Read Online Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky - Free Book Online Page A

of
Sports Illustrated
from the table and open it up. People have been coming and going since I arrived, and I’m not sure why I look up when I do.
    I spot a woman of about thirty with a small girl in tow moving quickly through the lobby, on her way out of the building. The woman is thin and tall, and wears her blond hair pulled back in a hairclip. Her face is strained and her lips are set. She marches toward the door in a determined way, a way that makes me think that she won’t tolerate any interference.
    The little girl has to run to keep up with her. Her long sandy hair is tangled like it hasn’t been combed in days. I notice that particularly because it doesn’t somehow fit with the trendy denim skirt and jacket she wears, although she does wear two different-colored socks. She holds tightly to the woman with one hand; with the other, she hugs a small unicorn against her chest. She is trotting along so quickly that she stumbles. The unicorn goes flying from her hand and skids across the polished floor. “Mom, my unicorn!”
    I am close enough that I reach it before her mother realizes what has happened. I hold it out to her.
    â€œOh,” says her mother, stopping. “Hannah, say thank you to the young man.”
    Hannah smiles shyly. She wraps an arm around the toy and takes it from me. I try to smile back, but it’s all I can do not to blurt out my story, to tell them how verysorry I am, and that if it were in my power, I would do anything to turn things back.
    â€œCome, Hannah.”
    I look after them.
    â€œWhat is it?” Jade has returned. She takes the magazine from my hands and sets it on the table.
    â€œThat woman who just left, that was Richard Cross’s wife, with their kid.”
    Jade turns to look, but she is too late. “Oh, I’m sorry, Gordie.”
    I call a cab. I ride home with Jade and Holly. On the way, I can’t shake the image of Richard Cross’s wife and his little girl sitting across from the comatose man. Do they talk to him as he lies there with the machines pumping? Do they tell him what they’ve done that day? Do they fill him in on all the things that have happened since Chase hit him on the head? I am so preoccupied by these thoughts that it is not until after we have dropped Jade and Holly off at their apartment and I have instructed the cab driver to take me home that I realize I have forgotten to tell Jade about my plan to pay off Chase’s debt.
    I pay the driver and get out of the cab. I am walking up our front walk when Chase’s druggie friend, Ryan, appears from out of the shadows on the other side of the street. He walks toward me.
    â€œHey, Gordie.” His tone is humble.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” I study his eyes in the dark. They are pretty dull, but I can’t be sure he is wasted.
    â€œI came to talk to Chase, but your parents won’t let me see him.”
    â€œAnd you’re surprised? They paid fifty grand to get him home. Do you really think they want to risk losing it all by having him hang out with you?”
    He wipes his nose with the back of his hand—a druggie habit. Still, he looks down at his feet in a way that makes me thinks he isn’t high. He shows no trace of that plastic confidence I am used to seeing in Chase. He looks back at me, and this time, I know he is talking sober. “It’s not like that. You heard about Harris?”
    â€œYeah, I did. That was a pretty nasty way to end up.”
    Ryan nods. “I’m scared. I don’t want that to happen to me. I’m going to check into rehab, and I’m going to stay there as long as it takes.”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œYeah. I came to talk Chase into coming with me. That’s why I wanted to see him, but your dad closed the door as soon as he saw me.”
    â€œHuh, well, even if you’d told Dad why you’d come, he would have done the same thing. Why should he believe you? You