Read Online Sea Glass Winter by Joann Ross - Free Book Online

get into it.”
    “Maybe you’ll change your mind once the team starts winning.”
    She paused in twisting the dial to look up at him. “So you’re going to try out?”
    Try out? She made it sound as if there was any question about him making the team. Which there wasn’t. “I haven’t made up my mind. Though with all the rain, it’s not as if there’s a lot of other stuff to do.”
    “Oh, but there is. Of course in winter the beach can get pretty chilly, but when the sun comes out, as long as you bundle up, it’s still fun.”
    A boy with hair the color of a carrot was taking a stack of books from his locker across the hall and called out a hello to her. She said a cheery “hi” back, and waved.
    “That’s Johnny Tiernan-St. James,” she told Matt. “He’s a junior and probably the only kid in this school who’s lived in more places than I have. He’s trying out for varsity, so you’ll probably become friends. He’s a really nice guy. For an athlete.”
    Color suddenly flooded into her face. “Not that I was saying all athletes aren’t nice people, but—”
    “I know what you meant.” It was pretty much what he’d been thinking when forced to walk past the jocks in the main hall.
    “Good, because I definitely didn’t mean to insult you. . . . If we had more time”—she glanced down at her geeky relativity watch with its rotating numbers—“I’d introduce you to Johnny, but if you do try out for the team, you’ll meet him this afternoon.
    “And don’t worry about finding things to do around here. There are lighthouse tours, and all the nearby towns have historical museums, if you’re into that sort of thing. And the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Hatfield Marine Science Center are just down the coast highway in Newport. Some Oregon State University scientists working there predicted an undersea volcano five years before it even happened.”
    “Did it actually blow out of the water?”
    “No, there was a lava flow on the seafloor. But it still would’ve been way cool to see.”
    She said it with the same awe and excitement girls back at his old school might’ve reported a Robert Pattinson—the pale, skinny heartthrob from Twilight —sighting. “So I guess you want to be a scientist?” Matt asked.
    “Actually, I want to be a family physician. Or maybe a pediatrician, because I really like kids. Which is why I’m volunteering at the clinic. But, to the despair of my mother—who was probably accessorizing her pacifier to match her onesies in her cradle—I take after my dad. I guess nerd runs in my DNA.”
    It sounded like she’d guessed right. But she was pretty cute for a nerd. Of course her not liking basketball was a negative.
    “From your schedule, you must like math and science, too,” she said.
    “They’re okay,” he said with an indifferent shrug as he hung his jacket on a hook inside the locker. “But I mostly take them because they’re easy for me. So I can concentrate more on basketball.”
    Matt loved being on that polished wooden floor, doing what he did best. There were lots of times, lying in the dark in bed after a game, although he’d never in a million years admit it, that he’d fantasize about his father reading about him being drafted first into the NBA for a multimillion-dollar contract and realize the mistake he’d made, tossing his own son away and never looking back.
    As good as that story was to think about, he’d never figured out what he’d do if the father he’d never known actually did show up to make amends. Would he forgive him? Or would he turn his back on the guy whose only contribution had been to supply the sperm and say, “Too little, too late, dude.”
    “Does that mean you won’t be joining the science club?” Her question broke into the thoughts he’d been having more and more often since his mother had told him that they were leaving California, and no, he didn’t have a vote.
    “Probably not.” After he twirled the lock,