Raising Faith (16 page)

After Emily’s friends escorted her home from their meeting, Chelsea asked if she could wait at Emily’s house for her mom to pick her up.

“Sure,” said Emily. “Unless you’re afraid that my weirdo dad will show up and do something totally nutso.” Emily tried to make this sound like a joke, but the truth was she felt a little uneasy. Just knowing her dad was in their town, that he had actually been in her house — even in Emily’s own bedroom — was pretty upsetting. Creepy even. And, more than ever, Emily felt like she hated him. Not that it was a good feeling. It was not. But it was the truth.

“Nah,” said Chelsea. “I’m not afraid. Besides my mom’ll be here in a few minutes anyway.”

“Any news?” Emily asked Kyle when they went inside.

He looked up from the video game he was playing. “Nope. All’s quiet on the western front.”

“Quiet is good,” said Emily.

“Oh, by the way,” said Chelsea. “My mom said to invite you guys to dinner tonight. She’s going to call your mom at the resort to work it out. And the Lawrences are coming too.”

“Cool,” said Emily.

“My mom probably already gave your mom the details.”

“Great.”

“And while the grown-ups are talking, you and I can work on our wardrobe for the ski trip,” said Chelsea. “It’s not too soon to figure it out. The snowboarding pants I ordered arrived, and I can’t wait for you to see them.”

Emily nodded. “Sounds good.” But what Emily was thinking was that she’d rather do that kind of planning with Morgan. Or at least include her. Still, she didn’t think it would be proper to invite Morgan to Chelsea’s tonight. And she didn’t want to seem ungrateful to Chelsea for all the help her dad was getting for her family. Emily decided she’d just have to figure that out later. In the meantime, she felt certain that Morgan would understand.

“Chelsea, your mom’s here,” called Kyle from the living room.

“See ya tonight,” said Chelsea as she grabbed her bag and left.

“So, I guess that means I have to go too,” said Kyle after Chelsea was gone.

“You probably don’t
have
to,” said Emily. “But I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to. Besides, do you really want to be home alone … you know, when dad is in town?”

He frowned.

“Besides, the Landers are pretty nice.”

“Don’t you mean pretty rich?” Kyle sighed as if giving in. “I guess I wouldn’t mind checking out their crib. I’ve only seen that place from the driveway.”

“They have a billiards room,” said Emily. “And pinball machines and everything.”

“Okay,” said Kyle a little more cheerfully. “Works for me.”

Emily returned to putting her room back together … more carefully now. She checked out her closet for things she could take on the ski trip, but other than the Tommy Hilfiger outfit that Chelsea had given her, it was slim pickings. She had a feeling Chelsea would be in for a disappointment when it came to Emily’s ability at any serious “wardrobe planning.” Then Emily tried on the brightly colored polar fleece hat that Morgan had given to her as an early Christmas present. It was lively and cute, but she had a feeling Chelsea might not approve since it didn’t have a designer label. But at the same time Emily was pretty sure that she didn’t even care. Money, except when you really needed it for things like food or rent, was highly overrated.

When Mom got home, Emily was pleasantly surprised to see she was in a cheerful mood. She was actually humming a Christmas song as she hung up her coat. “Did you kids have a good day?”

“Yeah,” said Emily. “Really good.”

“And it was nice having the day off from work,” said Kyle. “And luckily I still have my job at the station. The boss was pretty understanding. But he expects me to be there tomorrow for holiday traffic.”

“We’ve been invited to dinner,” announced Mom.

“We already know,” said Emily. “Chelsea was here.”

“So you’ll be ready to go in about twenty minutes or so?”

“No problem,” said Emily. She’d already changed into what she thought was an acceptable outfit of her best jeans and a sweater. Most of the times she’d been at Chelsea’s had been pretty casual.

“And?” said Kyle impatiently. “Did you hear anything about Dad today, Mom?”

Mom smiled. “Yes. He’s still in jail. Mr. Lawrence has already filed a restraining order on our behalf. It’s looking really good.”

Emily sighed in relief. “Aren’t you glad we came back to Boscoe Bay?”

Mom nodded. “Yes. But I was in such a state yesterday, I just could not think straight. And, for the life of me, I could not imagine how this whole thing could possibly be resolved. But now I feel hopeful. After a brief conversation with the attorney, I think it might actually be achievable.”

