"What girl?"
"Faith-"
"Gladwell. So the rumors are true." Cade's tone hardened. "You better not screw her over. She's a sweetheart."
"Exactly." Kyle sat up. "That's why I need your help."
"Okay, this is going to take longer than I have right now. Do you mean it?" Cade sounded doubtful. "That you want to do better?"
"Yes. I mean it."
"You know what, I believe you," Cade said. "Step one, be there for her. We'll work out the rest when we talk on Monday."
Kyle's stomach twisted. "That might be easier said than done."
"No excuses. I'll find a way to help you, but you need to own this, or we're done. Got it?"
Funny enough, he did. "Yeah. And thanks."
"You bet. I'll see you Monday. Be good until then."
"I'll try."
Cade hung up, and Kyle stretched back out in the grass. Who knew. Maybe taking a step back to who he was could help him take a giant leap toward who he really wanted to be. Nothing else had worked so far. It was time to see if Cade could work a miracle.
Chapter Thirty
Faith
"It's time to work our behinds off, people," Mr. Fisk said. "This could be the best production we've had."
Faith was sure that if the lifts worked, everything else would. She glanced at Josh, the boy playing Jud. He was a pretty good dancer, but she was so worried about him trying to pick her up. He was her height, and thin. Maybe he was stronger than he looked.
"Mr. Fisk?" Cade, the AV boy, asked. "Did you see my email about sepia lighting for the dream sequence?"
"I did. Loved it!" Their teacher looked around at the other principals: Ado Annie, Curly, Jud, Will, and Aunt Eller. "I think we'll be ready to go in two weeks. Your parents will be thrilled."
He had a point-it was a good group. Still, a nagging pain kept tugging at her heart. She'd slept badly last night, but even with Dad saying everything would be better in the morning, it wasn't. Nothing about what happened with Kyle made sense. It was like …
Like he felt guilty for making out with her. But why? She'd kissed him. It wasn't like he coerced her into it. The whole thing had been so weird. And a little humiliating. Had she been wrong about thinking he was into her?
That couldn't be right, though. Not with the way he looked at her.
This was going to drive her crazy.
"Faith? You with us?"
She looked up, and everyone was staring at her. Mr. Fisk shook his head. "Faith, I asked if you're comfortable with the choreography."
She blinked to refocus on the people around her. "Oh, yeah. Fine. So long as Josh is."
"I'll be fine," he said, giving her a suspicious look.
"All right, then. Cade, I'll see you and the lighting crew at the performing arts hall in an hour. The rest of y'all rest up this weekend-and no stupid activities. If any of you goes mountain biking and shows up with a broken arm next week, I'm going to lose my sh … sanity."
They all laughed and stood to go. Faith bent to check her phone, and when she looked up, she noticed Cade had hung back.
"Need something?" she asked, smiling. He was a nice guy, but they weren't close.
"Can I ask you a question?" He took the seat next to her. "It's kind of personal."
Oh, no. He wasn't going to ask her out, was he? She wasn't ready for that. "Um, sure."
"What's with you and Kyle Sawyer?"
Not him, too. "Why would you ask?"
He frowned. "I thought I heard something, about Dolly's-"
"We were together, but not anymore." She sighed. "He said he didn't want to anymore. I don't know why."
"Huh." Cade's frown deepened. "Forget I asked. It was kind of rude of me to pry. Guess I'll see you Monday."
He stood and mimed tipping a hat before loping out of the restaurant. He was tall and stocky-the kind of guy who gave great hugs and laughed a lot. Just talking about Kyle made her head hurt, but the look on Cade's face set off an alarm in her head. Something happened to drive Kyle away. She just didn't know what, and she was too tired to keep trying to figure it out.
She drove home in her Bug with the top down and the wind in her hair. She really should go to the studio and practice, but the thought of dancing brought back too many feelings. Waiting a few more days would be better. Instead, she drove to Violet's, taking time to enjoy the canopy of trees on the road leading to her house.
Vi flung the front door open before Faith had the Bug in park. "Okay, so what's up with Sawyer?"
