A Test of Faith (16 page)

“Hey.”

Faith’s books went flying, and she almost jumped out of her
skin. When she turned to see who had uttered that low greeting so close to her ear, she gasped.

Ice blue eyes. A lazy smile. And all right there, next to her.

“D-Dustin?”

His smile widened at the way his name squeaked out of her. “Yeah. You’re … Faith, right?”

He knew her name? She was going to faint! Right here, in the middle of the school hallway.

“Yeah … I mean, yes. Right.” She nodded. “Faith, that’s me. I’m … uh, I’m Faith.” She clamped her mouth shut to halt the babbling and knelt so she could pick up her books.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t going to faint. Maybe she’d just die. Of total embarrassment.

Dustin knelt beside her, gathering her books before she could. He held them in one arm and put his free hand under her elbow, drawing her up.

Faith stared at him.
Like in my daydream…

But this was way better. This was real.

He put her books in her locker and turned back to her. “So, Faith, you want a ride home?”

It took a second before she could answer, but finally she got the words out. “A ride? You’ve got a car?”

His grin as he pushed the door open and they walked outside made her shiver. “Better than that.” He nodded toward the street. “I’ve got a hog.”

Faith followed his gesture and stared. A motorcycle. He was going to give her a ride home on a motorcycle.

A sudden image filled her mind, and she saw herself seated behind Dustin, her arms wrapped around his waist, her face pressed to his back as they raced down the street, the wind whipping their hair, making them laugh.

“So what do you say?”

At his low, coaxing tone, Faith met Dustin’s blue eyes, and another shiver hit her again, deep in her gut. What did she say? There was only one possible answer.

“Sure!”

Good grief, she was squeaking again. Dustin’s slow smile didn’t help, either. “We’ll take a little ride up into the hills first.”
He put his arm around her, walking her away from the building.

Faith swallowed, trying to think. But it was really hard with him looking at her like that. “A ride?”

“Yeah, to let you get the feel of real freedom.” He coaxed her with that smile.

She swallowed again. She was going to get home late. Mom would be worried. She should probably call first. She looked around, hunting for a pay phone.

Dustin stopped. “Hey, you have someplace else you want to be?”

She started and stared at him. “What?
No!
”

Clearly, he enjoyed her heated denial. “Good. I’m glad.”

Well, so much for making a phone call. But she couldn’t take the chance that he’d leave without her. It wasn’t every day the coolest guy in school asked you to go for a ride with him! Mom would understand.

Besides, with Dustin smiling at her like that, she could hardly form a word, let alone a sentence. And with his arm around her, she was afraid she might even faint right here.

“Hey, relax.” He gave a deep chuckle. “It’s only a ride on my bike. I’m not askin’ you to marry me.”

Faith laughed. It was either that or go into hysterics.

Dustin’s arm tightened around her, and he directed a long look down at her. Faith’s breath caught in her throat at the expression in those eyes. Then he broke the contact and held his hand out to her.

“Well … not yet, anyway.”

Anne glanced up at the clock again.

Five minutes later than the last time she looked. So now Faith was an hour and five minutes late. Anne chewed the inside of her lip. Where could Faith be? It wasn’t like her to be late like this, not without calling.

She went toward the phone, then stopped herself. For the last half hour, she’d gone back and forth, debating on whether or not to start calling Faith’s friends. It was like that cartoon, where the devil sat on one shoulder and an angel on the other,
was acting itself out in her mind.

You’re being overprotective
.

Overprotective, my foot! She could be lying in a ditch someplace, hurt, calling for you…

Now you’re getting hysterical
.

I am not hysterical. I’m a mother
.

A hysterical mother
.

Oh, shut up!

Now
that’s
mature. Yessiree. No hysterics going on here—

Shaking the maddening dialogue from her mind, Anne gave in to the angel—or was it the devil? She wasn’t sure—and picked up the receiver. She’d start with Trista. If Faith was with Winnie, they surely would have called. Even if Faith hadn’t thought of it, Winnie would have.

As she started to dial the number, she heard a rumbling. It took a moment to identify the sound—a motorcycle. A big one. And it sounded like it was right out front.

Anne hung up and moved to the plateglass window at the front of the house. Her mouth tightened. Some leather-jacketed, Fonzie wannabe was pulling his monster motorcycle up to their curb. No helmet, of course, not on him or the passenger glued to his back.

The boy lowered one tightly jean-clad, booted leg, propping the bike up, and leaned his head back to talk into his passenger’s ear. She leaned forward, her head touching his, her arms still clinging to his midsection. Some girls were so shameless!

Anne was about to go back to the phone when the girl slid from the bike and stood on the curb, waving as the boy gunned his bike up a couple of decibels and roared off. Narrowing her eyes, Anne peered closer. Who was this girl? Which poor neighbor would have to deal with this bad boy?

“What on
earth
?”

Anne couldn’t believe her eyes. The shameless girl was Faith!

She watched her daughter all but float up the front walkway. Anne turned as the front door opened, then slammed shut.

“I’m home!”

Anne stared, taking in her daughter’s appearance. Her hair was blown every which way, her radiant smile bordered by wind-roughened cheeks. But it was Faith’s eyes that caught Anne’s attention. They were positively glowing.

“Mom! You’ll never
believe
it!”

Anne tipped her head up, breathing deeply to keep her anger from seeping out. She would welcome her daughter home. Tell her how glad Anne was that she was all right. Then she’d ask, in as innocent a way as possible, who her new friend was.

That’s what she would do.

She opened her mouth. “Do you know what time it is, young lady?”

Even as the scolding words escaped her, she wanted to snatch them back.

Too late. The glow in Faith’s eyes dimmed, her smile trembled, died.

