Her Journey Begins (8 page)

He grins at her analogy.

  
“
Yes, something like that.
”

  
“
Would you like a soda?
”

  
“
Sure, then I
’
ve got to get going. I
’
ve got practice in half an hour.
”
Chris pulls out two bottles of root beer from the fridge, opens one and hands it to him, and then opens the other.

  
“
You met my dad. Did you meet my mom too?
”
Brandon shakes his head.
“
Okay well she
’
s probably right on the other side of the door listening.
”
Chris pushes the door open slowly and peeks into the living room.
“
Hmm, guess not. Come on we
’
ll go see where she
’
s at.
”
Chris peeks out the front door and sees Barb sitting on the porch swing looking through a magazine and Chris walks out onto the porch with Brandon behind her.
“
Mom I want you to meet Brandon. Brandon this is my mom, Barb.
”

Barb reaches out her hand to him.

  
“
Hi Brandon, we were hoping to meet you last night. I wanted to thank you for walking home with Chris.
”
Brandon looks over at Chris and smiles.

  
“
It was my pleasure. Thank you for letting her stay to watch my game.
”

  
“
Brad had mentioned to Chris last night that he
’
d like to come and watch you play. That is if you have any night or weekend games scheduled.
”

  
“
Yeah we do. I
’
ll get a schedule from the coach at practice and give it to Chris on Monday. Well I better get going. If I
’
m late the coach will make me run 10 laps around the track and I think I did enough running yesterday.
”
He smiles at Chris and hands his empty soda bottle to her.
“
Thank you for the soda. I
’
ll see you Monday.
”

Barb has got the biggest grin on her face.

  
“
Aren
’
t you forgetting something?
”

Tilting his head to side, Brandon raises his eyebrows at her and Barb nods down to his feet.

  
“
Oh my shoes!
”

Trying not to giggle, Chris clamps a hand over her mouth and mumbles through her fingers.
“
I
’
ll get them.
”

Chris comes back and Brandon sits down in the chair. Getting up he puts his hand out to Barb.
“
It was nice meeting you.
”
Brandon looks back at Chris and smiles.
“
Bye. I
‘
ll see you at school tomorrow.
”
As he walks down the side walk he waves at Brad before getting in his car and driving off. Chris sighs and sits down on the porch swing and Barb puts her arm around Chris
’
shoulder.

  
“
I like him. He
’
s sweet and cute. Reminds me of your dad when we were in high school. Maybe we should invite him to dinner next weekend.
”



   It
’
s Friday, the week before Christmas and Chris is sitting on the porch swing watching Brandon and Brent play catch with the football on the lawn. Her thoughts replay the last three weeks over in her mind.
Brandon and Brent have had dinner at her house three times, she
’
s stayed after school three times to watch Brandon practice, which means he
’
s walked her home three times and mom, dad, and her have gone to three of his games and yet he hasn
’
t ever tried to kiss her and the only time he holds her hand is when he wants to run while walking her home. She
’
s under the impression that maybe he just wants to be friends.

Chris gets up and walks down the steps to stand on the sidewalk. She watches as Brent cocks his arm back. Quick on her feet, Chris sprints out in front of Brandon just as Brent releases the ball. Catching it, Brandon grabs her and pulls her down on the grass with him. Chris clutches the football in her arms and starts laughing. Brandon rises up on his elbow and watches her breast rise with every breath she takes. Chris
’
lips part as Brandon bends down and kisses her for the first time. Brent walks over near them.

  
“
Ahem
”

Brandon smiles at Chris, gets up and holds out his hand to her.

  
“
Good catch. Are you coming to practice tomorrow?
”

   
“
I don
’
t think so. Mom and I are supposed to be going Christmas shopping.
”

  
“
So then can I come and see you on Sunday?
”

  
“
Sure. Just plan on wearing an apron and being covered in flour, because we will be baking Christmas goodies all day.
”

  
“
About 11 a.m. okay?
”

  
“
Sure
”

  
“
I don
’
t know if I have an apron though.
”

Chris smiles.

