As Time Goes By (The Californians 2) Read Online Free PDF

the back. She gave her beloved aunt and uncle one last hug and this time the tears could not be stemmed. She waved from the stage window, her eyes still streaming as the stage pulled away.
    Bobbie was thankful she had the interior to herself. She allowed herself a good cry and then let her head fall back against the seat, her thoughts drifting to the past and then jumping to the future in rapid succession.
    Five years. She had actually been away from home for over five years. It didn't feel that long, not while it was passing, and not even now that it was over.
    There had been talk over those years of her returning to Santa Rosa, but the plans were always delayed. At one point when she had been away three years, her parents had decided it was time she come home, but Uncle Jasper had fallen ill, making her presence at the shipping office crucial. No matter how many times she asked herself how the years had slipped by, no answer came. She really loved living in Jenner and she had been so young when she left Santa Rosa--a little girl in so many ways.
    But she wasn't a little girl now. She was a woman, headed back to take a job at the Taylors' office--a job she could walk into with confidence because of her experi ence. Bobble knew her aunt and uncle's shipping office was nowhere near as busy as the Taylors' in Santa Rosa, but she knew the routine, how to handle packages and treat the customers as well.
    And she would be working with the Taylors. Mr. Taylor had given a full explanation as to why they needed her. Business had picked up to the point that May needed a rest. Bobbie was to take her place and her fellow employees would be Jeff, Gilbert, and sometimes Nate.
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    Jeff. A myriad of emotions flooded through Bobbie at the thought of Jeffrey Taylor, but none were anger or bitterness. They'd had no contact over the years except one note; Bobbie still had it. She had received it in the fall after that awful summer when he had obviously under stood that she was not coming back for the next school year. It had been very brief, four short words, but they had meant the world to her: "I'm sorry, Bobbie, Jeff."
    She hadn't replied and it hadn't changed the hurt, but it helped to know that he regretted the way he had treated her. At the time she received it, she hoped he was suffering too. But the next summer all of that changed when, for the first time, Bobbie truly listened to the man who was preaching at the front of the church she was in and Bobbie understood that she was a sinner.
    When she was very young the man in the pulpit had never taught anything but God's love. And then the Bradford family started attending Pastor Keller's church and he had the courage to tell people that they must be born again, that without the saving blood of Jesus Christ they would not live forever with God. But Bobbie hadn't believed Pastor Keller.
    She agreed with her first pastor, a man whose name she couldn't even remember, that God was a God of love. She didn't believe He would ever send anyone good to hell. And then it became very clear to Bobbie as she studied the Bible that God didn't send anyone to hell. It was man's choice, her choice--Roberta Bradford's--as to where she spent her eternity.
    With Bobbie's belief in Jesus Christ came a new out look on everything, especially the way she had been treated at the lagoon. The weight of bitterness was lifted from Bobbie as She studied the Word of God with her aunt and uncle. As she did, she learned that there was no
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    room for unforgiveness in the heart of a Christian who desired to serve God with her whole heart.
    Bobbie's drifting thoughts were interrupted again and again as the stage stopped and other passengers boarded or disembarked. It was well into the evening when a very tired young woman finally arrived in Santa Rosa. It felt wonderful to stretch her legs. As Bobbie set out on the walk home, she was also thankful that the skies were clear. Her fatigue fell away as she