Betrayal of the Band by Sarah Tipton

Author:Sarah Tipton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian Fiction
ISBN: 9781611169621
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2017-07-17T04:00:00+00:00

28

Losing The Lifeboat

“I don’t feel so good.” Zoey stood by the dining table and rubbed her head making her sleep-rumpled hair messier to emphasize her excuse to Livvy and Dad. Which wasn’t really a lie. She felt terrible, even if it was guilt-terrible and not sick-terrible. “I probably shouldn’t go to church today.”

“You don’t look so good either.” Dad accepted Zoey’s words at face value. And did nothing to help her feel better. “You haven’t felt good for a few days, have you?”

“Nope.” Another mostly truth. Zoey sniffed like she had a runny nose, but all the crying of the past few days had dried up everything, including the congestion, and left behind an aching head.

Livvy sat at the table and picked apart a muffin watching Zoey but not contributing.

“You should go back to bed.” Dad slid a bookmark into the book he’d been reading. The cover was a dirty blue with scroll-y gold writing Zoey couldn’t read, but probably gave some boring history title. “Want me to fix you a cup of tea or something?”

“No.” Her stomach turned at the suggestion of anything, food or drink. She should be happy Dad was buying her excuse and not probing, but his sympathy only made her feel worse. She didn’t deserve niceness. She deserved the misery reigning inside her head. “Thanks.”

Zoey padded down the hall to her bedroom. Before she could push the door shut, Livvy was pushing the door open. Zoey tumbled onto the bed without making eye contact and hid under the sheets. Go away. Just go away.

“I know you’re not sick.” Livvy tugged the sheets off Zoey’s face. “I know you don’t feel good, but you’re not sick.”

Zoey rolled away, groaning and hoping Livvy took the sound as proof she was sick and not for what it really meant—annoyance.

“You don’t want to see Justin, right?” The mattress sagged as Livvy sat. “I totally get that. Believe me, I get it.”

With Livvy’s dating history, yeah, she probably did. But losers breaking up with Livvy wasn’t the same as what happened between Justin and Zoey. Zoey was the loser.

More groans. She buried her face in the pillow.

“But Zo, don’t avoid God too.” Livvy massaged Zoey’s shoulder. Another show of sympathy she didn’t deserve. “Trust me, He’s the only one who will help you get through this.”

No, He wouldn’t. God knew what Zoey had done. If God was taking sides, He’d take Justin’s. Justin was the good guy.

“If you want, you can come to the college class with me instead of the youth group. That way, you won’t have to sit through an entire hour in the same room as Justin.”

Couldn’t Livvy just accept Zoey’s sick excuse?

Apparently not. “The first time you see him will be hard—whether that’s today, or next month, or next year. So you might as well get it over with so you can move on.”

Why wouldn’t Livvy move on? And why did she have to make so much sense?

“Fine.” Zoey kicked the sheets to the end of the bed and sat up.

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