Page 54 of Beach B!tch
19
Brinley
My mom and I spent the rest of the day talking and asking questions, trying to fill each other in on a lifetime of events, large and small. I drank in her voice, her stories, her quirks, and above all, her love. She shared with me some pictures of the advertisements she'd run in the newspapers and online searching for me. She'd had multiple artists do an age progression on my baby pictures to see what I'd look like now. Only one of them was anywhere close to being accurate.
A friend of hers had come to Huntington Beach for vacation recently and run into John, alerting my mom I might be in the area too. Come to find out, his middle name was John, which is what he'd gone by ever since running away with me. His first name was actually Franklin, which was a surprise to me. My mom flew out here last week and searched for both my father and me. She talked to local law enforcement, and thankfully, got in front of Jack, who knew who I was and knew Dean.
My mom and my father had lived in Texas when she found out she was pregnant with me. They were only dating at the time and had just graduated high school. When she told him about the pregnancy, he accused her of sleeping with his best friend. She denied that was the case, but he didn't believe her. Their relationship was rocky after that as you can imagine. My mom tried to keep the peace since there was now a baby on the way, but once I was born, my father became super erratic. One day when he was watching me while she went out to get more diapers, she came home to an empty house. All of his things were gone, along with her newborn baby.
I couldn't keep the tears back knowing she'd spent the last twenty-eight years looking for me, never giving up, never losing hope she'd one day find me. To know my mom was out there searching for me, and loving me, this whole time was overwhelming.
Dean came back to my place after he got off work that night and the three of us spent the evening getting to know each other. Dean and my mom got along well which was a relief. She was in tears over my stories about the treatment I sustained while living with my father. She said she felt horrible guilt and was so sorry I went through all that. Dean rubbed his big hand along my back the whole time I told her about my childhood, helping me to stay in the present and not get lost in all that darkness. I'm sure it couldn't have been easy for him to hear those stories either, but he always made it about me, not him.
My mom could see how good Dean was for me and told me how much she liked him after he went home for the night. I had to be up early and back out on the court for my most important game ever, so my mom urged me to go to bed too. We had the rest of our lives to get to know each other. She slept on the couch, refusing my bed because she wanted me fully refreshed for tomorrow's game.
I can't tell you the peace I felt when I laid my head down to sleep. I felt like I was living some sort of dream life. Like I'd wake up the next morning and my mom, Dean, my friends, my volleyball achievements...they'd all be something I'd dreamt about while I slept. So I indulged the little girl inside me and I crept into the living room with my pillow and comforter. I laid down on the floor right next to my mom, who was snoring softly on the couch. I'd missed a few mother/daughter sleepovers growing up, and I'd make up for lost time right then and there.
Autumn and I were once again warming up in the sand. Our game was a good hour away, but we weren't taking any chances. We were only one of sixteen female teams that made it to today's round. A lot more people packed onto the sand for today's Main Draw and you could feel the hopped up energy in the air.
Just one more win. Just one more win.
My mom was somewhere in the crowd, wearing a purple Beach Squad shirt that Esa had given her yesterday. She was officially part of the crew. How cool was that? My MOM, you guys. I had a mom! I was still pinching myself to make sure this was my reality.
Dean showed up with Stefan and Beth in tow. They were all in the purple t-shirts as well, which just made me giggle. Leave it to Esa & Bailey to coordinate a cheering section for me. The stakes seemed so high personally, but the atmosphere was casual and festive. Sand volleyball gave a lot of accessibility to fans, which meant my friends and family could sit close by and have a great view of the game.
After a few minutes, I pulled Dean away from the group to a quiet corner in the shade of a palm tree. I needed some time just with him. I hadn't been able to be alone with him like I wanted since my father started pulling his tricks. I needed to make sure he knew I wanted that time. That I'd make sure we got that time after this game was over.
"I'm sorry I've been so preoccupied. I promise we'll get quality alone time after this weekend." I laid my hands on his chest and pressed my body into his, loving the feel of his hard muscles. His arms instantly came around me, keeping us as one unit.
"Sweetheart, you just met your mom for the first time after twenty-eight years of thinking she was dead. What kind of asshole would I be if I begrudged you time with her?" Dean grinned at me.
"Yeah, that would make you a pretty big asshole, wouldn't it?" I giggled, not able to imagine him treating me like that.
Then his hands drifted lower, dangerously close to grabbing my ass.
Dean lowered his voice and spoke right next to my ear, sending shivers down my body. "But I won't lie. I've been watching you walk around in this barely there bikini. I can't wait to get my hands on you and finish number four on your list."
"Mmm...me too. Maybe tomorrow we'll have our own celebration?" I wanted to pin down the evening or everything would continue to get in the way.
"I'm gonna to hold you to that." Dean kissed me, careful not to go too far since we were essentially at my work place. "But first, I want you to go out there today and have fun. I want you to focus on doing what you love to do. You've got this, Brin. There's no way you can lose if you just have fun with it and do what you've trained your whole life to do. I want to see you fight hard and win. For you, of course, but do it for me too, okay?"
I was pumped up by his words. I was feeling gooey inside about how much he believed in me. I'd always wanted to win for me, but now I had a new reason to win: to make my man proud.
"I'll win it for both of us. Pinky swear." I held my pinky out to him and he wrapped his around mine, sealing the deal.
"Yo! Lovebirds! Time to let our girl get ready for her big game." Shasta came walking over to us, her arm looped through my mom's. They looked like they'd become instant friends, which made everything sweeter. Shasta had been a mom figure to me for so long, it was nice to see she didn't have any jealousy issues with my biological mom showing up in my life.
Esa, Ivan, Bailey, and Jack came over as well to wish me luck. We huddled together, a big happy family by choice.
My mom broke through the noise and addressed the group in a loud voice. "I've got a good one for you. Two waves had a race. Who won?" She had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. Everyone looked at her in shock. Apparently, my gift of joke telling came from my mom. We all burst out laughing, even though she complained that we hadn't even heard the punch line yet.
"They tide! They tide!" She kept yelling over our hoots of laughter.
Good God, I loved this woman already.
After one last heated kiss from Dean, I left my group and went to the player's tent to find Autumn.
When it came time to take the court and start our official warm-up drills, I saw a section of purple shirts on one side of the court. Some of them I didn't recognize. Maybe Esa & Bailey got a little carried away with the shirts yesterday, along with the party invites. Either way, I was happy to have a large cheering section to keep the energy pumped up throughout the game.
