Читать книгу The Cinderella Plan - Margaret Daley - Страница 11

Caleb relaxed back in his seat, the noise of the jukebox and the patrons in the diner fading into the background as he riveted his attention to Anne. “Then you should come to our service one Sunday.”

“I don’t know.” She fidgeted with her napkin, balling it up. “My parents are atheists.”

“And you?” Caleb gritted his teeth, almost afraid to hear her reply.

“Confused. I don’t know what I am. When I was a little girl, I used to visit my grandma and go to church with her. Then I would come home and my parents would have nothing to do with going to church even when I would ask them about it.”

The tension washed from him as he sat forward, placing his elbows on the table. “On Sunday afternoons I have a group at the center. We discuss our faith, the Bible, the challenges of being a Christian in today’s world. Come join us. Some talk, some just listen.”

“I don’t know. I—I’ll think about it.”

“We start at three and go till we finish.”

“No set time to end?”

“Sometimes we’re in a talkative mood, other times not. There’s no pressure put on the group. It’s a time to explore our faith.”

Miranda brought their dinners and first placed Anne’s plate in front of her, then Caleb’s. The scent of roast beef, slathered in a thick, brown gravy, wafted to him, reminding him he was hungry. He watched Anne pick at her cheeseburger and fries and wondered what she was thinking.

Lord, help me to reach her. She needs me. She needs You in her life.

Caleb listened to Gina give the opening prayer before they began their Sunday afternoon faith session. When the girl finished, his gaze slid toward the door into the TV room at the center. Was Anne going to come? he wondered, fighting the disappointment that she wasn’t sitting with them.

He could remember Teresa in college and their long talks about God. He’d thought he could show her the importance of the Lord, but in the end he hadn’t been able to and he’d had to acknowledge he couldn’t marry someone who didn’t believe as he did. He would have been asking for trouble before their marriage even began. Cutting his losses had hurt him deeply because he had loved Teresa, but when he married, it would be for a lifetime.

“A friend at school asked me the other day that if Jesus was really the son of God, then why did He die like He did? Why didn’t He just save himself?”

Jeremy’s question pulled Caleb out of the past and firmly in the present. “What do you all think?” He scanned the fourteen faces of the teenagers in the group.

Tiffany waved her hand in the air, bouncing up and down on her chair. “I know why. I know! He died for our sins.”

“He died because He was finished with His message to us. Christ had done what He was sent to do,” Gina added.

As Billy gave his opinion, Caleb saw Anne at the doorway. She listened to the different children’s opinions but didn’t come any farther into the room. A lightness entered his heart at the thought she had come to hear about God. There was hope.

Leaning forward, Caleb rested his elbows on his thighs, clasping his hands loosely together. “What you say is all true. But more importantly, Jesus was resurrected to show us the way, to show us not to fear death, that He would be waiting for us when our time came. No other has come back from the dead like He did.” As Caleb talked, he noticed Anne step into the room. “He wanted His disciples to go out into the world and spread His word. And Christ wanted no doubt in their minds who He was. How would you have responded if He had shown Himself to you three days after He had died?”

Anne eased into a chair next to Nikki near the door. The young girl bent toward Anne and said something to her. Anne smiled, then glanced at him. Caleb’s heartbeat increased. The sound of voices melted away while his attention clung to Anne across the room, experiencing a connection to her that he hadn’t before.

She was here. She had taken her first step toward the Lord. His heart sang with the news and all the possibilities. Hope flared into a full-blown promise.

An hour later when the discussion died down, Gina announced, “I brought brownies for anyone who is hungry.”

The teenagers made their way to the table along the west wall where the brownies and some soda were set up. Anne hung back, moving toward the door.

“You aren’t going to leave without saying hi, are you?” Caleb asked, eager to see what her impression of the session was.

“Hi.” She sidled a step closer to the door. “You didn’t tell me I would be one of two adults at this meeting.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important. You know everyone here.” He spread his arms wide. “What did you think?” He positioned himself between Anne and the door, not wanting her to leave just yet.

“Interesting. I particularly liked Billy’s comment about seeing Jesus after He died.”

“I think ‘wow’ just about sums it all up. Leave it to a child to put it into one word.”

“Kids do have a way of getting to the point.”

“So?” He propped his shoulder against the door frame, folding his arms over his chest, hoping he appeared casual, nonchalant.

“This past hour has given me a lot to think about.” Anne looked back at the group. “Where’s Dylan?”

“He’s never come to one of these meetings.”

“So you haven’t had time to talk with him anymore?”

He shook his head. “But we’re going to meet tomorrow after school.”

“Before we work on the decorations?”

“Yep.”

“Anne, it’s nice to see you here,” Gina said, interrupting them. “Want a brownie?” She held up a nearly empty plate, thrusting it between Anne and Caleb.

“I’d better not. If I ate one, I would want two.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having two brownies. How about you, Caleb?”

