Driver's Ed (22 page)

“Merry Christmas, Mac,” she said with an effort.

“It'll only be merry,” he said to her, “if you go back inside.”

She stared at him, name-calling with her expression: You runty interfering little twerp!

“You're his mother,” said Mac.

“And my son was a—”

“Jerk,” said Mac. “But you aren't. You're his mother. He needs you.”

I'm the shepherd, thought Mac.

I
t was the only Christmas present Morgan could give Remy: pretending it was a wrap.

He tilted his head back to control a rush of tears. It was just a sign, he thought. I've got to hold on to that, whether my mother can or not.

Volunteers made cleanup quick. In moments only the wreath on the door and the poinsettias on the window ledges remained. The church was completely empty, and yet it seemed to stay full, as if hope and love were still around. “I don't think I deserve love,” said Morgan.

“No,” said Dad softly, “you don't deserve love.”

Morgan's heart lurched. He did not know how he could manage to get down the church steps and over to the car, never mind the rest of his life. Even Dad was against him now?

“That's the thing about love,” said his father, wrapping a Christmas arm around his son. “Nobody deserves it. Love just is.”

The arm holding Morgan up turned him toward the arched wooden door, hung with holly.

His mother was coming back for him.

Hope and love were still around.

Caroline B. Cooney is the author of the following books for young people:
The Lost Songs; Three Black Swans; They Never Came Back; If the Witness Lied; Diamonds in the Shadow; A Friend at Midnight; Hit the Road; Code Orange; The Girl Who Invented Romance; Family Reunion; Goddess of Yesterday
(an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book);
The Ransom of Mercy Carter; Tune In Anytime; Burning Up; The Face on the Milk Carton
(an IRA-CBC Children's Choice) and its companions,
Whatever Happened to Janie?
and
The Voice on the Radio
(each of them an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults),
What Janie Found
,
What Janie Saw
(an ebook original short story), and
Janie Face to Face; What Child Is This?
(an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults);
Driver's Ed
(an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults and a
Booklist
Editors' Choice);
Among Friends; Twenty Pageants Later;
and the Time Travel Quartet:
Both Sides of Time, Out of Time, Prisoner of Time
, and
For All Time
, which are also available as
The Time Travelers
, Volumes I and II.

Caroline B. Cooney lives in South Carolina.