Swept Away (25 page)

“Physically, I’m fine. But I’m not going to be fine after you guys find out what’s been going on.” Lilly sighed heavily. Had it been a mistake to call? She turned toward Jason only to find him glaring at her. Nope. Calling home was not the mistake.

“Okay. I’ll be right there. Your mom isn’t feeling well tonight, so I’m going to let her sleep.”

“Thanks, Stan. Only”—Lilly hesitated; the moment of truth—”you’re going to need to come get me from Jason’s house, not the church.”

Lilly gripped the phone during a several-second pause, then heard a heavy sigh from the other end of the phone line.

“Okay. I can see there’s going to be a discussion about things. So I’ll wait until we get you home where you belong before I ask my questions. Give me five minutes.” Stan disconnected the call.

Shivering, Lilly slipped her jacket on and pocketed her phone. Jason eyed her like a sideshow knife thrower. Feeling exposed under his gaze, she zipped her coat all the way to her chin. What could she say to make things better? “Jason, I—”

“No. Don’t talk to me. There’s nothing you could say that I want to hear. You’re just a baby, and it’s good you’re going home to Mommy and Daddy.” He stormed off to his room and slammed the door. The lock clicked.

Who’s the baby?

Lilly gritted her teeth and fought the urge to pound on the door and defend herself. What would be the use? Even through her anger, she couldn’t stop the tears leaving streaks down her cheeks. Why was she even crying? She knew why. Lost dreams. The dose of reality. The trouble she faced. Sadness over what she thought might be and now never would. All of the above and more. She gathered her belongings and went to the front door to wait for Stan.

Moments later, headlights appeared in the foyer window. Deep breath. Everything would be okay. Anything would be better than how she felt at that moment. She pulled the door open and bent for her things but jumped back when she found Stan already on the porch with smoke billowing from his ears. His face was enflamed and his nostrils flared.
Uh-oh
.

“I’ve got this.” Lilly tried to step past him with her things. He wouldn’t hit her, would he?

“Go ahead and wait in the car if you want to. I have a few words to say to Jason.” Stan stormed into the house.

Oh no!
Lilly ran to keep up.

A bewildered-looking Jason stood in the hallway—must have thought they’d left. He shrank against the wall when he saw Stan. “You c–c–can’t be in here.” He sidestepped toward his bedroom.

Coward
.

“I’m not going to touch you, boy. But you are going to listen to me, whether you like it or not.” Stan’s hand snaked past Jason and gripped the door handle.

“Y–yes, sir.” The defiant tilt to Jason’s chin appeared confident at first glance, but his shaking hands and eyes glistening with tears gave him away.

Nice try
.

“I have to tell you both that I’m so disappointed in you. No”—Stan rubbed his chin—”with
you
“—he pointed at Lilly—”I’m disappointed. But
you?”
He jerked his thumb at Jason. “You disgust me. You have an innocent young girl here. You know she’s had trouble at home. You capitalize on that and position yourself as some kind of savior and then convince her to do things she shouldn’t do.” He turned to Lilly. “I’m going to let your mom talk to you about what happened here. But I’mhoping the fact that you called me means it didn’t get too far.”

“No. It didn’t.” Depended what he meant by too far. “Not as far as it could have, anyway.”

“Good.” Stan turned as though to leave, but something caught his eye. “Is that champagne?” He walked over to the kitchen counter and sniffed the empty bottle. “Did you two drink all of this?”

Lilly nodded.

“Ah, that’s why you called me to come get you? Neither of you could drive?” Stan nodded. “Well, I’m thankful for that bit of common sense at least. Okay, let’s go.” He grabbed Lilly’s things and held the door open for her.

Lilly stared out the window as the car sped toward home. What could she say to this man she’d hated for so long? He turned out be a decent guy, and now she’d gone and blown it. Would he forgive her, or would this make everything bad again? She’d finally given him reason to push her away for good—would he take the opportunity?

“Stan … I’m …” Lilly leaned her forehead against the cold window.

“I know.” Stan silenced Lilly’s attempts to speak with a fatherly pat on her leg. “We’ll talkabout it at home. It’ll be okay.”

