“You found it,” he says, looking at the television then at me. “Your missing piece.”
“What do you mean?” I ask him, confused.
“You were searching for your place. Looking for your place. Looking to find what was yours. You were missing the piece. You found it. Karrie, she is your piece. Your center. She is what calms you. It’s what happened with your mom. I was never complete, always rushing, always pushing, always fidgeting. Till I found her. My piece. I knew from the moment she was mine that I could take on the world. That I could have the biggest mountains to climb and I would be able to do it, because she would hold my hand while I did it.” He smiles thinking about Mom.
I nod, thinking about it.
“I feel peace.” I play with my water bottle paper while I continue, “I was angry for so long. I was fucking pissed.” I don’t wait for him to answer. “But the minute I met her, it’s like a calmness came over me. I mean, she does this thing, where she talks to herself, but it’s the funniest thing. I can have the shittiest game ever, but the minute I touch her or even stand near her, I’m okay. I just settle.” I shake my head. “She’s it. Now the next thing is finally getting her to tell people.”
“Matthew,” he says, “your mother fought me on this to the bitter end. Except I didn’t give a shit. I was over everything, but this is your new break, this is your—”
I put my hand up to stop him.
“I know. Trust me, I know, which is why I’m not pushing it. But what if you couldn’t hold Mom’s hand in public? What if you want to reach over and hug her and you couldn’t? What if you just want to smile at her without looking around to see if someone is watching?”
“I would go crazy. I would pull out billboards all over the fucking country declaring my love for her. I can’t even stand to think about not being able to call her mine in front of anyone.”
“I’m going to play it the way she wants. But I’m only going on so much longer.”
He nods. “I’m here when you need me. You know that.” He slaps my shoulder. “Just, son, you have to ease up a little. You tied her to a bed.” He smiles.
I shrug my shoulders. “I would do it all over again.” I’m about to continue when Cooper’s phone starts ringing.
I don’t know who is on the phone but his eyebrows pinch together. “There has to be a mistake,” he says to whoever is on the phone. “I doubt the twins would actually steal the boy’s clothes and bury them in the sand.” He shakes his head while I look down thinking that’s exactly what my sisters would do. “We can be there in about five hours,” he says, checking his watch. “Okay, thank you.”
“Jesus,” he says out loud, “the girls just took this boy’s clothes while they were in swim class and buried them in the sand.”
I put my lips together to try not to laugh at him, but snickers come out.
“They wrote RIP Douche on top of the pile. Let’s go tell Mom.”
The laugh that I was trying to keep in comes out, my whole belly shaking while I follow him upstairs where he breaks the news to my mother, who of course blames Cooper for being too soft on them. With his hands on his hips, he argues back only for her to give him one look that shuts him up. They leave with a hug and a promise to visit soon. I go back to my room where I find Karrie in the middle of the bed, a white robe covering her. Her head is angled to the television that’s playing some kind of reality cooking show. Her soft snores fill the room. Climbing into the bed, I take her in my arms. She moves a bit but settles in. Kissing the top of her head, I follow her into abyss.
Now here I sit three weeks later. It’s been a fucking crap show. Karrie caught some fucking bug last week and she is still weak from it. She throws up one more time, her ass is going to the doctor. I don’t give a shit if I have to fucking drag her there. Plus, Max is being a top notch douche. Before he was just a jackass. He has since brought it up to a different level. A level that if we weren’t on the same team I would smash out of him. I walk into the arena, Mindy greeting me with a tight smile.
“Matthew, so we were just thinking that perhaps it’s a good idea that Karrie stays back from the next leg. It’s only one day. She can head back home tonight so she can rest and get better.”