Free Kicking Eternity by Ann Lee Miller

smile remembering how embarrassed she had been when he teased her about her feet. Well, she wasn’t in a teasing mood today. Was it Eddie or Cal who weighed down this morning ?
    He sat on the seawall bench and held a hand out to her. “You look like you could use some prayer .”
    Rainey sat beside him. “That’s the understatement of the week.” 
    Drew squeezed her hand and looked at the sun inching higher in the sky. “Lord, please lift Rainey’s chin.” His eyes darted to hers. “Sorry, I forgot I’m not supposed to call you Rainey.”
    “It’s okay. I was mad the other night. I wanted to hurt you. That’s the first time in years Eddie’s used that name.” She smiled and the warmth spread through him as though the fizzing infiltrated his bloodstream.
    Her head dropped and her eyes slid shut. “Guide me as I study things Cal’s into. Rescue, Eddie.”  Her voice caught. “Please.”
    “Yeah, and Rainey could use some peace. Hope.”
    Rainey tapped the top of his hand that held hers. He swiveled his eyes toward her s .
    “What do you want me to pray for?” Her eyes bore into him.
    He looked out across the water, and back at Rainey’s small hand resting loosely in his. He pushed the words out. “My brother left last week for Japan—for two years. I feel like he tossed my life out of the plane somewhere between here and Toky o, and none of the pieces have landed yet.”
    Rainey dropped her chin to her chest. “Comfort Drew. Comforter is one of Your names, so I think You must be pretty good at it. And show Drew if he needs to make any course corrections.”
    “Amen.” Course corrections?  He hadn’t thought of his situation that way. He looked out at the gul l s dive - bombing for their breakfast and back at Rainey shoving strands of dark chocolate, ruby, and cobalt out of her eyes—from one kind of beauty to another. How about a course correction toward Rainey?
    Rainey’s hand slid out of his as she stood and he wished it back. They walked toward camp.
    “What do you sing on the beach?” 
    His guitar case thumped against his back in rhythm with his steps. “Sometimes I sing songs. Sometimes I just sing.”
    “Do you ever write the words and music down?”
    “Never thought about it.”
    “Write them down.”
    His grin arced inward , lodging somewhere near his heart. “Bossy aren’t we? The perfect case of a person living up to her name. Raine.”
    “That’s the first time you’ve called me by my name. I order you to call me Raine!”
    He stopped in the middle of the road and faced her. “Since when am I your subject, Rainey?”
    She stared back at him for a long moment, emotions he couldn’t read warring in her eyes. “Since never.”
     
    #
     
    Raine sat in her empty classroom cutting out pa tterns from purple construction paper for tomorrow’s Bible craft. Deep orange light splashed across the table, and a mosquito buzzed through the open window. Raine waved it away with a multicolored sheaf of papers.
    “Hey, s’up?” Cal walked through the door.
    The hair on her arms and the back of her neck stood up. She’d waited until after supper to avoid being in the building in the afternoon when Cal taught classes. She hadn’t studied nearly enough to talk religion with Cal. “What are you doing here?”
    “What, I can’t st op in and say hello?”
    “I mean, now, when you don’t have class.”
    Cal shrugged and pulled out a chair across the table from her. “No waves.” He flipped the chair around and straddled it.
    Even with the table between them, he felt way too close. She obviously wasn’t making any headway killing the crush.
    Help!
    “Help?”
    Raine’s head jerked up.
    “Do you want some help cutting out—”
    Relief shot through her. “Crèches.”
    “Right.”
    “I was finishing up.” She gathered the cutouts into a pile. She’d only started ten minutes ago. Maybe a white lie was okay when she was trying to stay away from Cal. She would come in early in