Fourth Down by Kirsten DeMuzio Read Free Book Online Page B

last spring? Everything turned out fine, but did you
know that?”
    “No.”
    “Do you know what Grady and Lindsay
really went through several years ago?”
    “I knew that one,” I said. Although it
wasn’t Grady who told me. It was Lindsay, and she was drunk at the
time.
    “How do you know all this stuff about
my friends?” I asked my mom.
    She raised her eyebrows and pointed
her finger in my face. “The question should be why you didn’t know
about these things. Your friends are too afraid to burden you with
anything upsetting, because you are so wrapped up in your own
pitiful world. Is that the kind of person you want to be,
Ford?”
    No, that wasn’t who I wanted to be. It
was true I had been down for a long time, but I didn’t want Josh
and Grady to think they couldn’t rely on me. They had been my best
friends forever, and they would have my back in a
second.
    “Ford, the fact is that I am dying. I
have accepted it, and I need you to do the same. You don’t have to
be happy about it, but I need your support in these last few
months. Poppy drove me to the funeral home so you won’t be burdened
by planning my funeral. Poppy drove me to the lawyer’s office so
there won’t be any legal red tape with the house or my belongings.
And she drove me to meet with Lana so you can easily put the house
on the market if you choose to. Don’t you see, honey? I’m doing all
this to make my passing easier on you.”
    I had felt a lot of emotions in my
life, but shame hadn’t been one of them until now. I was ashamed at
what a shitty friend I had been. I was ashamed that I had been so
wrapped up in my own stupid life that I didn’t see my friends were
going through their own rough times. Most of all I was ashamed that
my mom was having to go through this alone, because I was too
stubborn to accept the inevitable.
    “I’m sorry, Ma,” I began, but she
placed her hand on my arm and stopped me.
    “I know, Ford. You don’t need to
apologize to me. But you do need to apologize to your friends, and
you’re going to start with Poppy.”
    I opened my mouth to say that Poppy
wasn’t my friend, but she interrupted me again.
    “She is teaching yoga at the community
center this morning. Her class starts at 9:00, so you can go before
then.”
    “Fine,” I said, standing up and
putting my hat on.
    “And don’t you come back here until
she has accepted your apology,” my mom lectured. I rolled my eyes
and grabbed my keys.
    “I’m sorry. I’ll try to be better, Ma.
You can count on me for whatever you need, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    I hugged her hard, the thought that I
wouldn’t be able to hug her for much longer beginning to sink
in.
    It was just a little after 8:00 so I
had some time before I needed to be at the community center to talk
to Poppy. I could go to the gym like I had originally planned, but
instead I turned my truck in the direction of the boat shop.
Grady’s father, Mitch, owned a boat repair shop down on the lake,
and both Grady and Josh had worked there since high school. Josh
primarily did repair work, but Grady had recently branched out into
customization. He had completed work for his first famous client,
some hotshot actor, at the end of the summer and was now in high
demand.
    I parked my truck in the lot and swung
open the door to the shop. There was a small reception area with
desks for Josh and Mitch and a small office for Grady off to the
side. The rest of the shop was an open warehouse space where
several boats could be worked on at once. All three men stuck their
heads out from various boats when the door chime signaled my
arrival.
    “Good morning, Ford. It’s good to see
you, son,” Mitch said, coming over to shake my hand. Grady’s dad
had been the main male influence in my life growing up, and I felt
like shit that I hadn’t kept in touch with him very
well.
    Grady walked over too, wiping his
greasy hands on the bandana he pulled from his back
pocket.
    “What did we do to deserve a