Tosha shook her head. “Like Evie said—you guys are my best shot as seeing my next birthday.”
“I didn’t say it like that,” Evie muttered under her breath as she breezed past him into the hallway.
For a brief moment, Seth wondered what Tosha would think about them going into different bedrooms. The troubled teen dropped to the couch and hung her head. She had bigger things to worry about than where he and Evie slept. He hoped so, at least.
It wasn’t long before they pulled up to the Henderson house. All the lights were on, the house lit up like it was midnight on New Year’s Eve. Mr. Henderson paced in front of the window, his phone pressed against his ear. Mrs. Henderson was standing nearby, holding their five-year-old tight against her.
“Great. He’s calling the police.” Tosha threw her hands in the air.
“Or your friends,” Seth couldn’t help pointing out.
She grumbled as she climbed out of the car. Her attitude had shifted from fear to defensiveness in one second flat. Ah, to be a teenager again. He remembered those times: being in trouble, knowing you were in the wrong, and just wanting to have a safe place to land. He’d never messed up on purpose. Yeah, he’d made dumb decisions, but it wasn’t like he’d had parents to guide him along the way. He was lucky if they paid the power bill.
Tosha had so much more than he did, yet she craved love just as much as he had. He took a deep breath.Dear God in Heaven, if You have a plan here, let me be a part of it. I just want to serve You, Lord. Help me know what this family needs.
He looked over and found Evie’s eyes closed as she too sent supplication to the Lord. He chewed his lip as some of his anger at her dissolved. He didn’t have time to really look at his deeper feelings, to understand why, but he put a pin in the thought to come back to it later.
Tosha held back, not wanting to walk into her own house, so Seth knocked on the door. He glanced behind him to see Tosha hiding behind Evie. They waited a minute, and then Mrs. Henderson pulled the door open. Her eyes glanced over him. “How did you know to come?” She skipped to Evie and then saw Tosha.
The next thing Seth knew, he was thrown against the brick as Mrs. Henderson shoved him out of the way to get to her daughter. “Oof!” He grunted as his head hit the wall and the air was knocked out of him.
Evie managed to avoid a similar fate with a quick step. She placed her hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”
His pulse accelerated because of her touch, thrumming in the spot where a nice goose egg was forming. He nodded as he rubbed the knot. “I’ll have a nice headache in the morning.”
Mrs. Henderson cried and kissed Tosha, who was also crying. This night already had a lot of tears, and it felt like it was just beginning.
Mr. Henderson appeared in the doorway, blocking the light and casting a dark shadow over the happy reunion. “Where have you been?”
Tosha lifted a shoulder and dropped her chin to her chest, mute.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve put your mother through tonight?” he demanded, a vein in his neck popped out and began to pulse.
Seth stepped between him and the ladies. Evie’s hand went to his back in a show of silent support. “Hello, Mr. Henderson. I believe Tosha has something she’d like to talk to you about, but can I say, before your mind flies off into scary thoughts, that it’s not as bad as you think?”
Mr. Henderson’s vein melted back into his skin. He managed a quick handshake. “She’s scared us half to death. I don’t know if I should be grateful it’s not as bad as I think or ticked off.”
Seth smiled. “Let’s go with gratitude for the moment.”
Mrs. Henderson kept one arm around her daughter, who dragged her feet getting over the threshold and then motioned for Seth and Evie to follow.
The front room was well-kept with a line worn in the gray carpet by Mr. Henderson’s pacing. One couch sat under the front window with a love seat facing it and a coffee table in between them. Jennifer, the five-year-old, sat in the corner with a phone, watching a show.
“I just called off the police.” Mr. Henderson shut the door behind them. “I’m sure they’ll check in in a couple of days. We’ll be lucky if child services isn’t breathing down our neck.”
Mrs. Henderson positioned Tosha next to her on the love seat. She brushed her hair off her face. “Tell us what’s going on,” she softly pleaded.
Tosha took a deep breath and then looked at Evie. Evie nodded for her to start, giving her courage by just being there. Seth measured Mr. Henderson’s mood. He had his arms crossed and his feet spread apart. Nothing about him saidunderstanding parent. This might get rough.
“I f-failed E-english.” Tosha covered her eyes as if she couldn’t bear to see her parents’ reaction.
“You failed a test?” Mr. Henderson clarified.
“No.” Tosha rolled her eyes like he was an idiot.
Seth wondered if he’d been the same way—combative and full of attitude. Who was he kidding? Of course he was the same. He felt the need to come to her rescue, even though she wasn’t doing herself any favors. “She failed the class.”
Mrs. Henderson’s eyebrows lowered, and Mr. Henderson’s vein appeared again.
