Behind Her Smile (11 page)

The beach was empty when they got there. Miles led her by the hand as they walked to a wide stretch of sand and sat down. “What’s this?” he asked, reaching over and fingering the silver ring on the chain around her neck.

“Oh, it’s just something my great grandfather left for me when he died,” she replied. “Actually, he gave it to my dad to give to me. We went out on a special date when I was twelve and he gave it to me then.” She flashed on a memory of her father taking her out to dinner giving her the purity ring, all wrapped up in a pretty box. She’d worn it on her finger for a while, but then she decided she liked it better on a chain.

“Cool,” Miles said, placing it gently back in place on her chest. Gazing out to sea, he rested his elbows on his raised knees. Then he clasped his knees with his hands and leaned back, lowering himself to the sand. Madison looked over at him lying there beside her. He grinned up at her. “It’s warmer down here,” he said, patting his chest to indicate a pillow for her head.

She scooted down in the sand and stretched out beside him, following his lead by resting her head on his chest. He pulled her body close, and they lay there quietly for a few minutes, his heart beating in her ear. “This is nice,” he said.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

Everything seemed just perfect. The sound of the waves, the warmth of the sand, and the rhythm of their breathing in harmony. Madison felt happier than she remembered feeling in a long time. And to think how upset she’d been when Luke left. Everyone was right. That had just been puppy love. This was different. The way Miles touched her and kissed her. It was the way a real boyfriend acted.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked her.

She smiled to herself. “Nothing. How about you?”

He shifted onto his side, stealing her pillow away. Leaning over, he kissed her. “I was thinking how glad I am that we moved here.” Before she could respond, he kissed her again, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her body tightly up against his. She melted into him and didn’t resist when he reached his hand up under the back of her tank top and unhooked her bra.

As they drove to her house an hour later, Madison reminded herself about the running shoes. She made sure her clothes were all in place. Although she felt a little guilty about how physical she and Miles were getting, she knew her limits and was not about to get herself in too deep. Miles seemed fine with it when she’d pushed his hands away from trying to open her shorts. Now he knew what she would and would not let him do.

She could see her mom’s van in the driveway, as they turned onto her street. “Why don’t you pull over here,” she said, pointing to the curb half a block from the house.

“Got it.”

She reached over the seat, grabbed her running shoes, and put them on. “See you tomorrow,” she said, leaning over to kiss him goodbye, and completely forgetting about her sweatshirt. Getting out of the car, she closed the door and waved as he drove off. Then she jogged toward the house, thinking about how she’d manage to get a real run in that day.
Maybe I’ll ask Dad to go with me. He’s been wanting us to run together.

As she opened the door, she called out, “Mom?”

“In here, honey,” her mother’s voice replied from the kitchen.

Madison mussed her hair a little and then walked in. “How was your day?” she asked.

Her mother was sorting the mail. “Fine,” she replied. “Been out running?”

“Yeah. I did a short run, but I’m going to see if Dad will run with me after dinner, too.”

Her mother looked at her and smiled. “He’d like that.”

“When’s dinner?” Madison asked.

“Dad’s picking up tacos after he gets Caleb. Probably around six-thirty.” Her mother’s face lit up. “Hey! There’s a letter for you from Luke.” She handed Madison the envelope.

“Cool. Thanks.” Madison headed out of the room. “I’ll be upstairs doing homework.”

Her mother nodded. “Okay. I’m making chocolate chip cookies for dessert,” she added.

“Great. The guys will be happy about that,” Maddie replied. Up in her bedroom, she stretched out on the bed with Luke’s letter.

Hi Maddie,

So how’s life at SCHS? Hope you like Mr. Barnes. Great discussions, huh? Most of his tests will come from those, so be sure you pay attention. The book’s a guide, but Barnes always talks about the stuff that matters in his opinion. If you’re ever absent, be sure you get good notes from someone. Hopefully you’ve got some friends in there.

