Читать книгу Straight From The Onion Vine Book 1 Between - Jody Scottsmith - Страница 12

When Kara came downstairs the next morning, Mom was sitting at the kitchen table.

“You slept late,” she observed, looking up from the newspaper.

She didn’t feel like talking, but maybe it would help. “I could use another opinion,” Kara began, sitting across from her.

Mom saw this was hard. “Sure…will Scott be over this Sunday?”

“He wanted to, but I said ‘no’. Then I started missing him. I caught up to him yesterday, to see if…” Her eyes filled and she bowed her head at remembering. “He was with another girl, a real loser!”

Mom just listened, and poured some hot tea for them both. Kara took a sip, the warmth felt good on her dry throat.

“I think you’re being too hard on yourself. He’s the first boy you’ve ever spent time with. Relationships are hard to understand.”

“There’s more,” Kara continued. “Everyone has an opinion about what went on between us. I hate the way they’re talking about me!”

Mom put a comforting hand on hers.

“So…he wanted to come over, and you said ‘no’. I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“It’s just everything got so complicated. At the dance…it was like I didn’t know him.”

“Feel up to some advice?” Mom waited for a nod. “One thing you can always do is be yourself. Think of who you are, Kara. You’re a runner and a good friend. You have a sense of what’s right for you. I’m not sure Annie will have that 10 years from now.”

Mom got up to heat more water for tea.

Kara thought about what Mom said. She was ‘down’ about Scott, but that wasn’t a reason to give up. “I hate the way I blame myself for everything, like why my dad left,” she whispered. She quickly put a hand over her mouth and hoped Mom wasn’t listening.

They didn’t hear Annie come in until the door closed. She picked up her mug from the counter and sat down. “I bet you’re talking about Scott, right? He didn’t waste any time! He was with a girl at The Onion last night.”

“Can we talk about something else?” Kara spoke up.

“Sure. How about why I’m here.” No one answered, so she continued. “Because you’re going with me…to The Onion.”

Kara put her hand up as a definite ‘no’. That was the last thing she wanted to do!

“I get it,” Annie said with a nod. “You don’t want to run into Scott.”

“That’s already happened,” Kara admitted, adding milk and sugar to her tea. At least she was ‘safe’ here, and thought about her weekend…a couple of runs, homework, a few chores. Boring.

“Ok I’ll go,” she agreed, “but I have to run first.” She pulled her overnight braid forward. “Can we do something with this?”

Annie got right on it. “I’ll go home and pick up a few things; meet you back here in an hour.”

Kara quickly changed and took off down the street. It meant a lot to her…having Scott over on Sundays. She didn’t realize how much when she said ‘no’ to this Sunday. By the time she changed her mind, it was too late. “Like I told Neil, next time I’ll be on top of it.”

Refreshed after her run and shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel to wait for Annie.