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She ran up to her room to change and grab suitable footwear. With their hiking boots on and armed with a bottles of water, they made off down the driveway and gravel road for the trail, which was less than a five-minute walk. Reese enjoyed feeling the sun on her skin. She hadn’t been out much all summer and it showed. She felt as hollow and gaunt as she looked.
“Your dad is nice,” Reese said.
“He’s pretty boring. He’s kind of a by-the-book guy. Nothing excites him. Nothing makes him sad. Pretty much the opposite of Mom.”
“But he loves you, and he’s here.”
Grady didn’t say anything right away. The only sounds came from singing birds and the crunching of Reese’s and Grady’s feet on the gravel.
“Speaking of dads…have you heard from him? Since the Jennifer thing broke?”
I walked into that one, didn’t I?
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m not even sure if he has my contact information. And if he tried to get it through my mom, she hasn’t said. He’s a bit old school, so he may have mailed something to my mom’s house.”
Grady grasped her hand to prevent her from missing the trail entrance. She jumped at the touch even though she liked it.
“This way,” he said.
“Sorry, I almost missed it. Too lost in memories.”
The trail was just wide enough for them to walk side by side. A gentle breeze blew through her hair, and she enjoyed the escape from the heat. The trees and all their leaves did a good job of shielding them from the sun.
“I bet if you called him, he’d want to talk.”
“I’m sure he would, but I don’t even know where I’d begin. There’s so much hurt there. He was able to escape her, but I was stuck. He didn’t offer me a lifeline, or a way out. I can’t easily forget that. It was so hard to stay motivated for skating when I had a mother who didn’t care. Cam and his family kept me on track.”
“Why did he leave? I know it doesn’t make a difference now, but I guess I’m curious.”
“Where do I begin? My mother is cold. She always has been. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen her cry. Nothing fazes her. At least that’s the front she puts up. And my dad was warm, a cuddler, wanted family nights and to hang out and play board games. My mom wanted her private time…all the time. So I guess he figured that when I turned eighteen, I was old enough to take care of myself. Little did he know that I would end up taking care of her. I used my first endorsement deal to pay off her mortgage and her car loan. After that, she expected me to pay at least half her bills. I finally put my foot down and told her she’d have to pay her bills and do something with her life. My dad’s alimony payments were only going to take her so far. To make a long story short, he couldn’t live with her anymore. And the second I got my chance to leave, I was gone too, once I had enough money to support myself. To think I stuck it out with her almost four years after he left.”
“I would be pissed off he left too.”
Reese took the opportunity of a short pause to change the subject. “But enough about me. Tell me about you. I’m guessing you don’t have a girlfriend?”
Did I just ask that?
She wanted to give herself a head slap. That was not the segue she was looking for. Her damn mouth started speaking before her brain had time to catch up. She took a quick, pensive glance at him, but the placid expression on his face told her that the question didn’t seem to bother him.
“No, that’s why my mom gives me so much grief.”
“Yeah, I figured, that’s why I asked,” she said, trying to cover her gaff.
“I was dating someone back in Philadelphia, but she hated how much I was away. Road trips, you know? And she didn’t want to spend summers here, so we fizzled out. Nobody since. But aren’t you dating someone? Jackson or something like that?”
“Jordy.”
“Right.”
“How did you know that?”
He took a long swig of his water. “I googled you once I figured out who you were when you came my door, you know, freaking out about the music.”
Oh God.
“Right, that.”
“And it came up in my search.”
