Page 29 of Faking the Shot

“What if the right girl is Ainsley?”

“Maybe she is.” Diana shrugged. “But she won’t be if she finds out that you care for her in a way that’s not platonic.”

“Maybe this is his chance to do that,” Chris said. “To take all of the emotions out and just be the friend she needs who shows up when she needs it.”

“But the emotions are already there, aren’t they?” Diana asked Zac.

“A little bit. Maybe.”

“Enough that you can tamp them down and just be a friend? Or are they going to be stirred up into more?”

“I can tamp them down,” he said stiffly. “I can be her friend.” Even if he’d never been friends with a girl before. His sister didn’t count.

Diana’s look was dubious, but she nodded. “You better. Because things will not go well for you if you don’t keep things platonic.”

“Understood.”

“So will you?” she persisted.

“I will be her friend, and nothing else. Unless she wants it,” he added frankly.

“Hmm. Well, I’ll be praying for her. And for you. I don’t want to see either of you get your heart broken.”

Neither did he.

Diana glanced at her husband. Chris nodded. “And you be sure to let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

“Thanks.”

A scream from the kids’ playroom drew Diana’s sigh and her departure. Leaving Chris to eye Zac in a way he wasn’t sure was completely friendly.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Are you going to be able to deal with these feelings?” Chris asked.

“I’m gonna do my best.”

“Hmm. I have a feeling you need more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

Chris pointed to the ceiling.

Oh, right. God. “I have been praying about this.”

“I know. But it doesn’t hurt to have some extra prayer support.” He clapped a hand on Zac’s shoulder and—once again—just leaped off into praying without warning.

“Hey God, You see the situation that Zac has got himself in. Thank You that this has not taken You by surprise, even if it’s shocked the rest of us.” Chris laughed.

Zac cracked open an eyelid, then closed it as Chris kept praying.

“Lord, please help Zac with all that this involves and bless him and bless Ainsley and lead them into the future that You have for them. Amen.”

“Amen,” Zac muttered.

He opened his eyes. Caught Chris’s look of pity. “What now?”

“Look, keep praying and asking God to help you. I know it’s not what you want, but like you said before maybe this is going to be something that God uses to help you learn how to relate with a woman in a godly way and not just how you’ve always done.”

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