Pay the Price (Harmony Grove Book 3) by Carol Post (which ebook reader txt) 📕

the troublemaker she’d known as a teenager with the enthusiastic worshiper she’d watched for the past twenty minutes.

Maybe she would talk to him later. He probably didn’t hang out with Hammy anymore. It was doubtful they had anything left in common. But as close as they’d been at one point, he might know something, or at least have enough of an in with Hammy to be able to get some information out of him.

She reined in her thoughts. She’d better listen to at least part of the sermon. If Shane asked her about it, she wanted to be able to respond intelligently. Currently, a scripture verse was displayed on the screen that had held song lyrics earlier—“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” She pulled her focus back to the pastor.

“Kintsukuroi.” He paused after saying the word. Jessica had never heard the term, but it didn’t sound like it came from the Bible.

“It’s a philosophy of things that are broken.”

Now he had her full attention. For as long as she could remember, she’d felt broken. She’d compensated, not always in the healthiest way, but that damaged feeling had never fully left.

He went on to explain that Kintsukuroi was the Japanese art of mending broken pottery using glue laced with gold or silver. “That bowl or plate or vase becomes useful again, and now it has a story. The brokenness is highlighted. The cracks are celebrated. Many people feel the pottery is even more beautiful having been broken and repaired.”

He stepped out from behind the podium and spread his arms. “That’s an amazing picture of God’s grace. Just like that pottery, we’re broken. We’ve endured our bumps and scrapes. We’ve been knocked around and sometimes dropped from dizzying heights. We might feel useless, damaged beyond repair.”

He stepped forward to stand at the edge of the podium and scanned the crowd. When that gaze seemed to settle on her, Jessica shifted in her seat.

“But here’s the good news. When you let God mend all the shattered pieces, He creates something beautiful. You’re no longer a broken vessel, useless and discarded. He makes you whole. Those mended flaws become a part of who you are. They’re your story, a story God can use. Instead of hiding those wounds and scars, you can celebrate them as a testimony of God’s healing power and amazing grace.”

He finished his message with a plea to those attending to allow God to restore them to wholeness, to mend their broken pieces and create something beautiful. As the band and singers stepped back onto the platform and began the last song, Jessica stood with those around her.

What the pastor had said was appealing. It also seemed too simplistic. Solutions to serious problems were never that easy.

When the service ended, Shane smiled over at her. “I’m glad you came.”

“Me, too. It was good.” The music was fun, the sermon engaging. More than engaging. The pastor’s words were going to haunt her for a while. She wasn’t ready to discuss what she’d heard with Shane. She had a lot of thinking to do.

She followed him into the aisle. “I’d like to speak with the drummer. He and Hammy were pretty good friends at one point. He might know something.”

Disappointment settled in his features.

She gave him a playful poke in the ribs with her elbow. “Don’t worry. I paid attention. I wasn’t in investigative mode the whole time. Very little, actually. Come on.” She invited him along with a wave of her hand.

When she reached the front, the drummer was just stepping down from the platform. Jarrod was still Jarrod. The same shuffling gait. The same mischievous glint in his eyes. And the same shaggy brown hair that reached his shoulders. But something had changed. It wasn’t just maturity. He seemed grounded. More at peace.

“Wow, Jess! It’s good to see you.”

He wrapped her in an enthusiastic hug. By the time she recovered enough to hug him back, he had already released her.

She motioned toward Shane. “This is my friend, Shane Dalton.”

Jarrod shook his hand. “Jessica and I go way back. Similar history. We were both voted least likely to be caught dead inside a church.”

Jessica laughed, but his statement wasn’t far from the truth. “And now you’re playing in a worship band. Something must have changed for you. Somehow I don’t think you’re doing this for the money.”

“No, they don’t pay me for this. I do it because I want to. I finally got my life straightened out. Or I should say God straightened me out. I didn’t have much to do with it.”

He started down the aisle, and Jessica fell in beside him. Since his life revolved around church and clean living, Hammy probably wasn’t a part of it anymore. But it was worth a shot.

“Do you still hang out with Hammy?”

“No, I’m afraid not. He says I’m no fun anymore. He hasn’t figured out that life’s actually more fun without drinking, smoking weed and getting into trouble. But I keep working on him. Hey, if God can get a hold of you and me, He can get a hold of Hammy, right?”

She stole a glance at Shane. She wasn’t exactly in the God-got-a-hold-of-me camp. But standing next to Shane, she didn’t feel like a total outsider. She shifted her gaze back to Jarrod. “Have you talked to him since my sister died?”

“Yeah, once. I don’t know how much of the visit he remembers. He was pretty drunk.”

Yeah, he was apparently that way a lot lately. She glanced around at the people filing out the door with them and lowered her voice. “Did he tell you anything about how she died?”

“He said she OD’d on oxycodone. Really sad.”

She nodded. Could she trust him? Did she have a choice? If Hammy was going to open up to anyone, it would be Jarrod, his one-time best friend.

“Can I level with you, without it going any further?”

He answered without hesitation. “Sure.”

She led him into the church yard, away from the other members