The Best Is Yet to Come (43)

“Could be more than one person. Everyone knows anyone who wants drugs can get them.” None of them ever had, and they didn’t know anyone who attended Oceanside High who was into that. The price was too high. The school was a drug-free zone and possession would mean immediate expulsion.

“Her finding out isn’t going to stop Ben if he’s hooked,” Joel said. “Callie’s barking up the wrong tree. I mean, what would she do once she discovers who it is?”

“Exactly,” Spencer said. She was asking them to go on a wild-goose chase. She should have gone to her parents the way he advised. They would know how to help Ben.

To some degree, Spencer understood why she hadn’t. College scouts were looking at Ben for a possible scholarship. If word got out that he was doing drugs, then any hope of that happening would be over. An academic scholarship was out of the question, since, unfortunately, Ben wouldn’t qualify for one.

“You tempted?” Joel directed the question to Spencer.

He remembered having his face shoved into a toilet bowl and held there by three of the biggest members of the football team. He wasn’t looking forward to a repeat.

“Not even close.” Only that was an exaggeration. He couldn’t help being sucked in by Callie’s tears, even though he realized he’d be setting himself up for even more trouble if he gave in.



* * *



—

That afternoon, Ms. Goodwin stepped outside the counselor’s office when she saw Spencer. He was headed toward the main office when she waylaid him.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“How do you mean?”

She crossed her arms. “I saw Callie sitting with you at lunch today.”

“Everything is fine,” he assured her.

She hesitated, as if she expected him to elaborate about his conversation with Callie. Although he would like to have gotten her advice about Callie finding the drugs on Ben, he couldn’t. That would betray her trust and have huge negative consequences for Ben.

“Are you sure about that?” she pressed.

Spencer nodded, eager to be on his way, and then hesitated. Ms. Goodwin had her suspicions, and that wasn’t a good thing.

“It was no big deal, really. If you must know, Callie needed a bit of help understanding some of the technical aspects of the computer. I was able to advise her.”

Spencer could tell by the way she regarded him that she didn’t believe him.

“I heard about Ben Rhodes and Scott getting into it this afternoon at lunch. Did that have anything to do with you and Callie?”

“You’ll need to ask them,” Spencer said, unwilling to divulge anything more.

“Coach wasn’t happy.”

Spencer snickered. “I bet not.”

“Apparently both Ben and Scott have trigger tempers.”

Spencer was all too well aware of that.

“You don’t need to worry, Ms. Goodwin, it’s all good.”

She appeared relieved.

As he left the school, Spencer noticed Scott and Ben out on the track field running laps. Coach Simmons stood on the outskirts with his arms crossed. Both boys looked exhausted.

Spencer couldn’t have kept the smile from his face, even if he’d tried.





Chapter 15




Something changed between Hope and Cade following Sunday evening when they’d met up with Silas and Jada. After a fun evening together and dinner out, Cade had driven Hope home. It was late, and they both had to be up early for work the next morning.

Even though it was well past Hope’s usual bedtime, she hadn’t wanted the evening to end. It seemed Cade didn’t, either. For the longest time they continued to sit in his pickup and talk. She found it easy to be with him. The changes in him the last few weeks were almost night and day. It was like watching the wall he’d built around himself come crumbling down one stone at a time.

As they sat in his truck, with only the dim moonlight, Cade talked about the friends he’d made in his therapy group.

“I didn’t want to go and was determined to hate every minute. I had no intention of talking, and for the first few sessions I barely said a word.”

“What changed?”

“Me, I guess. As I listened to the others, I realized they’d all gone through hell, the same as I had. The thing was, they were learning to accept the past and move forward. For some reason, I can’t even explain why, I thought if I didn’t hold on to that day…those memories, that I was somehow betraying my friends. I realize now that I had to let go of Jeremy and Luke. Knowing them as well as I do…I did, that was what they’d want. I was the one holding on to something nothing I could ever do would change.”

“That doesn’t mean you’ll forget your friends.”

“No, never. I can’t. I’ll carry them with me for whatever remains of my life.”

He snickered softly, causing Hope to wonder what he was thinking.

“What?” she asked.

“I was just remembering something Harry said. He’s the counselor who leads the group. He has a way of knowing exactly the right questions to ask. I swear he’s a mind reader. Have you ever met anyone like that?”

For a long moment, Hope said nothing. It had always been like that between her and Hunter. It was as if they knew each other’s thoughts. Living with grandparents who loved them, and at the same time resented them, they knew they would always be there for each other. Then Hunter was gone.