“And did you hear that he is doing the work …” Emily tried to remember the terminology.
“Pro bono?”

“Yes, I could hardly believe it.”

“We’re gonna get through this,” said Kyle.

“Absolutely,” said Mom. “Now let’s get ready to go. Kyle, can you put on a clean pair of pants?”

Kyle may have had on clean pants, and Emily had even worn a designer sweater that Chelsea had given her, and Mom looked nice, still wearing a dark pantsuit from work, but just the same, Emily felt like their family was out of place as they sat around the Landers’ dinner table. She tried not to think about it too hard, and she hoped her mother didn’t notice anything, but she felt uncomfortable.

It was weird, because she’d eaten at Chelsea’s house lots of times, but it had never been like this. Tonight felt formal. Dinner was “served” in the fancy dining room with fancy dishes and crystal and silver and candles. Mr. Landers and Mr. Lawrence — both still dressed from work — had on business suits, Mrs. Landers had on a pretty red pantsuit, and even Chelsea was dressed a bit more nicely than she had been earlier today.

Not that this was just about the clothes … although Emily knew that her family looked shabby and poor next to these wealthy people. But it felt as if something more was happening here. The more the grown-ups talked about her family’s troubles and how Mr. Lawrence would be helping them, the more Emily felt like her family did not belong here — not socially anyway — and the more she felt
like her family was really just a charity case. A Christmas project to make the others feel good. And Emily hated feeling that way. It was so ungrateful … and judgmental.

“Can we be excused?” asked Chelsea after dessert was mostly finished. “We need to make some plans for our upcoming ski trip.”

“You mean wardrobe plans,” teased her mom.

“Of course,” said Mr. Landers. “I’m sure this conversation must be boring to you kids.”

Emily tried not to sigh in relief. She considered asking Kyle to join them, but she wasn’t sure if Chelsea would be okay with that. Fortunately, Mr. Landers offered Kyle the use of the game room, and her brother seemed happy to make an escape too.

Once safely in Chelsea’s room, Emily flopped into a chair. “Whew,” she said. “Glad that’s over.”

“I know,” said Chelsea. “Grown-ups can go on and on about the most boring details.” She opened up her closet and started tossing out items of winter clothing. “I thought you could borrow some stuff for the ski trip,” she said. “You know, like you did for the Thanksgiving trip.”

“Oh, that’s okay.”

“Huh?” Chelsea turned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, that’s okay. I don’t need to borrow anything.”

“Don’t you wanna look hot up there?”

Emily shrugged. “I don’t know …”

“Are you feeling okay?” Chelsea came over and actually put her hand on Emily’s forehead as if to see if she was running a temperature.

Emily forced a laugh and pushed her hand away. “I’m not sick.”

“But something’s wrong.” Chelsea studied her face closely. “What?”

“I think I’m just kinda tired and overwhelmed from everything.” Emily knew that was partially true, but she also knew that wasn’t the total problem just now. Still, she wasn’t sure she wanted to say what it was that was bugging her. Maybe it was really just her imagination.

“I’m sorry,” said Chelsea. “I guess I’m not being very understanding. I just figured there wasn’t much time, and we should plan what we’re going to wear —”

“You know what I’d like to do?” said Emily, sitting up suddenly.

“What?”

“I’d like to plan what we’re going to wear with all the girls in the club.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea.”

“Yeah. Because most of us don’t really have ski clothes. I mean who needs them unless you go up there a lot. So maybe we could sort of pool our things together and share stuff and have a packing party or something.”

“That sounds like fun.” Chelsea tossed her clothes back into her closet, not even bothering to hang them up. Of course, they had a housekeeper who took care of that.

“Maybe right after Christmas,” suggested Emily.

“We can have it here if you think that’s okay.” Now Chelsea frowned. “I know, I probably come on too strong sometimes. But you know how I am about fashion.”

Emily smiled. “Yeah, you really get into it.”

“You got that right.” She grabbed a magazine. “Hey, look at this pair of jeans. They are so cool.”

So Emily humored Chelsea for a while, poring over her latest fashion rags and acting interested, until she finally she got so bored that she asked if they could go play a game of pool with Kyle.

