Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

said the same thing: one Sunday, several members of the city council visited their church service. That
next Monday, the pastor received notice that they could no longer hold Sunday services at City Hall
because the church had violated the terms of the rental agreement.
At night Tanner got back to his hotel room and used his laptop to research case precedent. He talked to
Matt the second night and shared his idea.
"Brilliant." Matt's tone held awe, and the excitement bubbling in Tanner grew. Maybe this was the case
that would sway public opinion away from dismantling the country's religious freedoms. Maybe more
people would be willing to fight for the cause if they could see what was happening in local government,
the extreme to which elected officials were willing to go to squash Christianity from any place remotely
public.
112 "We'll handle it together." Tanner's mind raced as he imagined the soundness of the argument they'd
have to make on behalf of First Church of the Valley. "Clear your caseload and you can start research next
week." He rambled through a list of ideas and stopped only to catch his breath. "Sound good?"
On the other end of the line, Matt hesitated. "Okay"
"If you have a minute, I'll go over the interviews with you, that way you'll be-"
"Tanner, stop." Matt's voice was stem. More stem than Tanner
ever remembered hearing.
"What?" "Have you called jade?"
At the mention of her name, Tanner felt the blood leave his
face. "Why? What's wrong?"
Matt huffed. "She has cancer, remember? You leave her alone
with Ty to do research in Colorado and you haven't even called
her? In two days?"
Tanner's heart resumed a normal beat. "I worked too late last
night. Besides, she said she had projects to catch up on before..."
"Before she got sicker?" Matt's voice was quiet but his words
brought a sledgehammer down on Tanner's heart. "If she's going to get sicker, then these are the days she
needs you most. While she's still well enough to love you."
Tanner let his head fall into his free hand. "How'd you know
I hadn't called her?"
"Hannah told me." "So she's mad at me?"
Matt groaned. "She's not mad; she's hurt." Matt paused and
Tanner knew him well enough to know he was searching for the
right words. "You're running. It's only going to hurt worse if you
don't stop."
No
H A L F W A Y T O F 0 R E V E R
Tanner clenched his fists. "I'm not running; I'm working. We
own a law firm, remember?"
"Your wife is sick, Tanner. There's no case more important than that."
"Fine." Tanner had heard enough. What did Matt know of
having a sick wife? What did he know about Tanner's fear that any
day jade's personality could change or the tumor could grow and before they had time to prepare for any
of it both jade and their
unborn baby could be gone? Matt had no right telling Tanner how
to handle the situation. If Tanner wanted to devote this time to his work while jade was still well enough
to leave at home, then that's what he'd do.