Madison smiled, thinking about Miles. Not exactly what Luke probably had in mind, especially since Miles was more of a distraction than a help, at least as far as class discussions went. She glanced back at the letter. A couple of weeks ago, just the sight of Luke’s handwriting would have made her happy. Now she had to keep pulling her thoughts back to him rather than to the images of Miles that Luke’s comments about her history class evoked.

Things are good here in the Ozarks
.
Not sure if I’ll ever get used to that name, though. Sounds like I’m out in the backwoods of nowhere. But it really is nice here and not at all backwoods, if you know what I mean. My roommate’s pretty cool. We’ve got a couple of classes together, so that helps with studying for tests etc. My favorite class is global missions. The professor’s been all over the world with various missionary teams. He’s really an inspiration. Makes me want to consider the mission field.

Great
, Madison thought. As if Missouri wasn’t far away enough. Now he was talking about going to some remote country as a missionary. She could never see herself doing that. Miles was more her speed. He loved Sandy Cove, and so did she. Glancing back at the piece of paper, she was about to gloss over the rest, when she read:

So I was talking to Lucy tonight, and she told me you had a date for the football game. Some new guy, she said. Hope you two had a good time. Write me back and tell me about him.

Really? Like she was going to write to Luke about Miles. Not.
Well, let’s see how he finishes off this letter,
she thought, her eyes traveling to the bottom of the page.

I miss you. Seems like a long time until Christmas break. But I’ll be pretty busy this quarter, so I’m sure it’ll go by fast. Tell everyone I said hi. Can’t believe Caleb is in middle school now. Must be easier for your mom, though, just taking him to school with her.

Okay, well I’ve gotta run. Take care, Mad.

Yours,

Luke

She read through the letter one more time, looking for hints of his feelings about her. But all she saw was the brotherly affection she’d kind of figured was the case. No worries. Her focus was on Miles now, anyway.
Luke will probably find a girl out there, too,
she thought.

Pulling out her notebook, she tossed the letter aside and looked for the discussion homework questions for history. She was just about to begin working on them when her mother called from downstairs. “There’s someone here to see you, Maddie.”

Wonder who that could be?
She pushed aside her backpack and headed down. Standing in the entryway was Miles, her sweatshirt in his hand.

“Your friend was just telling me about how much he enjoyed your date Friday night,” Michelle said.

Madison cringed inwardly but tried to maintain her composure. “Well, it wasn’t exactly a date, Mom. We just sat together at the game.”

Miles must have read her signals because he piped in with, “Yeah. Just warming the bleachers with a bunch of friends.”

Madison’s mother studied her face.

“You left this in my car,” he said, handing her the sweatshirt.

“Miles gave me a ride home today,” Madison quickly explained.

“I see,” Michelle replied. Then turning to Miles, she said, “That was nice of you.”

“No problem,” he said with a nervous smile.

Michelle nodded. “Well, I’d better go check on my cookies,” she said. “Do you like chocolate chip? You could stay for dinner if you’d like.”

“Thanks, but I’d better get going,” he replied.

A wave of relief washed over Madison. “I’ll just walk Miles out to the car, and then come set the table,” she told her mother.

Once they were outside, Miles said, “Guess you didn’t tell your parents about our date the other night.”

She gave him a coy smile. “I was just trying to spare you the third degree from my dad. He’s pretty paranoid about me dating.”

He nodded and returned her smile, his eyes caressing her form. “I can see why.”

Madison blushed. Pushing him away playfully, she said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Holding up the sweatshirt, she added, “Thanks for bringing this by.”

“Sure. Anytime.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her close, locking his lips on hers.

She started to pull away, but found herself kissing him back instead.

“Mom, some guy’s out front playing tonsil hockey with Maddie,” Caleb called from the front room.

“What?” Michelle asked as she turned off the oven.

“They’re making out,” Caleb replied.

