Page 6 of Just Friends
“Iowa,” I said. “I’m visiting my folks for a week. Then I’m coming right back to Dallas.”
Coach liked hearing that. “Yeah? You’re going to train with the others, then?”
I nodded. “Figured it’ll help build chemistry heading into next year.”
“Good, good.” He leaned against the door frame and looked me up and down with appraising eyes. “Hey, you seeing anybody, Cammer?”
“I’m enjoying the single life.”
“Ah, yes.” His eyes lit and for a moment, Coach looked like he was thrust back into his own glory days as a young bachelor in the NHL. A second later, he looked contemplative. “A girl could be good for you, though. Someone to settle you down, keep you focused. You know?”
I humored him. “Yeah, maybe. Who knows?”
But the truth was, I didn’t see how a girl could keep me focused at all. Girls wanted commitment, to be taken out on dates all the time, to spend all our free time together. Wouldn’t I become a better hockey player just by focusing on hockey instead?
“You don’t buy that for a minute, do ya?” Coach laughed. “Oh well. Guess I can’tmakeyou find a girlfriend.” He whacked me on the shoulder. “Alright, kid, have yourself a good summer. Now get outta my sight.”
3
Piper
My little sister, Paulina, appeared on screen, wearing a Colorado Blizzard hat and sunglasses.
“Hey, sis!” she said, pulling off her shades to reveal her sky blue eyes. “What’s up!”
The video quality was poor—believe it or not, cell service in rural Montana, where my family lives, isn’t the best—but even in the grainy picture, I could feel the heat of the late morning sun.
“Hi, Paulie!” I tried to make out the scenery around her; she was squatting between rows of plants. “Where are you? You’re not in the field, are you?”
“No, I’m in the front garden.”
The front garden was a small plot, just in front of the two yurts, where we grew the plants that the deer wouldloveto mow down if they could: leafy greens, peas, berries, beets, and more. It was the job of our dogs, Tucker and Chase, to keep the deer at bay.
I tried to identify the plants around Paulina. “What are you picking there? Green beans?”
She held up a fistful of plump pea pods to the camera. “Sugar snap peas.”
“Ooh, those look great.”
“Yeah, they’re perfect right now.” She put a pea pod between her teeth and it crisply snapped with the idealcrunch. “A little too perfect, ‘cause I can’t stop eating them, even though my tummy’s starting to ache.”
“You’re eating one for each one you pick, aren’t you?” I teased.
“Gotta pay the snap pea tax,” she said, smiling.
Everyone always says Paulina and I have the same smile—which strikes me as funny, considering we have the sameeverything else,too. The biggest difference between us, besides the four-year age difference, is the fact that my little sister spends a lot more time outdoors these days than I do. So she’s alotmore tan and her strawberry blonde hair is a little lighter than mine, having been bleached by the sun.
“So how are you doin’, Pip?” she asked.
“I’m good,” I lied. “Actually, I just saw your Facebook post, so I’m a little rip-roarin’ mad right now.”
But it wasn’t Paulina I was angry with—it was our neighbors. For asecondyear in a row.
“Yeeeeah.” Her ponytail whipped around as she instinctively glanced in the direction of the Bowers’ property. “Sothathappened. Again.”
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“Well, you know.” Paulina put on a brave face for my benefit. “It’s, um—”
