Chapter 17: The Video

By seven the video had eleven thousand views.

Somebody had cut it into a shorter clip and put music over it.

Somebody else had put a heart-eyes emoji on my face.

I sat on the edge of the bed with my knees pulled up, and Caleb sat on the floor with his phone dead in his hand.

"I can get it taken down," he said. "I know a guy in the Kettle Ridge group who..."

"Caleb."

He stopped.

"What did I say on the wall?"

He closed his eyes. "I don't speak for you."

"Then ask."

He opened his eyes.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know yet," I said. "Ask me again in ten minutes."

He nodded, and he didn't move, and I loved him for it so much that I had to look at the window.

My phone rang.

The screen said DAD, and it was a video call.

I almost let it ring out.

Then I answered, and my father's face filled the screen, a little grainy.

He was in the cab of his truck at a gas station somewhere flat, with a coffee in one hand.

"Hey, kid," he said. "Somebody from the church sent me a clip."

My whole face went hot.

"Dad..."

"I'm going to pretend I did not see his shirt."

"Oh my God."

"I'm just saying. I'm a trucker, not a miracle." He rubbed his jaw. "Is he there?"

I tilted the phone.

Caleb stood up so fast he hit his head on the top bunk.

"Mr. Tennison."

"Caleb." My father looked at him for a long, flat second. "You gonna be good to my girl?"

"Yes, sir. I'm going to try to be good enough."

Keep reading free with an account. Start This Time, I Won't Be His Dead Weight from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.