Chapter 14: CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Caleb.

I took some hard hits in yesterday’s game. Decent sized bruises splotch my chest an angry red and purple. Today I’ll head down to The Counter, a custom burger joint on The Row. Faith spends weekends at her dad’s. This morning she sent me a text asking to meet her at the restaurant on the property. No invitation to go knocking on her dad’s door, even though we live in the same neighborhood.

At least she didn’t cancel.

A perfect seventy-six degrees is forecast for the high today. It’s September. The temperature could have been scorching instead of mild. I brush my teeth, run my fingers through my wet hair, and hang my damp towel. I cross to my closet, choose jeans and a gray T-shirt, and grab a Gladiator football sweatshirt to leave in the car for later.

My cell rings. I check caller ID. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”

“Checking on you, darling. How does it feel to score your first college touchdown?”

I head into the kitchen for coffee. “Fantastic. I heard your voice over all the other screaming when I crossed into the end zone.”

Mom laughs. “Another voice, belonging to a pretty student who sat next to me in the stadium, contributed to the noise.”

The fact that Faith used the tickets I left for her makes me feel damn good. I reach into the fridge for creamer and add a healthy shot to my mug. Mom’s fishing for info. “Many pretty girls enrolled here, Mama. Care to be more specific?”

“She mentioned something about math class.”

Ding, but I’m not about to make it easy on Mom. “Hmm. Half my math class is female.”

“Caleb Alexander St. John! Tell me about Faith this minute.”

Even though she uses my full name, I know she’s smiling. “You just want the skinny so you and Aunt Mo can use it as an excuse to open a bottle of wine. Plot and plan. Giggle like middle-school girls.”

She sniffs. “Damned straight. Now tell me…”

I snort out a laugh. “Fine. We’re about to head out on our second date. I’m taking her to the beach. She’s an East Coast girl and has never seen the Pacific.”

“Nice. Honey, I should probably tell you in case she mentions it, that your dad and I had a bit of a flare-up yesterday when he tried to join me in the stands.”

Shit. “Explain.” I down half my coffee, burning the roof of my mouth in the process.

“She overheard more than we’d both prefer. The good news is that if you haven’t told her about our split, there’s no need—we took care of that for you.”

Well that happened. Nothing I can do to change it. “How many times do you need reminding? Not in front of the children.”

She sighs and lowers her voice. “I’m sorry, Caleb.” She blows out a breath. “I’m not ready to play nice with him. I’ll get there—not quite ready yet.”

I hate the sorrow in her voice. “Of course, you’re not. Don’t apologize. For the record, I’m not ready, either.”

“Honey, I wish you’d reconsider—”

“No.” Never. Can’t do it.

“He’s your dad. I understand needing time to process, but I hope you’ll find a way to forgive, if not forget.”

Damn it. “His decisions affected us both.” I swallow the rest of my coffee. “And you have a divorce lawyer.”

“Yes.” She sighs. “Caleb, it’s a different dynamic though. He was my partner and he chose to be intimate with someone else. But he’s your dad. He’ll never stop being your father. Promise me you’ll think about it.”

“How about a compromise? I promise to consider it once I no longer want to hit something when I think about what we walked in on.”

“Deal.” Her voice brightens. “On a lighter note, your Faith seems sweet.”

I’m relieved Mom has changed the subject. Faith isn’t mine, but there’s something about her that grabs me, pulls me into her orbit. “It’s early days. No way to tell without repeated exposure. I gotta run, so I can go expose myself.”

“Ha! Funny boy. I taught you better than that. Kindness is key, my son.”

“Being good-looking doesn’t hurt.”

She laughs. “I forgot to teach you the importance of humility.”

I love hearing her laugh, especially these days. “You think I take my face for granted? I thank my mama for my superb genes.”

“Cheeky monkey. Go, have fun.”

“That’s the plan.”

The Row tends to be busy at eleven in the morning on any given Sunday. People want brunch, mimosas and shopping. Not necessarily in that order. I’m trying not to fidget or pace while I wait for Faith in front of the restaurant. I’m focused on the block in front of me, hoping to spot her, and I’m a little worried she won’t show. I feel a tap on my shoulder right before she steps beside me.

“Good morning,” she says.

“Hey, good timing.” Then I blurt, “To be honest, I thought you might not show.”

“Dude.” She smiles. “A deal’s a deal. Besides, I want to see the Pacific. Lead on, Sinjin.”

My parents bought me a Lexus hybrid crossover for graduation. I parked my car around the corner on the street. It’s close to the on ramp for Highway 17 South.

Faith says, “I like your car.”

“It’s important to Mom that we do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint.”

“Smart. Your mom and I met. She’s nice.”

“She’s the best.”

Faith places her hand on top of mine where I hold the gearshift. “I’m sorry, Sinjin. Divorce sucks no matter the circumstance.”

I nod because I don’t want to talk about my parents.

She moves her hand back to her lap. I wish she kept it over mine. She’s wearing a Powerpuff Girls Saving The World Before Bedtime hoodie.

“By the way, congrats on your touchdown.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you were at the game.”

“It was fantastic. Thanks for the tickets. Subject change. Who are we listening to? I don’t recognize the band.”

“Petraphobia. They’re local.”

“Wait. Doesn’t that mean fear of rocks?”

