Read Online Taking Flight by Siera Maley - Free Book Online Page A

spent most of that Saturday with Cammie after our trip to the field. She talked for most of it, telling me about life in Collinsville and about her family. She told me that her mother was born on a farm but moved up to Illinois when she was a teenager, which was where she eventually met David. Wendy’d always wanted to go back to farm life, and it’d been her idea to move to Collinsville and start a new life and family there after David got his degree in Psychology. So they compromised; they’d live on a farm, and David would run his practice at home as a side job while counseling students at the local high school. And that’s what they’d done ever since.
    She told me more about Scott too. He’d been dating Jill since their senior year of high school, and they’d gotten engaged recently. After they got married, they planned to move into a place nearby, and Jill would raise their kids while Scott helped out on the farm and worked on cars for a living. That was what he was in school for: to become a mechanic.
    I noticed that what she didn’t talk about, however, was herself. We were similar in that way. Closed-off, secretive. And although we were getting along, especially after what Cammie shared with me back in the clearing, it seemed that she’d reached her divulgence limit. Now there was definitely a sense of guardedness from both of us, like neither of us wanted to give too much away. For me, it was because I knew I planned to make changing myself difficult for the Marshalls in hopes that I’d get out of Georgia relatively unscathed. But I didn’t know what her reason was.
    After another admittedly fantastic dinner from Wendy, David wanted to talk to me again. So we spent another half-hour at the dinner table, him analyzing me while I droned on and on about how my day was okay, the horse was okay, Cammie was okay, everything was okay . It was my way of giving nothing away. I didn’t want him to know that my day wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be, that the horse was terrifying, that Cammie was sweet and a little confusing, and that everything else totally and completely sucked.
    Eventually, church came up. I drew the line in the sand there. “Listen. I want to be honest with you. I didn’t plan on even leaving my bed today, but I did. But tomorrow’s different. I’m not religious.”
    David was annoyingly accepting of that. “I understand. You made a great effort today, actually. More than we’re used to. I think it’s fair that if you don’t want to go to church tomorrow, you shouldn’t have to.”
    “I’m never going to want to go,” I said, not backing down. “Really. Never.”
    He just nodded again. “If you change your mind, let me know.”
    “I won’t,” I said.
    “Okay,” he replied, and then changed the subject. “I’m just glad to see you’re getting along well with Cammie. Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of our visitors click so quickly with Cammie or Scott. She seems to really like you.”
    “She’s okay,” I told him simply. “Can I go now?”
    “Sure.” And he let me.
    I took a long shower after that. I hadn’t gotten particularly dirty during the day – although my shoes were completely ruined – but I definitely felt dirty.
    By the time I was changed into pajamas and back in Cammie’s room, she was in the same place I’d found her last night: in bed with her Bible. I realized we’d apparently have a nightly routine in here together, so I got my mp3 player out. I was halfway under the covers when she finally acknowledged me, looking up from her Bible with her head tilted vaguely to one side.
    “Lauren?”
    I pulled a bud out of my ear and lifted an eyebrow, looking over at her. “Yeah?”
    “Are you really not religious?”
    Great. So we were going to have this conversation. “I’m not,” I confirmed. “Did your dad tell you?”
    “He just came up while you were in the shower. He told me you didn’t want to come to church tomorrow.