I guess I wasn’t going to get out of this. The ski vest felt wet and clammy when I put it on and fastened the clasps. My mouth just went completely dry.
Grandpa and Diana were both giving me instructions at the same time.
“When you get out there, lie on the board on your stomach,” Diana said.
“I’ll pull the boat up a little to draw the rope taut,” Grandpa added.
Diana: “Get the handle positioned.”
Grandpa: “I’ll drive along really slowly so you can pull your knees up under yourself and get balanced.”
Diana: “Right, just as you get going, pull your knees up and under so you’re kneeling on the board. And then pull the strap tight over the tops of your thighs. Keep the handle centered. Got it?”
My ears were buzzing. What’d she just say? I looked back and forth as they both tried to tell me what to do. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Sit on my knees? Pull my knees or pull the strap? Balance? Yeah, right!
“Okay! Hop in the water!” Grandpa said.
I sat on the side of the boat as we bobbed there for a minute, taking a few deep breaths, telling myself to be calm. “Here goes,” I said. I let myself slide in.
The water wasn’t chilly, but my teeth were chattering anyway. The vest kept me riding high in the water. Diana threw the kneeboard onto the water’s surface beside me, and it skimmed along the top.
“Grab it!” she yelled.
I swam over and got hold of it and struggled to pull myself halfway up the way I’d seen her do. Grandpa drove the boat around me, to drag the rope handle around to where I could reach it.
“Grab it!” he said as he drove by, but I didn’t reach for it quickly enough and he had to drive around again.
“Sorry,” I said. A little wave went in my mouth.
“No problem,” yelled Grandpa. “Okay, now, you know what to do?”
I kept myself from yelling “No!” and just gave him a small nod.
“Ready?” Diana called.
I held my thumb up, the way I’d seen her do. Floating along there, holding onto the handle, watching the boat ahead of me, time seemed to stand still. A breeze threaded by my ear and a wave slapped the bottom of the kneeboard.
Grandpa straightened up the boat, pulling the line taut and dragging me through the water just a little. The muscles in my shoulders pulled tight. The boat took off.
And I was pulled right up and over the kneeboard, landing face first in the water, leaving it behind.
The boat dragged me for a few feet, with torrents of water hitting me in the face. Stinging, it went up my nose. And then I let go.
Just before I fell in, I saw the handle fly through the air and then bounce along on top of the water.
“She’s down!” Diana shouted at Grandpa. He turned the boat around. I swam back to get the kneeboard. Grandpa brought me the rope.
And I tried again.
Up, and over the kneeboard. Dragging through the water, drinking half of the lake. Letting go.
And I tried again.
Up, and over the kneeboard. Dragging through the water, drinking half the lake. Letting go.
“You’re going to get it this time,” said Grandpa as he drove by to bring me the rope again.
I didn’t want to try anymore. I’d swallowed a ton of water, my eyes were burning, and the muscles of my shoulders ached with exhaustion.
“You can do it!” Diana yelled at me from the back of the boat. “Come on, Stephanie!”
A wave slapped me in the face.
Grandpa drove up a little ways to pull the rope taut.
“Ready?” he yelled.
I took a deep breath, bracing myself for another try.
“Ready,” I said. And he hit the throttle and took off. As I started moving I pulled my knees up underneath me and tried to center myself. I was shaky and the water surface below the board felt slippery as ice, but I was up on my knees. Water churned over the board and out behind me. I was afraid to move, but knew I needed to put the strap over my thighs. Slowly, I reached forward to get the strap.
And the board slipped right out from under me. I fell.
Again.
Grandpa brought the boat around. I swam after the board.
“You were up!” Diana yelled, leaning over the side. “You were up for a few seconds! Next time you’ll get it!”
“But I’m so tired,” I said, as I bobbed along with my arms stretched over the board.
“Have you had it?” Grandpa said.
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” He cut the engine and he and Diana helped me climb back into the boat.
I fell into a seat in the back. My arms were shaking so hard and I was completely out of breath. I felt like such a failure.
“That was a good try, Steph,” Diana said. “You almost had it.”
“We’ll try again another day,” Grandpa said. “It’s tiring trying to learn.” I wrapped myself in a towel. I felt like a rag doll.
Pretty soon we were back at the dock, and Diana was running around helping Grandpa tie the boat up to the cleats on the sides of the boat slip. I was shaking so much I wasn’t even sure I could get out of the boat and walk back to the land.
Grandpa helped me out and I sat on one of the benches on the standing dock, still trying to catch my breath.
“I wish I could’ve done it,” I said as we headed slowly up the walkway to the house. I was proud of myself for at least trying, though. Last year I wouldn’t have.
“You’ll get it next time,” he assured me, putting his arm over my shoulder.
“Y’all take your showers, and we’ll have dinner in just a few minutes!” Grandma Roberts said as we trooped into the house. “Don’t drip all over my carpet, now.”
