“He’s fine.”
Regan stared at Josh, mouth open, heart racing. No wonder he was so good at this preacher thing. He sounded so sure, like there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. Did he trust in God that much, was he so sure that because God was watching over her son, that no harm could come to him? And would she ever have a faith that strong?
“I know. I need to trust in God. And some little, tiny voice inside me is trying to tell me that Luke is fine. But still, until I see him with my own two eyes, I won’t be...”
Suddenly, Luke appeared beside Josh and in a rush of denim and ski-jacket vinyl, wrapped his arms around her, burying his head in her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she could have sworn she heard him mumble, but she was too focused on the huge wave of relief that was flooding her heart to know for sure.
Plus, it didn’t matter. Happiness overflowed her, and she felt a smile cover her face that couldn’t have been contained, even if she’d wanted to. She peered over Luke’s shoulder at Josh, standing a few feet away, smiling as well. “You found him,” she whispered, and he nodded. “How? Where?”
Josh began to answer but Luke pushed back, no doubt suddenly aware that he was making physical contact with a parent in front of several hundred teenagers—not cool. She swung her glance to his face, anxious to drink in the sight of him, standing there safe and sound after her entire day of worry and dread.
But the sight was a shock.
“What did you do? Oh my gosh!” She lifted her hand towards his face and he caught it, blocking her path.
A monumental bandage covered the right side of his forehead and temple, and a dime-sized drop of crimson was just beginning to seep through the snow white cotton. His cheek on that side was swollen and she could tell that by tomorrow, he’d have a full-blown bruise there. She had no idea how much he was injured underneath his jacket but considering the extent of the damage to his face, her imagination could conjure up, without too much effort, a horrible vision of more bruises and scrapes throughout.
“I’m okay, Mom.”
“No, obviously you’re not. What happened to you?” She reached up to touch his forehead and again, he stopped her. She knew she had to watch tramping on his manhood, but hey, he had a big bloody bandage on his head! She was entitled.
“I did something stupid. And I’m sorry, Mom.”
He stopped, like that was all the explanation that was necessary. “Keep talking.” When he didn’t, she glanced over at Josh. “Were you with him?”
Josh stepped closer. “Not when it happened. I was doing my rounds at the hospital when I saw Rick in the hallway.”
“Rick! You were with your dad?” She swung back to her son, glaring now, feeling vaguely like an observer in a maddening game of tennis. It wasn’t Rick’s day to have him. Why had Luke raced away from her, and headed straight to his dad’s?
“Mom, okay, let me tell you what happened. Remember when I left this afternoon, I was mad at you. We’d had a fight about …” She and Luke both looked over at Josh. He stared for a second, and then recognition dawned. Her heart warmed when, like the total gentleman he was, he gave them both a break and turned away.
She watched him look around the sanctuary, probably recognizing plenty of opportunities to stay busy—cleaning up the remnants of fruit, chips and desserts that had previously flown through the air and landed haphazardly around the room.
Good. Now she and Luke could have this conversation with some semblance of privacy. Well, as much privacy as was possible in a large public sanctuary with at least fifty teens still milling around, not yet wanting to leave.
“No, I want Josh to hear this, too.”
Regan gaped at her son like he was an incredibly well-crafted clone of the boy she knew and loved. Luke wanted to fess up while Josh listened on the side? Her son, who made mumbling an art form, and never said two words, when one would do? She looked over his shoulder at Josh, who hung by uncertainly. Meeting her eyes, he shrugged. Both adults lingered in uncertainty until her son broke the tie. Luke trudged over to a pew and sat down, leaving Regan and Josh with no choice but to follow him.
“Okay, look, Mom. We both know why I stormed out today. It’s because I invited you to come to the Youth Rally, and you refused.”
Regan felt her face burn a little. Josh was a smart guy. It wouldn’t take him long to figure out why on earth she would turn down her son’s invitation. But Luke’s next words ensured that he wouldn’t have to use those deductive reasoning powers, because Luke laid it right out on the table for them both.
“I know why you said you wouldn’t come. You didn’t want to take the chance of running into Josh.”
“Luke!” If her face was red before, it was aflame now, and downright in need of the fire department to extinguish the heat. How dare he say that in front of Josh! If she weren’t so glad to see him, she may have throttled the kid.
“It’s true, Mom. I don’t get you guys. I know you like him, Mom. And he likes you too, don’t you, Josh?”
At least the kid provided equal opportunities for humiliation, and didn’t just heap them all on her. Like staring at a bad accident while driving by on the highway, she couldn’t help wrenching her gaze over to Josh’s face and she saw that he, too, had a crimson sheen.
“Sure, Luke. I sure do.” His words came out a little clipped, but she couldn’t tell whether he was strangled from embarrassment or laughter. And she wasn’t about to study him long enough to figure it out. Ah, the joys of parenthood.