“Thanks.” Caleb took one from the plate, his palms sweaty.

“Catch y’all later. Got to get rid of the rest of these. I can’t take them home! Mom would so not be happy.” She went back to the other kids for a soda.

“Only a child who is reed thin would say that about two brownies,” Anne said with a laugh, looking up at Caleb.

“I’m glad you came.”

She pinned him with an intense look. “Why?”

“Because I want you to experience Jesus as I do.” Which was true, but Caleb wondered if it wasn’t more than that.

Caleb read the e-mail from Kimberly Forrester a second time before deleting it. He missed the theology talks over coffee they’d had while they’d both been missionaries together at the same mission in Africa. He missed their friendship, which had grown while working together, and wished an ocean didn’t separate them, but he understood her need to serve God the way she thought He wanted. In her e-mail it sounded as if she was accomplishing what she had set out to do. He was glad for her, but it left his own failure to reach Dylan as a disappointment.

Yesterday at their first formal counseling session, the boy hadn’t said more than two words—good bye—at the end of the longest fifteen minutes Caleb had experienced. He would try again today and prayed he could get through to the boy.

Shutting down his computer, Caleb rose to see what was keeping Dylan. He should have been here by now. When he walked outside, he noticed the boy sitting on the steps, chin resting in his palms, shoulders hunched.

“Dylan, I was worried about you.”

Dylan remained silent, his face averted.

Caleb eased down next to the boy who twisted away. “What’s wrong?”

“If you must know,” Dylan muttered and brought his face around for Caleb to see.

“How did you get that nasty cut?”

“A fight.”

“When? With who?”

“Today after school.” The boy squared his shoulders, defiance in his expression now, as though he silently challenged Caleb to say anything about him fighting.

“What happened?”

“I got tired of a couple of guys making fun of me. I decided to fight back.” Dylan’s eyes narrowed, his body stiff, as though he were ready to fight all over again.

“Did fighting solve your problem?”

The child shot to his feet, his hands fisted. “Yes. They’ll think twice before taunting me again.”

“What were they taunting you about?” Caleb rose slowly, weary from lack of sleep and concern over Dylan.

His knuckles whitened, his body grew even more rigid. “Because my father is a drunk. Because—” He whirled about and raced up the steps, disappearing into the center.

Caleb heaved a sigh and followed the boy into the building, the anger he felt gripping Dylan charging the air with an intensity that was thick, heavy. He found him in the TV room, watching a program. Caleb walked over and switched off the set. Dylan’s mouth firmed into a scowl, his forehead creased with deep lines. He lowered his gaze, staring at the floor at his feet.

“We need to talk about this.” Caleb moved toward the boy.

Dylan jerked his head up and stabbed him with an angry look. “No, we don’t. I don’t care what people think. I was just tired of them talking to me.” He turned away as though Caleb wasn’t in the room.

Rage encompassed every inch of Dylan. Caleb was at a loss about what to do to help him. Please, Lord. I need Your guidance more than ever with this one. I can’t fail him.

“You know, Dylan, no matter what you do, I am still here for you. I care about you, enough that I have put in an application to be a foster parent. Your foster parent.”

The only sign Dylan heard his words was a slight stiffening. Otherwise his head remained averted, his lower lip stuck out in a pout, his arms crossed over his chest. Silence eroded Caleb’s confidence that one day he would be able to reach him. He moved to stand in the boy’s direct line of vision.

“I didn’t ask you to be my foster parent,” Dylan finally muttered, his gaze lifting to Caleb’s.

“I know. I want to be.”

“Why?”

“Because I think we need each other.”

“I don’t need you.” Dylan dropped his gaze away, hugging his arms to his chest.

“But I need you.”

For a long moment Caleb wasn’t even sure that Dylan had heard him this time. Then the boy drew in his lower lip and chewed on it, his shoulders now bowed as though he were an old man. In many ways he had seen more of the darker side of life than most at his age. Thinking about the boy’s past only reaffirmed Caleb’s need to pierce through Dylan’s armor and reach him. He hadn’t lied to the child. He needed him.

Dylan was his chance to right a wrong.

Tension knotted Anne’s neck, causing her shoulders to ache and a dull pain to throb behind her eyes. She stood and stretched, rolling her head. She had spent an hour looking through the old ledgers, and yet, she hadn’t found anything to help Kelly. Maybe the answers weren’t in the books, but she couldn’t rule them out.

Checking her watch, she hurriedly shut the book and put it on the top of the stack of old ledgers for the adoption agency. She hadn’t realized how late it was. She needed to get to the youth center to help make the decorations for the carnival. With a glance out the window she noticed that dusk began to blanket the landscape.

Snatching up her purse, she rushed from her office, arriving at the center ten minutes later. The lights in the building blazed as the dark shadows of night crept closer. She was never late, but she had become so absorbed earlier in the ledgers that she’d lost track of time, which was most unusual for her. Lately she had felt many things about her life weren’t usual. She didn’t like not having control over what was going on. But worse, she was wrestling with whom she was, questioning how she saw herself.