“Yeah. Rock band. They wanted to be ironic. At least that’s what they told everyone. I went to high school with the bass player. This is their demo album.”

“You’ve got to love a band that sings passionately about a Chinese delicacy.”

“True. Every time that song plays, I get a low-grade urge to eat orange chicken.”

She laughs outright but continues to stare out her window. “Are we close to the beach?”

“Yes. This highway ends in Santa Cruz. We’ll follow the main drag down to the ocean.”

I find a place to park and we and enter the Boardwalk. We eat corn dogs and fries and drink fresh-squeezed lemonade, courtesy of Boardwalk Dogs. I wrap my arm around her both times we ride the Giant Dipper, while she scream-laughs herself breathless. We take a ride on the Sky Glider to see the incredible views of the coastline from above, and I get another text from an unknown number.

Can we talk? Meet me anywhere. U pick. D.

So much for text stoppage. My strategy: block the number and hope she gives up. As we exit the ride, I turn to Faith. “Your superior Skee Ball skills shame me. I need to redeem myself by beating you at mini golf.”

She hip-bumps me. “I’m not sure your pride is up to another loss, but I’m willing to go easy on you, jock-boy. Do I need to give you a handicap, one stroke per hole?”

My mind short-circuits when she uses that line on me. Day-um. Get your head out of the gutter. Now. “I’ll play you straight up, smart-ass.”

“Now, now, Sinjin. Good sportsmanship and a positive attitude are the keys to success.”

I steer her toward Neptune’s Kingdom and mini golf. “Coach says keeping an iron grip on the ball while steamrolling over anyone who gets in your way is the key to success. I’ll let him know he’s wrong.”

She elbows me lightly in the ribs, the same place I took a helmet hit last night. I don’t let on that it hurts.

She smiles widely at me. “Now who’s being a smart-ass?”

“Guilty.” We step into the darkened hallway that leads into the recreation center. We are alone. I pull her in. “I need to kiss you before I lose my mind. Okay?”

She glances up at me, a hint of a smile ghosting her mouth. “Okay.”

Her lips are soft, pliant, and taste faintly of lemonade. Our tongues touch and need courses through me. I want this girl. So damn much. She cups my face with her hands while mine drop to her waist. I hold on tight because I want to touch her everywhere, but now is not the time. I pull away, not because I want to, but because we aren’t private and she deserves more than to be pawed in a shadowed hallway.

Her hands move down to my shoulders, and I rest my chin on her head. I take a breath and let it out. “Time for me to show you how to play mini golf like a champion.”

She cocks her head, makes eye contact, and pats my shoulder. “Time for me to teach you how to lose with dignity.”

We get our clubs and scorecard. She picks out a neon green ball. “Gender neutral.”

Which makes me grin and choose yellow to follow suit. We reach the first hole, and she bends over to line up her putt. My mind goes blank. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, in case I actually drooled instead of just thinking about it.

Damn. This girl plays. She’s nailed three black light holes like she’s wearing night vision goggles. Her smile gets wider as her score slips lower than mine. We approach the eighteenth hole with a two-shot difference in her favor. If I make a hole-in-one, it might give me an opportunity to catch up. I line up my putt and tap the ball. I just miss the lineup for the one-shot drop. “I need to distract you.”

Faith places her ball on the mat. She looks over her shoulder at me and smiles. “Is that your new strategy?”

“Fine, take your best shot, Lacerna.”

Unlike mine, her ball lines up perfectly with the hole-in-one drop. She beat me.

Smoking hot.

Whooping and dancing in place, she raises her putter over her head and calls out in a singsong voice, “I won. I won. I. Won.”

She’s so damn pleased with her victory. I laugh and hold up my hands in surrender. “You won. Girl, you own me. I guess this means I’m on the hook for an ice cream.”

Faith brings down her putter and lets it rest on the top of her foot. Gestures with her other hand. “Come here.”

I step closer to her. She points at her lips. It’s the first time she’s made a move. I lean in, kiss her, and rock back on my heels. “What was that for?”

Her smile spreads as she meets my gaze. “For not being an asshole about losing to me. Twice.” She narrows her eyes. “Unless you let me win? If you did, then I take it back.”

I smile. “Nope. I tried hard for that win. It would have been fun to gloat. Now I’m doing my best at being a dignified loser. Is it working?”

“Indeed.”

We walk over to return our putters to the attendant. I pull out the remaining tickets from my pocket. Enough for us to ride the carousel. Another landmark operating for more than a century. We sit side by side. I pull out my phone, turn on the selfie feature, lean in toward Faith, and take one of us both, but the horse she’s riding rises and takes most of her face out of the frame. Just me and the Powerpuff Girls.

She won’t pose for another, saying, “I like that one.”

Just outside the carousel, we stand in line for soft serve swirled ice cream cones dipped in chocolate from my favorite ice cream shop on the beach. We watch the waves while we finish.

“Let’s go to Capitola—it’s a few miles down the coast. We can walk along that stretch of beach without tripping over people. Give you a chance to stand in the Pacific.”

I reach for her hand to lead the way to the car and realize she’s a girl I could fall for—hard. And it makes me stop and think: is this what I want? So soon after Dana’s betrayal?

Am I ready to step into another relationship? I have so many unanswered questions about Faith. I guess the most important one is whether I should stay on the field or call timeout?