Honor's Refuge by Hallee Bridgeman

Author:Hallee Bridgeman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romantic Suspense;FIC042060;FIC042040;FIC027220
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

NOVEMBER 11

Phil shut his Bible and pushed it away, then slid his coffee cup closer. The spicy smell of cinnamon mingled with the aroma of the fresh brew, creating a very soothing atmosphere.

He looked around his apartment. He’d had an okay day back to work yesterday, suffering through the sympathy and platitudes about Winston. He’d known it would be like that going in, so he just coped and hoped it would be way less this afternoon.

When he thought about getting out of his truck and seeing that man attacking Melissa, his neck muscles tightened. It had taken great restraint for him to keep from causing physical harm to the punk. But he’d practiced the needed discipline and just held him until security arrived.

In the meantime, he kept Anna in his prayers. Seeing that man coming at Melissa had been something he never wanted to see again. He felt the same rage he’d felt that day when he saw her in the emergency room, wanting to physically come between her and anyone who would dare harm her.

He decided to go see her instead of calling her. First, though, he wanted to hit an early meeting. The church down the street had one at seven thirty.

He used to get uncomfortable whenever he walked into a meeting and didn’t know anyone there. Then the term “anonymous” struck him and he realized that he did in fact rely on a certain level of anonymity. He appreciated the fact that he could keep the meetings a part of his life and not make them a social club. Over the years, he’d seen too many people rely on the organization to be their club of people.

He arrived during the opening prayer. Standing in the back, he noticed a man with straight dark hair and a black goatee staring at him. Phil bowed his head to finish the prayer but kept his eyes open. When he lifted his head, the man wasn’t there. For a moment, he considered leaving and finding him. Something about the stare had set off all his internal alarms. Then again, the room was filled with addicts, some of whom resorted to crime to feed the beast. He might just be feeling a little bit paranoid on the heels of Winston’s murder.

He listened to the introductions, stories, and testimonies. The speaker was engaging—a former police officer who would search known drug dealers and pocket what he found. Thinking back to the ready supply of narcotics available to him during his tenure as a surgeon, Phil felt nothing but empathy for this guy. He could tell by the way he spoke that he was a believer in Jehovah God and a follower of Christ. He wondered what the man would say if he invited him to coffee one day to talk about shared experiences.

At the end of the meeting, so many attendees converged on the speaker that Phil just wrote his first name on a page in his notebook. He’d like to think he could look him up, but that would hardly be anonymous.

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