Page 133 of Time to Shine

“Did you watch Casey in the skills competition last night?” Dad asked.

Landon managed a small smile. “Unfortunately.”

“I felt so bad for him,” Mom said. “It’s a sin that they make them keep shooting until they hit all the targets. There should be a time limit.”

It had been a bit painful to watch. Casey must have taken at least twenty shots on the final target in the shot accuracy competition. But, in typical Casey Hicks fashion, he’d been entertaining about it. The broadcast had even had him mic’d up, so viewers at home could hear Casey’s amusing, but increasingly frustrated, remarks as he’d been shooting. When he’d finally smashed the foam bull’s-eye target, Casey had raised his arms in celebration, then did a little victory dance as if he’d just accomplished something impressive. It had been adorable, and so perfectly Casey that Landon had found it painful to watch for a whole new reason.

Also adorable had been the selfie Casey had sent Landon from the ice after, cringing at the camera. Beneath it, he’d written: Harder than it looks.

Landon, after a lot of deliberation, had sent back a laughing-face emoji. Then he’d spent more time than he wanted to admit staring at that photo.

But now he was in a hotel room in Colorado, on a video call with his parents. Calls like this one had become a regular thing since Christmas, which had been nice, but also difficult because his parents could tell he was miserable, but he didn’t want to talk about it.

So they mentioned Casey in little ways, like this. Safe ways.

“He seemed to be a good sport about it,” Mom said.

“Yeah,” Landon agreed.

Mom smiled sympathetically at him. “Have you talked to him lately?”

“Not really, no.”

“Do you think,” she said carefully, “you’re making this harder than it needs to be, maybe?”

Landon tensed. “I don’t have a choice.”

“You do, though.”

That ticked him off. “I don’t. He deserves better than a long-distance relationship with me. He...he hates being alone. He should be with someone who can actually be with him. I can’t promise him anything, and I can’t...” Landon sighed. “Why would he even want a long-distance relationship with me? It makes no sense. We never made sense. It was just...a thing that happened. And now it’s over.”

“Did he tell you that he didn’t want to have a long-distance relationship with you? That he wanted it to be over?” Mom asked.

Landon looked away from the screen when he said, “No. He said he wanted to try.”

“Well then,” Dad said, “what’s the problem?”

“The problem is...” Landon had to think about it. “He deserves better.”

“The hell he does,” Dad said, which shocked Landon into looking back at the screen. “You keep beating yourself up, Landon, and it breaks our hearts. You deserve better.”

Landon blinked as his eyes began to burn. “I’m a mess.”

“You’re not,” Mom said. “You’re sad. And maybe you don’t need to be. We saw how much you mean to each other. What you two have is special, and you should give it a chance.”

“How?”

“Talk to him,” Mom said simply. “And, more importantly, listen to him.”

“I miss him so much.”

“We know,” Dad said. “And I’ll bet he misses you just as much.”

“I don’t know.”

“You can’t keep carrying all this pain,” Mom said. “Let yourself be happy, sweetheart.”

Landon blew out a breath. “I need to think about it. What to say.”

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