Page 25 of Tart
“All of me in her?” he asked. “I don’t know if her mother would like to hear that.”
“She would,” I said on a nod. “Athena is beautiful, and she is her daughter. Regardless of what’s happened since she was conceived, a mother’s love accepts every feature of their child. At least it should,” I added. “Besides, you were a standup guy when you were nothing more than a kid yourself. She could have had to raise Athena alone with no help from her birth father. I’m sure she’s grateful you’re here to help, even though she has a husband now.”
He was silent for several moments while his fingers rubbed up and down my back like they had a right to do that. I suppose as long as I didn’t tell him to stop, then they did. “You have an interesting way of looking at life, Amber Larson.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing,” I said, a tremble rumbling through me.
“Not at all. It’s more like something tells me that you have experience with it in a painful way.”
I didn’t—couldn’t—answer him. I didn’t know how to answer him. I did have real-life experience with it, and it was painful, but not in the way he was thinking. My hand trailed across a frame sitting on the stand next to the couch. I picked it up to look at it closer. “This is you and Athena. What a wonderful picture.”
“It is. That was when Athena liked having her picture taken with her old dad. I think she was about ten there and we were going to a school event. She was so happy that I took the morning off to go to the Donuts and Dads event. Usually, her step-dad went because I was teaching. She was in fourth grade that year, and I just wanted her to know that she was always more important to me than work or anything else I was doing. It became a tradition after that. I invited Ken, and all three of us sat together, ate donuts, and got to know her and her friends. I thought that was important, even if I didn’t live in the same town. I wanted to know who she was hanging out with, and I wanted to know their dads. It was also important that Ken was there, too. He was raising her for the most part, and he saw her friends more than I did. We found ways to make it work.”
“Sounds like you more than made it work, Bishop. You are the very definition of co-parenting. I can promise you that Athena now understands how rare that is after spending a year at college. I’m glad she had both of you in her life. Strong male role models for a girl always help them make good decisions.”
I lowered myself to the couch again on a sigh and kept hold of the picture, just to have something to do with my hands. “It sounds like the storm is easing.”
He nodded and walked to a mini-fridge next to the small table. “It is. I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t a few more here and there tonight. It was hot and muggy all day.” He walked back and handed me a cold can of Sprite, which I accepted with a smile. I cracked it open and took a gulp, lowering the can to my leg. “Thanks. I don’t like storms.”
“Some people don’t. Nothing to worry about.”
“No, I mean, I really don’t like storms. I don’t—I have,” I stuttered about, looking for words that wouldn’t come. Finally, I just shook my head. “I can’t.”
“Storms are the reason you live in the downstairs apartment, right?” he asked, motioning at the side of the house that faced mine.
“It’s hard to find a rental with a basement,” I agreed.
“Especially in a resort town like this one.”
“How did you know that’s why I live in my parent’s basement?” I asked, my head tilted. “I bet Brady told you, didn’t he?”
He shrugged and leaned back, sipping on his can of Diet Coke. “He said you’d never tell me the truth, so he did.”
“What an asshole,” I moaned, dropping my head back to the couch. “Way to make a girl look like a head case, Brady!”
“I don’t think being afraid of storms after what you went through makes you a head case, Amber. On the contrary, I think you’ve earned the right to feel that way about the power of Mother Nature.”
“You might be the only one that thinks that besides Hay-Hay then. Even my parents want me to get over it and be normal,” I said, using air quotes.
“If only it were that easy, eh?” he asked, shoulder bumping me lightly.
“Trust me. It’s not. I’ve tried everything, but I still work my plans around the weather all these years later. That bothers them. No, it’s more like it drives them batshit crazy.”
“Brady didn’t tell me everything. He just said you were injured in a storm as a kid, and that’s why you walk with a limp.”
“Ha!” I said, sarcastic laughter filling my voice. “That’s an understatement.” I was getting angry and defensive now. “Brady had no right to tell you that and then to underplay the truth!”
“What’s the truth then, Amber?” he asked, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs.
I pulled up my dress to show him the scars on my calf. “Intramedullary rod and nails in my tibia and,” I said, turning my arm outward so he could see the underside. “My left humerus. We aren’t even going to talk about my knee and thigh. A tornado hit the campground where we were camping when I was thirteen. They found me in a tree yards away from where the RV had been. It took everyone by surprise that night. Every bone on the left side of my body was broken, but I was lucky and survived, some people didn’t. The tornado split our RV right in half. I was unlucky enough to be sleeping on the bed in the middle of it.”
His hand came up to rest on my back, and his eyes closed. “I’m so sorry, Amber. I can’t even imagine. The idea of how scary that had to have been just made my stomach tremble. I understand why you don’t want to mess with Mother Nature now.”
“You mean, why I freak out about storms?” I asked sarcastically. “For your information, I have diagnosed PTSD.” My shoulders deflated, and I sighed. “Sorry, my heart is still pounding wildly. I need to run and hide, but I can’t.”
He rubbed my leg soothingly through the brace and all. “Don’t apologize. I didn’t know that,” he said with understanding. “I wish I had. I wouldn’t have played tonight’s weather off as no big deal. I would have respected your request to go inside the first time you asked. It won’t happen again. I stick by my earlier statement, though. I understand why you don’t want to mess with Mother Nature now. Why don’t you want to talk about your knee and thigh?” He had his head turned to gaze into my eyes, and I hated that it felt like he could see all my secrets so easily.
I shook my head and gazed up at the ceiling to keep the tears at bay. “I’m sure you noticed I wear a brace on that leg.”
