Drummer Boy Read Free Page A

home, guys, but I’m totally exhausted.” She tried to ignore the concerned looks that passed between her siblings. “Do you mind if I skip the welcome home activities and sack out?”
    “Of course not,” Candy said while the others shook their heads and mumbled similar kind words. “Michael, Matt—can you help Jane upstairs, please?”
    “I’m not an invalid,” Jane snapped. “I can manage a few steps.”
    Michael held up his hands. “OK, OK.”
    Matt laughed. “I told you she wouldn’t like Operation Help Jane, Candy.”
    Jane hated that she’d been ungrateful. “I’m sorry, Candy. I’m feeling a bit claustrophobic. That’s all.”
    Candy smiled. “I know, and I’m probably getting on your last nerve. Just holler down if you need anything.”
    Jane nodded. She was finally home free. Maneuvering into her room, however, she wished she’d taken Candy up on her offer for help. She sank onto her bed. How could five stairs and a hallway feel like so much work? Her arm throbbed. Her ribs ached. At least she was finally alone though—
    “Uh, hey, Jane?”
    She closed her eyes. Now Dean had to say hello. Really?
    “Hey, Dean. Thanks for helping out and stuff. I know it means the world to Candy. And to me.”
    Dean waved away the praise. “Some kid named Sarah called. She’ll be at church tomorrow and hopes to catch up with you. I promised to give you the message.”
    “Thanks.”
    Dean nodded and left as quickly as he’d come, which, now that Jane was breathing easier again, was a bit disappointing. She wanted to pump him for details about him and Candy.
    Obviously, something had changed in their relationship—as in, they actually had one now. She smiled to herself. Arguably, trying to “give” her buddy and fellow nurse, Dean, to Candy as a Christmas present hadn’t been her best idea, but it looked as if it was working out now, so go her! Candy had opened up and chosen to trust again.
    Jane hoped the decision didn’t turn around and bite her sister in the rear.
    She pushed the negative thought away. Dependable, tenacious Candy, and kind, conscientious Dean would be fine.
    People like Jane—and her mother—weren’t cut out for long-term relationships.
    Maybe if her mom and her mom’s latest and last boyfriend, Ray, hadn’t died in their rage-fueled car crash, if they’d somehow lived, resolved their issues, and gone on to have a relationship that worked out, maybe then she’d be less jaded.
    Jane turned off those thoughts, too. After all, they hadn’t lived. They hadn’t lasted. They had, in fact, been the worst of the whole string of her mom’s unbelievably poor choices.
    Jane shifted on the bed and her mind rolled back to Dean’s message about Sarah. It was good news and made Jane’s decision for her. She’d been on the fence about going back to church right away, thought it might be nice to have a week at home, doing devotions on her own, before running the gauntlet of sympathy her well-meaning church would subject her to, but if Sarah would be there, she would be, too.
    “Are you all right?” Candy’s concerned voice broke through her thoughts.
    “You bet. Brilliant, in fact.” Jane glanced at Candy who stood in her doorway, eyeballing her skeptically. “I’m going to church with you tomorrow.”
    “Are you sure you’re up to it?”
    Jane tried to sit upright, but couldn’t.
    Candy entered the room all the way and gently helped her without saying a word—even when Jane grunted with pain at her ribs’ protest to the movement.
    “I’m sure,” she said when she could speak again.
     
     
     
     

3
     
    It turned out, however, that Jane wasn’t up to church on Sunday. Not at all. With the exception of a follow-up doctor’s appointment and a trip to start physiotherapy, she spent the whole week at home, most of it in her room. She tried to go on periodic walks about the house and to stretch a bit, so she wouldn’t stiffen up completely and her injuries would heal