“I … uh, no.” Faith glanced at the clock, then looked back at her mother. “I’m sorry I’m late, Mom.”

Well, she started down this road. She had to finish, didn’t she? “You’re late, and you didn’t call. You know the rules. If you’re going to be late—”

“I know; I have to call. I meant to. I looked for a phone. But—” her eyes pled for understanding—“but Mom, something amazing happened—”

Anne held up a silencing hand. “I don’t care what happened. There’s no excuse for not calling. Go to your room. After your father gets home, he and I will be in to talk with you.”

Delight had danced in Faith’s features when she got home. Now those same features were drawn with stark disappointment. She didn’t say another word. She turned and walked away.

But Anne heard her daughter’s flat whisper as she left the room. “I thought you’d understand.”

Anne’s heart longed to call her back, to ask her what had happened. But she couldn’t let herself waver. She had to be firm. For Faith’s sake.

If only being firm didn’t feel so much like being mean.

thirteen

FAITH WAS IN TROUBLE. BIG TROUBLE
.

Her parents had told her it was time for a family conference. The last time they’d done that was when Faith was eight, and she swiped money from her mother’s purse. The sadness and disappointment on her father’s face that day had imprinted itself on Faith’s heart. She’d promised herself she would never do anything that would make him look that way again.

So much for promises.

After her head-to-head with Mom over Dustin a couple of days ago, things had been tense. More tense than Faith ever remembered. Even church today hadn’t seemed to ease the heaviness Faith felt in her chest. Several times she almost broke, almost went to tell her mother she was sorry. But each time, a voice inside her would stop her.

Why should you apologize? You’re not the one who went off the deep end
.

Now Faith wished she’d ignored the voice. Maybe that would have avoided this little get-together.

She looked up from the couch as her parents came into the living room. “Hi.”

They both smiled at her. That was a good sign. Maybe things weren’t going to be so bad after all.

Her dad sat in his chair, next to the couch, her mom sat next to Faith on the couch. Dad didn’t waste any time.

“Punkin’, do you know why we wanted to talk with you?”

She eyed her mom but didn’t see any anger there. “Umm, because of Dustin?”

“That’s the boy who brought you home on Friday?”

Faith nodded, then jumped a little when her mom put her hand over Faith’s.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry I got so angry. I was worried when you didn’t come home on time.”

Sudden emotion choked Faith. She didn’t want to scare her mom. “I know, Mom. I’m sorry too.”

“We’re a little concerned, that’s all.”

Faith nodded at her dad.

“You’ve always been good about letting us know if you’re going to be late, punkin’. And we don’t worry too much when we know you’re with your friends, because we know your friends.”

“But we don’t know this boy.” Faith’s mom squeezed her hand. “You want to tell us about him?”

Heart pounding, Faith did so. At least, she told them what really mattered. That Dustin was a senior, that he was a nice guy who offered to give her a ride home.

“Have you known him long?”

She studied her father. “A couple of years.” It was kind of true. She’d seen him at school for that long. So they hadn’t talked until Friday. She’d known who he was long ago.

“Does he date much?”

Heat rushed into Faith’s cheeks at her mother’s question. She looked down at the floor. “Umm, I don’t know.” She didn’t. Not really. Trista said Dustin had lots of girlfriends, but Faith had never seen him with one. Hey! She could say that, and it was honest. She met her parents’ gazes. “I’ve never seen him with a girlfriend.”

“So you like him?”

Good grief! Her own gaze dove for the floor again. Her face must look like a tomato by now! “Yeah.” Yikes! She was squeaking again! This was ridiculous.

Her father’s chuckle brought her head up. She felt his understanding, his patience, and suddenly the words rushed out. She poured her heart out, telling them how much she liked Dustin, how cool he was, how thrilled she was that he’d offered to give her a ride.

“I should have called, I know. I just …”

“You didn’t want to chance missing this opportunity.”

Faith smiled her gratitude at her mother. So she really was young once! “Yeah. That.”

“Faith, I want you to know we love you and we trust you.” Her mom’s eyes were serious. “But we also need to know you’ll be careful.”

She frowned. Careful? “About what?”

“About Dustin. About boys. We’ve always said you can start dating in high school—” Faith had to grin. Her dad sounded like he really regretted ever saying that!—“so we knew this was coming. It caught us a bit off-guard.”

Faith nodded. “Me, too.”

Her mom scooted closer and slid her arm around Faith’s shoulders. Faith leaned her head against her.

“We’ve talked with you before about boys and dating.”

She giggled. She couldn’t help it. “Oh, no! Not another birds and bees talk!”

Her mom’s laughter melted the bits of hurt that were still holding on inside Faith. Why hadn’t she come and talked to her mom? She always felt so much better when she did so.

“No, not another talk. We want to be sure you’re clear on the rules.”

She sat up straight, putting her hands on her knees and recited: “ ‘No being alone with boys after dark or in dark rooms. No alcohol.’ ” She wrinkled her nose. “Ick! Like I’d drink the stuff. ‘No kissing unless I’ve gone out with the boy for at least six months. When we do kiss—’ ” she grimaced, still grossed out by this one—“ ‘no tongues. Sex belongs in marriage.’ ” She
looked from one parent to the other. “For the record, I’ve always planned to save it for that.”

Dad’s lips quirked. “Glad to hear it.”

Faith finished with a flair. “ ‘And any boy who isn’t willing to abide by these rules doesn’t deserve to take me out!’ ” Her parents’ laughter drifting around her, Faith sat back with a smile.

Her mom nudged her. “Any questions that you have, we want you to feel free to come ask us.”

“I will, Mom.” She meant it, too. Sort of. There were some things you just didn’t ask you parents about. She had Trista for that.

“And you need to be prepared, Faith. Because any boy who wants to date you will have to come meet us first.”