“Why does Mr. Blaine always leave the service during the blessings?”

Jacobson sighed. “If I tell you, you’ve got to keep it just between us. If Wyatt knew, he’d skin me alive. It’s not some great secret, Gabby. Rather, it’s because Wyatt mustn’t learn that you heard it from me. I’m already risking enough ill will just by asking you here today.”

“I promise,” she answered.

Jacobson stared down at the desktop for a time before answering. “The reason is simple,” he said. “Krista and Danny died on Wyatt’s thirty-fifth birthday. They were hosting a party for him, and their house was full of well-wishers. Krista and Danny were killed when they went out to buy some extra ice cream, of all things. His brother, Morgan, took the phone call from the police then informed Wyatt in front of all the guests. Morgan has never forgiven himself for not ushering Wyatt into another room to tell him. But in his defense, Morgan was in shock and not thinking straight either. Because his family died on his birthday and because the blessings are in part about the celebration of such days, Wyatt finds it impossible to stay.”

“My God,” Gabby breathed. “I never knew that.”

“Not many people do,” Jacobson said. “Wyatt has dated a few women since, but nothing meaningful ever developed. For a while I believed that reviving Krista’s program would help him to heal and to get on with his life. But lately I worry more and more that Wyatt might be doing it for the wrong reasons.”

“I don’t understand,” Gabby said.

“Wyatt says that this is what Krista would have wanted,” Jacobson said, “and that’s certainly true. The New Beginnings Program was her baby, through and through. Make no mistake—he wants to help troubled teens, just as Krista did. But I worry that this is his way of living in the past rather than embracing the future. He even took a sabbatical from his family law firm so that he could personally manage the project. I understand that he’s looking for closure, but I fear that his decision might only further insulate him from the world. I also suspect that providing the program free of charge is his way of ensuring that enough teens will enroll. The last thing he wants is to see Krista’s dream fail on his watch.”

As Jacobson waited for Wyatt to arrive, he regarded Gabby from the other side of his desk. He liked Gabby and Trevor very much. He had never been able to say the same, however, of Gabby’s late husband.

From the start, Gabby’s marriage had been troubled. She had realized that Jason was more than a social drinker, but only after their marriage did she learn how bad his habit truly was. When Trevor was born, Gabby stopped teaching and the financial pressures mounted.