So, at long last, I am continuing this story. I started writing it about five years ago but other projects took my attention. The years long break gave me a chance to become familiar with my characters (I didn't like them much at first!), to do research, and to really formulate what this story is going to be about. All my other stories have been romances set in historic periods, but to me there is no greater romance than the story of how the Lord chooses and pursues every one of us. Please be patient with me as I take my time getting this story right. And please leave lots of feedback! Thanking you in advance!-Elaine Owen

Chapter Two

Joey was tired when he heard his mom's car pull into the garage that night. Tired and bored. His babysitter, Amber, had been texting her boyfriend ever since she gave Joey his dinner. Usually Amber watched him until six every day, but today she was staying late. Extra late. It was already past eight o'clock. While Joey sat in his favorite spot, the red bean bag on the floor, she sat on the couch and clicked, clicked, clicked on her phone.

Joey was clicking and clicking too, but he was on his tablet. He was playing a game that let him build a world inside it, a world with a castle and a waterfall and a forest and lots of other things. He loved a game where he could build things and make them bigger and better.

But he had been building this world ever since after school, and Amber wasn't paying any attention to him. She wasn't even looking at him. So when he heard the garage door lifting up with that funny creaking sound it made, he saved the game and shut off his tablet. He knew his mom would come through the garage door, down in the basement, and come up the stairs. She would hug him and ask how his day was and if he had any homework. He would tell her no, he already did it in school, and he would sit with her while she ate her own dinner. And then maybe, if she wasn't too tired, he could show her the bridge he was building in his world. It was a really neat bridge, the kind that he could pull up with a chain whenever a boat wanted to go by.

Joey heard the basement door open and close. A few seconds later Joey heard his mom kind of half whispering, and then he heard another voice, a deep voice, coming from a man.

" . . . to tell him or, or should I?" That was his mom.

"I'll tell him, but you need to back me up. We should . . . " His dad's voice went too low for him to hear more.

He sat up straight, forgetting his game for a moment, and tried to listen harder. Daddy wasn't supposed to be here tonight. It was a school night. They weren't supposed to see each other again until Friday after school.

But if daddy was in the kitchen and talking and whispering with his mommy so he couldn't hear, the way they sometimes used to whisper around him when it got close to his birthday or Christmas, then maybe he had good news. Maybe his daddy was going to live with them again. Maybe things would go back to the way they were a couple months ago, before daddy got his own 'partment. He put the tablet down on the carpet and waited for them to come upstairs.

Amber had heard the voices downstairs too, but she wasn't excited the way Joey was. She stood up, stretched, and put her phone into her purse. "Bye, Joey, I'll see you tomorrow." Then she put her feet into the tennis shoes she had kicked off earlier. Just as she finished tying them, mommy and daddy came into the room, and Joey got up out of his bean bag to meet them.

He had to think for a second about who he should hug first. His mommy might not like it if he hugged daddy first, but he hadn't seen daddy for over a week, and he didn't want him to feel left out. Finally he gave his mommy a quick hug and then gave his daddy a big, extra long one. He could tell his daddy liked it, because he hugged back just as hard and didn't let go right away. "Hi, dad. What are you doing here?"

"Joey, good to see you, son." Daddy's hand roughed up Joey's hair the way he did sometimes. "I've missed you."

"I miss you too." Daddy had let go of Joey, but Joey threw his arms around his daddy's waist again and they had another extra long hug.

Behind them, mommy made an impatient sound. "Joey, we have to talk to you about something."

"Oh." Just like that, a bad feeling sank into Joey's stomach. When his mom and dad both had to talk to him at the same time it was never good. He let go of his dad and stepped back. That bad feeling was like a pit in his tummy, like a hole opened up and might suck him down into it. The last time he had felt it was the night his daddy moved out of their house and into his own 'partment. So he knew whatever his mom and dad were about to tell him, it wouldn't be something he liked.