When they pulled into the driveway, Lilly could see her mom standing at the kitchen sink looking out. “Mom’s up.”

“I’m sure she’s concerned. She hasn’t felt well today, though. Try to go easy on her.” Stan pulled into the garage, turned off the car, then reached for his door handle. “Well? Shall we?”

They entered the kitchen through the garage door. “Where were you guys? Is everything okay?” Lilly’s mom stood with her hands on her hips, her new blue robe wide open, exposing her swollen belly covered by a filmy nightgown.

“We’re fine. We’ll get to that in a minute.” Stan went to her side. “How are you, Peg?” He took her hand.

“I’m okay. It must have been something I ate or just third-trimester blahs.” Mom brushed off Stan’s concern. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Lilly sat on a stool, cleared her throat, and started her story—leaving out no details—well, almost none. Mom didn’t need to hear specifics about the make-out sessions—or maybe Lilly just couldn’t bring herself to voice them. But she did tell her about the champagne. “I’m really sorry I lied to you. I’m so sorry that I got myself in such a mess.”

Mom rubbed her temples and took a few deep breaths. She leaned against the counter and grabbed on for support. Stan brought her a chair and helped her sit down. “Don’t worry about me. It just gets hard to stand up, and I’m kind of shocked by all this. I guess I shouldn’t be, though.” She shook her head and sighed. “Lill, we’re going to have to talk about this tomorrow. There will be consequences, obviously—alcohol, lies, spending the night at your boyfriend’s house. But there’s more to all of this than consequences.” She struggled to stand up. “I thought we’d made so much progress as a family.” She bit her lip and gazed out the window.

“Mom …”
What have I done?

Mom held up her hand. “Now’s really not the time, Lilly. I’m too overwhelmed to think clearly. Maybe we’ll wait and sort this out when we see Dr. Shepherd for our counseling session on Monday afternoon. I’ll let her figure it out.”

Huh?
Lilly looked at Stan quizzically. Mom didn’t want to talk to her about this until Monday? That was three days away.

Stan stepped up and supported Mom’s arm. “I think that’s a fine idea. For now, though, let’s get some sleep. You need the rest.” He helpedhis wife up the stairs and, once he got to the doorway to his bedroom, peered down across the railing to Lilly who still stood in the kitchen doorway. “Get some sleep. It’ll be okay.” He winked at her and shut the door to their room.

Lilly got herself a glass of milk, hoping it would settle her roiling stomach, and sat at the kitchen table. She fingered the fringe on the decorative cloth napkin as she thought back over the events of the evening. What was Jason thinking right now? Was he still mad at her? Was he lying in bed awake, worried if she was still mad at him? How could she restore things to the way they had been? It was too late to call him, but she’d try to reach him first thing the next morning. They needed to talk things through. Lilly took her glass to the sink and rinsed it out. She couldn’t do anything else that night—or what remained of the night. She’d better get some sleep so she could tackle whatever tomorrow held.

Third try, no answer. Lilly had been trying to reach Jason all morning, but he hadn’t picked up his cell. She even tried his home phone—no answer. Maybe he hadn’t gotten up yet. Lilly checked the time. One o’clock in the afternoon.

Unlikely he was still asleep. He must be avoiding her. Embarrassed? Yeah, maybe that was it. Maybe he regretted his behavior. Or maybe he was mad at her.

Lilly lumbered down the stairs and found her mom in the kitchen stirring the contents of a large stockpot. “Mmm, is that what I think it is? Homemade chicken-and-dumpling soup?”

“Sure is.” Mom grinned at Lilly. “I think we could all use some comfort food. Don’t you agree?” When Lilly nodded, she continued. “Lill, I’m so sorry about how I reacted last night. I shouldn’t have walked out and not dealt with your troubles. I mean, I felt angry, hurt, confused, sure, but so were you … so
are
you, I’d imagine.” She reached out to pull her daughter into an embrace. “I didn’t feel good, and it all took me by surprise, so I handled the whole thing horribly. I’m here for you now, though. I love you, and we’ll figure out how to fix this … somehow.” She pulled back and tipped Lilly’s chin up so they were eye to eye. “Okay?”