That seemed to be the question of the day. "If I knew, I could probably broker world peace." Faith gave Vi a quick hug and followed her inside. The downstairs of her house was wide open, with big picture windows overlooking the lake. She needed this, a moment to recharge. Too many intense things had happened in the last week-not even a week, actually-and it was time to take a step back.
"Well, I, for one, don't believe it." Vi announced. She hopped up onto her coffee table and put her hands on Faith's shoulders. "Look into my eyes, gazelle. That boy is into you. Like a lot. More than Cameron ever was."
Faith tore her gaze away from Violet's. "Even if that was true, he doesn't want me in his life anymore."
Violet let out a theatrical sigh, stepped off the coffee table and flopped onto the couch with a hand flung against her forehead. "Woe is me. I got to make out with an incredibly hot boy, embarrass the hell out of my ex, and now I'm going to let that hot boy scamper out of my life without demanding an explanation." She sat up and pointed at Faith. "Grow a pair, dahling."
Faith threw up her hands. "It's not my decision, and he made it pretty clear he doesn't want me around."
"Make it your decision."
Faith sat on the couch next to Violet, who curled up next to her and rested her head on Faith's shoulder. "I have a feeling it's more complicated than that."
"Don't be defeatist. It's ill bred."
Faith groaned. "I'm regretting talking you into bingeing Downton Abbey with me."
"It's because I love you." Vi sat up. "Do you want me to find out what's going on? I probably could."
There was no doubt. She had connections in every corner of the school. "I'll think about it over the weekend. I might decide to let it go, but I'll give it serious thought. Promise."
Violet patted her on the head. "Good ballerina. That's a good girl."
Faith laughed. "You keep doing that, and I'm going to wag my tail and demand a treat."
She hopped off the couch. "Treats! I have some. Mom bought six half gallons of ice cream now that Blue Bell is back on sale. She went to three different stores to find them. I say we eat it all up."
Faith followed her into the kitchen. "Now you're talking."
"Faith?" Mom called when she opened the front door.
It sounded like she was on the porch. Faith's heart panged. Beautiful as the yard was, she wasn't sure she wanted to see it-or Kyle-right now. She'd eaten two bowls of ice cream and wanted nothing more than to take a bath and lie in bed reading for three hours.
"Faith? I want to talk to you."
Persistent mothers were akin to attention-seeking three-year-olds: they wouldn't stop chasing you down until they got their way. "Coming."
The porch was bathed in light from the setting sun, and the azaleas glowed. No sign of Kyle, though. She'd guessed that, since his truck wasn't here, but there was always a chance. Mom motioned for her to come sit on the sofa with her.
"So I take it things didn't work out with Kyle?" she asked.
Dad must've talked to her. "No. He decided he wasn't interested."
Mom stroked her hair. "Hmm. Why would that be?"
Faith fought the urge to bury her face in Mom's lap and cry until her tears were dried up. There were advantages to being a four-year-old, back when things were uncomplicated and a skinned knee was the worst thing that could happen. "He said he'd break my heart if we stayed together. I should've seen that coming, actually. Breaking hearts is his specialty."
Mom's forehead wrinkled. "Kyle? Our Kyle?"
Our Kyle, like she'd already adopted him and made a place for him at their dinner table. "Yes."
"But why would you think that?"
"Mom, I didn't want to tell you this because I thought you'd worry, and I can take care of myself. Kyle's a total player. He's kind of a bad boy, actually. Races his Charger, gets into trouble a lot, has a string of college-aged girls on the go."
Mom's expressed went from confused to flabbergasted. "Honey, there's no way that kid is all those things. He's so professional." She chuckled. "When he's not being socially awkward, that is. That is not a boy who dumps girls after one date or runs with a bad crowd. Didn't you say he plays baseball?"
"Yeah, and he's really good." Faith picked at her fingernails. "He's an outfielder. Apparently he takes crazy dives all the time. So even on the field, he's wild."
"‘Wild' isn't the word I'd use," Mom said, taking her hand so she had to stop tearing up her nails. "‘Fierce,' maybe? ‘Passionate'? One look at our backyard will tell you that-what Kyle loves, he does with everything he has. Which is why I'm so surprised he broke it off with you."