Page 39 of Scoring Chances

“She did that. When she was around you felt like the only person in the room.”

“That’s really nice, Cole.”

He nods his head and leans forward, bringing his knees to his chest again. “I hate that Maddie and Parker didn’t get to know them better. They were the best parents.” He goes solemn. “Life is so unfair.”

“Yeah…” I sigh. “It is. What… what happened to your mom, Cole?”

He hesitates. His eyes flicking to Parker then coming back to mine. “She lost a lot of blood when she had Parker. The doctors tried everything.”

My heart breaks. “That had to be so hard.”

Cole shrugs. “I hated him. For a long time.”

“Who?”

He hesitates. “Parker. I said things to him that I didn’t mean. I felt like it was all his fault that mom was gone. Dad always told me I’d regret saying that. And that the biggest gift Mom left us was that little boy. He looks like both of them.”

We both look at Parker, shoving a shell excitedly into Maddie’s face. Maddie pretends to be interested in it. Then goes back to building the epic sandcastle.

“Siblings are gifts,” I say, thinking of my own. “Annoying. Loud. Obnoxious gifts.”

He smiles briefly, but it disappears as he looks up at someone approaching.

I turn to see who it is.

“Hey!” Joshua says, coming to join us. “You guys okay?”

Cole looks at him, and his body language changes. He retreats back into himself, sliding his headphones back on. I rise to give him some space.

Joshua stares down at Cole who’s actively ignoring him.

“Keelan’s setting up the grill. I’m trying to get a count of how many burgers or hotdogs.”

“I’ll take a burger. Cole?”

He looks at me. “Same.”

I turn back to Joshua and cock my head. “Maddie and Parker will probably eat hot dogs,” I tell him.

He nods, and his eyes rove over my face. I try not to show any emotion.

“Hey, can we talk?” he says, lowering his voice.

I give a glance to each of the kids to make sure they’re okay before nodding.

We walk a little further away from everyone. And he takes a seat right on the shore. The water laps at his feet before it retreats back into the ocean.

He pats the spot next to him, and I shoot the group of ladies a quick look. All their eyes are on us. They give me thumbs ups and winks. Libby smashes her hand into her other palm. And I stifle a giggle.

“What’s up, Joshua?” I sit next to him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my leaving. I don’t really have a choice in the matter, you know?”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yeah,” he turns his body toward me. “I do. Keelan brought it to my attention that I might be giving you mixed signals. And I don’t want you to think that I’m playing with your emotions in any way.”

“I don’t think that at all,” I say with confidence.

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