Forever (34 page)

She scrolled down the page until she saw Tanner’s picture. The date was yesterday, and his comment said, I didn’t know you knew Alex! And, ya, about the waiting. Sometimes that makes things more interesting. You never know.

“What?” Bailey was on her feet again. She turned and paced into the kitchen and then back. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and fired off a text to Tanner. So what’d you do last night?

She hit Send just as her mother came back from the family room and hung up the phone. “Poor Ashley; she has so much work to do.”

Bailey stared at her mother and pointed to the computer screen. “Tanner hung out with some other girl last night. Read it.”

Immediately her mother’s expression changed. Ashley’s concerns were important, but Bailey’s took precedence.

Bailey clicked to the comment on Tanner’s space, then back to the one on the girl’s.

“Hmm.” Her mother looked at Bailey. “Doesn’t look real good.”

This was another thing Bailey loved about her mother. Both 271

her parents liked Tanner, but they always told Bailey not to get too attached.

She was too young for a serious relationship. But here-when it felt like her world was falling in around her— Bailey could count on her mom to take things seriously. She didn’t roll her eyes and make some snappy remark about it being for the best or cluck her tongue against the roof of her mouth and mention something about having told her so.

Instead she did the one thing Bailey wanted her to do. She held out her arms.

“Come here, honey.”

Bailey fell into the hug and willed herself not to cry. She was too mad anyway.

How dare Tanner go to Alex’s and hang out with some other girl. She didn’t even want to imagine what Tanner must’ve told her to wait for. Him? His kiss? Or something even more serious?

Her phone beeped three times. She pulled back and flipped it open. Tanner’s message was short. I hung out with the guys at Alex’s house. You had practice, right?

Her anger became a rage. She clenched her teeth and let out a furious cry. “How dare he lie to me?” She looked at her mother and shook her head. “All this time I trusted him.” Hurt took the edge in her tone. “All this time.”

The calm was there in her mother’s face. “There might be more to the story, Bailey. You should call him.”

“I should, but I won’t.” She was too mad. If he couldn’t tell her the truth, then forget him. She could spend her junior year without a boyfriend. She opened her phone and punched a series of buttons as fast and hard as she could. Hey, I’ve been thinking. .

maybe we should take some time away from each other. You know, see other people.

“What are you-?”

She hit Send before her mother finished her sentence. Bailey snapped the phone shut and looked up. “There. I broke up with him.”

“Bailey!” Her mother couldn’t have looked more astonished if 272

Bailey had sprouted a tail. “You can’t break up with a boy oN text messages.”

“Well, I just did.” She was still mad, but tears were filling liei eyes anyway.

“He lied to me, Mom. All the guys at Alex’s knm he was talking to some-” she gestured toward the computei screen-“some girl. And then he goes and lies to me.”

“Okay, so you call him up and ask him over. You take a wall, and talk about things.” She ran her hand down Bailey’s arm “Tanner’s been a very good friend.

He deserves more than that.”And I deserve more than that.” She jerked her thumb at the screen. Her tone was sounding a little rude. She made her voice get quieter. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s okay.” Her mother put her hands on Bailey’s shoulders. “Listen, sweetie.

You have to call Tanner. We’re friends with his family, and his mother would never understand why I let you break up with him over texting.”

Before Bailey could try to explain herself again, her phone beeped. A part of her didn’t want to open it. Her mother was right about Tanner. He deserved a phone call at least. She stared at her phone. She never should’ve checked Tanner’s MySpace, never should’ve sent that last text message.

Her heart skipped a beat as she opened the phone. His message read, Uh . . okay.

So is that it? We’re finished?

She blinked back her tears. For a few seconds she considered calling him and telling him everything her mother had suggested. That he should come over and the two of them should talk. But pride consumed her, filled her heart and soul, and before she could stop herself she tapped at the buttons again. I guess I just don’t want a boyfriend right now.

Her mother tilted her head. “Bailey … call him.”