“I love you, too, Mom. And I understood, really. I mean, yeah, I was pretty confused last night—even more now—oh, I don’t know. But I’m sure I’m in trouble. Where do you want to start?”

“Honestly, as far as any trouble you might be in, I think there’s more to this than we can see on the surface. I think I’d rather wait and let Dr. Shepherd sort some of that out over the next couple of weeks. She has a way of getting to the heart of things, and I’m afraid I’ll just make it worse. My radar seems to have been off-kilter for several years.”

“Oh, it’s probably not as bad as you think.” Lilly gestured toward Stan sitting in the recliner and then smiled at her mom. They both laughed.

“Now. Tell me about Jason. What on earth happened?”

“Well …” Lilly sat down at the table and started fidgeting with the cloth napkin again. “I don’t know. It’s probably a simple case of girl looking for love turns to a friend who thinks he’s God’s gift to the female race.”

“Jason? That doesn’t sound like him.” Mom narrowed her eyes.

“Believe me, I was shocked, too. I mean, I hope he comes around and realizes that I had the right to say no. But he seemed pretty mad last night.”

“Sometimes boys have trouble getting past their physical desires. It’s all they can think about when they get worked up. That’s why we try to keep you from being in those situations—alone with a boy.” Mom let out a deep sigh.

“I know. I get that now. I thought you were trying to control me—or let Stan control me, anyway. But really, you’ve tried to protect me from things.”

“Right … me
and
Stan.”

“Yeah. He was great last night. He really defended me.” Lilly tilted her head toward the family room as Stan laughed out loud at something on TV. “He’s really changed, Mom. I think it’s for real.”

“This is the Stan I married. He went through a tough time. But you’re right, he’s coming back.” Mom rubbed her belly. “But what are we going to do about Jason? I assume you realize that your dating days are on hold now. Indefinitely.”

Lilly chuckled. “Uh. Yeah. I figured that. It’s for the best. As for Jason, I tried calling him a bunch of times—he won’t answer. So he’s either embarrassed or angry.”

“Maybe both. It’ll be okay, either way.” Mom patted her hand. “You did the right thing, Lill. I’m so proud of you for standing up for yourself and what you knew was right even when the pressure was high—even when you really wanted to go the other way.”

“Thanks, Mom. We can talk more about this later, but I’m going to go spend some time alone, if that’s okay.” She hugged her mom before she left the kitchen. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Lill.”

Up in her bedroom, Lilly went into her closet like she used to do years ago when the fights between her mom and Stan started happening. She squeezed into the far corner and pulled the pants and skirts around her head. She pressed her head into the corner and closed her eyes. Silence. Solitude. She was all alone.

Now what?

Searching the grounds for signs of Jason, Lilly hurried into the school building. She wanted nothing more than to find him before class and make sure everything was okay between them. They’d hit a bump in the road, sure. But nothing true love couldn’t overcome. She’d forgive him for pushing her too fast and let him know that she planned to wait until marriage for the kind of intimacy he wanted. Surely he’d understand. Right? What kind of man wouldn’t want a pure bride on his wedding day? But was Jason a man at all? Only time would tell.

Lilly looked down the hallway toward the cafeteria. Students milled around in every direction—no Jason. She turned toward his locker, hoping to find him there. But no Jason.

Maybe he’d already gone to his first period classroom. Lilly grew frantic. What if she didn’t find him until lunchtime? What if he hadn’t even come to school that morning?

Almost time for the bell. Lilly reluctantly abandoned her search and went to collect her things. Her locker door squeaked open, and she bent to set her books on the lower shelf in order to select the ones she needed for study hall. Turning her head just slightly so she could reach a tad farther into the locker, Lilly noticed a note taped at eye level to the inside of the door.

Jason! He was the only other person who had the combination to her locker. He must have left the note that morning. Lilly tore the paper from the door and unfolded it to find one word printed in small capital letters in the middle of the page. T
EASE
.