Page 48 of Bending Under Pressure

“Yep.”

“Are Jess and Cameron going too?”

I stick the wand into the tube, close it, and sit next to her. “No. Her parents are leaving on a trip tomorrow, so they’re making her stay home to spend time with them. It’ll only be us.” I pause, debating as I have been all afternoon. Things have been good between us so far this week. I haven’t told her about Dad’s call yet though. He’s called a few times, but I haven’t answered. I texted him to give him the lame excuse that I needed more time. “Do you and Walter want to come with us?” I finally ask.

“Thank you, but no. He wants to take me out for dinner and I know you would probably rather it be you and him. How about we all go out to eat sometime this weekend?”

“Yeah, okay,” I reply, half glad she said no, half annoyed. A glance at my alarm clock shows I have thirty minutes until Keelan comes to pick me up still. I could easily bring up Dad now. I feel like I need to talk to her about it before I make any decision to see him again. Clearing my throat, I say, “Dad called me.”

Mom stiffens for a moment. “Really? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah, sort of.” Suddenly, my knees seem so interesting. “It was Saturday and a few times since then, but I haven’t answered. He says he’s sorry about all that stuff.” That sounds better than explaining what happened. “He wants to make it up to me.”

“Oh, well, that’s good.” She doesn’t sound like she means it.

“I guess.”

Mom’s voice is gentle as she speaks. “You’ve been dying to have your father back in your life, Haley. I know you miss him, but I also know you’re struggling with what happened. Tell me what you’re thinking, so I can figure out a way to help you.”

“Do you think he deserves it?” I blurt out.

Mom frowns. “I think you deserve to find out.”

Well, that’s a sucky answer if I ever heard one. “I want to,” I whisper, focusing on my knees again.

“Okay, so why haven’t you answered his calls?”

“He keeps talking about them and me meeting them.” My chest tightens. “What if I say no and he changes his mind?”

“Then he doesn’t deserve it,” she replies firmly. Mom opens her mouth to say more, but Walter peeks his head into my room.

“Haley, Keelan’s here.”

“Thanks.”

Oh, he’s early. Mom wraps me in a hug. “If you aren’t comfortable meeting them, which is perfectly understandable, tell him. If he changes his mind, which I don’t think he will, then he doesn’t deserve the second chance you want to give him.” I nod, my chin bumping her shoulder. “Thanks for talking to me, Haley.”

“Thanks for listening.”

When she pulls away, her ‘resting bitch face’ slides into place as she heads off to greet Keelan. It’s kind of funny how she does that. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen her look so pissed off. I wonder if it actually bothers Keelan.

Standing, I slip on my flip-flops, grab my phone and some cash for my ticket, and walk to the living room where Keelan and his parents are sitting. A smile breaks out on Keelan’s face when he sees me. His parents and Mom and Walter are talking about something.

“Hales,” Keelan says, standing as I make my way next to him. I thought I might eventually hate him calling me that, but each time he says it, my heart does a little cartwheel and lets out a small “aw.”

“Hey.” I grin because I can’t help myself. I do it every time I see him. “Hey, Octavia and John, you’re going to the game, too?”

“Yes, we are,” Octavia replies, both of them standing now. “I thought we would come in and meet your mom and stepdad, too.”

“We’ll have to all get together some time,” John adds.

“Yes, that sounds great,” Mom agrees.

“Well, let’s go before we’re late,” Keelan interjects.

His parents say goodbye to mine and then we’re walking outside; Keelan and I get into the backseat of John’s car. Once we’ve pulled onto the road, Octavia twists in her seat a little to look back at me.

“I hope you don’t mind John and I tagging along, Haley. We were planning to come anyway and didn’t see the point in us driving separately. The boys do enough of that as it is.” That is true. They could ride together to school, but since Cameron seems to go see Jess afterward, they drive separately. Even when he doesn’t, they do.

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