They all sat down in the living room together, mommy on the couch and daddy on the loveseat across from her. Joey wasn't sure where he should sit. If he sat with one of them, wouldn't the other one feel left out? So he sat down on the carpet between them, criss cross applesauce, just like he had to sit in school sometimes. He tried to sit in the very middle of the carpet, so he wouldn't be closer to one of them than he was to the other.

Mommy and daddy didn't seem to know what to do. They looked at each other and then back at Joey, and then back at each other again. Finally daddy gave a little cough and then started talking.

"Joey, how would you like to go to camp for the summer?"

"What?" Joey wasn't sure he had heard right. Whatever he was afraid of them saying, it wasn't this.

"A camp with horses and goats and chickens and a lot of other children your age. Wouldn't that be great?"

Joey looked at his mom. His parents had always said he was too young to go to camp, but now his mom had a big smile on her face. Maybe too big. "You want me to go to camp? For the whole summer?"

"It's out in the country, but it's not far from here at all. So you would be really close by," his mom answered.

"Plus you'd be with my Aunt Laura," his dad added. "Do you remember her?"

Joey frowned. "She's the lady who brings us cookies at Christmas, right?" He remembered the cookies better than the lady. Last year they were made with oatmeal and chocolate chips. Not his favorite, but better than no cookies at all. He made sure to say thank you, the way his mom taught him to. Daddy nodded. "Why do you want me to live with her?"

"It's not living, just visiting for a while. She lives on a big farm with a bunch of other families. I lived there when I was a little boy, and I had a lot of fun. I think you would really like it."

Now Joey was confused. He couldn't remember his daddy ever talking about living on a farm before.

"We think you'll be really happy there," his mommy said, leaning forward. She still had that funny, too big smile on her face.

"Why?"

"Because . . . " The smile faded from his mom's face. "Your father and I have a lot of things to talk about and get sorted out this summer, and we're afraid we won't be able to give you the attention you need while we get it all done."

"What kind of stuff?" He was pretty sure it had to do with them arguing and getting a divorce. His mom and dad argued a lot. He could hear them on the phone sometimes, talking in a whispery voice that they thought he couldn't hear, but he could. He could hear almost everything. His friend Matthew at school had parents who were getting a divorce, and they argued a lot too. Matthew could hear them too.

"Well," his mom hesitated, "we're deciding where we're all going to live from now on. What will happen with this house, and who you're going to live with, and things like that." She pursed her lips, waiting for his response.

Joey didn't have to think long at all. "I want to live here, with both of you."

"No, squirt." Joey's dad shook his head. "I know you wish that could happen. But it can't. Your mom and I don't live together anymore. While you're on the farm your mom and I can talk about it and decide what's going to happen in the fall."

"So it's not really camp. It's just a farm."

"But a really nice farm, with lots of things to keep you busy. And the kids there do almost all the things that kids at camp do."

"Plus your dad and I will take turns visiting you each week," his mom said. "If you went to a real camp we wouldn't get to do that. This way you'll still be close by."

"Oh." Joey thought about that. "But I want to choose where I get to live."

His mom and dad gave each other a funny look, like they were embarrassed or something. "Well, of course we want to know what you want, Joey," his mom answered after a second. "What you want matters to us. We both love you very much, and we want you to be happy."

Joey stared down at the carpet. One of the loops was sticking out above the others, and he yanked at it with one of his fingers. "Then I'll live here and each of you can take turns staying with me. And you don't have to send me away for the summer." He had thought about it a lot, and staying in the same house seemed like a really good idea. That way he didn't have to go anywhere and nothing would have to change at all.

His parents didn't agree. They gave each other that funny look again. "Look, Joey," his mom tried a different approach. "We think you spend too much time on your games and not enough time with other kids. You can stay with Aunt Laura and really enjoy yourself and when you come back in the fall, we'll have everything arranged. You won't have to worry about it at all."

"So I'm not going to live with either of you?" he said, louder than he meant to.

"It's only for the summer, Joey." Now mommy sounded more like she was begging. "You'll hardly miss us at all."

