Page 50 of Sing with Me

“Are you married?” Ethan suddenly asked.

The whole table was silent.

Diehl looked at Skye.

Skye smiled. “No, I’m not married.”

“Never been married?” Ethan asked again.

Dad cleared his throat.

Mom and Jared laughed.

Diehl was aghast. He had failed in his parenting.

“Never been married,” Skye replied.

“Good to know.” Ethan nodded.

What on earth?

“Diehl, your steak is getting cold,” Skye said. “I’ll have them send you a new filet.”

“No, no, I’m fine.” Diehl sat down. “I wasn’t hungry. I’ll take it to go.”

“Make a sandwich maybe?” Skye asked.

“That’s an idea,” Jared said. “A very expensive sandwich.”

“If it’s delicious, it’s worth it,” Skye said.

“You know your food. I’ll defer to your expertise, Chef Langston,” Jared replied.

“I’ll make it for you tomorrow, if you want,” Skye said to Diehl. “Or you could slice it up and put it on salad.”

“Whatever you think is best.” Diehl glanced at Mom.

Mom seemed to pretend like she hadn’t heard.

And Diehl wished the entire conversation hadn’t happened, and that he had left Skye alone with Jared. He didn’t know why he had a knee-jerk reaction to seeing them together. He experienced the same angst on Wednesday night when Hayden put his arm over Skye’s shoulders. And perhaps on a smaller scale, on Sunday morning, when Matt walked into Sunday School with Skye.

Something inside made him want to protect her from all those men.

Protect her for what? For whom? For himself?

Diehl wasn’t sure whether he was seriously interested in Skye. Could he be? She was sweet and kind. Her voice comforted his heart in ways no one else on earth could. She was interesting in many ways he couldn’t describe. Now he found out she ran a multi-million-dollar restaurant on top of her personal chef business.

Diehl suspected that Skye was a personal chef simply because she liked to cook for people. Look how easily she had offered to dress up his soon-to-be leftover filet mignon.

He dared not consider the possibility that Skye was only nice to him because he paid Skye’s the Limit for the daily meals. Maybe she was kind to all her clients.

The whole situation bothered Diehl to no end on the drive home to Brinley’s beach house, where Dad dropped him off before they took the kids to their home on Seaside Island.

Chapter Fourteen

Alone in the beach house and resting on his bed with the fan spinning above him, Diehl asked God to show him the way through life. He had tried to manage and balance everything himself. He realized now that even on his best days, his own thoughts were no match for God’s.

On his tablet, he bought and downloaded a Bible app. It looked similar to what Skye had on her phone the other day.

---