On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,65
we were.
“Guys and girls can’t ever be just friends.” Josie rolled her eyes. “There’s always feelings in there somewhere.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I ran my thumb around the lip of the mug. “It’s probably for the best,” I said. “I didn’t come here to get tangled up with the team.”
The second I said the words, the doorbell chimed, and Victoria and Kira walked into Muds.
“Ugh.” Josie grumbled.
“Just ignore them.” It was what I planned on doing.
I risked peeking over at them in the line. As if she felt me looking, Victoria looked up and smirked.
“Are she and my brother friends?” I asked Josie.
“I don’t think Callum is her biggest fan.”
Obviously one thing we had in common.
“Why do you ask?” Josie asked.
“Well she’s walking around campus like nothing happened, and Callum is...” Well, I’d barely seen Callum. As far as I was aware, he’d been lying low since semester started.
“It feels weird telling you all this since he’s your brother and all... but since you asked… I heard Callum and Declan were on the outs before the accident. From what I can tell, your brother didn’t like the way Victoria was pushing their relationship and Declan didn’t appreciate him sticking his nose in.”
“It’s like I don’t even know him.”
I didn’t, not really.
After Callum and my father left Bay View, our struggling relationship only got worse. I was angry at him for leaving, for choosing him over me and our mom. For choosing basketball above family.
That kind of pain didn’t just evaporate. It only grew deeper as time went by, taking root and coiling around your heart.
So I shouldn’t have been surprised I didn’t know my brother, or anything about his life.
Because I didn’t.
“I’m sorry.” Josie offered me a sad smile.
“It’s fine.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat, inhaling a shaky breath. “I just have to focus on the things I can control. Like classes and volunteering.”
“You’re going to do something with the Student Community Action group?”
I nodded, taking a sip of my caramel latte.
“The coordinator of the youth project left me a voicemail. They want me to go in this afternoon.”
“That’s great, babe. I think this will be good for you.”
“Yeah, me too.” I just needed to stay busy.
And far, far away from Zachary Messiah and the Steinbeck Scorpions.
“Uh, hi,” I said, approaching the front desk at the community center. “I’m Calli, I’m here to meet—”
“You must be Calliope, I’m Freya.” A tall, willowy woman popped her head out of one of the doors, approaching me with a warm smile. “We’re glad to have you here, Calliope.”
“You can call me Calli.”
“Calli it is. Please, follow me.”
We moved down the hall to another door and slipped inside. The small office was littered with children’s artwork that had been arranged into a huge rainbow. I couldn’t help but smile.
“You like it?” She noticed me admiring the mural.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I think so too. We like to believe here at Next Steps that you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.”
“The greater the storm, the brighter the rainbow,” I murmured to myself.
“One of my favorite quotes,” Freya relaxed back in her chair.
“My mom, she used to always say that.” My heart squeezed. I could still picture her now, hugging me tight as we listened to a storm rage overheard. I’d been terrified of the thunder, the wind and rain lashing against the windows.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.”
“Was it recent?”
“Over the summer.”
“That must have been hard?”
I nodded. “She had cancer. It was a rough few months, watching her deteriorate like that.”
“The fact you’re sitting here tells me how strong you are.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” I didn’t feel very strong. Most days I felt like I was wading through quicksand, about to slip under at any second. “But I’d like to keep myself busy and I saw the flyer about the project at freshman orientation. It looked like something I might be interested in.”
Freya steepled her fingers, regarding me with her soft blue eyes. “Your grief is still fresh, Calli. It would be irresponsible of me to place you with our kids going through the same thing...”
Defeat washed over me. I wanted to help. I wanted something good to come out of losing Mom.
“But I have another project in mind. How do you feel about being a big sister?”
“You mean like a buddy?”
She nodded. “We’re always looking for new mentors. We’d match you with a young person and the two of you would spend time here at the center initially to build the foundations.