The aroma of roast beef filled the kitchen. Rolls were lined on a cookie sheet ready to be warmed, potatoes were nestled in a casserole dish, and a big bowl with a tossed salad with ruby red chunks of fresh tomatoes stood beside it.
My stomach growled. I was starving!
The hot shower felt great on my tired muscles. Diana and I were sharing a room upstairs with white wicker furniture. A flowered bedspread covered a queen-sized bed and one of frilly white lace covered another single bed under the window.
“I love this room,” I said to Diana, as we were getting dressed. A little green desk by the door had tiny drawers that were fun to open and close. “I recognize that painting,” I said, pointing to a print of a thoughtful and wispy-haired girl in a blue dress holding a watering can. “That’s a famous painting by Renoir. We studied that in art.”
“Oh, yeah?” Diana said, staring at the painting.
“This room is where Mom and I stayed for six months after Mom and Dad separated. I was supposed to sleep in the twin bed but we slept together in the queen.”
“Aw. That’s sweet.”
“Yeah. A couple of times Dad came here and pounded on the front door and yelled that he wanted to talk to Mom and no one would answer the door.”
“Ooh, that must have been horrible,” I said. What happened between my parents had been much more civilized. They had sent me to Grammy’s house for two weeks one summer and when I got back everything had been decided.
“Yeah, hearing him yelling like that made me cry. I was in second grade.”
“Ooh, yeah.” I shivered, wrapping a towel around my wet hair. “Nothing like that would ever happen with Daddy and Lynn, do you think?” I could feel my chest tighten just thinking about it. A few seconds of silence crawled by. My thoughts careened from one possibility to the next. Was it happening with Diana, too? She acted like she didn’t care, but I wasn’t sure I believed her.
Finally Diana shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m never getting married, that’s all I can say.”
“Really?” I wasn’t surprised to hear her say that, to tell the truth. “Why not?”
“Getting along with another person all the time is just too hard.”
“But wouldn’t you get lonely? I can see that marriage is hard, but I don’t want to be alone.” I ran a brush through my hair. “What about having kids?”
“I like being by myself,” Diana said. “When I grow up I’m just going to have lots of pets. I’ll have, like, seven dogs and five cats. They’ll be my kids!”
I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, brushing my hair, thinking about what Diana had said. I pictured her living in a house with all those animals. “So, how do you think things are going with Jon and Olivia so far?”
“Jon and Olivia,” said Diana, laughing. “Aren’t you curious what they might be talking about? I bet they’re talking about us, don’t you?”
I laughed uneasily. “Yeah, probably.”
“I mean, when I see Dr. Shrink, I talk about Mom and Norm sometimes.”
“And me?”
Diana grinned. “Yeah, sometimes about you.”
“I kind of wonder what it’s like talking to a shrink. I mean, do you just talk?”
“Yeah. Mostly. I’ll tell her about stuff that happens. Sometimes she’ll ask questions and that’s a pain because they’re hard to answer.”
“Questions about your feelings?”
“Yeah. Sometimes she’ll make suggestions for ways for me to try to be more patient and calm down.”
“I think that would be kind of cool,” I said. “Is it?”
Diana shrugged. “Sometimes it’s a pain.”
All of a sudden my phone rang with Mama’s ringtone, the theme song from “Mamma Mia,” which she had picked herself. I set my jaw. I wasn’t going to answer it. Then, after a few seconds, I broke down.
“Hi, sugar!” She sounded excited and out of breath. “Listen, I know you’re mad at me because you’ve been ignoring my texts. But don’t hang up, sugar. I felt so guilty about you not staying with me this weekend that I told Barry I couldn’t meet him in Asheville. I’m here, and I want to come get you. I have to pick up Matt from work, since he lost his license, but I can come get you after that.”
I got goosebumps all over. Mama had changed her plans for me! I didn’t think she’d ever do that. “Wow,” I said, not sure what to say. “That’s kinda sudden, isn’t it, Mama? I mean, are you sure?”
“I’m sure, sugar! We’ll go shopping and get pedicures together tomorrow or something. I have to pick Matt up at eight, and then I can come get you. Just tell them I’m coming! Bye!”
I hung up, kind of stunned.
“What was that?” Diana asked.
“This kind of strange phone call from Mama. She said she changed her plans and I can stay with her this weekend and she’s coming to get me later tonight.”
“She’s coming to get you?” Diana plopped down on the bed with a disappointed look on her face. “Don’t go! Do you want to go?”
I couldn’t answer her. I truly didn’t know. I had felt kind of awkward when I first got here, but Grandma and Grandpa Roberts had made me feel really welcome. I’d been mad at Mama, but now she’d changed her plans for me. I wanted to be with Mama, but what about Matt? Would he be around this weekend? Even though he’d been nicer to me, I still hadn’t forgotten the times he’d been mean, and once even threatened me.
