Forever (8 page)

“What?” Her mother looked over her shoulder.

“Oh, nothing.” Bailey smiled. “Just talking to myself.”

Her dad caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “Who’re you texting?”

“Tim Reed.” She made a funny face. “He wishes he was going to dinner with us.

That’s all.”

Her mom turned her attention to her father. “Did you bring the salad?”

“Of course.” Her dad reached over and patted her mom on the knee. “Don’t be nervous. Dayne’s a regular guy, Jenny. You said so yourself.”

“I know.” She smoothed a wrinkle in the sleeve of her blouse. “It’s one thing to have a few words with him once in a while when he comes looking for Katy. But dinner? Just shake me if I don’t act like myself.”

“He’s moving here, right?” Ricky hadn’t said much since they left home, but now he sat a little straighter. He was eight, and his blond hair was bleached almost white from a summer of swimming and boating on the lake.

“He is, buddy.” Their dad gave him a quick smile.

Ricky tossed his hands in the air. “So what’s the big deal?”

Bailey stared at her brother. He clearly didn’t understand. “That’s okay. You can play with Cole, Mrs. Blake’s little boy.”

55

“I will. I met him before.” Ricky settled back in his seat. “He says his papa has a fishpond.”

“There you go.” Bailey’s phone beeped again. She opened it and saw another message from Tim. Did you leave me?

She tapped out her response. Predictive text was so much faster than the ABC

method. No… but we’re almost there… ttyl. She hit Send and closed her phone once more. Not that she’d really talk to him later, but she might text him. Lately they’d been talking through text almost every day-this after six months of hardly hearing from him.

Bailey was sixteen, about to start her junior year at Clear Creek High School, but if she lived a hundred years she didn’t think she’d figure out Tim Reed. He was a year older than she, and since January he’d been in a serious relationship with a girl from his church. Now, though, he was single and acting like he had feelings for her. Which wasn’t possible. Not when everyone in CKT knew he still had feelings for his old girlfriend.

Bailey sighed and stared out the window. Besides, even if Tim was over the girl from church, the timing was all wrong. Bailey was seeing Tanner Williams, the quarterback at Clear Creek, the guy she’d known since fourth grade.

Things had changed around Christmastime. He’d called her one night and bared his heart the way he’d never done before.

She could still hear his voice. “I can’t do this anymore, Bailey.”

“What?” She was washing her face, and she had him on speakerphone.

“I can’t … I can’t be your friend. It’s too hard.”

Bailey had rubbed the cleanser into her cheeks and stared at the phone. “Tanner, what in the world do you mean?” He groaned. “Take me off speakerphone. Please.”

“Fine.” She clicked a button and held the phone to her ear, leaving just enough room so that the white cream on her cheeks didn’t touch the receiver. “Why can’t you be my friend?”

56

What he said next nearly knocked her off her feet. “Because I’m in love with you.” He made an exasperated sound. “Am I that hard to read?”

“Urn … let’s just say you’d be good at poker.” She’d tried to laugh, but her heart was beating too hard. She reached for the washcloth that hung over her shower door, but as she did, she knocked over her facial toner. “Yikes.” She grabbed a towel, sopped up the toner, and in the process dropped the phone into the sink. “Ugh!” She kept her voice too low for him to hear. “I’m a wreck.” She stood the bottle right side up again. Then she grabbed the phone from the sink.

“Tanner? You there?”

“You’re not making this easy for me.”

Suddenly she realized exactly what he was saying. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He mumbled something. “Bailey, I want you to be my girlfriend. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

She hadn’t thought she was ready to have a serious boyfriend, and her mom agreed. “Better to be friends for now, Bailey,” her mom always told her. So that’s what she told Tanner. But he had been adamant. He couldn’t be her friend, not anymore. Not when every time they passed in the hall or hung out with the same group of friends all he could think about was her.

His revelation had caught her off guard, and by the end of that week she agreed to be his girlfriend. They could say they were going out, but he had to promise that things wouldn’t get too serious. “No matter what happens in the future, I want to be your friend, Tanner. That matters more than anything.”

