but it didn’t change the smoky look in her eyes. “Kiss me, Cody … please.”
A shallow breath caught in his throat, and he tried to keep from looking surprised. This should’ve been his move, but he hadn’t known if the time was right. Or he hadn’t thought about it exactly. Either way, she didn’t have to ask him twice. He leaned close and kissed her, kissed her in a way that he hoped told her just how much he cared, and that what he’d said back when she was in the hospital was all the more true now.
He wasn’t going anywhere.
Twenty-Two
IT WAS THE LAST BIBLE STUDY OF THE SUMMER FOR BETTY KELLER and her friends, and Bailey wondered how she would’ve gotten through the weeks without this place of grounding and growing and learning. Most of all learning. Already the women had their Starbucks drinks and they were seated around Betty’s living room.
One of the things Bailey loved about this group of friends was that they wasted no time getting to the heart of their struggles, the reasons that had brought them together for a study like this in the first place. Sara wore her red shoes — same as always — Marie had a new pair of cropped pants, and Barbara was tanned from a brief trip to Florida over the past week to see her daughter. But they spent only a minute or so on those details before they opened their Bibles and turned to Matthew chapter six.
“We always like to close our summer by reading about forgiveness,” Betty took the lead. “Forgiveness can be the one thing that truly holds us back in our Christian walk.”
Bailey stared at the words in her Bible. If Betty hadn’t said that she would’ve thought maybe the woman had chosen this section of Scripture for Bailey alone. For a moment she remembered what had happened a few days ago after her Bible study with the cast of Hairspray. A few more dancers had joined the group over the last five weeks, and Bailey thought they were making progress. Gerald and the others could see that Bailey wasn’t out to attack them with Bible verses, and in fact they’d come to appreciate the time they shared together.
The problem was the rest of the cast, and long before this last meeting Bailey could sense the dissension between her and them. It came as no real surprise when Francesca showed up at the end of Bailey’s Bible study a few days ago. She waited until it was over so they could talk, and she made herself clear. “You need to stop this … this Bible thing you’re doing.” Her tone wasn’t angry, but it left no room for debate. “Whatever you’re doing here … it’s messing with the unity on my cast.” She stopped and waved her hand toward the place where Bailey and Gerald and the others had been sitting. “At first I thought it would be fine … a little discussion time or whatever … something to honor Chrissy’s memory.” She stared straight at Bailey. “But not anymore. If you want to keep your spot with the Hairspray family, this is your last meeting.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Bailey didn’t know what else to say. Ever since then she’d been angry with herself and angry with Francesca, frustrated at the other cast members who’d clearly gone to her and complained — even when they didn’t know the first thing about what was discussed at the meeting.
That wasn’t the only thing bothering Bailey. She’d updated her Facebook page over the weekend and there she had seen what she expected to see weeks ago. But that didn’t make the realization any easier to take. Cody was in a relationship with Cheyenne. His Facebook status said so, and the photos from his team’s first win showed one with Cody and Chey, their arms around each other, surrounded by celebrating football players.
The women were still catching up, talking amongst themselves about the struggles they’d faced that week. Bailey wanted to focus on what they were saying, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Cody. It wasn’t right that Cheyenne was sharing his football journey with him. She was the one with a lifetime of football knowledge. Her dad was the NFL coach, after all. If Cody had handled this right, Bailey would’ve been the one beside him in the picture, sharing with him his team’s first win. She could’ve taken a weekend off for that, right?