The pit in his stomach got bigger. "What if I don't want to go for the summer? What if I want to stay here?"

"It'll be a lot of fun, Joey." Daddy's voice was firm. "You'll learn a lot, and you'll be so busy you'll hardly even know you're gone."

"But it's not fair." Joey protested, knowing it wouldn't do any good. When daddy had a firm voice like that, it meant there wasn't any choice. His mind was already made up. "Why don't I get to decide?"

"We'll make a deal with you, Joey," his mom offered. "If you go to the farm with Aunt Laura for the summer, we'll let you tell us where you want to live at the end of it. Will that work for you?" His dad gave his mom a surprised look when she said this, but he didn't argue.

"You mean I can tell you what I want to do, where I want to stay, and you'll let me?"

"We'll listen to you," daddy promised. "And we'll take whatever you say then very seriously." He looked at Joey again, waiting for his response.

Joey thought about this. Maybe staying away for the summer would be worth it, if he could tell his parents what he wanted at the end of it, and if they agreed to listen to him. Maybe then they would even agree with him. He might still get what he wanted. "Will I get to take my games?" he finally asked. If he was going to a place like a camp for the whole summer, then that was really the most important question. He knew from his friends at school that most camps didn't let kids bring games with them.

"I'm . . . . not sure," said mommy, just as daddy said, "Of course!" and gave Joey a big smile. Mommy gave daddy a really strange look then.

—-

"You said they don't like technology on the farm!" Beth said to Mark. "Don't lie to him!"

"I'm not lying!" Mark answered defensively. "They have technology, they just don't use it as much as we do."

"But this . . . farm doesn't even have a website! Joey's games are all played online. How do you know if he'll have internet access?"

"They don't need a website to live the way they do, but trust me, they have internet! They have to use it for their store. Laura's talked about that."

"Have you asked her if Joey can bring his games?" Beth persisted.

Mark sighed, frustrated. "I'm the one who grew up there, remember? I know what they allow and don't allow."

"You only lived there until you were six!"

"But I know how they think. The farm has plenty of technology. Not as much as us but way more than the Amish. They'll want Joey to be happy so I'm sure they'll let him get online some every day."

"I don't want him to be online too much." Beth pursed her lips. "Maybe every other day?"

Mark swore. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me, Beth? We agreed this is the best solution for Joey for the summer, so why are you arguing about it now? Nothing makes you happy! Nothing I do is ever good enough."

"You don't want what makes me happy! You only think about what's convenient for you!"

"That's not true!"

"Greg said we needed to give our son some space so you decided to send Joey somewhere he's never been before, with people he doesn't know, just so our divorce can go forward!"

"I didn't hear you argue with him! You want this divorce just as much as I do!"

"I only agreed so that you would start spending more time with Joey, instead of making me do it all!"

The sound of a bedroom door slamming made them both stop. They turned to look at their son, but Joey wasn't sitting on the carpet between them any more. He and his tablet had both disappeared. Mark and Beth stared at the empty spot for a moment. Beth finally stated the obvious: "That did not go well."

For a moment there was a flash of regret on Mark's face, but then his face set again. "We just surprised him, that's all. Once he sees the farm, he'll love it."

Beth shook her head. "I'm not sure about this. Sending Joey off to live with a- a - " She faltered for words, "a religious group for the summer just seems weird."

"It's not 'some religious group.' It's my aunt. You've met her. You like her."

"But I barely even know her! And she's part of some group that lives . . . " She paused, searching for words. "That lives like they're in another century."

"You'll see for yourself when you go out there. Joey will love the place. He just has to give it a chance."

"Your dad didn't love it out there!"

"Don't bring my father into this. We already agreed Joey would be better off somewhere that he can't hear us fighting, somewhere with enough distractions to keep him from thinking about our divorce. This plan is the best possible arrangement for Joey. As long as we stick to it, Joey will be just fine."

I don't have a posting schedule for this story, so if it catches your interest please be sure to follow so you can be notified when a new chapter posts. Thank you!