Raising Faith Read Free Page B

bazaar every year and she usually just works a few hours, not all day.”
    “So, it’s set?” asked Chelsea. “Five elves for Daddy’s float?”
    “Does he pay?” asked Amy.
    Chelsea laughed. “Are you kidding? My dad thinks we should all be honored just to ride on his precious float. But I can probably talk him into lunch afterward.”
    “It’s a date,” said Carlie.
    So it was settled. The five girls would play Santa’s elves in the parade and then work like elves the rest of the time. Morgan just hoped that there would be enough time to do everything. She knew that it wasn’t up to her to make sure that this all worked out, but she couldn’t help but feelsomewhat responsible. Mostly she didn’t want to see any of the girls lose money on the ski trip. Well, besides Chelsea … and only because she could afford it.
    The rain had almost completely stopped by the time the group started to break up. Amy had to leave early to help at her parents’ restaurant. Chelsea had to go because her mom was picking her up, and Carlie had to get home to help her mom watch the boys. Then it was just Emily and Morgan.
    “Did you mind what I said?” asked Emily as they were putting on their raincoats.
    “About what?”
    “You know … about all of us going on the ski trip. I saw you giving me the evil eye.”
    “I guess I was just surprised. I was ready to give it up and just forget it.”
    “After your big speech about faith?”
    “I just wasn’t sure whether I was having faith in God or faith in Morgan.”
    Emily laughed. “Maybe it was both.”
    “I just hope it works out.”
    “Sure, it will,” said Emily. “We’ll be praying about it, won’t we?”
    “Of course.” Morgan glanced at Emily. “What made you change your mind like that? I mean, this morning you seemed so sure that you couldn’t make enough money togo … and now you’re all cool with it.”
    “I got to thinking about Cory and Janna …”
    “Huh?”
    “I was just thinking about how much I’ve learned in youth group these past several months … and I thought maybe Amy, Chelsea, and Carlie would like to be around them for a while too. I mean, not to recruit them into our church or anything …”
    “I get it,” said Morgan as she locked the bus door.
    “Is that weird?”
    Morgan shook her head. “No, that is very cool.” She smiled at Emily. “I think your faith is bigger than mine.”
    “No way,” said Emily.
    “Way.”
    “Hey, I asked my mom about going to your house for Thanksgiving … and you know what she told me?”
    “No.”
    “She said she’d love to come, except that she already invited Mr. Greeley to come to our house for Thanksgiving.”
    “Really?” Morgan tried to imagine old Mr. Greeley sitting at the kitchen table with Emily, her mom, and her sixteen-year-old brother, Kyle.
    “Pretty weird, huh?”
    “No … I mean Mr. Greeley is a nice old guy. And I know he really likes you and your family, Em.”
    “Still, it’ll be sort of odd … I mean he’s not exactly talkative. And Kyle is still kind of afraid of him.”
    “That’s just because he doesn’t know him.” Morgan remembered how she used to be afraid of strange Mr. Greeley too — back before he gave them the keys to their clubhouse. “I know!” said Morgan suddenly. “Why don’t you guys just bring Mr. Greeley over to our house for Thanksgiving? You know, the more the merrier.”
    “That sounds good to me. I’ll check with Mom and get back to you.”
    “Hopefully, you guys can come. I have it all planned out,” said Morgan. “I should have figured out the socks by then, and you and I can get a head start by cutting out a bunch of them.”
    “And can I sew them too?”
    “Sure,” said Morgan. “You were doing really good on my sewing machine when we made the pillows and stuff for the bus.”
    “Cool.” Emily gave her a high five. “And I’m so excited about the ski trip. It’s going to be awesome!”
    Morgan hugged Emily.