Page 27 of The Weight of Love
December 1st
1:02 PM
I haven’t seen you in a while. How are things?
7:08 PM
…..?
December 8th
11:32 PM
Cool. I really love you dropping off the face of the Earth there, ‘fam.’ Good luck. I wish you all the best in life.
Chapter Twelve
Clark
My eyes are trained on Stella as she has an animated conversation with Riley in the bleachers during the break. They both talk with their hands and tend to make silly facial expressions in the middle of the conversation. It’s like watching a miniature version of her.
Stella’s eyes flick in my direction, and I try but fail to look nonchalant as I turn away.
“Smooth, Bro, super smooth,” Graham laughs as he notices my flustered reaction to her eyes on me.
“Shut up.”
I groan internally as I see Riley and Annie bouncing in our direction with their ponytails swinging in unison. Both are great at volleyball, and it’s been an interesting experience getting to help coach them. I hadn’t played volleyball much except on the beach during deployments, but these kids played hard.
I can see the same work ethic in Riley as Stella has. If I had to bet on it, she’d be just as successful as her mom.
“Hey, Mr. H, can you show us that spike again? I think I’ve almost got it, but I think I’m doing something wrong when I land.”
“Sure, let’s set it up.”
She calls me Mr. H., which would be more amusing if I wasn’t aware of a particular set of eyes following my movement across the gym with her daughter. I glance at the stands and take in the small, pale little boy sitting next to Stella on the bleachers—her son, apparently. He’s curled up against her with a Nintendo Switch on his lap, focused intensely on the game.
“That your brother?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. He normally goes with Nana, but she can’t watch him today.”
Stella’s eyes catch a distant look the longer I stare, and I can’t help but feel like an absolute piece of trash.
“How’s your mom been lately?”
“Oh man, so moody. I wish she would figure it out, whatever it is. Even the gym doesn’t seem to be helping anymore.”
I set the ball for Riley as we approach the net and watch as she attempts to spike it, noting how she balances her weight. This is definitely the problem. I talk her through the mechanics of shifting her weight when she jumps so that her follow-through will improve and she’ll land more steadily.
We try a few more times, and she’s locked in. She grins at me with that familiar smile that causes something in me to crack a little. She pulls me by the sleeve over to the stands.
“I did it! Did you see?”
“I did, Hun, that was awesome.”
“Mr. H is actually an excellent coach.”
“I’m sure he is…very encouraging.”