Making out?
Michelle headed out to join her son. “Who’s making out?”

“Maddie and some guy.”

Michelle looked out the window. Madison and Miles were standing close to each other by his car door. “They’re not making out,” she said, feeling relieved.

“They were a second ago,” he replied. “Wait ‘til I tell Dad about
this
,” he added with a grin as he bounded toward the stairs.

“Hold it buddy,” Michelle said, cuffing him. “I’ll handle talking to your father. Got it?” she asked, making sure he made eye contact with her and understood that she was serious.

His smile faded as he mumbled in reply, “Got it.”

When Madison came back inside, Michelle was waiting. “We need to talk,” she said.

“Okay. About what?” Madison wore an innocent look.

“About Miles. And exactly what is going on between you two.”

“We’re just friends, Mom.”

Michelle sighed. When did Madison start lying to her? “Caleb saw you kissing just now.”

Her daughter’s face flamed. “What business does he have spying on me?” she asked furiously.

“It won’t work, Madison.”

“What won’t work?”

“Trying to shift the focus to your brother. He was walking through the living room and saw you right there.” Michelle pointed to the window with the open blinds. “Before you say anything else, let’s get a few things straight. First, I understand what it’s like to be attracted to a guy. And wanting to go out on dates is part of being in high school.” She took a breath and then continued, “I’m not mad that you like this guy. I have nothing against him. Yet. But I don’t like lying, and I have a feeling you haven’t told me everything about Friday night and the game.” She paused, waiting for Madison to answer.

“Okay, so maybe it was a date,” she admitted. “But I didn’t know if I’d even like him, and I didn’t want Dad grilling him with questions before I even got a chance to find that out.”

“How did you get to the game?” Michelle asked. “And don’t lie.”

“I had Miles pick me up at Kelly and Ben’s.”

“Did they know you were going on a date? I can’t imagine Kelly not calling me to check to make sure it was okay.”

Madison hesitated.

“You might as well tell me, honey. I can easily call them and find out,” Michelle warned.

“Alright, alright. I’ll tell you. Just don’t get Lucy in trouble. She didn’t know. I told her you guys were out for the evening, and so you wanted my date to pick me up at their house. Like you didn’t want him to know I was home alone. That’s what Lucy told her parents.”

“And Kelly didn’t ask you to bring him inside to meet them?”

“No. She didn’t have a chance. I went outside while she was fixing dinner and met Miles at the curb when he pulled up.”

Michelle studied Madison, searching for the truth and looking for the girl she used to trust.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” her daughter asked.

“This just doesn’t seem like you, Madison. You’ve always been honest with me in the past. At least I think you have.”

Madison sighed, looking her in the eye. Michelle could tell her daughter was on the verge of tears. “I really like this guy, Mom. And amazingly enough, he likes me too. Please don’t mess this up for me.”

Michelle’s heart ached. She could remember the thrill of young love, and she wanted Madison to be happy. It seemed like Maddie struggled so much with her body image and confidence, and the attention this Miles guy was giving her probably made her feel attractive. But Michelle didn’t want her daughter getting her sense of worth from some high school boy who was here today but could be easily gone tomorrow.

As if reading her thoughts, Madison said, “Miles really cares about me. He makes me feel special. Like I’m attractive.”

“You are attractive, sweetheart,” Michelle replied.

Madison laughed half-heartedly. “To you and Dad, maybe. But not to the guys. At least not until now.”

“What about Luke? He’s always had an eye for you.”

Maddie shook her head. “As a sister, maybe, but not as a girlfriend.”

“I think you’ve misread him, honey. You two have a special bond, and he’s a great guy.”

“Whatever. But he’s gone now, and Miles is here.” Madison paused and then asked, “So can I go out with him now without having to make up stories and sneak around?”

“Let your father and me get to know him a little, and then we’ll decide,” Michelle said. “But for now, let’s say no alone time together. And no more lies.”

