The Sergeant and the Girl Next Door by Laura Rupper

Author:Laura Rupper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2023-02-08T22:44:31+00:00

Chapter 20

Faith and Mom sat at the kitchen table on a muggy August morning. Mom had prepared a delicious breakfast of French toast and bacon, and Faith sat sipping her freshly squeezed orange juice, her mind wandering back to the reception and the triumph of that day. Even though it had been weeks since the reception, the memory of getting even with Davis still made her smile.

Mom looked up from her newspaper and said, “You look like the cat that ate the canary. What are you thinking about?”

Faith laughed. “Davis’s face when he found out he wouldn’t be smoking any longer.”

“You think that’s funny?” Mom set down the newspaper and frowned at her daughter.

“Well, yes.”

“Not that funny,” Mom said. “It’s been really hard for him to quit. Cecilia told me he spends hours pacing every night.”

Faith squirmed but said, “It’s a bad habit. Quitting is for his own good.”

Mom looked at Faith with disappointment on her face. “Quitting may be better for his health in the long run, but the choice should have been his to make when he was ready. He’s having more sleep problems now that he’s quit.”

Faith stopped smiling and looked down at her feet.

“Your father smoked a pipe. Why do you care if Davis smokes?”

She squirmed in her seat some more and picked up her fork to fiddle with. “It’s not healthy, the way Davis smokes. Dad just had his pipe after dinner; Davis smokes a lot through the whole day, and I don’t know—it just seems like he is too severe sitting over on his front porch, smoking, watching Freddy drop me off. It’s like he’s some kind of serious old man.”

“You’re awfully hard on him,” Mom said. “Don’t be prejudiced, Faith. Whatever your problem with Davis is, we need him.”

She was hard on him? Davis was the one looking down his nose at her choice of dancing partner. “All we need is each other. Haven’t we made it the last two years? Why does Davis have to be part of the equation now?”

Mom picked up her paper and said, “Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.”

What on earth did that mean? Faith was pretty sure she didn’t want to know. She set down her fork and pointed at Mom’s paper, changing the subject. “Anything in the news?”

Mom pursed her lips but said, “We exploded a nuclear bomb out in the ocean yesterday. I still can’t wrap my mind around the power of it all.”

“I know. It’s terrifying.”

“We used this one to destroy a bunch of old battleships. I think we’re flexing our muscles to intimidate the rest of the world.”

“I hope it works,” Faith said seriously. “Because if it doesn’t, it’ll be the end of us all.”

Mom shook her head. “I hope Truman knows what he’s doing.”

Faith nodded her agreement.

Mom picked up her hand and rubbed it gently. “I have some questions for you too. Why do you dislike him so much? What happened that night you fought?”

Faith shook her head. “I’m going to head out to work now.

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