Page 24 of The Chemistry Coach
Sarah pursed her lips and crossed her arms.“Yeesh, I wouldn’t want to break that to him either.”
“I would never cancel if it weren’t important.”His voice almost cracked.Tears prickled in his eyes.His emotions were stupid.They could go camping any weekend.Maybe in the summer.When it got warm.
“What’s so important you’re going to break our boy’s heart?”
“God, Sarah, I feel bad enough.You don’t have to say it like that.I have to go on an overnight trip for our group bonding.”
Sarah’s expression morphed to delight.“Are you going to be spending an overnight trip with Daisy then?”
His sadness shifted to suspicion.“Maybe.They could be giving us a new person.Not really safe to have a woman do an overnight trip alone with three strange men.Why?”
“I hope it’s Daisy; she seems nice.Dylan loved her.”
Connor frowned at his sister.“When did you meet Daisy?”
“At the open practice the other day.”
He hadn’t seen Daisy when he’d spotted Dylan.His frown deepened as he remembered that day.He could only picture Dylan playing his video game.
“Daisy was at practice?”
“Yeah.She sat right behind us on the bleachers.Had a friend with her.She was real cagey about if she knew you until I told her I’m your sister.”
“Hmm.I didn’t see her.I wonder why she was there.”
“I don’t know.Her friend took a lot of notes, though.They both seemed excited when you scored a goal.”
“Interesting.”
“I guess.”Her features went blank as footsteps approached from the hallway.She lowered her voice to a soft whisper and leaned into Connor.“Tell him you have to do something for Daisy.He’ll understand.”
Dylan skipped toward them.“Are you guys ready for games now?”
Sarah patted the counter twice and said, “Sure are!Did you brush your teeth?”
Dylan nodded and opened his mouth wide for his mom to inspect.“Looks good.I’ll get the game started.”
She left Dylan and Connor standing in the kitchen.Now or never.“Hey, bud.”Connor sat on one of the hard kitchen chairs and patted his leg, inviting Dylan to sit on his lap.It was something they didn’t do often anymore, but for serious moments, Connor needed the contact.“I need to talk to you.”
Dylan climbed onto his uncle’s lap and laid his head on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Bean?”
“How do you know something’s wrong?”Connor squeezed the boy tight.
“You’re being weird.”
“How am I being weird?”
“You just are.”
“You’re kind of right.I’m bummed out.I can’t take you camping like we had planned.And I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to be sad.”
Dylan looped his arms around Connor’s neck and squeezed him in an esophagus-crushing hug.
“Oh.I guess I’m a little sad.But can we go a different time?”
“Yeah, bud.We can go a different time.”