“Are you going to tell Dad everything?”

“Yes.”

“He’ll probably blow a gasket about Friday night and never let me see Miles again.”

“I can’t promise you anything, Madison, but I’ll talk to him and try to get him to give your friend a chance. No guarantees there won’t be consequences for the lying, though.”

“Miles didn’t know about that, if it helps anything.”

“I’m glad to hear that much at least,” Michelle replied. She put her hands on Madison’s shoulders. “Your dad and I love you, honey. We want you to be happy. But we want you to be safe, too.”

Madison nodded.

“Your father and I will discuss all this tonight, and we’ll let you know what we decide. For now, let’s just get the table set so we’re ready for dinner when he gets home.”

“Okay.”

They embraced, and Michelle hoped her daughter could feel the love going from her mother’s heart to her own.

Michelle peered over her raised coffee mug at her husband, who was busy on his laptop. “Steve?”

No answer.

She cleared her throat. “Honey?”

“Yeah?” he replied without glancing her way, his fingers still tapping at the keyboard.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk about Maddie again.”

Pausing, he looked up. “Okay, hold on a sec.” He typed for a moment longer and then closed the laptop. “What’s up?”

“She lied to us about the football game.”

“There wasn’t a game?”

“Oh, there was a game alright, but she didn’t go with Lucy.”

Now Steve looked as concerned as she felt. “Not that guy she was telling us about.”

Michelle nodded. “Yeah.”

He shook his head. “Why wouldn’t she just be up front with us? She must think we wouldn’t approve of him.”

“She claims she didn’t want the third degree from us before she even got a chance to get to know him a little more herself.”

“Really. Well, now she’s backed herself into a corner where it’s going to be even harder to spend any time with him,” he replied.

Michelle searched for the right words. “Go ahead. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m suggesting our daughter lose her freedom for a few weeks. Maybe then she’ll think twice before lying about her whereabouts and companions.” He paused and then asked, “How did you find out about all this?”

Michelle took a moment to figure out how to tell Steve. “Actually, the boy, Miles is his name, anyway he came by here to return her sweatshirt. Apparently she left in his car.”

“Great. I wonder what else she left in his car,” he muttered under his breath, standing up and thrusting his hands into his pockets. Although he looked pretty angry, she could tell he was also hurt and worried.

“Come here,” she said, patting the seat on the sofa beside where she was sitting.

He looked at her and shook his head. “I’m going up to talk to that girl.”

“No you’re not. Not like this,” she replied. “Sit down with me and let’s discuss it together. The last thing we want to do is push her to the point where she’s sneaking behind our backs all the time.”

“How do we know she’s not already doing that?”

Michelle sighed. “You know Madison, Steve. She’s not a bad kid. She just wants what most girls her age want—a guy who likes her and wants to go out with her.”

“I get that. But I was that guy in high school, and I know what those guys are looking for. Ask Ben. He’ll tell you.”

“I know all about Ben, honey. But just because he was a womanizer before he got saved, doesn’t mean this Miles guy is, too. We don’t really know anything about him.”

“My point exactly. That’s why we required her to bring any potential dates here first. So we could meet them. We’ve got a responsibility to protect her, not be her pals.” His tone was almost patronizing, and Michelle had to fight the urge to snap back at him.

“You’re right,” she said softly. “But can we please just talk about this before you go upstairs to confront Maddie?”

He studied her face, and she could see the hard edges on his soften. “Okay, babe.” Walking over, he sat down by her side, turning so that he was facing her. “What do
you
think we should do?”

“I don’t know. Probably grounding her for a couple of weeks is a good idea. But I also think we should talk her through this calmly. You know, try to help her see our perspective.” She hesitated and then continued, “We’ve always been able to talk to her in the past. I don’t want to lose that.”

He nodded. “Me neither. But I want her to understand that sneaking around and lying isn’t going to get her what she wants.”