“Thank you.”
“He was pissing me off. I had to say something.”
“I appreciate it.”
Flinn nodded.
We walked the rest of the way back to his house, and then I walked the last half mile to mine. Once I was alone, I talked to myself. I yelled, screamed, kicked rocks, and let my tears flow. Life was unfair.
The whole lack-of-dad thing had really messed me up, but not having my mom would destroy me. I would never admit this to her, but she was my best friend, and I didn’t want to live in a world where my mom didn’t exist. Especially not when I was only sixteen. Even Nova deserved better.
I turned into our long dirt driveway and paused when I heard a bark. Scout, my coach’s dog, ran toward me, with Nova following behind. We met halfway, and I gave the dog some good behind-the-ear scratches.
“Cutter, guess what?” Nova bounced anxiously.
“What?”
She held her hand up, with her index finger pointed toward the sky. “One, Grandma bought you some new sweatpants. Two, Mommy says we can have pizza for dinner. Three, Coach is building us a new porch.” The last one, she jumped up and down at, while I frowned. Nova couldn’t say Coach’s last name, so she called him “Coach.”
“Why is Coach building us a porch?”
Nova shrugged and reached for my hand. She held it tightly while she skipped along to my stride. When the house came into view, sure enough, Coach Schmidt wore a work belt and a ball cap, and he had a table saw out.
“Hey, Cutter,” he said as he looked up from marking a line on a piece of wood.
“What are you doing?”
He nodded toward the hole in the front porch. “Getting those boards replaced before someone falls through. Do you want to help?”
I didn’t. I wanted to go up to my room and bury my face in my pillow. Instead, I nodded and told him I’d be right back. Inside, I went upstairs, stared at the pillow I’d intended to soak with my tears, and changed my clothes. It looked like I was going to learn how to repair a porch instead of wallowing in self-pity.
Chapter 12
Antonia
Cutter came thundering down the stairs, wearing a pair of jeans and a flannel. Miri sat next to me, wrapped in an afghan blanket my mother had crocheted for her before Cutter was born. Miri set her book down and smiled at her son.
“Are you going outside to help?”
He nodded. “Coach asked me to. I didn’t think I should say no.”
“That’s very nice of you.”
Cutter shrugged, which was the way all teens played things off. Cutter helping his coach was huge. It would not only teach him how to repair what was broken but would also give him some time with Weston, away from school and the team.
“Nova said we’re having pizza for dinner?”
“We are,” Miri said as she reached for his hand. When he didn’t move to take hers, she dropped her hand back into her lap. Despite her trying to hide her feelings about being rejected, I saw it, and I wondered if her son had as well.
“Cool. Can Eleni come over for dinner?”
Miri nodded. “The rules remain.”
Cutter sighed loudly.
“Which are?” I asked. His little teenage temperament put me on edge. I didn’t want to think he would take advantage of his mother right now, but those hormones wreaked havoc on young, impressionable minds.
“Eleni isn’t allowed upstairs,” Miri said as she kept her eyes on her son.
