All Chapters of I Never Hated You : Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Potatoes, lettuce, onions, peas, beans. They were probably boring choices, but Lucas wasn’t too worried about that, not with his first attempt at planting a garden. He just wanted something to come up, wanted to see the shriveled brown bits he dropped into the soil turn into something new and green and useful.He’d planted carrots a few weeks earlier and now he crouched beside the tidy row of sprouts pushing their way through the almost-warm ground.He’d tried to keep himself from getting excited at the first signs of life. They could have been anything, little bits of grass or other weeds that had taken advantage of the carefully groomed soil. But now he could see the beginnings of the feathery leaves he’d seen at the supermarket and he let himself believe in this one small miracle.“Carrots!” he said quietly to the squirrel. She stayed on her branch, the setting sun making her little more than a silhouette. She was still chewing away at the quarter-cob of dried corn he’d brought her

Mark didn’t think he’d ever heard Lucas Cain speak more than a couple words in a row. But now, his voice on the phone a strange mix of anxiety and determination, the man was practically babbling.“I’m really sorry to bother you. I just…Alex is here, and he’s pretty messed up. He needs some help, and he trusts you. I don’t know who else to call. I can leave as soon as you get here. Or I can walk him over to you somewhere, and then leave him there, or wait outside for him, or…whatever you want. He needs help. Can you help him?”Mark knew what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to call Terry, or maybe even Mr. Wilson. He’d tell them where Alex was and that would be the end of his involvement. Before leaving the church that afternoon Terry had made it crystal clear that there should be no contact between Mark and the boy until Mr. Wilson okayed it. And of course Mark wasn’t supposed to be dealing with Lucas Cain, either. Terry hadn’t left any doubt about either of those expectations.

Elise had started trusting Lucas with the entire first shift, lately. He fed the animals, gave medications to those who needed them, and opened the doors to their outdoor pens. It was nice to be alone with the animals, and strangely peaceful considering how much noise an ark of hungry beasts could make.But he was still always glad to see Elise when she arrived. She generally brought him a travel mug full of coffee, for one thing, but it was also good to have someone to talk to about the animals, someone who could make whatever judgment calls he found too difficult. And on the morning after Alex’s visit, it was good to have someone to share his worries with.Not that Elise was as sympathetic as Lucas might have hoped. “He’ll be fine,” she said when she’d heard about Mr. Wilson’s explosion. “Scotty Wilson has always had a big mouth, but Alex is tough.”“He’s refusing to go home. He spent last night in some youth shelter.”“Good for him. Not the shelter part, but good that he’s getting

His head was spinning as he slunk out to the parking lot. Terry was waiting in the car for him, and one look at the older man’s face made it clear that he knew what Mark had been told in the meeting. He’d probably known all day, and that was why he’d insisted on driving Mark down to the city himself. There had been a few tense moments when Terry had first learned about Mark’s disobedience but the older priest was a forgiving man and had obviously chosen to support his protégé despite their differences.Mark was just glad to see a friendly face. He slid into the passenger seat, shut the door, and closed his eyes.They sat in silence for a while, and then Terry said, “It’s a volatile time for the church.” He didn’t turn the car on. “They’re scrambling to survive. They’re not afraid of the lawsuit, they’re afraid of the publicity.” He shifted in his seat and Mark opened his eyes to see his friend looking at himintently. “You’ve got to look at this in the larger context. And you’ve got t

“Chickens,” Lucas said.The priest raised an eyebrow.“And those other ones that are like ostriches.”A blank stare until finally the priest said, “Emus?”“Yeah. Emus.” Lucas wanted to crawl underneath the car.“Why are we talking about emus?” the priest asked, but he didn’t seem upset. In fact, he looked a bit better than he had when Lucas had first approached.“I’m not sure.” But there had to be more. This conversation, such as it was, seemed to be doing the priest good. So Lucas needed to keep it going.“Because they don’t fly, I think. And neither does this turkey vulture, right now. But we’re hoping he will someday. We’ve got his wing splinted, and the vet said it was a clean break.”The priest was looking at Lucas pretty intently now. “You really enjoy this, don’t you? Working here? Terry was right when he set this up for you.”“Yeah. He was right. I mean, I needed a job. But this job? It’s great. I owe Father Groban a lot.”“What about if it were a different kind of job? If you