Faith (Rescue Me, A Contemporary Romance) (11 page)

Now they were back to sitting in silence again. Was this progress?

Liam leaned against the wall in the hall where he’d been trying to eavesdrop. Since his mom was trying to ‘protect’ him from everything these days, he was understandably curious about the direction his life might be taking in the next few weeks.

Were they going to be staying? Was his mom thinking of moving on? He didn’t know and figured the only way to find out was to go full on detective – he would have to sneak around, listening at doors, prying into emails – whatever he had to do to get the information he needed about his own life. Geesh!

Unfortunately, eavesdropping on his mother and his grandmother sitting in silence hadn’t yielded much information. None actually. He would have to kick this investigation up a notch.

“Umm…mom?” Liam walked into the kitchen.

Faith gave a little start at the sound of his voice and Myra turned to peer at him from over the tops of her glasses. A very grandmother thing to do, Liam noted with satisfaction and a grin.

“Why aren’t you in bed Liam?” Faith asked him sharply. It seemed she couldn’t say anything these days without sounding sharp or snappish.

“Because I’m not 7-years old mom,” Liam snapped back.

He noticed Myra cough a little to hide a tiny smile. Yeah, I can like this woman, he thought with an inward grin.

“Don’t be smart Liam,” Faith retorted.

Although secretly she knew he was right. She was treating him like a baby lately, but why wouldn’t she? They’d barely survived a violent attack together and her husband hadn’t survived it. Wasn’t she entitled to act a little overly motherly?

“Actually ‘being smart’ was what I wanted to ask you about,” he continued, running his hands nervously over the back of an empty chair across the table from her. “What’s the school situation here? Am I going? Not going?”

He couldn’t believe he was asking about school. He’d never been a huge fan of the institution, but lately he was looking for anything he could to keep his thoughts away from the accident. That. Night. It was playing on a never ending loop in the movie theater of his head and the title of that particular flick was ‘Liam destroys his family.’

He was desperate for something that would take his mind off it. School might be the new start he needed to move past it and stop blaming himself.

“School…” Faith said the word like she’d never heard it before. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t really thought much about Liam’s education.

If she wasn’t treating him like a baby, she was forgetting about him entirely. She had to get her head on straight before she ruined her son’s life. Wouldn’t Mac be angry at her for that.

Helplessly she looked at Myra for help.

“Actually, I think I can be of some help here,” Myra said. “I thought you might be a little overwhelmed with everything and one of the assistant principals at East Magnet is in my prayer circle at church, so of course I explained what was happening and before I knew it he was offering Liam a spot!”

Liam and Faith just looked at each other.

“What’s ‘East Magnet,’” Liam asked curiously.

“It’s actually called East Nashville Magnet School,” Myra explained, “But everyone just calls it ‘East Magnet.’ It’s a really special program and it can be hard to get in. It’s actually a middle school and a high school together. They’re very education focused,” she said looking at Faith, “and they have a ton of programs and college prep stuff going on,” she told Liam excitedly.

“It can be hard to get into,” she said again when they didn’t respond. “It’s a real blessing that we know Pat, and of course we live in the area, so that helps, but Pat had to really pull some serious strings to get you accepted without even filling out an application.”

Faith just looked at Liam. This was his decision. It sounded good, but maybe a lot of pressure. Too much pressure what with everything that had already happened?

“Thanks grandma,” Liam said and leaned over to give Myra a hug. “Sounds great!”

Faith smiled at the sight of her usually stiff and cold mother, getting an enthusiastic hug from her grandson.

Maybe this was going to work after all, she thought. And with that she drank the rest of her wine down in one satisfied gulp.

“Nervous?” Faith asked Liam with a grin.

“Nope. You?” He answered her.

It was a lie. They both knew it, but she was grateful for it. Gave them both the opportunity brazen it out. First days for both of them. Him at a new school. Her at a new job.

“Nope.” She lied right back to him with a wink and a smile.

Reaching to the seat behind her she handed him his backpack.

“You sure you don’t need me to come in with you? Get you set up with the office so you don’t have to stress about signing in while you’re looking for your locker? Stuff like that?”

“Mom, c’mon,” Liam groaned comically and he was rewarded with a laugh.

“Okay, get in there. Make some friends. Remember, it’s a brand new start. You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to, okay.”

He just grabbed his stuff and swung out of the car onto the steps in front of the massive school building. It looked like it’d been there for 200 years and it would be there for another 200 long after he was gone. It was comforting and intimidating at the same time. So far, that was a good way to describe his experiences in Nashville to date.

Faith watched him merge with the other students and walk up to the front doors and disappear inside. She sent up a silent prayer that he would be okay and make some friends. She was overwhelmed at how thankful she was to her mother for making this happen. She would never have predicted how helpful Myra would be in this transition.

Not only had her mother arranged for Liam to have a place in school at the start of the new semester
, but she had also put a bug in the ear of another church member and gotten Faith a job at the Nashville Tourists Bureau. The offices were downtown, not far from her mother’s house in East Nashville, and they were right next door to the Country Music Television (CMT) building, a very prestigious address.

The holidays had been difficult but they’d gotten through them. Helped by a lot of chocolate for Liam and wine for her, she wasn’t too proud to admit. Her mom had been great then too. Presents for her and Liam, Christmas festivities at church, and she’d even sat up with her and held her hand as Faith wept when the clock struck midnight on a New Year, a year without Mac by her side for the first time in two decades almost.

That was all behind them though, Faith reminded herself as she joined the morning commute towards the downtown skyline. A New Year, a new start, she promised herself.

She had a job. Liam had a new school full of potential friends, and she had a mother for the first time in what felt like forever, and that was the most surprising new start of all.

