Dare You to Fall for the Catcher by Lacy Andersen

Author:Lacy Andersen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lacy Andersen
Published: 2020-06-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

That near-kiss was haunting me.

I’d tried and utterly failed to do my English homework. Watching Netflix was a total bust. Even pumping my dumbbells didn’t leave me any of the usual energy I got from working out. So I turned some music on and flopped down on my bed in a hoodie and yoga pants, trying desperately not to think about Jayden and that dressing room mishap.

Charlotte had been giddy with happiness when I took her to the party. I might still have been shook by my experience at the mall, but I did my big-sister duty. I lectured her about being smart and responsible and choosing better friends. Of course, I didn’t mention Sarah specifically, but I hoped she got the message. At the very least, she’d taken the lecture without complaint and hopped out of the van before I’d even put it into park.

A huge part of me had wanted to stick around and follow her inside, make sure she was making better choices. But then I’d probably run into Jayden. And after what happened just a couple hours ago, I wasn’t going to be ready to face him for about a hundred more years.

Maybe I should become a spy and disappear off the planet.

That potential job was going back on the list.

“Knock, knock.” Mom’s beaming face appeared in my doorway. She and Dad had just gotten home from the diner an hour ago. The little stray hairs that had escaped her bun were plastered to her face. There was a tired glint in her eyes and a wearied droop to her shoulders, but that didn’t keep her from coming over to pull me into a hug. “I’ve missed you, baby girl. How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay.” I rolled over on the bed to look up at her, all of my worries momentarily pushed aside except for one. “How are you? Does your heart feel okay? How’s your blood pressure?”

She laughed and reached over to stroke my hair. “I’m doing fine. You know I make sure not to overexert myself. You don’t have to worry about me so much.”

“But you guys have been so busy lately.” I pushed myself up on my elbow. “I just don’t want you to end up in the hospital again.”

Frown lines appeared around her mouth. She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and softly patted my shoulder. “Mandy, I’m going to do everything within my power to make sure that never happens again. Now that we know I have this heart problem, we can better prepare. If I ever feel like I’m going down that path, I promise to step back from the diner. Does that make you feel better?”

I nodded and stared down at my hands. Nothing could ever erase the trauma I’d felt seeing my mom hooked up to all those machines in the hospital. She’d looked so frail and tiny. My mom was an energetic, lively person who lit up every room she walked into. That was how I always wanted her to be.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.