They’d been an item since then. Not like her friends who were getting so serious with their boyfriends. So far Tanner hadn’t even kissed her, and since they’d had their driver’s licenses for less than a year, neither of them was allowed to have other teens in the car.

But she sensed Tanner getting anxious. The last time they hung out at her house, he took her up on the back balcony once

57

It was dark. They held hands and talked about his football camp. Before he hugged her good night, he asked if he could kiss her.

“I’m not ready,” she told him. “Not yet.”

The truth? She didn’t want to disappoint her parents, and even more, she was afraid. Afraid she’d make a mockery of what she stood for. Her faith and her decision to wait until she was married. But she was also afraid of her feelings.

Once she kissed Tanner, everything would change. Maybe she would feel obligated to him, or maybe she’d fall so hard for him there’d be no turning back. Already their phone calls weren’t as fun as before. He spent ten minutes every time asking her who she’d talked to, who’d been texting her. That sort of thing.

Whatever kissing him might do to their relationship, she wasn’t ready to find out.

Bailey glanced out the window just as her dad pulled into the driveway of the Baxter house. She hadn’t been here before, but the house looked warm and inviting, right in the middle of an enormous grassy yard. They parked and went inside.

Dayne gave her a big smile when he saw her. “How’s my favorite CKT dancer?”

She opened her mouth, but it took a few seconds before she found her voice.

“Good, thanks.”

“Katy tells me you’re going to drama camp in August.”

“Yes, sir.” She felt herself settle down. “Maybe you can come to the show.”

“I’ll be there.” He shared a private look with Katy. “I already promised.”

Bailey wanted to keep the conversation going. How many kids at school could say they’d actually talked to Dayne Matthews? “When you move here, maybe you could give me and Connor tips. You know, for acting and stuff.”

Katy nudged Dayne. “Tim Reed’s still talking about the compliment you gave him when you were here on location.”

58

“Definitely.” Bailey raised a single eyebrow at Dayne. “He used to be humble, but now …”

The three of them laughed. Someone called Dayne into the kitchen. Bailey watched him go, and only then did she exhale. Katy was right. Around them, Dayne was like any other guy. Except he was the country’s most famous movie star. She stifled a giggle as she took the seat across from him at the table. No matter how down-to-earth he was, her friends would never believe this.

Over dinner, she studied the interactions between the Baxters and Katy and Dayne. John Baxter seemed proud of his oldest son, anxious to help him find a place in the family. Katy had told them that, and from the way John asked about Dayne’s latest film it was clear she was right. Ashley Blake was the same way.

She sat on the other side of Dayne and hung on every word he said.

But most of all Bailey got caught up in watching Katy and Dayne. They weren’t into all the touchy-feely stuff. At least not here. They held hands before dinner but nothing more. No close hugs or kissing. Bailey liked that. It was obnoxious when two people acted that way in public. Like her mom always said, “If you’re acting that way in front of people, we don’t have to wonder what you’re doing behind closed doors.”

What was beautiful about watching Katy and Dayne was the way they looked at each other. When Katy’s eyes met his, the rest of the world seemed to fall away. And when Dayne looked at her, his expression held something Bailey had never seen on the big screen. She sighed to herself as she studied them.

After dinner Ricky went upstairs to watch Finding Nemo with Cole. The rest of the group moved into the living room, where they talked about the wedding. And that made everything about the night even more romantic.

“So, you’ve found someone who can help keep it a secret?” John Baxter looked happy at the thought.

59

“I think so.” Dayne put his arm over the back of Katy’s chair. “We’ll see.”

“In other words,” Katy said, “we won’t let a photographer or a helicopter ruin the day. That’s for sure.”

The sound of voices around Bailey faded. How lucky Katy was-being engaged to Dayne, planning a wedding, and knowing everything about her future. All her life Bailey’s parents had reminded her of the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11: -For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ “

God had good plans for her; she believed that. But it seemed like forever until she’d actually know what those plans were. One far-off day would she be having this same conversation-talking about wedding plans and honeymoons-with Tanner by her side? Or would it be Tim Reed? Or maybe even Cody Coleman, the guy from down the street? His mom had been arrested a few weeks ago on a drug charge, and now she was in jail, so Bailey’s parents had agreed that later this week Cody could move into the downstairs guest room. At least for his senior year.