“You’ve got to stay, Steph! When Noah comes you won’t be able to hang out. And you won’t learn to kneeboard.”
I didn’t look at her. Instead, I went around the room, gathering my hair dryer and overnight case and wet bathing suit and putting them back into my suitcase. I didn’t know what I wanted. I didn’t like being mad at Mama. I wanted things between us to be good.
“Dinner’s ready! Come and eat!” Grandma called from downstairs.
Trying to kneeboard works up an appetite. The salad was laden with Grandpa’s juicy tomatoes, and the roast, potatoes, and hot bread all smelled fantastic.
“That was a good try out on the kneeboard today, Stephanie,” Grandpa said. “I’m sure you’ll get it next time you try.”
“I hope so,” I said. I felt like such a dork. I bet Diana had gotten up on her first try.
“Well, let’s talk about our plans for tomorrow,” said Grandma. “Diana, you’re working at the horse barn and we need to get you there, is that right?”
“Right, I have to be there at eight,” Diana said, slathering margarine onto her potato. She looked over at me. “I hope Commanche’s hoof is better.”
I waited for Diana to mention the fact that she had invited Noah to the lake, but she didn’t.
“And Stephanie, you have to teach two gymnastics classes tomorrow morning, right?” Grandma added.
I knew now it was time for me to tell Grandma and Grandpa Roberts that Mama was coming. I bit into my bread, hesitating. I was afraid they might get mad. But then Diana did it for me.
“Stephanie’s mom is coming to get her tonight,” Diana told them.
Grandma put down her fork. “She is? I thought you were supposed to be here for the whole weekend.”
“I was, but Mama changed her plans and I can stay with her now. She’s not going to Asheville to meet Barry.”
“But you have to learn to kneeboard!” said Grandpa.
“Oh,” said Grandma with a sigh. “It’s been so nice to have you with us. I wish you could stay.”
I felt myself blushing. They were being so kind. I didn’t know what to do.
I wished none of this had ever happened. That Daddy and Lynn hadn’t gone away. That Mama hadn’t had other plans when we called her. That Mama and I had never had a fight. I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.
After dinner, Diana and I helped Grandma with the dishes, then ran up to our room to get our flip-flops se we could go with Grandpa to the movie store. On our way back down, Diana grabbed my hand and we stopped in the middle of the stairs. She put her finger to her lips and we listened.
“Do you think the girls know why Lynn and Norm went away?” Grandma was saying. Dishes clattered as she finished loading the dishwasher.
“I don’t know, why?” asked Grandpa.
“Well, Lynn said they didn’t tell them, but what did you think about what they said out on the dock this afternoon, when they were pretending to be the male and female goose getting marriage counseling?” asked Grandma.
“Oh, that? You think that proves that they know about it?”
“It aroused my suspicions. Why would the girls say something like that otherwise?”
“You’ve got a point. Maybe they’ve figured it out.”
“I just don’t like those girls having to face so much uncertainty. That’s one reason why I don’t want Stephanie to go with her mother tonight. They’ve already had enough disruption in their lives. They don’t need more.”
“Well, it’s her mother,” Grandpa said.
There was silence. Diana looked at me and nodded, and we continued down the stairs. My heart pounded in my chest. Grandma and Grandpa did know about where Daddy and Lynn had gone! Would there be a big argument when Mama got here?
Diana, who is better than I am at faking things, pretended we hadn’t heard anything. She immediately talked Grandpa into letting her drive to the movie store, so she climbed into the drivers’ seat, Grandpa rode shotgun, and I climbed into the back of their sedan. Diana had a little trouble backing out of the long driveway, and I turned and watched out the rear window, thinking about how I would be learning to do this myself next year.
“Slow down, now,” Grandpa told her as she drove down their street. “This is a winding road and you don’t want to take these corners too fast.”
“Okay.” She slowed down a little. Diana didn’t talk back to Grandpa the way she talked back to Lynn.
On the way home, after getting a movie, dusk was approaching, and Grandpa made Diana turn on the headlights. As we turned back onto Grandpa and Grandma’s street, and began the winding descent down to the lake, Grandpa said, “Well, Diana, you did a pretty good job driving other than being a bit aggressive with the accelerator. When your mother learned to drive a stick shift, I believe my hair turned white in one day.”
Diana laughed. “That’s pretty funny.”
We were all laughing when we came around the last turn. And, that was when it happened. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a deer leaped right in front of our car. Its narrow head, with large frightened eyes, soared directly in front of our windshield.
“Look out!” yelled Grandpa Roberts.
“Oh!” Diana yelled slamming on the brakes.
The deer’s long, powerful front legs hit the road directly in front of our right tire, and then we slammed with a loud thump into the deer’s shoulder.
I screamed.