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With a pleasant lovely day voice, he said, “Good morning.”
    She was obviously upset with him for some reason, and he didn’t want to upset her any further.
    Again, she’d pulled out her sketchpad and was drawing. Without looking up she said, “Morning. I see you finally decided to get up.”
    â€œYeah, guess I overslept,” Travis said, grinning.
    â€œGuess you did, as always.”
    Travis closed the distance between he and his wife and sat on an opposite chair. With his voice lowered so that Shelby and Phillip wouldn’t hear, he said, “Come on, Beryl. We haven’t even been here twenty-four hours, and you’re already honing in on me. Can’t a man have a break? Relax and let’s just enjoy this trip.”
    Beryl stopped drawing, huffed, and looked over at him. “When are you going to get a clue? This isn’t a relaxation trip. We are here for a purpose; hopefully to save our marriage. And as for your break, I’ve given you more than enough breaks.” The volume of her voice elevated with each sentence. “That’s your problem. All you want to do is relax, and I’m sick of it.”
    Embarrassed, Travis motioned his hands in a ‘calm down’ gesture saying, “Come on, honey.” He looked around to see if anyone was listening. He didn’t see anyone. “Calm down. All I was saying was—”
    Beryl cut him off, and with her ever rolling head and waving hand, she said, “I know what you were trying to say. But I really don’t think you understand how important this trip is. This is it, Travis. If this doesn’t work out, it’s over.”
    â€œYou don’t really mean—”
    Beryl cut him off again. Her eyebrows furrowed. “I do. Try me. If some things aren’t resolved, you’ll see just how serious I am.”
    Travis opened his mouth to speak again, but closed it when he heard a heavy knock at the cabin’s front door.

Chapter 5
    Travis Highgate
Monday: 9:13 A.M .
    Travis watched as a woman and man, looking to be in their mid-thirties, entered the cabin. The man held the door for his wife and stood back so she could enter. The husband’s smile was warm and radiant as he looked around the cabin. His face looked very familiar. And in an instant, Travis recognized who he was. With unbelieving eyes, his mouth dropped.
    Walking into the cabin was the infamous Pastor G.I. Jones, a true soldier for the Lord. Pastor Jones was known for his often riveting sermons and the crowds who attended his services. He was also the author of at least five books that Travis knew of, and had appeared in a couple of Christian based movies as the pastor of a church.
    Travis had only seen him once in person, but he might as well have been watching him on television, because he’d been sitting in the nosebleed seats of a coliseum with hundreds of other people. He hadn’t been fortunate enough to sit in the floor seats with the thousands below them who’d arrived early.
    Now he was in the same room with the man he’d admired so much. Whenever he could, Travis used to watch the pastor’s broadcast. That was when they still had cable; before Beryl had put her foot down, saying that they couldn’t afford a cable bill with all the other things they had to pay for.
    And even though Beryl hadn’t come right out and said it, Travis knew she was implying he was the reason they didn’t have enough money. She was just trying to make him feel bad, but he wasn’t going to let it bother him.
    Lucky for him, she’d warned him about the deal on the cable. So before she had it turned off, he’d purchased VHS tapes and recorded his favorite shows. He’d ended up with eleven tapes, each filled with eight hours worth of programming. So whenever he wanted to watch cable, he just popped in a tape and it felt like they still had it.
    He’d even had a few of Pastor G.I.