Raina's Story by Lurlene McDaniel

so much. But then I don't want to be a priest either.”
    “But ministers can marry. Priests can't.”
    “Oh, yeah, that's right.” He grinned impishly at Kathleen.
    “I'm being
serious
. Raina's my best friend and I hate seeing her hurting this way. She spends every free minute at the hospital and she hardly sleeps. She's got bags under her eyes and she's lost weight. I feel sorry for her. Tony is such a creep! Why did he have to say something to Hunter in the first place!”
    “Whoa,” Carson said. “Back up. This wouldn't have been a problem if she'd told Hunter before Tony did.”
    “And exactly
when
does a girl tell her boyfriend something like that?”
    “The minute things get serious.” He eyed her. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
    Kathleen felt her face turn beet red. “No!”
    He winked and grinned. “I figured that out the first time I kissed you.”
    She threw a wadded paper napkin at him and hit his cheek. “Excuse me for being so inept.”
    He laughed and caught her hand, and she struggled to break his hold. “It's okay. You were a fast learner.” He stood, came around the table, bent down and kissed her full on the mouth. Three girls at the next table giggled. Carson turned and bowed, saying, “She loves me.”
    Furious because she felt embarrassed, Kathleen said, “He's conceited enough to think
every
girl loves him.”
    One of the girls said, “I don't even know him and I love him.” The others laughed and waggled their fingers at Carson.
    Kathleen crossed her arms and slouched in her chair. “Are you through giving me a hard time?”
    He sat back down and leaned forward, his expression serious. “I only do it because I care,” he said. “For the record, I think Hunter's making a mistake. But it's
their
problem. You can't fix what's broken between other people no matter how much you want to. They have to work it out.”
    Carson was right, but it didn't make Kathleen feel less sorry for her friends or resent Tony any less.

    “Do you know what's going on between Raina and your brother? And don't say nothing, because I know something's wrong. They didn't go to that dance last week.” Evelyn stood in the doorway of Holly's bedroom.
    Startled, Holly looked up from the scrapbook she was working on. “The ball is highly overrated. If I hadn't been on the committee, I wouldn't have gone either.”
    “You're avoiding my question, Holly. Some-thing's happened, and I want to know what it is.”
    “It's not like I'm Hunter's mother-confessor, you know.” There was no way that Holly would divulge the facts.
    “But Raina tells you everything.”
    Holly was going to have to tell her mother something. “One of Raina's old boyfriends has reappeared, and Hunter's jealous.” Not the whole truth, but not exactly a lie either.
    Evelyn looked thoughtful. “That may not be a bad thing. I think Hunter's far too serious about Raina, anyway. They both should date others. I don't want them getting into trouble.”
    Which was her mother's unsubtle way of saying,
“I don't want Raina getting pregnant
.
”
The attitude washed over Holly. “Well, Raina loves only Hunter. The old boyfriend is a jerk.”
    “That's not a nice thing to say.”
    “Trust me. It's true.”
    “Why do you kids think that you have tohave boyfriends and girlfriends, anyway? Whatever happened to just hanging out together?”
    Holly would have laughed but didn't think it was a good idea. “I'd answer you, but without the experience of having a boyfriend—” She shrugged without finishing.
    Evelyn sighed. “I know you think your father and I are too strict with you, Holly, but it's for your own good. Kids grow up too fast these days. And every star in Hollywood seems to think that having a baby without a husband is the thing to do. Your father and I dated three years in college before we married.”
    Holly suppressed the urge to groan. Her parents had attended a small denominational college where they'd met and