Second Chance with Love by Alana Hart, Ruth Tyler Philips

Aaron who sat at the front. Like everyone else he stared at his grandmother.
    "Mother, please I'm trying to teach the class."
    "Go ahead then, I'm just giving my opinion.”
    Hilda's mother rose slowly and walked out.

Chapter 8
     
     
    Nathan slumped into a chair by the bed and dropped the bag filled with his dirty overalls by the door. He dressed in shorts and a vest. There was something so great about a hot bath and a soft duvet after his body, caked with mud on the verge of collapse, made a mechanical walk to the bed. However, Nathan's battered feet, stubbornly refused another step, therefore he ended up crumpled at the side of his bed. In the neighboring bed snored Jośe.
    The entire week was a system of work where many of the men and women of the different churches worked to tackle water drainage by building ditches for almost every house destroyed by the mudslide. When Nathan saw how much work needed to be done, he threw himself into it with an obsession. The first to the site; the last one to leave. He found himself working alongside a man named Junot, who had an infectious smile, humbling. Jośe translated Junot's tragedy. During the mudslide Junot was helpless as his wife and daughter were carried away in the rapid surge. And now only God knew his daughter and wife's whereabouts. Junot worked hard.
    His first task on was described by the splinter-toothed builder as "involved", which he found meant climbing along a rope set over the mass of sweeping earth and materials to look for survivors. Nathan was part of the team who had to search through the wreckage. Piles of rocks and mud had destroyed most houses and caused irreparable damage to others.
    "Clearing detritus" was what they called their efforts, which took a lot of work and it got to the point where Nathan's skin felt like scorched earth, his thoughts dry, so each gulp of water become rusted nails, his mouth was a baked.
    Meeting Junot and seeing the man's faith in adversity, Nathan didn't know if he would be strong enough if anything happened to Hilda or his…
    As Nathan sat in the dark, there persisted a nagging feeling that he was missing something. It was at the back of his mind as if he were unintentionally dismissing the possibility of... of what? Nathan thought to himself, there's more to Hilda's story than she's telling me ?
    Something stirred in the room sending Nathan's senses into overdrive, causing him to flinch.
    "Nathan, back so late again?" Jośe's voice floated to Nathan.
    "Sorry, if I startled you." Nathan throat was sore from dehydration. "About to crash out and call it a day."
    "You'll be back to the hotel tomorrow. I'll return in a few weeks. It's going to take a long time before we can restore the lives of our brothers and sisters."
    "I wish I could join you." For Nathan, working with the villagers brought him a sense of purpose, something not experienced since leaving the military.
    "You don't want to return to the States? I think your family would miss you, no?"
    "I would miss them. But there's a lot of work to be done here."
    "Don't you have work back at home?" Jośe sat up, and sat on the side on the bed facing Nathan.
    "I’m in venture capital financing at the moment," Nathan had to hold himself back from saying in no longer enjoyed it.
    "Oh, that sounds wonderful."
    "But I've always been a hands-on kinda guy. In my job, I don't really need to meet my clients anymore."
    "Maybe you'll extend your stay? You are such a hard worker. The program needs as many hands as possible." Jośe silhouette seemed to stretch.
    "There is something I must tell you." Nathan rubbed his hand over his hair and he pulled on it. The silence was drawn out like a delicate wine “I'm not actually part of a mission program." Saying the words aloud dispelled the illusion of his own making. No longer under the protection of the deception, Nathan could finally understand the fallacy of the arguments he believed rationalized his presence in Guatemala, for her, to