Most Likely (Most Likely #1) - Sarah Watson Page 0,32

boys and makeup. CJ liked those things too, but she also liked wrestling and getting dirty and beating her dad at one-on-one basketball. He’d taught her to be strong at defense, and they’d played enough games together that she knew all his tells. He tried for a fast break to the right, and she was right there to block him. She got the ball and drove to the basket. She shot wide and missed completely.

“Come on, CJ,” he yelled. “Take your time. Focus.”

Her dad never gave her any slack. He pushed and pushed until she improved. Or cried. Many of their games ended with her in tears and wondering if she’d ever be good enough to make him proud. CJ got the rebound and took another shot. This time it went in with a swoosh. Nothing but net. She loved that sound. It was the sound of winning.

They played hard for the next twenty minutes, until her mom came out to tell them that dinner was getting cold. Her parents were traditional in a lot of ways. He worked. She cooked. He made the financial decisions. She let him. CJ tried not to get too judgmental about it, though. It worked for them. Her mom was a good mom. She was a great mom. And yet CJ always felt like there was a distance between them. She suspected that part of the reason was because her mom was so much older. Ava’s was too, but she didn’t feel old in the same way. As CJ’s mom once put it, We’re just a very different breed of woman. CJ’s mom had never worked, although she resented it when people described her that way. Raising children is my career. She’d married CJ’s dad right out of college and then she’d had three daughters in a row. CJ was not one of them. Her parents were just becoming empty nesters and her mom was starting to think about finding a career for herself when CJ came along as an unexpected curveball. CJ sometimes wondered if her parents had ever considered other options. She’d never even heard her mom say the word “abortion,” though, so she couldn’t imagine a world where she actually thought about getting one.

CJ’s two oldest sisters had daughters of their own, and the last time her third sister had visited, she mentioned during dinner that she and her husband were “trying.” As far as CJ knew, this was the closest that any of the Jacobson sisters had ever come to having a conversation about sex with their mother. All three of her sisters still lived in various parts of the Midwest. Sometimes CJ felt like the weird one for wanting to get out. The world just seemed so much bigger to her.

The next day was CJ’s first official afternoon volunteering with Sensational Recreational. She drove there straight after school and pasted on her most cheerful smile as she pulled open the double doors of the gym. Wyatt waved her over when he saw her. A couple of the boys had already arrived and were on the court messing around. CJ carried her gym clothes in her old cross-country duffel bag. The one with the letters of her last name and her number, 33, sun-bleached and cracked along the side. “Hi, Wyatt,” she said as she walked up. “I’m ready and excited to be reporting for duty.”

“Clarke. I’m ready and excited to have you.”

She saw his eyes move to her bag. “I brought a change of clothes. Gym stuff.”

“You’re a runner?”

“Yeah. No. I was. Not anymore.”

“We have that in common, then,” Wyatt said.

CJ wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not. Was she supposed to laugh? She wasn’t sure, so she looked away uncomfortably instead. “Is Dakota here yet?”

“About that,” he said. “We should chat.” He rolled his wheelchair and she walked alongside him. “Dakota’s mom called on Friday to tell me she was quitting.”

“Oh no.”

“I managed to talk her out of it.”

“Oh good.”

“I promised her I had something special for Dakota today.”

“That’s great. What is it?”

Wyatt looked at her and it clicked.

“Oh. Me. Yes. Yes! Me.”

“Clarke…” He said it in a soft way. “She’s having a rough time. Don’t expect too much out of her. And don’t expect too much out of yourself.”

CJ felt a wave of nerves and did her best to shake them off. “Not at all. It’s going to be great.”

“I’d originally planned to start the kids on basketball today. But Dakota’s mom mentioned that tennis