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Her smile was gentle. “I’m your mom. It’s my job to worry about you.”
I shook my head, getting up to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going up to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“I love you. Goodnight.”
“Love you too.”
On the way in, I could hear my dad’s snores coming from his room. I stood at the foot of the stairs, listening for a moment. I loved hearing the sound. It was one of the first sounds I heard from him in the hospital when they removed his breathing tube.
Sometimes, if I closed my eyes, I could imagine life was the way it used to be when I heard him sleep like this. I pictured him getting up in the morning, making breakfast for Mom and me, taking us out to a new museum or a restaurant we hadn’t tried before.
He used to say that was his favorite part about being in the military. Moving so often meant he got to enjoy the world. See so many different things. And he had. The life he’d lived before his injury had been full—of experiences, fun, and love.
“I love you, Daddy,” I whispered to myself and then went up the stairs to get ready for bed.
Thirty-Five
April
When I wentdownstairs the next morning, Dad was in the living room, watching TV. At the sound of me coming down the stairs, he looked my way. “Good morning, monkey.”
I smiled at him. “Morning, Dad.”
“What are you up to?” he asked.
“Have to go walk the neighbor’s dog and hope she doesn’t run away again.”
He chuckled, the sound warming my heart. “Hang on tight to that leash.”
“I will,” I promised. When I looked up, I could see through to the kitchen table where Mom was smiling at us. She gave me a thumbs-up before I turned and walked out the door.
Every bit of me wanted to stay in there with Dad, watch TV with him and soak in these moments where he was most himself, but I knew it could change on a dime.
So I left with a smile to the Pfanstiels’ and picked up Heidi and she pranced alongside me, hardly ever getting distracted or pulling on the leash. I was so proud of her... and of myself for training what I thought was an untrainable dog. After dropping her back off with Jesse, and getting another twenty-dollar bill, I walked along the shore to Diego’s house. My heart beat quickly, like it hoped I’d get another kiss like the one the day before.
When I got closer to his house, I saw him outside on the patio. A beachy god in his swim trunks and an oversized Hawaiian-type shirt he wore half open. The peek at his chest muscles had my jaw dropping. I tried not to stare, but it was harder when his eyes landed on me and he sent me one of those grins that made even the sun seem dull in comparison.
I lifted my hand in a wave, hoping he liked the way I looked in this outfit. It was an orange romper with a white floral print that my mom had gotten me. I liked the way it flowed around my body and showed off my legs.
“You’re lookingfine,” he said, biting his lip.
I giggled.Giggled. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Had to look good for my hot project partner.”
Hot? Me? I’d take the compliment any day. “Keep talking like that and this blush is going to be permanently stuck on my cheeks,” I replied.
“Good,” he said. “I like it when your face is all red.”
When he talked to me like this, it made me wonder why I’d been so hesitant, even if there was a worry in the pit of my stomach that everything would go wrong. That I’d end up with a broken heart.
“We should work on our homework, right?” I said, already knowing that focusing would be next to impossible. Especially now that I knew what kissing him felt like.
“Sure,” he replied, walking back to the patio table and sitting in one of the chairs. I sat a chair away from him—I needed the space to think if we were going to get any work done. A glance at the table showed a bowl full of mango and watermelon, sprinkled with dots of red.
“What is this?” I asked
He poked a mango with a toothpick and popped it in his mouth. “Fruit with chili and lime. Makes it taste a million times better. Try it.”
