Read Online Live Love Lacrosse by Barbara Clanton - Free Book Online

Addie’s mother said sharply. “Not in
front of the kids.”
    “Bah. Whatever. You deserve better. And he does not deserve you.”
Her grandmother huffed her way to the refrigerator. She grabbed a half-empty
bottle of Price Chopper root beer, and thunked it on the table. 
    Troy came bounding in the kitchen.
    “Troy,” she barked, “help your mother. Get those rolls and butter
on the table.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Troy said. He knew when to jump, just like Addie
did, when it came to their grandmother.
    Addie placed the now heated green beans on the table, sat down in
her usual seat, and put her napkin in her lap. Hers was not a family that said
grace. Hers was a family that dug right in as soon as the last person sat down.
Addie and Troy battled over the mashed potatoes. Troy won that time, but not
without a reprimand from Grandma to mind his manners. Addie wanted to stick her
tongue out at him so badly but decided not to agitate things any further. And
besides, she was tired. Tired from doing jumping jacks and sit ups and
three-inch push-ups. Three inches was about all she could do. Maybe tomorrow
she’d be able to do four-inch push-ups and be on her way to out-biceping
Brooke.
    “Troy,” their mother said, “Grandma and I were talking, and we
thought you might want to sign up for karate.”
    “Karate? Yeah!” Troy practically spit his food out. “Do they teach
Ninjutsu? That would be awesome. When do I go? Tomorrow? Can I get nunchucks?
Oh, my God. Can I get throwing stars?”
    He babbled on until their mother said, “I
guess that’s a ‘yes.’”
    “I guess it is,” Grandma agreed.
    Addie looked down at her plate. She had plowed through most of the
meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but her small helping of green beans still
remained untouched. She sighed. Why didn’t they ask her if she wanted to join
karate? She was older than Troy. Why did the jerk get to do karate and not her?
Whatever. She didn’t even like karate. She liked lacrosse.
    The thought startled her. Lacrosse. Apparently she had made up her
mind and was going to play. “Hey, Mom?” she blurted. “Can I get a lacrosse
stick?”
    Grandma burst out laughing. “A lacrosse stick? Whatever for?” She
looked at Addie’s mother. “A library card maybe, but lacrosse?”
    A fleeting look of hurt flashed over her mother’s face. She turned
to Addie. “You’re serious about this lacrosse?”
    Addie nodded vigorously.
    “Oh, I don’t know, honey. Sticks are probably
a lot of money.”
    “Maybe Daddy can help.” The words were out before she could help
it.
    “That good-for-nothing cheatin’ bum is only out for himself,”
Grandma roared.
    The tirade went on, so Addie resigned herself to finishing her
plate. And just to spite her grandmother, she ate a forkful of the green beans
whole-heartedly. They weren’t too bad, actually. They were mushy and didn’t
taste like anything.
    Addie grabbed a dinner roll out of the basket and split it open.
As she reached for the butter, she heard Kimi’s voice in her mind. “What
nutritional value does that butter have?” Right. Maybe she should put jelly on
it. That was fruit at least. She was about to push her chair back and get the
grape jelly from the refrigerator when she remembered a conversation she and
Kimi had about bread. “White flour,” Kimi had said, “has all the nutrition
bleached out of it. It tastes good, but it’s empty calories, calories that
don’t help your body at all. Whole grains. That’s the way to go.”
    Addie put the roll back in the basket. She picked up her glass of
root beer and tried not to listen as her mother weakly defend her husband,
listing his good qualities. Ever since they had arrived, dinner conversations
typically went this way. Addie tuned it out.
    She took a sip of the sugary soda and wondered what kind of
nutrition it had. She put her glass down and pulled the three-liter bottle
toward her. She spun it around in order to see the nutrition label. The