Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

,racer. And as long as she wasn't willing to talk about it, Tanner
idn't have anyplace to share his fears. No wonder it was easier to
nest his time at work. It was the only way to silence the terrify` g questions that jade didn't want to talk
about and no one else
mould answer.
Jade put Ty on, and the boy shared his latest escapades on the
.baseball field. "You'll be home for my game Thursday, right Dad?"
"Right. Absolutely." Tanner smiled and realized it was the first
time he'd done so that evening. "Listen, Ty, could you do me a favor?"
"Sure." Tanner closed his eyes and he could picture his son as clearly as if he were standing in the same
room.
"Make your mom some tea, okay?"
"Okay" Worry crept into Ty's voice. "She's doing good, right?" "Right. That's what she tells me."
"Sure, I'll make her tea."
"Thatta boy. And give her a kiss for me."
Tanner talked to jade once more, but when he got off the
phone, he couldn't get back into his research. No matter how hard
he tried, his mind kept drifting back until all he could think of was the way he felt the first time he lost
jade.
The summer of his twelfth year, the summer jade and her father moved away.
That year jade and he were best friends growing up in the same neighborhood, spending endless days
racing bikes and playing together. Scandal and hatred and gossip swirled around them like a typhoon, but
they were blissfully unaware.
"Jade's family isn't good people, like us," he could hear his mother saying. "Her father's a drunk, and her
mother's run off with another man. She's always been a harlot. I have my proof."
Back then he hadn't understood what she meant, not that it mattered. With or without her mother, jade was
moving. She had
116 K A R E N K I N G S B U R Y
a day to pack her things and tell Tanner good-bye. He could see her still, those green eyes flashing as they
sprawled across his front yard picking single blades of grass and staring at a canopy of blue sky above
them.
Tanner hated the idea of jade leaving. More than once on their
last day together, he asked her about when she'd be home again.
"You sure you're coming back?"
"Yes, I promise." Her tone had been frustrated. "We'll meet
Mama in Kelso and then when Daddy's job is done, we'll come
back here."
They'd only been kids back then, but she was the most beautiful
girl Tanner had ever seen. When they said good-bye an hour
later, it took all Tanner's strength not to cry. It wasn't until two
days after that Tanner heard his mother say she was glad jade's
family was gone for good.
"What do you mean?" Tanner remembered being angry at her.
He couldn't begin to understand why she didn't like Jade. "They're
coming back. Jade told me so."
"They'll never be back." His mother patted his head. "Forget
about her, Tanner."