In the arts-and-crafts room, Caleb looked up from sprinkling silver glitter all over a large star. “I was wondering where you were. I was going to give you fifteen more minutes and then send out a posse.”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen someone look at the clock so much,” Gina mumbled, whisking the star away from Caleb and replacing it with another one to be decorated.

“He was cutting out the stars until he cut off one of the points. He’s been banned from using a pair of scissors.”

Anne offered a weak smile. “Sorry I’m late. I got busy and forgot the time. What do you need me to do?”

“Help Caleb with the stars.” Gina moved over to let Anne sit next to him. “He needs help. Desperately.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad,” Caleb muttered and proceeded to dump more glitter on the table than the star in front of him.

As Anne worked, her arm brushed against Caleb’s. She started to scoot her chair over to give them more room but noticed that Gina had her penned in. The teenager flashed her a smile and winked. If Anne didn’t know better, she would think that Gina was sitting too close on purpose. But why would she do that?

Caleb reached for another star and their arms touched again. “Sorry about that. It’s a little crowded in here.”

He turned to Nikki next to him and asked her to move over. Her chair scraped across the wooden floor maybe a whole two inches. Caleb gave her a quizzical look. The child busied herself with cutting out a star.

He bent close to Anne’s ear and whispered, “Is something going on that you and I don’t know about?”

She shrugged, unable to say anything because all her senses honed in on Caleb’s nearness that brought his scent wafting to her nose. His warm breath fanned her skin below her ear until it became hot and cold at the same time.

“Guys, give us some room here,” Caleb said after he nearly elbowed Anne in the side while reaching for another star. “Maybe one of you could work at the other table or I could—”

Nikki shot to her feet, toppling over her chair in her haste. “I’ll move. You can stay put.”

After the girl took her paper and scissors and parked herself at the other table with Billy, Dylan and Jeremy, Caleb righted Nikki’s chair, then moved it around so he could scoot his down. Disappointment fluttered through Anne now that she had breathing room.

“I tried, Anne,” Gina whispered.

Anne peered at the girl. “Tried what?”

Gina tossed her head in the direction of Caleb. “You know, to help you with Caleb.”

“Help me?” Her question squeaked out louder than Anne had intended. A few people, including Caleb, glanced her way. She edged toward Gina and lowered her voice, asking, “What are you all up to?”

“Oh, nothing. Just helping a friend get what she wants.” Gina straightened away from her, winked again and resumed working.

Short of making a scene Anne didn’t think she would get anything else out of Gina—like what in the world was she up to. But she knew now that the girl thought she had a crush on Caleb—which she did. Embarrassment burned her cheeks as she thought of who else might think that. She hoped Caleb was clueless. If she thought he realized how she felt, she would—she wasn’t sure what she would do.

While reaching for the glitter, she chanced a look toward Caleb, and just at that moment, he lifted his head. He smiled at her. Warmth flushed her. When his gaze caught hers and held it, she didn’t look at what she was doing. Her fingers fumbled. The jar tipped over, scattering silver glitter all over the table, completely outdoing Caleb’s earlier sloppiness.

The sound of the plastic container rolling off the table and bouncing on the floor dominated the sudden silence. Caleb peered away, breaking his visual hold while she saw the mess she’d made and cringed. Leaping to her feet, she tried to clean up all the glitter. Caleb rose, too. Her hands shook as she swept the silver sprinkles into a pile while he scooped them up into the jar. She felt as though she were all thumbs, not able to do anything right when she was in his presence. She’d never had this problem before meeting Caleb Williams. What must he think of her?

“No harm done,” Caleb said, setting the jar back on the table, minus just a little silver glitter.

“You know, Anne, that’s not a bad idea for us to sprinkle glitter all around,” Gina said. “It adds a special touch to the room.”

“You didn’t say that when I spilled some,” Caleb interjected with humor in his voice.

“Yeah, I like it, Gina,” Tiffany said while the guys groaned.

“There’ll be enough swords and dragons for you all, so a little glitter won’t hurt,” Nikki said to the boys.

“A little!” Jeremy snorted. “I’ll be tracking this all over the place. Mom won’t let me in the house.”

Anne noticed Dylan lower his head and appear as though what he was cutting out was the most fascinating activity he could do. He hung out on the fringe, much as she had done while growing up.

“A little glitter never hurt anyone. It makes the world sparkle.” Nikki took the glitter she was working with and tossed some at Jeremy.

He jumped back, his chair crashing to the floor. He grabbed the jar that had begun this whole episode, cupped his hand and poured some into it. He started around the table to get at Nikki. She shrieked and ran to Caleb.

Laughing, he sidestepped at the exact second Jeremy threw the silver glitter at Nikki, who managed to leap away, too. The sparkles caught the light and gleamed as they floated to the floor.