Forever Friends by Lynne Hinton Page B

lanes.
    â€œYou got a boyfriend who smokes?” He took a cigarette out and stuck it in his mouth and plugged in the lighter.
    â€œNo, and I really wish you wouldn’t do that in my car.” She yanked out the lighter.
    Lamont took the cigarette out of his mouth and stuck it in the front pocket of his shirt. He turned to the driver as if he was waiting for an explanation.
    Charlotte could tell that he was watching her. She looked over and then back to face the road. She felt a bit apprehensive having the young man in her car. She wasn’t frightened of him or worried that he might hurt her; she just felt a little nervous having him so close.
    Peggy had come by the parsonage with the bail money and asked that Charlotte get him out. The grandmother claimed that she couldn’t go because she didn’t have anyone to stay with her husband and that she needed the extra time to clean out the bedroom where Lamont would be sleeping.
    There had been a fight with Sherry about letting the teenager move in with his grandparents. His mother had saidto let him stay in jail, that maybe that would teach him a lesson. But Peggy had listened to too many late-night phone calls from her grandson when he begged to be released and promised to stay away from trouble. She had talked it over with her husband and they agreed that he could stay with them.
    â€œHe can help me out with Vastine,” Peggy explained as she handed the cashier’s check to Charlotte. “I could use some extra support.” And she thanked the reluctant pastor and hurried out the door before she could be denied.
    Charlotte called the jail chaplain and the magistrate to find out what she needed to do, then she reluctantly drove to Winston-Salem, filled out the paperwork; and it wasn’t long before the young man was out of jail and sitting in her car. It was almost an hour’s drive back to Hope Springs.
    â€œThey’re for the Cigarette Lady,” Charlotte said, to answer his questions. “And you shouldn’t be going through my glove compartment without me saying it’s all right.” She pushed her foot on the gas pedal and got the speed where she wanted it and hit the cruise button.
    â€œYou’re right,” he said apologetically. “I’m sorry.” He crossed his legs at his ankles. Then after thinking a minute he asked, “Who’s the Cigarette Lady?”
    Charlotte thought about the elderly lady who lived out on the edge of the community near the church. She had first encountered her three or four years earlier.
    â€œShe’s this old woman who stands at the end of her driveway, flagging down cars trying to find somebody who smokes.” She reached up and pulled at her shoulder strap.“Apparently, she runs out of cigarettes quite a bit, and since she doesn’t drive and the store is too far away for her to walk, she bums the only way she knows how.”
    â€œIn the middle of the road?” Lamont asked with a note of surprise.
    â€œYep, in the middle of the road,” Charlotte responded.
    â€œDamn,” the young man said, and then he covered his mouth with his hand when he remembered he was with a preacher. “Sorry,” he added.
    â€œIt’s okay,” she said with assurance. Then she looked at him again. She noticed that he seemed jumpy too. She plugged the lighter back in.
    â€œGo ahead and smoke,” she told him.
    He angled himself so that he could face the minister. Once again, she felt him watching her.
    â€œWhat?” she asked.
    â€œI was just wondering why you give the old woman cancer sticks.”
    The lighter popped and he pulled it out and lit the cigarette he had taken from his front shirt pocket and stuck it between his lips. He sucked in a deep breath and returned it. Then he finished what he was saying.
    â€œI mean, I thought preachers don’t like smoking.” He let his window down a bit.
    Charlotte glanced up to see the