Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray Page A

hangers.
    He stepped toward her, and she flattened against the car. “It was a kiss. I’m pretty sure you’ve experienced one of those before. Maybe not one as good as that . . .”
    Herb honked the horn again. Her life was turning into a Three Stooges comedy. “You just . . . keep your lips away from mine.”
    Josh looked at her as if he wanted to pick holes in that statement, but he wisely kept his swollen mouth shut. Or as shut as he could without hurting his bottom lip.
    She wanted to say more—to ask more, to ask
why
—but her dad yelled at her to get in the car, and she wasn’t willing to risk another scene to deal with it. “Be safe on the field.”
    He nodded.
    â€œAnd have fun putting in your mouth guard.” With that final—admittedly weak—parting shot, she slid in the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking spot.
    ***
    Sitting on the couch later that evening, Carri propped her feet up on the coffee table in an imitation of her father’s posture.
    â€œReally, Carrington, can you avoid scuffing up my table while you’re here?” Maeve asked as she walked in carrying three bowls of ice cream. She handed the largest one to Herb, who mumbled something without taking his eyes off the screen. She handed the next to Carri, then sat between them on the couch.
    Carri eyed the scarred wood of the table, where a decade or more of wear had taken the shine down to a dull, scraped nub. “Uh, I think you’re past that point, Mom.”
    Maeve simply huffed, looked for the remote, then gave up when she saw it clutched in Herb’s hands. “Did you have a good day with your father, dear?”
    â€œYup, we sure did.” She shoveled a large mouthful of ice cream in so she wouldn’t have to say more.
    â€œWhat did you two do?” Maeve asked predictably.
    Carri simply shrugged, shook her head, pointed to her mouth and kept quiet.
    â€œWe went to training camp,” Herb said without looking over.
    Great. He picked
now
to be in the moment. When Maeve’s head swiveled her way, Carri gave her a weak smile and swallowed.
    â€œWe went to training camp today.”
    â€œCarrington, I asked you specifically not to take your father anywhere,” Maeve hissed.
    â€œI’m not a child, Maeve, so don’t treat me like one,” her father snapped, standing suddenly. He walked into the kitchen without another word.
    Carri blew out a breath. “He asked, and he was having a good day. I didn’t want to say yes, but I also didn’t want to say no. He wanted to see Josh. We saw Josh. We came home, and it was pretty uneventful.”
Except for the part where Josh kissed me senseless and then confused the hell out of me about it. That part was an event. But I’m not telling you any of that. Keeping secrets, just like when I was a teenager.
    Maeve watched her a moment, taking another small bite of ice cream. “I don’t like it.”
    â€œI didn’t really like it, either, until we got there. But he wore a hat, we sat in the shade, and he didn’t overtax himself. He even got to talk to a few of the coaches.” She leaned in closer. “Mom, he had a good day. A really good day. I don’t know how many of these good days I’ll have left with him. I was careful, I was cautious, and I kept my eye on him. It was fine. Please don’t be angry with us.”
    â€œAngry? No.” Her mother rested back on the couch, lashes fluttering a little. Under the harsh lighting of the family room, Carri could see dark smudges underneath her mother’s eyes. And she looked a little pale, now that she’d removed her makeup from work.
    â€œMom? Are you doing okay?”
    â€œI’m fine, fine.” Waving that off, Maeve kept her eyes closed and her head tilted back. From the kitchen, they heard Herb puttering around, opening the refrigerator and closing it again.