“Okay,” said Chelsea as she tossed a magazine aside. “That actually sounds like fun.”

“I’m sure Kyle will appreciate some company … even if it is just us.”

“You know, Kyle is getting to be really good-looking.”

Emily rolled her eyes at her. “Puh-leeze.”

Chelsea laughed. “Well, he is, Em. His skin is all cleared up now, and he got taller, and I can’t help it if I noticed that he’s looking really —”

“Fine, fine,” said Emily quickly. “You think my brother is a hottee. Now let’s not talk about it anymore. Eeuw.”

But as they went downstairs, Emily wondered if Chelsea wasn’t just starting to get a little too boy crazy. That was the second time today that she’d gone on about boys.

“Hey, Kyle,” said Chelsea as they went into the game room. “We chicks wanna challenge you to a game of pool. You in?”

“You’re on,” said Kyle, picking up a cue.

Chelsea put some songs into the jukebox, and Emily helped Kyle to get the balls set up. She wondered if Kyle would be surprised to see that her pool skills had improved a bit since hanging with Chelsea. They’d played quite a few games down here in the past several weeks.

But the more the three of them played, the more irritated Emily felt at Chelsea. It was like she was actually flirting with Kyle. And it made Emily feel very uncomfortable. For one thing, Chelsea was only thirteen — three years younger than Kyle! For another thing, Kyle seemed to be enjoying the extra attention. But in Emily’s opinion, Chelsea was acting like a total idiot. Emily was getting downright disgusted with both of them. Thankfully, Mom broke things up.

“Hey, kids,” she called from the top of the stairs. “I hate to spoil the party, but it’s been a long day for me, and I have to work tomorrow.”

“That’s okay,” said Emily, perhaps a little too eagerly, as she put away her pool cue.

“Let me put this last one away,” said Kyle, pocketing the eight ball in the corner pocket.

“You are such a good shot,” said Chelsea.

Kyle grinned. “Thanks. And thanks for the games.”

“Well, thanks for cleaning our clocks,” said Chelsea, gently punching him in the arm.

“Anytime,” said Kyle.

It was all Emily could do not to roll her eyes and groan. “Thanks for everything, Chelsea,” she said instead. “See ya.”

The next day, Emily couldn’t wait to get to Morgan’s house. The plan was to work on the Christmas presents they’d been making for the other girls. And it felt so good to hang with Morgan and just be a regular kid again, creating things that would be fun to give to her friends. Whether it was beading or knitting or sewing, Emily just focused her attention on each project and enjoyed hanging with Morgan.

“This is so great,” Emily said as they took a break to make themselves and Grandma some lunch. “I can’t believe I almost lost all this.”

“Me neither,” said Morgan as she poured the second can of chicken and rice soup into the pan. “So, how’s it going … I mean with your dad and everything?”

Emily could tell that Morgan was still a little uncomfortable with all this. For that matter, so was Emily. Still, she’d been fairly honest with Morgan. She’d told her that — although she was relieved that her dad was locked up — it was still hard knowing that he was in town. She hadn’t told Morgan that she hated him. As a Christian,
Emily knew she wasn’t supposed to hate anyone. Even her enemies. She also knew that there was a commandment that said kids were supposed to respect their parents. This one really confused her. How was she supposed to respect someone like Dad?

“My mom is feeling pretty hopeful that the lawyer is going to get it all straightened out before long.”

“No chance of your dad getting out of jail?”

“Not according to the lawyer. He said that bail is set pretty high, and it doesn’t look like anyone is jumping in to help him out. Sounds like he’ll be in there a while.”

“How do you feel about that?” Morgan’s forehead creased as she stirred the soup. “I mean, I realize he is your dad. Does it bother you knowing he’s locked up?”

“It would bother me more if he wasn’t.” Emily laid a slice of cheddar cheese on top of a piece of bread.

Morgan nodded. “Me too.”

“But the lawyer has already got a restraining order made out.”

“That’s good.”

“So, even if he did get out, he would be in serious trouble if he came near any of us.”

“You guys should probably get cell phones,” said Morgan.

“Yeah … Mom’s thinking the same thing.”

“I wish my mom was thinking that too.” Morgan laughed. “I keep hinting that a cell phone would be a good
Christmas present. But so far, I don’t think she’s buying it.”

