“And look at us now,” she said with a smile. “We have our own businesses, our own homes, and have made some wonderful friends.”
Richard held her hand a little tighter. “And we’ve met each other.”
“What about stickability?”
“As long as we’re honest with each other, we won’t have to worry about stickability.”
Paris sighed and looked across at Jack. “That sounds good to me. Apart from Jack, what else is important to you?”
“My family, friends, and having a good life. What about you?”
“The only family I have is my mom, and we don’t have a great relationship.”
“What happened?”
She looked down at her sneakers. “Mom is an alcoholic. Most of the time, you wouldn’t know she’s been drinking. It’s only when things aren’t going well that she crumbles. She has high expectations about what I should do with my life, and I’m always disappointing her.”
“That must be stressful.”
“It is.” Paris took a deep breath. “I used to think that when I was an adult, everything would be better. But it got worse. Growing up with someone telling you you’re not good enough broke something inside of me. The only way I can focus on building a great life is to spend as little time with her as possible.”
“How does she feel about that?”
“She would be happier if I lived in Los Angeles. The only good thing about her job is that it keeps her busy. What happened to Jack’s mom?”
Richard watched Jack throw a stick into the air. “I met Angie when we were at college. I joined the army, we got married, had Jack, and then I left for Afghanistan. She was on her own with a new baby, and it became too much. Mom and Dad tried to help her, but she wanted to do everything herself. The day after she was told about my injury, she left Jack with my parents and moved to Vancouver. She died a year later from a drug overdose.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was an awful time. No one knows why she was taking the pain medication she was on, but she took too much. Throughout everything, my parents were incredible.”
Jack ran toward them. “Look what I found.” He held two flat stones in the palm of his hand.
Toto looked up at Richard, then at Jack. It was almost as if he realized what was coming next.
“How many times do you think they’ll skip across the water?”
He held one of the stones in the air and gave it to Richard. “This one will do five skips. And this one will do six.”
His smile made Richard laugh. “I’ll bet a double scoop of vanilla ice cream that this stone will skip seven times across the water.”
“Deal!” Jack yelled as he raced toward the water.
Paris laughed. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve spent a lot of time skipping stones?”
“We come here at least twice a week. This is the first time I’ve said I’ll skip a stone seven times.”
“Two scoops of ice cream is a good incentive.”
A warmth spread through his chest. He enjoyed seeing Paris happy, knowing he’d helped ease the heartache of her life with her mother. “You have a point, especially when it’s vanilla. Do you want to have a go?”
“You might regret asking me.”
“Are you good?”
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “I’m better than good. I’m amazing. If I find the right stone, I’ll make it skip eight times for a chocolate-dipped ice cream.”
He looked into her eyes and wondered why it had taken so long for them to become friends. “And if you can’t beat Jack and me?”