“He can come on one condition,” her parents had told her the night before.

Bailey knew where the conversation was headed. “Nothing but friendship between the two of us.”

“Right.” Her mom’s voice had been kind and understanding, but her eyes looked worried. “I know how you feel about that boy. Never mind Tanner or Tim Reed.

Cody’s always caught your eye, honey.”

“That’s just it.” She gave them a sad smile. “I think he knows that we’re …

you know, different. Like from different planets in terms of our backgrounds and stuff.”

The lines on her dad’s forehead relaxed a little. “Exactly. Cody’s a nice kid, and we want to help him. But that’s as far as it goes.” Bailey smiled to herself now. She’d told her parents the truth.

60 II

Cody might still take her breath away, but she wasn’t interested in him. They were way too different. So maybe it would be someone completely new, someone she hadn’t met yet. Maybe she’d go to CKT’s summer camp in August and there’d be a new guy. Someone tall and strong, with a good sense of humor and a voice that would drop her to her knees. Someone like Dayne Matthews.

But as the evening wound down, as they said good-bye and piled into their SUV

for the ride home, a shadow fell over Bailey’s heart. None of the guys she knew were anything like Dayne. They were fickle and confusing and sometimes a little too possessive.

She stared at the starry sky over Bloomington. This wasn’t the time to feel down about love. Even if nothing felt quite right about the guys in her life. Because one day… one day they would grow up. That’s what her dad said. And then she’d find the hope and future that God had planned for her. Someday she would even find forever.

Just like Katy Hart.

The house was empty, and John Baxter lay in bed, too much on his mind to sleep.

He had enjoyed every minute of the dinner with Katy and Dayne, but that didn’t ease the tension brewing all evening just beneath the surface.

Ashley and Landon and the boys had arrived an hour early-so Cole could look for frogs near the pond, Ashley said. But they caught John off guard because Elaine was still at the house. She had helped him bake an apple crisp for the evening, and she was still cleaning up the kitchen when Ashley walked in.

He felt the awkwardness of the moment again. Ashley had stopped cold, her eyes drilling holes into Elaine’s back.

His friend must’ve heard the door open, because she said, “John, when did you say the others would be-?”

“Now.” Ashley moved slowly toward the table and set her 61

things down. She found a stale smile. “We’re here now.” She put the baby carrier on the table and looked in on a sleeping Devin.

“Hi, Ashley.” Elaine smiled. “I helped your dad fix dessert.”

“I didn’t … didn’t know you were coming for dinner.”

“I’m not.” Her smile faded. “I’m almost finished here.”

Landon came up beside Ashley, kissed her cheek, and gave her a look. John knew what the look meant. It was a warning, a plea. John wanted to add his vote. The moment was strange enough without Ashley’s attitude.

John almost left the kitchen with Landon and Cole, but he couldn’t do that to Elaine. Instead he crossed the room and took the spot next to her. He grabbed a dish towel. “I’ll dry.”

Finally, after what felt like half an hour, Ashley took Devin from his carrier and went into the next room.

When they were alone, John leaned his forehead on Elaine’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.” He lifted his head and saw the pain in her eyes. A pain she was trying to hide. “Ashley hasn’t acted like that since she came home from France.”

“It’s okay.” Elaine still had soapsuds halfway to her elbows. She looked down at the sink and ran the scrubber around the inside of the mixing bowl. “She loves her mother; that’s all. And I’m not her.”

“That doesn’t excuse her for being rude.” Defeat rang in his tone. He and Elaine were spending more time together. Taking walks and fixing an occasional meal at his house or hers. “I’m allowed to have friends.”

What happened next was the reason he was still lying awake.

At his mention of their being friends, Elaine slowly found his eyes again.

Sadness shone in her expression. “Friends, John?”

“Of course.” His answer was quick. “You’re my friend. Ashley and every one of my kids will have to figure that out.”

She nodded, and after a moment she turned her attention back to the sink.