The bell squealed overhead as Liam stared confused at a map of the school. How was he supposed to find his way to Algebra? And who’s dumb idea was it to assign anyone algebra at 9AM anyway?

He’d been in the office registering, so he’d missed his normal homeroom class, the office aide was quick to point out, but he didn’t have an excuse to miss Algebra, so now he had to find it in about two seconds flat or he was going to be officially late for his first class on his first day. Good lord, what a shitty start this is, Liam thought.

“Are you lost?” A girls voice said somewhere over his shoulder.

He spun around, still clutching the offending map that made him look as clueless as a tourist standing naked in the middle of Times Square.

“Yeah, is it that obvious?” He blushed. Damn, he hated it when he blushed. It was such a loser move.

“No worries. I just started here in September and it’s a crazy big building.”

Sweetly, and not a little bossy, she grabbed the map out of his hand and turned it around for him.

“This should help, for starters.”

Leaning over him, she pointed out an area and whipped out a ballpoint to mark it for him so he could see better.

“We’re standing right here, see?”

Liam could see. He could also feel, and right now this stranger was pressed up against his side so close he could feel the gentle swell of her breast on his arm and the sway of her skirt against his thigh. Against his will he could feel his penis hardening. Oh my god, he had to get away from this girl before she noticed!

“Yeah, thanks I got it from here,” he said, grabbing the map and moving quickly down the hall.

He didn’t know where he was going, probably wasn’t even headed in the right direction, but he had to get the hell away from her pronto. He just hoped she hadn’t noticed.

Downtown, Faith wasn’t having a much more inspiring morning. So far, she’d spilled her coffee all over her boss’s desk, cracked a vase when she tried to water the – artificial – flowers in the
lobby when she’d been searching for something to keep her busy, and hung up on at least four callers because the switchboard was more complicated than the equipment she was used to in Alaska.

“Holy geez,” she said with her head in her hands. “Lord, save me from myself.”

“If you ask, you will receive!” A man’s voice boomed out in front of her.

With an embarrassed start she looked up, prepared to launch into a laugh and an explanation, but her words died before reaching her lips. The man standing in front of her was just plain gorgeous.

He didn’t have a microphone or a spotlight on him, but everything about him screamed “star.” He wore a t-shirt and jeans, but made them look like an Armani suit. The soft fabric of the shirt clung to his washboard stomach and chiseled chest like it had been made for him. The dark denim gripped his thighs tightly enough to be fashionable, but not too much to be considered a novelty or a mistake. He was holding some flowers in one hand, and a pair of designer sunglasses in the other hand. He was close enough to her that she could make out the Gucci symbol on the glasses. She had lived in Alaska for many years, but she still loved the E! channel, and could recognize a movie star when she saw one. This man was Rory Reynolds; singer, actor, and potential Greek God.

“Oh my god,” was all Faith could say as she stared at him in amazement.

Why was Rory Reynolds standing in front of her? Here?

“No, Rory’s fine
, beautiful,” he laughed at her discomfort, but not meanly.

“Sorry!” Faith said instantly, “I meant to say, hi!  I mean, oh my god, hi?”

She needed to stop talking right now. This was getting embarrassing.

“Hi,” he said. “Listen, I’m sorry I startled you. I guess you didn’t hear me come in. Is Penny here?”

“Penny?” Faith asked, embarrassed and grabbing for the employee list she’d made sure to tape up in front of her earlier that morning. “What department does she work in?”

“Well, I guess every department. She’s the Executive Director.”

Faith blushed even redder and scanned the list for the executive names. There wasn’t a Penny anywhere on it? Was this guy messing with her?

“Sorry!” He said suddenly, “Penelope? Penelope Myers. Everyone calls her Penny. Except me, I just call her mom.”

The Executive Director was Rory Reynold’s mom? She wasn’t in Kansas anymore…or Alaska, as the case may be.

“Oh wow, okay. Yeah. I just started. Today’s my first day.” She explained as she fumbled with the phone and then quickly put it down. “I guess I don’t need to announce you or anything right,” she laughed. “You can just go ahead in.”

“This is your first day? Well that deserves something special. Here, take these.” Rory offered her the bouquet of lilacs and lilies he was holding. “I got them for my mom, sort of an ‘I’m sorry’ bouquet, but they should be used for good, not evil. You take ‘em.”

She couldn’t move or speak. A movie star was attempting to give her flowers for her first day of work?

“Oh no! I couldn’t take your mom’s flowers. I’m fine, I don’t need anything. You should really give those to her!” She protested loudly.

“Give what to who?” Penelope – Penny – Myers asked loudly from the executive hallway behind the reception desk. “Rory! What a surprise. I thought you were on tour?”

Penny stood regal and poised at the entrance to the lobby. Faith could hear the surprise and rebuke in her voice as she watched her son flirting with the receptionist, and trying to give away her flowers, no less; but, she was classy and well bred enough to mask her unease behind a lovely smile and good manners.

“Hi mom,” he said as he lo
oped around the circular, cherry wood reception desk and hugged his mother tightly.

“I hope my son hasn’t been keeping you from your duties?” Penny asked Faith, with more than a subtle hint of “get to work.”

“No ma’am,” Faith assured her with a sidelong glance at Rory.

To her surprise he winked at her and grinned like a little boy who was caught by his teacher.

Faith looked away from him quickly and started rearranging files on the desk in front of her to look busy.

Penny gazed at her for another long moment, then said, “Come with me Rory and tell me all about life in Los Angeles. Of course, a phone call once in a while would also be a great way to communicate with your family, but I wouldn’t expect a star like you to know how to use anything as simple as a telephone,” she teased him as they walked down the hall toward Penny’s office.