She didn’t want to overreact, but she really didn’t want to under-react, either.
She stopped in front of the bathroom door, noticing the light on and the toilet running. Might be leaky, unless someone had just used it before she came in. She looked inside, unsure what she was searching for.
Her gaze caught on the trash can tucked between the toilet and the counter, and she sucked in her breath.
Remington and the bed quilts might not be giving Tonya’s secrets up—but the wastebasket sure did.
* * *
Max stood back, surveying the rows of folding chairs spread across the sun-dried grass, splotches of red and blue paint evident on several patches where the tarps had failed. Trust exercises. He still wasn’t sure about this, but Emma seemed to know what she was talking about, and he wanted to incorporate her ideas. Wanted her to feel as though she was a part of this.
He knew how terrible it felt to be involved in something up to your eyebrows and still have zero control. For him, it’d been a drug addiction. For Emma, it was watching her son spiral beneath her grasp.
With God’s help, he’d beaten his. Hopefully he’d get to see Emma and Cody share a similar victory.
The kids’ voices rose on the brisk November wind as the gang filed toward him, led by Chaplain Tim, past the makeshift obstacle course he’d thrown together and wearing dubious expressions he probably mirrored. He quickly schooled his features to hopefully resemble confidence. This would go well. How could it not?
“Another obstacle course? The other one looked harder.” Cody’s voice carried on the breeze and held two parts bravado, one part trepidation. He’d struggled on the rope swing of the first obstacle course, which had set him and Jarvis at each other—no wonder he’d be wary about this one, even if by all appearances it seemed a huge step down on the difficulty factor.
But the teens didn’t know yet they’d be doing this one blindfolded.
“It was only hard for you.” Jarvis snorted under his breath as he drew near, and Max shot him a warning look that wilted his arrogant expression. No way was that getting started today. In fact...Max grinned as he glanced at the red bandanas waiting on one of the folding chairs.
He knew who Cody’s partner would be.
Emma brought up the rear of the group with the girls, who Caley had brought to him in the barn earlier that morning. Stacy and Katie had acted a little odd, but he figured it was just for getting busted for lingering in the dorm after breakfast instead of coming out to do chores. Tonya had gone right to work, even volunteering to soap saddles, the one chore the girls especially hated because of getting the polish under their nails. Despite her eagerness, he’d still have to handle the girls’ disobedience eventually, once he decided which punishment fit the crime. Maybe he’d ask Emma for her suggestions.
But in spite of his attempts to catch her eye, she remained fixated on the girls, as though afraid they’d disappear if she didn’t stare directly at them. He frowned. Weird. Something was definitely going on, and judging by Emma’s pale expression, he might have more discipline coming up than he’d thought.
Time for that later. Right now he had a horde of teens to blindfold and attempt to teach about trust.
“Line up.” He motioned for the guys to take one line and the girls another, then realized the girls were unevenly numbered. Who would sit out? Unless Emma took a spot.
He made a quick decision. “Stacy and Katie, you’re partners. Grab a blindfold. Emma and Tonya, you two will pair up.” He raised his eyebrows at Emma, and after a quick wince, she nodded. He hated to put her through the paces with the teens, but the girls couldn’t miss it and he had no reason to keep one of them out. They needed the experience.