Read My Stubborn Heart for Free Online

night.
    Jesus’ words in Matthew popped into her mind. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you.
    It was humbling to have faith tinier than a mustard seed. Kate stopped walking, sighed, and let her eyes close.
    I have a plan for you, God seemed to say.
    It would be nice, Lord, if it could include a man.
    Silence answered.
    The hardest and the truest thing was the supremacy of God’s will, which meant that no matter how much she prayed for a husband and a family, she wasn’t guaranteed that she’d ever receive what she asked for.
    She began to stride forward again, praying, feeling the cool air on her skin, in her lungs. Her mind drifted to Matt.
    Okay, so there was a magnificent-looking hockey legend currently renovating her grandmother’s house. Okay. She could handle it. She could absolutely resist the temptation he presented.
    She was a social worker and it was in her DNA to reach out to people who were hurting and do her best to make things better. Now that she knew what he’d been through, she was even more firmly set on befriending him.
    It wouldn’t be easy.
    But she could try.
    If she stuck with it, maybe she could eventually force him to smile. Bring a little bit of fun into his workweek. Nothing that would begin to ease his loss, of course. But something.
    She took a deep breath.
    She could try.

    She found him the next morning at work in one of the second-story guest bedrooms. He’d ripped away a section of the wall, revealing the wooden framework beneath. Brittle plaster lay around his feet like rubble.
    â€œWow,” Kate said, taking in the mess.
    Matt stopped what he was doing and glanced at her. He was wearing khaki cargo pants and a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt that said Abercrombie and Fitch across the chest. His baseball hat rode low over his eyes.
    â€œI brought you a bottled water,” she said. “Thirsty?”
    He hesitated. “Sure.”
    She picked her way through the clutter and handed it to him.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œWhat’re you working on?” she asked.
    â€œThere was a leak.” He pointed to a crack in the metal plumbing line.
    â€œLooks like it rotted all the wood around it.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAnd your plan is . . . ?”
    â€œI’ve got to replace this section of plumbing. Frame in new wood. Put up drywall.”
    â€œCould you use some help?”
    He eyed her critically. “Not really.”
    She couldn’t resist. She had to smile. He was intimidating, he truly was. Big and brooding with eyes like a blade when you irritated him. She was certain that he scared off almost everyone. Yet for some reason, he didn’t scare her. “I understand. I’d probably just get in your way.” She went and sat cross-legged on a clean patch of floor. “I’m taking a break, so if you don’t mind I’ll just sit and hang out for a little bit.”
    He didn’t give her permission to stay, but he didn’t tell her to get out, either. She took that as a promising sign. “I love working on old houses,” she said. “I have a duplex back in Dallas, and I did some of the work on my half when I bought it.”
    He concentrated on peeling off plaster.
    â€œEven though Gran’s told me about it for years, this is my first time to visit Chapel Bluff.”
    More silence.
    â€œI’m glad I was able to get the time off from my job,” she said, “so that I could come here.”
    He still wasn’t responding. She racked her brain for something else to say.
    â€œWhere do you work?” he asked without looking at her. “Back in Dallas.”
    She felt absurdly pleased at his question. It was the first one he’d asked her about herself. “I work at a place called Christopher’s House. We provide a temporary home to kids who’ve been abused or abandoned.”
    He took that in for a few