“I will later.” She brushed her fingers beneath her eyes. Everything had been going so good until now. That’s why she hated MySpace. It always made a mess of everything.

Once more her phone beeped. She flipped it open and read his 273

response three times. Okay then … wish I knew what I did. Guess I’ll see you around.

Wait … what had she done? Had she really just broken up with Tanner Williams? In five minutes flat? The guy she’d had a crush on since fourth grade, the one her friends thought would be her boyfriend all through high school? Was it that easy to rip a friendship in half?

She looked at her mom. “What just happened?”

“It might take a while to figure that out.” tier mom hugged her for a long time.

“Promise me you’ll call him, Bailey. Please.”

“I will eventually.” She wiped her tears and tried to put the incident out of her mind. She poured herself a glass of juice and sat at the kitchen bar. “It’s okay. We’ll still be friends.” But even as she said the words she wasn’t completely sure. “Let’s talk about Katy and Dayne.”

And they did for the next fifteen minutes. They dreamed about getting a group of kids over to the lake house and hauling away every piece of debris in the yard.

But all the while Bailey couldn’t take her mind off the strange feeling inside her, a feeling she’d never known before.

It wasn’t until that night-after never getting up the nerve to call Tanner-that she finally realized what she was feeling. Her heart was breaking.

The first boy she ever liked was out of her life. Whatever had happened and whatever had gone wrong didn’t really matter. It was over with him. And she would never, ever be the same again.

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275

JOHN BAXTER enjoyed the drive to Indianapolis-especially when he was picking up one of his kids at the airport the way he was this early afternoon. Luke and Reagan and the kids were coming and would be staying in Luke’s old room at the Baxter house for the next five weeks. It would be wonderful-a little wild, maybe, but John could hardly wait to have the sound of children in the house morning and night.

John relaxed in his seat and settled into the middle lane. The skies were blue across Indiana this October day, and the fall figured to be milder than usual.

But that wasn’t necessarily true for the relationships between his children.

The radio was on, a song playing from an oldies station. John flipped it off and sorted through the events of the past three weeks. Much had been worked out between Luke and Reagan, so that wasn’t a worry. At least not for now.

The problem was Luke and Dayne and how they’d get along if Dayne made it home for Thanksgiving. The magazine article had stirred up quite a mess throughout the family. For a few weeks,

276

Ashley and the other girls had been angry with Luke, wondering how he could say such a thing about Dayne.

But then Luke passed around an explanation. He’d been caught off guard, and though he meant what he said, he didn’t mean it definitively. Just in the moment. The trouble was, John didn’t know if he believed that story entirely.

He’d talked to Luke more than anyone else, and the quotes seemed like more than an off moment. They seemed perfectly in line with the way Luke had been feeling.

Up until he learned about the offer from Dayne, anyway. The opportunity was amazing for Luke and his family. For all of them really. Move to Indianapolis or even a suburb south of the city. Live within an hour of his family and have a high-paying job with only one primary client-his brother, Dayne. What could be better?

Luke and Dayne had spoken once since Dayne came out of the coma, and Dayne had reassured him that the offer was good. Whether Dayne moved to Bloomington or not. Luke didn’t mention the tabloid story and neither did Dayne. Luke seemed to think that everything was okay between them, but John wasn’t sure.

Since then Dayne had stumbled onto one of the tabloids, and now he knew about Luke’s quotes. Luke had tried to call and apologize, but Dayne wasn’t taking calls. Apparently Dayne’s job offer to Luke was still good-Luke hadn’t heard otherwise. But everything else about the future seemed tentative.

John passed a slow-moving trailer and then slipped back into the middle lane. He had a feeling about the coming months. If Dayne felt any hesitancy from Luke, he would walk away and never look back. Dayne wouldn’t come between them; he’d said that from the beginning. Dayne had been mostly worried about how his connection to the Baxters would hurt them. But his desire to know them had won out. At least until now.

