A Safe Place for Christmas by Lisa Carter

Author:Lisa Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-07-16T02:23:56+00:00

Chapter Nine

Unsure what she meant, Luke cocked his head. “What other thing?”

“I owe you for the Snack Pak.”

His brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“Soft drink, hamburger, small order of fries and a toy.”

Luke got the distinct feeling somehow she’d turned the tables on him, that he’d been outmaneuvered by his own logic.

“I know what the Burger Depot Snack Pak is, but what does that have to do with you owing me?”

“Autumn of my freshman year. You were a senior.” She gulped. “It was the cheapest thing I could find on the menu,” she whispered.

He stared at her blankly.

“Away game.” She fluttered her hand. “Big football rivalry.”

He gave a slow nod. “I was the team manager.”

“I collected glass bottles for weeks to redeem so I could afford the ticket.” She let out a small trickle of breath from between her lips. “In chorus, Mrs. Stewart asked me to represent our high school in a duet of the national anthem before kickoff. It was the first time someone saw anything special about me. It was an honor to be asked. I couldn’t say no.”

He smiled. “I remember everyone asking who the little freshman with the big voice was. Everybody saw how special you were that night.”

She knotted her hands in her lap. “I rode the bus with the team, the cheerleaders and the band. I had never been to a football game before.”

“Great game.” He shifted positions as Jeremiah snuggled into him. “One of Sam’s all-star quarterback performances. We won.”

She moistened her lips. “But I didn’t realize after a victory, the bus always stopped at the Burger Depot for an after-game celebration.”

He shrugged. “I still don’t—”

“I had only saved enough for the ticket.” She looked him square in the face. “I didn’t have enough money to eat at the Burger Depot.”

His gut tightened.

She fretted the edge of her sweater. “The bus was locked. Everyone was so happy, standing in line waiting to order. Except me. Everyone chatted with their friends. Except for me. I had no friends. People whispered. Pointed at me standing by the door.”

Reaching over the baby, he took her hand.

“That’s when it hit me how much I hated being poor. Never belonging. And I knew—” She ground her teeth. “I just knew it would always be that way. I’d always be nothing more than that trashy Coggins girl.”

It hurt him on an almost a visceral level to hear her demean herself. “Shayla, you’re not—”

“So do you know what I did with that profound realization?” Her eyes blazed. “With my life laid out before me in the cold, public clarity at the Burger Depot?”

He twined his fingers through hers.

“I cried.” She lifted her chin. “I stood there and cried.”

High school was hard. Tougher for some than others. He felt it for her like a punch in the gut. The crushing despair she must’ve experienced. The humiliation of being different, of not fitting in. The utter hopelessness of her situation.

She would have withdrawn her hand from his, but he held on. Refusing to let go, wishing he could somehow exchange his strength for her remembered pain.

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