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Daily Field Journal of A
It was a Friday afternoon smack in the middle of summer. The sun was out. The skateboarders were skateboarding. And I was sitting on the grass in Veterans’ Park, studying.Something was seriously wrong with this picture. At least anyone who passed by would see I had a hot girl by my side. That was something.“I actually really liked this book,” Chloe said, stretching out on her stomach on the blanket she’d brought. She propped up on her elbows, with This Side of Paradise open in front of her face. “I’ve never read anything like it. Have you?”She looked back at me, her hair sliding down over her bare shoulder. Bare because of the ski
My fingers were sticky with ice cream and there was a smear of fudge across the front of my Take a Dip shirt that looked like something far less sweet. Large clumps of my hair had hardened due to an unexpected whipped cream explosion, and I was pretty sure there was chocolate on the back of my neck. As I walked across the great room at Gray’s house, I just prayed he was down at the beach, because if he saw me looking like this, he was going to throw on a hazmat suit and spray me down with bleach.I heard a voice as my foot hit the bottom stair, and I froze. My mom was out on the deck and the door was open, but the screen door was closed. I glanced over my shoulder. She was on the phone. And I’d swear I just heard her say the name Chris.A quick glance and a listen told me no one was around. Holding my breath, I tiptoed toward the door, making sure to stay out of view behind the thick, open curtains.“. . . don’t think you realize what it was like for me,” my mother said, her voice carried in by the ocean breeze. “I never stopped loving you, Christopher.”My hand flew up to cover my heart. My mom was actually talking to my dad! She’d just told him she loved him!“Of course,” she said. “Of course I did. Why do you think I was so mad?”I heard a squeak and knew she’d sat down on one of the lounge chairs. I took an instinctive step back, but couldn’t get myself to move away. If something important was going to be said here, I wanted to be around to hear it.“All I wanted was for you to come back,” my mother said quietly. “For the longest time . . . that was all I wanted.”I bit my lip giddily and did a happy little dance. This was so awesome! I wondered if she’d called him or if she’d finally picked up one of his calls. What had sparked her change of heart? Had she finally softened after seeing him that day in the city? Actually, who even cared? My parents were talking again. And from the sound of things, it was going well.The clanging of the doorbell scared the crap out of me. My mom stopped talking and I sprinted for the kitchen and opened the fridge, trying to make it look like I’d been in there all along.“I’ll get it!” I shouted as my mom stuck her head through the door.“Oh. Ally. I didn’t even realize you were home,” she said.“Hi!” I shouted, ru