“That was quick,” he says, but I don’t entertain it.
“Was everything okay?” Mom asks quietly.
“Yeah,” I mumble. “Just preoccupied with his rodeo this coming weekend.”
“Gotcha.” She drops it and looks back at the TV.
I sit there and act like everything’s fine. But it’s not. The more I replay the exchange, and then rewind and play through lunch and our time at church prior to that, it wasallweird. He was distant all day.
I pick my phone up, distracting myself from everything. I check my text messages. Totally missed one from Wesley a few hours ago, asking me if everything is okay. And if that isn’t the most ironic thing ever.
Seeing he sent it soon after church ended, I put the pieces together. I didn’t go to Sunday school. That’s why he’s asking. I never miss Sunday school unless I’m not at church at all, of course, which is rare.
Me- “yup.”
Wes- “can I call you?”
My heart jumps into my throat and my skin gets clammy. Phone calls between us were never a thing until recently and I’m still not quite used to it.
I go out to the kitchen, texting him back and wondering if he means right now or later.
If he wants to talk right now, I need to go upstairs or something. My family is way too nosey for this one.
“Hey, girl,” Ella’s voice calls out.
I turn and force a quick smile. “Hey.”
“Brantley left sorta sudden?”
“Yeah. He has a rodeo next weekend and just needed to focus on that.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes venture away from mine and she steps further into the room. “What did he think of church? You said he doesn’t really go?”
“Yeah, it was fine.” I shrug. “He didn’t want to go to Sunday school, but…”
“Maybe next time,” she suggests, like she knows what I didn’t want to say.
“Yeah.” I swallow hard.
I’d talk to Ella more in depth about all this—I would—but not right now, not with the risk of everyone else hearing. It’d turn into a family meeting with everyone’s thoughts and opinions spewing out like fireworks, and then I’d just get overwhelmed and leave in tears.
“If you ever wanna talk, you know I’m literally right next door, right?” she reminds me with a soft smile that leads me to think she doesn’t want to pry.
I nod, fighting tears. Between Wesley raising questions and Ella, I’m stressed. Maybe I’m not seeing the big picture; do I have blinders on? I’m just…confused.
My phone vibrates in my back pocket. My heart jumps, and when I see it’s Wes calling, I quickly excuse myself up to my room.
“What’s up?” I ask, reaching the top of the steps.
“Well…” Wes sighs but there’s a laugh on the end of it.
I quietly shut my door and sit on the edge of my bed. Even though my gut knows what this is about, I don’t want to jump the gun. I already freaked out on him once last week. I’d rather not go through all that again.
“Is something wrong?” I manage to say.
“No.I’mgood. I-I just…” he stutters and pauses. I sit back on my bed, lifting my feet up and resting on my side. “I just wanted to check on you,” he finishes.
My heartbeat ramps up. “Check on me?”
