Long Steady Distance by Helena Hill

Author:Helena Hill [Hill, Helena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781976855054
Published: 2018-01-25T03:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Monday morning at breakfast, Rachel sits next to me and bounces Horsie up and down on my legs, singing a song about Noah’s ark she must’ve learned in Sunday school. Mom is doing the perfect housewife breakfast routine, waffles in the iron and juice on the table. She didn’t do this when we lived with Grandma. Back then, we all got our own breakfast of cereal and tea whenever we got out of bed. But now she packs me and Peter a lunch, makes us waffles or pancakes before we leave the house.

Peter’s on his way out the door, a waffle squeezed between his teeth. He takes it out to kiss Mom on the cheek. It reminds me of Sophie, dropping me off after the states meet Saturday, brushing a kiss across my cheek that ran shivers down my spine…

“Emily, can you help clean that up?”

I jump. Rachel has spilled a glass of milk and is close to tears. I didn’t even notice. “Yeah, sorry.” I sop up the spill with the cloth napkin, momentarily feel bad that I’ve just covered one of the items that Peter’s dead wife chose ten years ago, and make a silly face at Rachel.

Mom sets a paper bag with a sandwich in front of me. “Here you go.”

“Mom, you know I can make my own lunch,” I say, eating my last bite of waffle.

“It’s fine. Are you going to the youth group November event today?”

I almost gag on my waffle. I completely forgot about youth group. “Umm, I was going to study with my friend Sophie. You met her.”

“She’s the one who won the states meet, right?”

Mom’s dim understanding of cross country is sort of comforting, from a woman that knows every detail of my life. Well, almost every detail. “Uh, well, she did really well. Now that the season’s over, I was going to, uh…tutor her. In Biology.” Shoot, I should have picked a different subject, one that I don’t already have lies built up in.

Mom doesn’t seem to notice or care, though. “Can you do tutoring another day of the week?” she asks. “I think this youth group could be a really good thing to help you get to know this church a little better.”

My whole body tightens at the thought of sitting in a church basement with Beth and Pastor Dan and Charity the homeschooler and all the other kids from various private schools around Pineridge, applying the lessons of Jesus to Teen Issues™. Especially when I could be spending the afternoon with Sophie. “You’re totally right. It’s just that specifically for today I promised Sophie I would help and I don’t want to go back on that.” I see Mom, looking at the pile of dishes, and I remember she’s trying to make this work, and I’m supposed to try and make it work. “I’ll go to the December one,” I say in a small voice.

“Okay,” Mom says. “I don’t want you to have to back out on a promise.

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