Page 16 of We Thought We Were Invincible
“That'd make mom twenty-five.”
“She was crazy, your mom.” Kat laughed. “The waves that day were huge, but she wasn't one to back down. And, you know what, she surfed them well. Whenever anyone told her she couldn't do something, she'd do it just to prove them wrong. You remind me so much of her.”
“Yeah?”
“It isn't all good.” Kat grew serious. “You couldn't tell her to do anything she didn't want to do. Sometimes I thought she tried to get in trouble.”
“Like having us.”
Kat was quiet for a long moment. “No. Your father was not in the picture, but she never once thought that what he gave her wasn't good. You and your brother were the best part of her life.”
I leaned back into my pillows to hide my face as tears welled in my eyes.
“I just worry about you, kid. I see you closing yourself off to people and that was not who your mother was. At the same time, I wish you'd take things seriously.”
I protested, and she put her hand up to stop me.
“Things other than surfing,” she clarified.
The bed shifted as she stood. “You and Colby were the best things that ever happened to your mother, and you were also the best things that happened to me.”
I wiped my eyes, watching her as she left my room.
Spending the rest of the day in my room, I watched videos on my computer. Around five, the front door slammed and voices drifted past my room.
“You missed school,” Colby was saying. “Is it any wonder coach made you run extra laps?”
“It's just not fair. I'm the best forward we have,” Jamie groused.
“Excuse me? Cocky much?”
“My point is that coach shouldn't be running me ragged if he expects me to play well in our first game tomorrow.”
Just what I needed. I sighed, banging my head against the door frame.
“Cal,” Colby called.
“I'm right here.” I stepped into view, avoiding Jamie's eyes. That wasn't a problem because he was doing the same.
“Kat called and said she'd be at the diner 'til late, but she doesn't need us tonight.”
“Fine.” I turned to walk back into my room.
“You hungry?” he asked. “We're ordering a pizza.”
“Sure.” I turned to face him again. “Hawaiian?”
He scrunched up his face. “If by that you mean sausage and pepper, then yes.”
“Okay. Let me know when it's here.”
Forty-five minutes later I was sitting at the kitchen table across from Jamie, with Colby on my left and the pizza in front of me. I kept my mouth full so I wouldn't have to talk, but Jamie did enough of that for all of us.
“I can't believe you're going out with Amelia,” Colby said.
Jamie feigned nonchalance. “It's been a while since Jess.”
Jess was the girl he'd dated over the summer.