“Well, if we do get cell phones, my mom made it perfectly clear they will be those cheap ones, the kind that are only for emergency use.”

“At least we have friends that have them.” Morgan put one of the cheese sandwiches onto the hot grill, and they both watched it sizzling.

“Speaking of rich friends …” began Emily. “My mom and Kyle and I had dinner at the Landers, last night.” She sliced another piece of cheese and handed it to Morgan, who was now putting the sandwiches together.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Mainly so that Mom could meet the lawyer and they could talk and stuff. But it was this really formal dinner with lots of silverware and glasses, and I felt like a fish outta water. I think Kyle did too. Of course, he didn’t admit it.”

Morgan laughed as she set the next sandwich on the grill. “Yeah, I just do not get why some people want to make something as simple as eating food so complicated.”

Then, without even thinking, Emily began making fun of the Landers and all their fancy forks and things, but then she felt bad. After all, Chelsea’s family was really helping hers.

“Sorry,” said Emily. “I don’t think that was very nice.”

Morgan nodded. “I understand.”

“I don’t want to seem ungrateful … I just don’t really want to feel like I owe them something too. You know?”

“You don’t owe them a thing, Emily.” Morgan pushed her glasses back up her nose and then shook her finger at her. “You shouldn’t think that way. Just because one person helps another person doesn’t mean that anyone owes anyone anything. Not if you’re doing it for the right reasons anyway.” She turned and gave the soup a stir.

“I’d like to believe that,” said Emily.

“Well, then you better.”

Then Emily told Morgan about the packing party that Chelsea wanted to have at her house before the ski trip.

“Why?” said Morgan as she flipped one of the grilled-cheese sandwiches.

“Well, I guess it was kinda my fault,” admitted Emily. “Chelsea was trying to share some of her ski clothes and stuff with me — because she wants me to look all cool and fashionable when we go on the ski trip — and it sort of hurt my feelings, although I didn’t let her know. And now that I think about it, I was probably pretty ungrateful about that too. I mean I shouldn’t have been offended by her generosity.”

“Oh, I don’t know …”

“Anyway, I suggested that we could all get together, you know, since most of us don’t have ski clothes or much snow stuff. I thought we could all share and plan our outfits
together.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Morgan. “I guess that’s a nice idea. And Carlie and Amy will probably appreciate it too.”

“Poor Amy,” said Emily. “She’s so much smaller than the rest of us, she probably won’t find anything she can use.”

“Hats and scarves,” said Morgan. “And I actually have several of those.”

“Well, I guess it might be fun.”

“You bet it’ll be fun,” said Morgan.

“Maybe we should do it at the clubhouse instead of Chelsea’s,” suggested Emily. “That way it might not feel as much about money and things as just having a good time.”

“That’s a great idea!”

So, after lunch, they called their friends and arranged to have everyone meet at the bus on the day after Christmas. Chelsea wasn’t sure it was such a good idea, but Emily finally convinced her it would be fun, saying they could do fashion walks down the middle aisle of the bus, and pretend that they were on a fashion shoot.

“Hey, I’ll bring my digital camera,” said Chelsea, now fully on board.

“And don’t forget that Amy is tiny,” said Emily. “If you have any old things, you know, ski stuff that you’ve outgrown, bring them for her.”

Then Emily and Morgan spent the rest of the day working on Christmas presents, listening to music, and just
hanging. In fact, that’s how Emily spent the next two days.

Then on Thursday, the girls got together at the clubhouse for their Christmas party and gift exchange. Morgan and Emily got there early, putting on some Christmas music and turning on the strings of lights. Then they set out the Christmas cookies that they’d made and frosted just yesterday. Then the others arrived, and Carlie set up the little Christmas tree in the driver’s seat, and they decorated it with ornaments from home.

After that, they took turns opening their Christmas presents, starting with the ones from Morgan. She’d made each of the girls a brightly colored pair of polar fleece socks and matching hats.

“You might want these for the ski trip,” she told them as they tried them on. Then Emily gave her friends the handmade beaded chokers that Morgan had helped her to make. Each one came with its own little drawstring bag, which Emily had sewn on Morgan’s sewing machine. She had specially designed each necklace with each friend in mind. Everyone seemed to really like them, which made Emily feel good.