John couldn’t help but worry about the relationship between 277

Luke and Dayne, especially in light of what Dayne had told him yesterday. He was getting better, working as hard as he could.

“I have to be honest, though. I’m not sure we’re going through with our plans to move there.” Dayne’s words had been almost matter-of-fact. But hidden in his tone was a hurt that John could do nothing about.

John reached the airport and left his car in short-term parking. Inside he joined a small group waiting to meet passengers. He found a place away from the crowd, and as he did, he noticed a young man in an army uniform walking toward them.

Only one person was there to greet the soldier-a man who must’ve been his father. When they spotted each other, the soldier heaved his bag over his shoulder and took the last steps running. They grabbed onto each other hard and didn’t let go for half a minute. From where John was standing he could hear what they were saying.

The older man was crying openly. “I prayed for you every day, Son. I’m so proud of you.”

In return, the soldier beamed. As if every dusty mile, every dangerous mission, every sandy sleeping bunk was worth it all to hear those five powerful words.

I’m so proud of you.

The older man took the soldier’s bag, and the two walked off.

But the scene made John think. How long had it been since he’d told Luke he was proud of him? A month? Two? Longer, even? All the talk lately had been about Dayne, and John was unapologetically proud of his oldest son. Dayne had followed his dreams, and despite wild success, he’d found his way home-in every way that mattered.

Still, he was proud of Luke too. Very proud.

He was making a mental note to tell him so when he saw the four of them. Luke was carrying Malin, and Tommy was holding Reagan’s hand. They looked tired. Even so, as soon as their eyes met, John could tell something about his youngest son.

There was humility and sorrow and pain in his expression.

278 Ashley pulled into the d.riveway of the lakeside home, drove up close to the front, and parked. What a day. Practice for Cinderella had been crazier than ever before. They needed Katy so badly that she and Rhonda were considering talking to Bethany about postponing the performances-moving them The trouble was the prince. Connor Flanigan almost got the part, except Rhonda no that the prhice should be someone old enough to shave. Ideally, anyway. The guy who landed the role was skinny and awkward and the only one tall enough to wear the costume. He didn’t have a romantic bone in his body. He knew his lines, but every time he spoke Ashley had the desire Ashley gripped the steering wheel with both hands and let her head fall forward.

She needed to put CKT out of her mind. They still had several weeks before opening night. God had been working miracles left an right-first with Dayne, then with her family’s willingness to help on the house, even if it looked impossible that they’d finish it before Thanksgiving. The play She lifted her head and stared at the old structure. Okay, God Landon and Kari’s husband, Ryan, had taken the kids fishing. It was Ryan Junior’s first time, and the men were excited about the chance to indoctrinate another of the kids in the joy of angling. Her plan today was to make a list. An extensive list. She had lined up a contractor to do the counters and floors. But otherFOREVER

Lriveway of the L td parked. WIL zier than ever be Rhonda were ling the erorr prince. Connor led that the pro eally, anyway. 1 rwar and the id have a rorr very time he I .erin wheel wit eeto put

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san Ryan, ha, time, and the me nother

of the kic o make a list. Ai ) do the counter i1I

Luke was hurting too. And that meant-whatever Luke’s mistakes-John could only hope that I

us trek here was a one thing and one thing only.

Making amends.

. And that meani

)nly hope that

; only.

boil I

into December maybe.

to yawn.

could turn out all right. It could happen.

… help me figure this out.

279

wise, they were on their own. She stepped out of the van and looked around. On a pad of paper she wrote:

1.Mow yard, front and back

Pull weeds, front and back

She wanted to start at the back of the house, the area where Dayne and Katy would spend most of their time. The minute she rounded the corner and looked at the deck she let her notepad hang at her side.

It was never going to happen. Not unless she could get half of Bloomington out here to help. She toyed with the idea of chucking the whole project. But then gradually she remembered the television show. Slowly she felt her determination rise. They pulled off jobs like this in just a week on TV. If God brought the right people, it could still happen.

She lifted her pad and started writing.

2.Clear debris.