the water.”

“Zach has been taking people on these private tours for three years now, Faith. And, to be fair, he’s only lost that one woman. But she really shouldn’t have been hanging her hands over the side. I mean, who could’ve seen that shark coming?”

Faith’s eyes grew wide and she started to stand up. Brandon broke out in hysterics and pulled her arm until she was sitting again.

“That wasn’t funny!” she said, slapping his arm. Still, she was going to keep her hands inside the boat at all times, just in case.

“Ya’ll ready?” Zach, a beach bum if she ever saw one, asked.

“Absolutely!” Brandon answered, his enthusiasm not yet infectious. “This is going to be fun. I promise.”

And she believed him, even though her heart was pounding as the small boat shot out toward the open water.

Within a few minutes, they slowed down and Zach started looking around with binoculars. When he spotted a small pod of dolphins, he started the boat up again slowly. To Faith’s amazement, the dolphins began to follow them, jumping into the air in the wake behind them. She’d never seen anything so amazing.

“Look! There’s one! And there’s another one!” she said, giddily. She felt like a kid again she couldn’t help but grin watching the creatures chase the boat with glee.

Brandon laughed as he watched her. “Pretty cool, huh?” he said over the load motor. She nodded and pulled out her phone to take video.

Faith couldn’t remember a time when she felt so alive and free. Watching those dolphins jump into the air made her think about how tied down she’d felt her whole life. Trying to keep up appearances. Making sure to have the latest handbag and the most expensive shoes. How had she somehow missed out on the true joys in life?

She glanced over at Brandon who was smiling and talking to his friend, Zach, and for some reason thought about her father. Not her invisible biological father, but the one who’d raised her. The one who was currently sitting in a prison cell, probably not able to see daylight very much.

She thought about joy. Would he ever feel joy again? Did he deserve to? Her heart still ached for him, no matter how mad she was at how he’d wrecked both their lives and then abandoned her.

But suddenly, her life didn’t feel wrecked anymore. Was it possible that she’d been holding onto the past so hard that she hadn’t seen what was right in front of her? This new life. New friends. New work. And even Amelia. These amazing blessings that were falling into her lap left and right.

For weeks, she’d grieved over this fictional life she’d left behind in Virginia when in reality, she’d built a new, happier life in January Cove already.

“Thanks,” she said to Brandon when he turned back around.

He smiled that dimpled smile of his, the one that probably gave female heart patients a few extra skipped beats. “Seeing you so happy is thanks enough.”

She turned her attention back to the water. The dolphins were falling further behind, and she waved at them as if they could see her.

“Where are we going now?”

“I thought Zach could take us by the island I told you about. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure,” she said, ready for a little adventure. She didn’t want this day to end. It was the first time in a long time she felt happy and relaxed.

A few minutes later, Zach pulled as far up to the island as he could. Brandon took off his shoes and jumped out into the knee deep water. He reached out with both hands to help Faith over the side as she tossed her sandals back into the boat.

“Zach is going to do a little fishing and come back to get us in a bit,” Brandon explained as he helped her over the side. She slid down into the water, which was still pretty cool since springtime hadn’t officially arrived yet.

They walked the short distance to the sand and sat down, each of them out of breath from fighting against the waves. As Zach drove off into the distance, Faith had a bit of anxiety well up inside of her. Here she was on a desolate island in the middle of nowhere with Brandon. She trusted him, but she’d trusted a few men in her past and that hadn’t worked out so well.

“This is one of my favorite places in the world,” Brandon said as he looked out at the water.

“It’s beautiful.”

“We had bonfires here a lot when I was a kid. After football games, we’d hitch a ride on the ferry and camp out.”

“That sounds amazing. I wish I had grown up here.”

“Yeah, there’s something about January Cove that gets in your veins, and you never want to leave.”

“But you did leave for awhile, right?” Faith asked.

“Touché,” Brandon said with a chuckle. “That was something I felt called to do, though.”

“Do you ever feel called back to the Middle East?”

Brandon looked at her. “I do. Sometimes the things I feel called to do conflict with each other.”

She wasn’t sure what that meant. “So what do you do when they conflict?”

“Well, that’s when your heart and your gut have to have a meeting to decide what to do.”

Faith laid back onto the warm sand and stared up at the blue sky. There were no clouds anywhere today, and the warmth of the sun was tempting her to take the best nap of her life.

Brandon laid back and joined her, staring up into the vastness of the heavens. They didn’t speak for awhile. The only sounds were the waves and the squawking seagulls that would occasionally dive bomb down and snatch an unsuspecting fish from the ocean below.

Faith thought about how it must be to be that fish. Swimming along. Thinking life is grand and then bam! Flying straight up into the air without knowing where you’re going.

It was kind of morbid, but symbolic for what her life had been lately. Only the fish didn’t get a new life in a great place. But the bird did get a fresh meal, she supposed. The circle of life.

“So, have you heard anything from your father yet?” Brandon suddenly asked, breaking her out of her enjoyable cocoon of happiness and tossing her butt right back into the real world that was all her own.

“No, I haven’t. What made you think of that?” she asked, turning her head slightly toward him, trying to avoid the sunlight that was slipping under her fancy sunglasses.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you. Just didn’t know how. I didn’t want to upset you.”

She appreciated the sentiment. “It doesn’t upset me as much as it did when I first got here. I guess out of sight, out of mind.” Even as she said it, she knew that it wasn’t true. She thought about her father every single day. She worried about him. Was he safe? Was he well?

“I don’t believe that for a minute, Faith. You love him, and I know you must be worried.”

How did he read her mind like that? “Worrying doesn’t do me any good, though. He’s made it clear that he no longer wants me as his daughter.” She turned her head back toward the sky and noticed a stray white, puffy cloud floating by. It was shaped like a poodle, she thought. Every time she saw a cloud, she wondered if her father was somewhere, peering out his tiny prison windows, looking at the same white blob in the sky. Probably not possible in scientific terms, she decided.

“Maybe you should try again. I’m sure he misses you.”

“Look, Brandon, I love your optimism, but I can’t go there again. I just have to let it go and hope that one day he reaches out to me. Until then, I have to move forward.”

“I get it,” he said before sitting up. “Looks like our ride is here.” He pointed to Zach who was heading back to pick them up.

“That was quick,” she said, wishing the afternoon wasn’t over.

“Maybe we can do this again soon?” Brandon asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

Faith smiled. “I’d like that.”

* * *

Brandon looked at his watch. He was determined to get off work on time today. After all, he’d promised to help out at the carnival, and he wasn’t about to let Olivia or the kids down. Or maybe he didn’t want to let Faith down.

Since spending time with her on the boat and at the island, he realized that he was starting to have some serious feelings for her. But things were too up in the air. For one thing, he had no idea if she was going to stay in January Cove for good. He didn’t know if she had any real feelings for him, other than a budding friendship. Plus, he’d recently been contacted about coming back to the Middle East to volunteer for at least another year. He hadn’t told Faith that since he wasn’t sure about his final decision.

A part of him felt like he had unfinished business in the region. He wanted to be able to help those people more, to save them from an uncertain fate. But, as his own mother had told him a million times, he couldn’t save the world and sometimes he just needed to save himself.

Still, he felt conflicted. Should he take the opportunity to go back and help as many people as he could? Or should he stay in January Cove in the hopes that he could start a new life with Faith McLemore?