Carlie gave them all hand-painted ceramic dishes, which she explained she had decorated herself at the local pottery shop, personalizing each one with the girls’ names before they were fired in the kiln. “You can use these to put your jewelry and things in,” she told them happily.

After that, Amy gave them each a “free lunch” gift certificate for her family’s restaurant, along with a bag of fortune cookies. “Okay, I guess I’m not as clever as you guys, because I didn’t exactly make these myself,” she admitted. “But it was the best I could do under the circumstances. We have been busier than ever this past week.” She glanced at her watch. “In fact, don’t let me forget that I have to get back there by four.”

“Well, I didn’t make my gifts either,” said Chelsea as she handed them each a small rectangular box wrapped in metallic pink paper and tied with a matching ribbon. Chelsea had insisted on going last, and Emily had a feeling it was because her gifts would be the most impressive — or at least the most expensive. “I didn’t know we were supposed to.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly a rule,” said Morgan. “But it was suggested. We didn’t want anyone to feel pressured to go out and buy things.”

“Especially after we all worked so hard to pay our way for the ski trip,” Carlie pointed out as they opened Chelsea’s packages. Beneath the shiny pink paper was a long, narrow, black velvet box with a fancy gold B in one corner.

“Ooh,” said Amy with excitement, “This looks like it’s from Bernstein’s. My dad gave my mom a diamond necklace that was in a box like this.”

“Well, don’t worry,” said Chelsea. “No diamonds are involved.”

The girls all laughed, but no one had opened a box yet.

“Come on,” Chelsea said eagerly. “Go ahead and see what’s inside.”

Emily ran her finger over the plush velvet box. She knew that Bernstein’s was the jewelry store downtown. She’d never been in the shop, but she could tell by the window displays that it was a pretty nice store — and expensive. The other girls were beginning to ooh and aw, so Emily knew she needed to open her box too. And when she did, she saw that it contained what looked like a nice charm bracelet.

“See the little school bus,” gushed Chelsea. “Isn’t it just too cute?”

“It’s like our bus,” said Carlie.

“These are beautiful,” said Amy as she held her bracelet up to the light. “They must’ve been expensive.”

“Not as much as gold ones would’ve been,” said Chelsea. “Mom nixed that idea right off the bat. But these are sterling silver.” She held out her own wrist now. “See, I have a bracelet too. Obviously, the school bus represents our clubhouse, and the initial is for your first name, so we don’t get them mixed up.”

“What about you and me?” said Carlie. “We’re both C’s.”

“Yeah, I figured that could be a problem, so I got an L put on mine, for my last name. And see the little snowboard. That’s for our upcoming ski trip.”

“Cool,” said Amy.

“Yeah, thanks,” said Morgan. “These are really nice.”

They all thanked her, and everyone seemed happy. And yet Emily was curious. She wondered if Chelsea’s bracelets were meant to replace their old beaded ones that she and Morgan had made last summer. Still, she decided not to bring this up. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful or to stir up any problems at their Christmas party. Besides, what was the harm in wearing two bracelets? Because Emily knew that she had no intention of giving up her old one. It meant too much to her.

Next they had refreshments. And as they munched, they joked and chatted and enjoyed their own little party of five. In the background, cheerful Christmas music played, and for a moment, Emily just sat there looking at her four good friends. She still couldn’t believe how close she had come to losing all this. As a result, she thought of her dad, but these were not happy thoughts. In fact, every time he came to mind, her stomach would tie itself into a tight knot, and she would begin to feel a combination of anger and fear. More and more, she felt that she hated him. And sometimes she wished he were dead.

“What’s wrong, Em?” asked Morgan.

“Yeah,” said Carlie. “You look kinda bummed. Is everything okay?”

“Sorry.” Emily shrugged. “I guess I was just remembering stuff … you know … about how my family almost left
Boscoe Bay for good and everything.”

“Well, don’t think about that,” said Amy. “You’re here. You’re with us. And everything is cool.”

“That’s right,” said Chelsea. “Celebrate!”

And so Emily pasted a big smile on her face and pretended to be totally happy. But underneath it all, she was not. Underneath it all, she was just plain mad — she was angry at her dad and for how his presence in her town and in her life was nothing but a great big pain. And it felt like her anger was starting to eat away at her.