His Plan: Book 2 in the Crossing Midian Series - A Small-Town Christian Romance

Chapter 18

T.J. worked quietly in the stall beside Beau the next morning. Wesley had dropped him off about twenty minutes before and he'd immediately gone down to the barn without so much as a good morning to Beau, exactly as he had the day before.

He supposed he was acting immature by sulking, but he couldn't seem to shake the mood he was in. T.J. couldn't believe how bad things had turned over the last couple days. Now he was in trouble at home, his uncle felt hurt and disappointed in him, and his best friend wasn't speaking to him. He didn't see how things could get much worse.

Suddenly, T.J. heard Beau sigh before he leaned his shovel against the stall door and turned to look at him.

"Okay," Beau said, "what gives?"

T.J. didn't even glance up from his task as he shook his head. "Nothing."

"Oh, really?" Beau clearly wasn't convinced. He let his arms rest across the wall between the stalls as he went on. "'Cause you barely talked to me yesterday and you're not speaking to me now. Normally, I can't get you to hush, so what's bugging you? Are you seriously still this mad at me? Or are you just mad about being grounded? Either way, you brought this on yourself, kid, so you might as well quit sulking."

T.J. looked up at his uncle's speech. But only to shoot him a glare. "I'm not sulking," he replied, even though he knew he was.

"Sure." Beau rolled his eyes at him. "C'mon, Teej. Talk to me."

T.J. groaned, but he realized Beau wouldn't drop it until he talked, so he put his own shovel down and took a seat on one of the small bales of hay stacked near the stalls.

"I'm not mad at you," he admitted with a sigh. But then, as if a dam broke, T.J. confessed to his uncle everything that was bothering him. "I'm mad at myself for letting this happen in the first place. I overheard you talking to Dad, and I knew you'd been up all night. Then, I saw the chance to get the keys and the gun out and I took it 'cause I knew you wouldn't notice, and I feel really bad about it. It was stupid and I'm sorry." T.J. propped his foot up on top of the hay bale, then wrapped his arms around his knee as he went on. "Now everything's a mess. We almost ruined camp. Mom and Dad are upset, and Cassie's still not talking to me."

Beau walked out of the stall and settled down next to him, then raised his hand and let it rest on T.J.'s back between his shoulder blades.

T.J. could feel the warmth through his t-shirt, and he couldn't deny the comfort he felt at the gesture.

"Okay," Beau said, "I'm not mad at you. You made a mistake, and you're owning up to it, and you're gonna learn from it. Right?"

T.J. nodded.

"Right. Camp's not ruined. Everyone was really understanding when you guys talked to them yesterday, and nobody kept their kids home because of it. They trusted us to deal with it, and y'all are being punished and then it'll be over."

Again, T.J. nodded. "I guess. Dad was really upset, though."

"Can you blame him?"

"No," he admitted. T.J. let his head drop back against the wall as he said, "He said if I'd asked, he would have taken us shooting."

"That's not surprising," Beau said, smirking. "I can't imagine Saint Wesley ever passing up an opportunity to teach about gun safety."

When T.J. didn't say anything, Beau asked, "What happened with Cassie?"

T.J. shrugged. "I don't know! I apologized like you said and it didn't fix anything. She's still mad."

"Are you sure it's not about more than just what happened yesterday?"