   
“
That
’
s okay dad probably has an extra one you can borrow.
”
Brandon furrows his brow and wonders if she
’
s joking or not. Chris grins.
“
You
’
ll see.
”

Brandon looks into her eyes. He really wants to kiss her again but Brent has already gotten in the car and is honking the horn.

  
“
I
’
ll see you Sunday.
”

  
“
Okay
”

Brent yells out.
“
Bye Chris.
”

Chris smiles and waves.
“
Bye Brent
”



   Sunday morning Chris is up early. She takes a shower, brushes her teeth and puts on some makeup. Walking back to her room Barb pokes her head out of her door.

  
“
Chris
…”

  
“
Sorry mom. I
’
ll be quiet now.
”
Barb closes the door and Chris continues on to her own room. Chris takes off her robe and massages lotion into her wet skin before she slips into her clothes and combs out her wet hair. She smiles at her reflection in the mirror and then tiptoes downstairs. After grabbing the newspaper from the porch Chris heads for the kitchen to start breakfast.



   Barb walks into the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee.

  
“
Sundays now too?
”

  
“
Sorry mom I didn
‘
t mean to wake you up.
”

   
“
You look nice this morning and you smell good. What
’
s going on today?
”
Chris smiles at her.

  
“
I told Brandon that he could come help us bake.
”

Barb grabs the paper and walks towards the living room stopping at the door to look back at Chris.

  
“
Okay, that should be fun. Two men, in aprons, in the kitchen, covered in flour. I
’
ll be in the living room, call me when breakfast is ready.
”



   Chris glances up at the clock and sees it
’
s 4:30 p.m.

“
Mom?
”

Barb looks over at her and smiles.

  
“
Go ahead. Dad and I will finish up.
”

Brad grins at Barb while protesting.

  
“
Hey, that
‘
s not fair!
”

Chris grins.
“
Sorry dad. Thanks mom
”
Grabbing another cookie off the plate Chris looks at Brandon.
“
Do you want one?
“

  
“
Ugh no. I think I
’
ve eaten at least ten already.
”
Brandon unties his apron and lays it on the chair.
“
How come we have to wear aprons and you don
’
t?
”

Chris looks at Brad who is covered in flour and then grins at Brandon.

  
“
Cause guys are messy.
”

  
“
Yeah right and girls aren
’
t?
”
Brandon smiles as he dusts the flour off of Chris
’
nose. Chris blushes, grabs his hand and leads him out to the porch swing. Brandon sits down next to her.

  
“
I like your mom and dad.
”

Chris smiles.
“
I do too. I
’
m glad they kept me.
”
Brandon tilts his head and Chris sees the curious look in his eyes.
“
Brandon, you have to have known I am a foster child. Everyone at school seems to know. It
’
s not a secret.
”

Brandon thinks about it for a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say.

  
“
I wasn
’
t sure. I thought maybe it was just a rumor that was being passed around.
”

Chris  shakes her head.
“
No it
’
s true, I
’
ve been here since my twelve birthday.
”

  
“
How long have you been in foster care?
”

  
“
Hmm, I don
’
t know, since I was three or four, I think.
”

  
“
Where were you before here?
”

  
“
I was in a
not
so good foster home. The foster mom took us in mainly to collect the money, but I do have to thank her for being the way she was. She taught me a lot.
”

   
“
Like what?
”

Chris takes a breath and thinks about it.

   
“
For one, that I didn
’
t want to be like her. I was almost 10 when I got placed with her. A lot of the foster homes want kids under 5, mainly because they don
’
t have kids of their own and when kids are younger, they haven
’
t really picked up bad habits and are still sweet. If people take in older ones, it
’
s usually to help take care of the younger ones, clean, cook, do laundry, that sort of thing. So those are things that I learned while being in her care. Not that she taught me how
…
so there was a lot of trial and error on my part, but I think being there shaped me into who I am. It made me stronger, so I was able to deal with other things in my life, like the kids in our school.
”

  
“
Why doesn
’
t Barb pull you out of our school, so you don
’
t have to put up with being treated the way you are?
”

  
“
She didn
’
t know until the day before I talked to you the first time.
”