It was a small miracle that Greg’s party the night before had gone off without a hitch. The bigger miracle was that Taylor had survived the night without breaking up with Quinlen or starting World War III with her sister though neither had been forgone conclusions when the evening started.
When she awoke on Sunday morning to find a new day had actually followed the challenges of the evening, she took a small breath and did not move again for a long minute. Yes. She was still alive, and the earth or something horrible hadn’t swallowed her alive.
However, as she lay there, thoughts of the coming week began to swirl around her. Greg and Clara were scheduled for depositions the following day and Nelson and Paige the day after that. Thoughts of what Wednesday would mean for her rolled her over, and she blinked back the tears. How was she ever going to live through that?
The thought of Yoli’s lessons about taking God with you into the fire washed through her, and she nodded into them. If she was going to have any hope of getting through this in one piece, she was going to need God to show up in a big, big way. Her thoughts drifted to Greg and him insisting that he had, in fact, been praying for her. She was thankful for those prayers. In fact, she didn’t want to think of where she might have ended up without them.
With those thoughts in mind, she dragged herself out of bed and went to shower. Today was church. And she needed church today. Maybe more than she ever had in her life.
Sunday morning, November 10th, Greg met both Nelson and Wes at the little dining room table. He’d already had Happy Birthday texts from Clara, Lauren, and Crystal. As birthdays went, so far it wasn’t too bad.
“Morning,” Wes said.
“Morning,” Greg replied, going to get something to eat.
“You survived last night,” Nelson said.
“Yep. Go me.” Toast and cereal would have to do. As the other two talked about the night before, Greg made his breakfast and got to the table about the time the topic turned to the coming week.
“It’s getting worse,” Nelson said, glancing at Greg as Greg ate his toast. “I really thought for a while last night she wasn’t even going to come.”
Wes nodded. “I wondered about that. So, what does the counselor say?”
“Oh, you know, to get her on the meds, she has to go to someone else,” Nelson said. “The counselor wants her to do that, but Paige…” He glanced again at Greg. “Well, it’s complicated.”
Guilt sliced through him. He hadn’t had the chance to call Thomas, Paige and Taylor’s dad, and let him know what was going on with Paige like he’d promised Nelson he would do on Friday.
“I can’t believe her parents aren’t freaked out about it,” Wes said. “I remember when Lauren and I were first going together, I thought Paige’s dad would rip out my spleen if I hurt Lauren. Not that this is you, but…”
“They don’t know,” Greg said, and he knew that for sure whether he had actual evidence of it or not. “And, unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to be the ones to speak up.” His heart twisted at that because he felt like he would be betraying both girls, but someone had to say something. “I don’t know why, but both of them are in protect-Mom-and-Dad-at-any-cost mode right now. Paige isn’t going to tell them if she isn’t pinned down to it.”
“I hate doing that to her,” Nelson said. “She’s going to hate me forever.”
Greg let out a sigh. “Yeah. That’s why I think I should.” He tipped his head. “What’s she going to do, pitch me off a building? I’ll call Thomas. We’ll figure something out.”
Arriving at the church alone was getting easier. Never would Taylor have thought that would be the case. She was all the way in the lobby when her glance to the side met up with Sarah, Ron, and the girls standing there talking with someone she’d never seen before. Although Taylor’s plan had been to go on into the church and find a seat alone, one smile at Charlotte who immediately looked her way changed that plan. Bouncing over, Greg’s little sister stopped her forward progress before she made even three more steps.
“Taylor,” Charlotte said, barely containing her excitement. The girl jumped into Taylor’s arms as Taylor bent down. “Did you hear? Did you hear? I made a