“So, what’s the deal?”
Regan cleared her throat. “Luke, that topic isn’t up for discussion right now. We’re talking about you. Not us.”
Her unfortunate choice of words made it sound like there was an “us” between she and Josh. “I mean, not me. Not Josh. You. Got it?”
Her son smiled—then, chuckled. He knew exactly what he was doing. Not only was he procrastinating the telling of his own tale, but he was getting digs in about her breakup with Josh. Was he too big to spank?
“Yeah. Okay, so I was mad at you, that you wouldn’t come to the rally, and you were avoiding Josh for some reason, which made absolutely no sense to me …”
“Luke…” she said it in a warning tone, drawn out ominously so he’d be sure to get her message.
He did. He moved right on, not missing a beat. “So I just left, not really knowing where I would go. Just had to get out, you know? Try to figure thing out. So I ended up on the train, and I went to Dad’s place.”
“Did you tell Dad we’d had a fight?” There was a beat of silence, and she sincerely hoped she didn’t sound quite as insecure as she felt.
“Not exactly. But,” here he ducked his head so Regan braced herself for what was undoubtedly going to be difficult, “I asked him if I could move in with him.”
“What!” She spit out the word, outraged. Her stomach felt like she’d just received a sucker punch. Her breath was strained, coming in short pants. “Luke, what were you thinking? How could you do that, without even discussing it with me?”
“It’s okay, Mom,” he began, but she didn’t give him much of a chance to continue.
“No, it’s not okay, Luke. The judge has already decided our custody arrangement. If your father thinks for one minute that you’re not happy with me, he won’t wait a second to haul me back …” and she stopped.
Divorce 101—no matter how frustrated you are with your ex, don’t badmouth him in front of your child. She may have to clamp down on her tongue hard enough to draw blood at times, but she’d always committed to that rule, for Luke’s sake. No matter what.
“It doesn’t matter, Mom. He said no. Actually, it was Monique who said no, and Dad wasn’t about to go against what she said.”
Regan’s head was spinning and the big sanctuary, so firmly rooted to the ground, was beginning to do a little dance of its own. When had her life slipped so suddenly and so completely out of her control? Random thoughts and flits of panic bombarded her brain and she felt lightheaded. If she didn’t find something to focus on, she was certain she’d pass out soon. And she needed to stay conscious to hear the rest of this story.
She turned her head just a little and discovered that the one thing she was searching for was right within her sights. The cross.
She stared at it and the room stopped spinning. It transmitted power and radiated strength. She formed an unbreakable line of sight straight to the wooden cross and didn’t look away. The dizziness faded. Her breathing became calmer, more regular. It would all work out, with God’s help.
Fortified, she turned back to Luke.
“I was mad because you’d turned me down about the Youth Rally, and then Dad turned me down about living with him. I was just kind of mixed up, you know? So I did something really stupid, and just ran, blind. Right into a car.”
She gasped, but he forged on, “I laid on the street for a while, then Dad took me to the hospital.”
She reached out and this time, he let her tenderly touch his face with her fingertips. “What’s
the extent of your injuries?”
“Concussion. Scrapes. Nothing serious.”
“Thank God,” Josh murmured, and Regan sent him a relieved smile. She’d been thinking the same thing herself.
“So, you don’t really want to live with your dad?” She had to make sure.
“No. I’m happy with you.”
His simple words lifted a substantial weight off her heart. She stood. “Let’s get you home then. You need some TLC.”
He looked up at her, towering over him as he remained seated on the pew, and then focused on Josh. Curious, she watched the two of them. Whether Luke had intended some sort of message in his eyes or not, Josh evidently received one. Call it some unspoken guy thing, but Josh suddenly stood as well, and said, “Before you go, Regan, mind if I have a word with you?”
Inexplicably, his words sent shivers cascading down from her heart to the pit of her stomach. Before she could analyze the cause of the strange sensation, she began shaking her head. Her maternal impulses were kicking in and she needed to take care of her boy. After an entire day of worrying about his safety and well-being, she was entitled to take him home and pamper him a bit. So why did half of her want to stick around and hear what Josh had to say?
“I need to get him home, Josh. You understand.”
At least she assumed he would. He wasn’t a parent, but he was a youth pastor, and he was close enough to Luke and dozens of other kids like him, to know when it was time to play the part of the grown-up.
“Actually, Mom, I’m not ready to go yet. I want to go talk to Brad and Jessica about the Rally and find out how it went.”
Her mouth popped open in surprise, and before she could engage it to say something useful, he was gone. She had to hand it to him—the injury had not slowed the kid down any. He was motoring as well as he always had.
Which left her alone with Josh. Her heart was pounding already.