Page 46 of Game Changer
“You assume it was a girl.”
“Was it?”
“Yes,” she admits.“Her name was Opal, because that’s my birthstone.She lived in the broom closet.”
“What?Poor Opal.Did you talk to her?”
“Yes.Until I got old enough to realize how weird it was.Then I just did when I was alone.Or thought I was alone.One of my cousins overheard me talking to her once and made fun of me for years about it.”
“Ugh.”
“Your turn.”
“Well.I don’t tell everyone this…” I pause.“But under these shorts, I’m naked.”
More laughter spills from her lips.“Good one.”
“Okay, how about this.My feet are two different sizes.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.I have to buy two different pairs of hockey skates.It was expensive as a kid.”
“Do you buy two different pairs of shoes?”
“No.Usually I can get away with just buying the size that fits my bigger foot.But I have to have skates that fit perfectly.”
“Let me see.”
I stretch my legs out, feet together, for her to inspect them.Luckily my toenails are trimmed.Feet can be gross.
“I really can’t tell,” she says.“Is it your right foot that’s bigger?”
“Yeah.”
“No one would ever know.”
“Probably not.Just me.And now you.”
“Nobody else knows that about you?”
“Well, my mom does.”
“Of course.She probably cursed when she had to buy two pairs of skates.”
I grin.“Yeah.”
My cell phone rings on the small table where I set it.I pick it up and see Paul’s number.
“Sorry, I have to take this,” I tell Molly.
I answer the call, swinging my legs over the side of the lounge chair and standing.“Hey, Paul.What’s up?”
“I have no news for you,” he says immediately.
“Shit.”
“I know.”Paul sighs.
