Behind Her Smile Read Free

college, too, that is.”
    Luke scoffed. “You’ll need to spend more time studying and less time socializing if you want to get a scholarship and be able to go away for college. Otherwise, you’ll end up living here and going to SCC.”
    Lucy looked at him with an air of dismissal. “I’m going to college in California. I’ve already decided.” Then she turned her focus to Madison. “What about you, Maddie? Where do you want to go?”
    Shrugging, Madison replied, “I’m not sure.”
    “You better start thinking about it,” Lucy warned. “You only have one more year before you have to start sending in applications.”
    Luke glanced at Madison and seemed to be reading her mind. “Lay off, Lucy. Madison knows that.”
    “Just trying to help,” she said as she stood and dropped the pillow back against the headboard. “Want to go shopping with us tomorrow afternoon?” she asked Madison. “Mom’s taking me to the mall in Portland after we drop Luke off at the airport.”
    “Maybe. I’ll talk to my mom.”
    “Catch you two lovebirds downstairs,” Lucy said with a smile as she left the room.
    Madison felt her face turn crimson, but Luke just laughed. “Crazy kid,” he muttered, picking up a stack of tee shirts and placing them into his suitcase.
     

     
    As the two families gathered around the table to say grace before helping themselves to the various dishes on the buffet, Lily slipped in next to Madison and took her hand, gazing up at her with a sweet smile of admiration. “I wish you were my sister,” she said softly. Although Lily could hold her own with her twin brother, Liam, she was much quieter than her sister, Lucy. She sometimes reminded Madison of herself.
    Giving her a squeeze, Madison replied, “Me, too.”
    Luke stood across from her on the other side of the table, holding his baby sister up to his shoulder as they bowed their heads and prayed. When Madison looked back up at him, he winked, and she felt herself blush again. He sure looks natural holding little Laney like that. He’ll be a great dad someday, she thought.
    The dinner conversation centered mostly on Luke’s plans.
    “So tell us more about your school,” Steve asked, leaning forward and making eye contact with Luke.
    “Well, it’s a four-year college with a work-study program,” he explained.
    “No tuition or payments for room and board,” Ben added. “It’s all student work based.”
    “Which is why we can afford for him to go,” Kelly said. “Otherwise, he’d have to have a scholarship, and he’d probably still need to take out loans.” She looked around the table at their brood of six. “It’s a good thing his counselor told him about this school.”
    “And that they accepted him,” Ben added, looking proudly at their son.
    “Didn’t you have to go for some interviews a couple of years ago?” Michelle asked.
    Madison was paying close attention to everything. Lucy was right. She needed to start thinking about all of this. And maybe, just maybe, she should consider this same school.
    Luke jumped back into the conversation. “So the thing is, this school is really small and they only accept a couple hundred freshman each year. The counselor told me that most students begin visiting the campus during ninth or tenth grade. You can actually start meeting with the Dean on your first visit.”
    “What’s the campus like?” Madison heard herself ask.
    “It’s nice. They have lots of acreage with trees, grassy areas—stuff like that. The buildings are older style. Kind of east coast looking,” he replied.
    “Sounds pretty,” she said, trying to picture herself that far away from home. “Maybe I’ll come out and visit.” She looked up to see all the adults looking at her. She blushed and glanced over at Luke. He was smiling.
    “Good idea,” he said. “I’ll show you around.”
    As the conversation continued, Madison learned that Luke would not be home for Thanksgiving. “It’s too expensive to