By His Hand: Truly Yours Digital Edition by Jennifer Johnson

“Thanks for trusting me with Abby.”
    Abby? Trusting her with Abby wasn’t anything. It was the fact that she seemed to be taking hold of his heart that had him worried. “Think nothing of it.”

     
    Victoria pulled her favorite pink grapefruit lipstick from her purse. She applied it to her lips and then smacked them together. Four o’clock had arrived quicker than she would have imagined. She rearranged the curls she’d allowed to frame her face. The clip in her hair had held tight, but she couldn’t deny her longing to let her hair fall at her shoulders. She didn’t know when she’d kept it up for so many hours.
    After placing the lipstick back in her purse, she pouted at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Zack had already left work for some type of meeting at another bank. Victoria had hoped to be able to talk with him more. She’d even come up with a few questions she could ask him intermittently through the day. She sighed. Her plan had been a sneaky one, and deep down she knew that wasn’t pleasing to God.
    I’m sorry, Lord. I don’t know what to say to a man, especially one like Zack. But I don’t want to be sinful or manipulative either
.
    Determined not to ask Zack a single phony question when she saw him the following day, Victoria walked out of the restroom and bank to see if Chris had arrived. She spied him waiting in the parking lot in his green truck. Walking over to him, she poked her head in the passenger’s window. “Hey, thanks for picking me up.”
    “It’s all right.” He patted the seat. “Hop in.”
    She had to yank hard before the heavy door squeaked its willingness to let her do just that. Lifting one foot up to the floorboard, she grabbed the sides of her skirt and giggled. “I didn’t know it was such a leap to get into this thing.”
    “There’s a handle above your head.”
    “You’re kidding.” She looked up, and sure enough there it was. Victoria grabbed it with one hand and held her skirt with the other. With a quick hop, she pulled herself inside and slammed the protesting door.
    “I didn’t think about you needing a change of clothes,” said Chris.
    “What?”
    “There’s no telling what Abby will want you to do.”
    Victoria frowned. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one influencing her?”
    Chris laughed. “Yeah, and I hope you can do it. Just the same, you’d be more comfortable in jeans or shorts. Abby will probably have some you can wear.”
    “Okay.” An uneasiness gnawed at Victoria. Surely she hadn’t gotten in over her head with Abby. She leaned over and grabbed the handle to roll up the window. Having never seen one before except on television, Victoria wasn’t sure exactly how to work it. The handle was stiff, but she turned it both ways until she managed to get the window to rise.
    “No air-conditioning.”
    “What?” She gawked at Chris whose mouth split in a full grin.
    “The truck doesn’t have air-conditioning. You’ll have to leave it down.”
    “Well, this should be an adventure.”
    “I’d reckon it will be.” Chris turned the key in the ignition. It grumbled and then roared its willingness to start.
    Bluegrass gospel music pealed from the radio as the inside of the cab shook like they were in the middle of an earthquake. Victoria felt as if she’d stepped out onto some newly remade
Twilight Zone
program. She grabbed for her seat belt only to have it fight her for several moments to stretch long enough to fasten into its lock.
    Chris put the truck into drive and pulled out into the street. Heat from the engine seemed to wrap around her feet making her start to perspire. She could feel wisps of hair slip away from her clip. Her shirt blew hard against her skin as the wind whipped all around her.
    The cab jerked and bumped over every dip in the road. Her purse fell onto the floorboard, and she bent over to pick it up. As she sat up, Chris must have hit a pothole because she was popped high in the air. She gasped when her