cooks?â
âYes,â said Kathryn. âDoesnât yours?â
âI guess, if you call heating up a burrito cooking. She thinks anything where you have to boil water is a big deal.â
âWell, Saturday is a special occasion. Usually weâre not so fancy, but this is for my birthday.â
My shoulders went all tight, the way they always do when Iâve forgotten something. âYou never told me it was your birthday.â
âI donât make a big deal about it,â she said. âI guess I get scared nobody will care and then Iâll be disappointedâor maybe they will care and then I wonât know how to handle the attention. Is that weird?â
I wanted to tell her that yes, it was weird, but thetruth is that I liked being the only person sheâd told. Kathryn was the kind of person who was alone a lot. Nobody ever left me alone.
Hanging out with her, we could be alone together.
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Kathryn lives across town in a neighborhood that was built back in the seventies. The houses are mostly split-levels with tiny yards and trees that are all the same height. Kathrynâs house is on one of the nicer streets, and it looks like it was built to look old. It has two stories, shutters on the windows, and a little porch on the front.
When Mom dropped me off a man was in the front yard, running a Weed Eater around a little flower bed.
âHey, there!â he said as he turned off the machine. âYou must be Kathrynâs friend. Is it Brooke?â
He had dark hair like hers and the same sort of surprised-looking eyes. I said, âYeah,â and went to shake hands, because my mom would have given me crap later on for being rude, but also because he just looked like the kind of guy youâd want to shake hands with. He was all sweaty and dusty with grass stains on his white socks. Earlier that day, my own dad had sent me an email. He told me he and Jake were going on vacation before Jakeâs next movie. Someplace tropical. Iâd been thinking maybe heâd come to Lake Champion to see me.
âI hear youâre a singer, too,â said Kathrynâs dad. âAnd a swimmer. What do you swim?â
âTwo hundredâyard freestyle.â He let go of my hand, and I made myself quit obsessing about Dad and Jakeâif I couldnât control it, then I needed to let it go. âRelay, too.â
âI did relay back in college.â He put his fingers on his tricep and squeezed the puny muscles. âNot that youâd know it now.â
âHey, Dad.â Kathryn came out on the porch. âMom says weâre eating in a half hour. She wants you cleaned up.â
âThanks, Sweetpea.â He winked at me and restarted the Weed Eater.
âSorry if he tried to talk your head off,â Kathryn said as we stepped into her living room. It led right into the dining room, which led straight back to the kitchen. The house felt lived in. Used and homey. I liked it.
âCome upstairs,â she said. âItâs nicer in my room.â
She led me up the staircase to a room that barely held the bed and a dresser. I waited for her to close the door. Then I handed her the package Iâd brought. She unwrapped one end and gasped as she pulled out a long shoe box. Inside was a pair of knee-high black boots.
âOh my God,â she said.
âDo you like them? I tried to get something that wouldgo with everything.â
âI canât accept these.â
âSure you can. We can exchange them if they donât fit.â
âBut theyâre so nice,â she said, running her fingertips along the leather. âI needed something like this. Was it obvious?â
âWellâ¦â I hesitated. Chloe thought Kathryn had inner style, but I knew it was probably because she couldnât afford much else. âDonât think Iâm trying to make you feel bad. Because your clothes are really awesome.
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