Piece by Piece by Elisabeth Staab

Author:Elisabeth Staab
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Elisabeth Staab
Published: 2016-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

Ethan

Couldn’t focus in class worth a damn all week, and I nearly poked a pencil in my thigh during a studio drawing class as an excuse to leave early. No question, I’m distracted.

Since things went to hell with my dad, the thing I loved to do most has felt like torture except for some tiny inspirational bursts after hanging out with LeeAnne. That piece of glass in my stomach keeps pushing deep when I try to put my paintbrush on a canvas.

When things get this way, I need to move. To do something to get out of my head. Yesterday I tried hitting Roy’s Gym to spar with Dante, but on the way in, some guy got in my face while I was parking. Tried telling me I needed to stay away from his property. If you ask me, his truck wasn’t anything worth worrying about but I left anyway because some days you don’t wanna fucking deal.

Today’s Friday, so I’ve blown off my Critical Theory lecture to drive up and see my mom. I need a change of scenery and she’s been asking me to visit, which has me a little curious. My mom’s from England, and she’s always been a pretty cool customer about get-togethers. “We’ll see each other when we see each other,” she usually says.

I dunno if that’s an English thing or a her thing, but it means we don’t hang out a ton. Doesn’t help I guess that when she left my dad and moved to the beach, I wanted to stay where things were familiar. We’ve simply never been close.

I park on a paved strip surrounded by sand and trek up the creaky wooden stairs to her place, wondering why she’s been nudging me to visit. I did just have a birthday, so maybe that’s why. Usually she just sends a card though. Is it too much to hope that this year she got me something especially awesome like tickets to U2 or a pony?

My sister’s reading a book at the kitchen table when I show up at their beach house in Cape Carteret on Friday afternoon. Yeah, a beach house might sound great, but it’s winter. Even though there are some permanent residents, everything feels kind of deadsville to me in the off season.

I’m cranky from the long drive, and my mom’s not in sight, so I take the opportunity to pester my little sister.

“Hey, buttface.” For the kids I tutor, this sort of thing causes a fit of giggles. For any child ages six to sixteen, butts are hysterical. Not so for Rain, who’s always been wise beyond her years and super serious. No joke, my sister could probably start college tomorrow and get better grades than I do.

“Mooom, Ethan called me a buttface!”

I don’t even know why I give her such a hard time, when the honest truth is I love that kid to the moon and back. In a heartbeat, I’d kick the shit out of anybody who even breathed on my baby sister the wrong way.

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