Homecoming Reunion by Carolyne Aarsen

elbows on his knees, trying to shut thoughts of Larissa out of his mind. This, however, was growing harder and harder. Every day he spent with her wore at the barriers he’d put around his heart. Every time he saw her face, heard her voice it was as if time shifted backward.
    He knew he had to keep his focus on the reason he came here. Fix up the inn. Sell it. Buy the mill.
    Selfish ambition.
    The words resonated in his mind and he tried to dismiss them. Was trying to make your way in life selfish?
    Depends on your reasons.
    Garret shot a glance in the other direction to where his brother sat with his wife and Emma’s little boy, Adam. Three years ago his brother was a broken, hurting man, rejecting God and family, trying to get over the death of his little boy, Harry.
    Now he looked peaceful. Settled. The ranch was doing okay. Not making great money, but doing okay. Carter seemed happy with that.
    Garret couldn’t help flashing back to the memory of his mother’s tears when she got fired from the mill. The helplessness he felt watching her, knowing he couldn’t do anything about it. He remembered all too well the humiliation of wearing patched jeans to school. The lack of money that seemed a constant worry.
    You’ve got to take care of yourself.
    Garret sighed again, sitting up, ignoring his nana’s admonishing glance at his restlessness. He’d seen that glance enough as a child. He could never sit still. Always had to be on the go. After his mother died, that busyness morphed into a need to find a way to make somebody pay for what happened to his mother.
    That somebody had been Jack Weir.
    When he first met Larissa he thought he had figured out how to accomplish this. He had thought that by dating her he could get to Jack. Instead, Larissa got to him and had softened his hard heart. Had given him a purpose at least for a while.
    Now he could sense her presence as real as a touch.
    He leaned forward again, this time directing his focus on the minister, trying to shift his attention away from Larissa.
    “...in the end the reality is, as the bumper sticker says, he who dies with the most toys, still dies. Doesn’t matter what we gain in our life, it will all turn to dust. All our actions will be purified and only the important things in life will remain. Our service to God, our service to each other. Our purpose in life is not to amass, to collect, but to find our way to serve the Lord in all our actions. To find a way to make each thing we do glorify his name.”
    The pastor’s words were like a twist of a knife. Ever since Garret decided that money gave a person power, he promised himself that someday he would have that power too. But what the minister was saying shed a harsh light of truth on his actions, revealing them for the shallow plans they were.
    So what should he do instead? What was the solution?
    Garret blanked out both his questions and the minister’s words instead, concentrating on his next step with the inn. He’d heard that Pete Boonstra was chairman of the tenth anniversary celebration of the real estate company he worked for and that he had booked The Pines for his banquet and awards dinner.
    But yesterday, at Mug Shots, he’d heard that The Pines had suffered major water damage when some main pipes burst and Garret also knew their kitchen was out of commission. So of necessity they had cancelled all engagements for a month.
    Garret also heard that Pete was now desperately looking for another place to hold the celebration, which was supposed to happen in two weeks.
    This was a chance to get some more business and Garret knew he would take it. He reached for his cell phone to tap out a note, then glanced at his nana and caught himself.
    You don’t need to do this in church. He lowered his hand just as the minister announced the closing song. With a start he realized that church was winding down.
    He got to his feet and joined in on the song. When the last note was sounded, he stopped himself