Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
He could feel the heat of her embarrassment followed by a bout of worry at the end. “Do you think I ruined the bike?”
“It’s probably as beat up as you, but I’ll take a look at it. I’ve wrecked a bike or two that I had to repair.”
He lumbered up the hill, his breaths coming shorter and shorter with the exertion. Good thing he’d been training all summer on the field.
“How do you know where to take me?” she asked in that timid voice.
“Heard I had a new neighbor by the name of Daisy.” He kept it light. “I live right there.”
He angled his head toward their house on the right side of the road, a two-story tucked far back on the property in a thicket of oaks.
“Oh,” she stammered, barely lifting her head to peek at it.
He continued to carry her to the top of the hill and to the front door of Ms. Lopez’s house. “Going to set you down, but don’t put any pressure on your foot. Just hang onto me.”
She nodded, and he settled her on the ground, the girl hanging onto him for dear life as he pounded the back of his fist on the door.
There was thudding from the other side and, a moment later, the door swung open wide.
“Oh, goodness,” Ms. Lopez gasped when she saw Daisy.
Daisy ducked her head.
“She wrecked her bike,” Cash explained for her since she didn’t seem to want to talk much.
“Oh no, sweet girl. Are you hurt?”
Daisy only dipped her head further.
“Think she might have hurt her ankle,” Cash supplied.
Ms. Lopez looked at him with a soft smile. “Thank you for getting her back here. I told her to head to the park to see if she could meet with any of the other kids she’ll be going to school with. It looks like she found her first friend.”
The next day, with the sun blazing down from above, Cash knocked at Ms. Lopez’s door. He’d spent most of the day in his father’s garage hammering out the bend in the frame and replacing the bike’s tire.
He could hear rustling on the other side, though it felt like an eon passed without anyone answering. He raised his fist to knock again when it finally cracked open.
One giant blue eye peered out.
“Hey, Daisy,” he said, casually, while her face turned crimson red. The freckles he hadn’t noticed yesterday were vibrant where they were smattered over her nose and cheeks.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Fixed your bike.” He lifted it by the handlebars, letting it plop back down with a little bounce. “Good as new.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Sure I did.” He grinned.
She turned redder and dipped her head.
“How’s your ankle?” he asked.
She peeked up at him. “Sprained but not broken.”
“That’s good news.”
She hiked a shoulder. “Yeah. It’s not like I was going to be trying out for the track team, anyway.”
Light laughter left him. “And why not?”
She chewed at the inside of her cheek with the faintest grin pulling at her lips. “Clumsy, remember?”
“Like I said, I might disagree.”
“Apparently, you don’t know me.”
He cocked his head. “And here I thought I was your first friend?”
She let go of a disbelieving, “Pfft.” Then she mumbled, “I don’t have any of those.”
Something fluttered in his chest.
She was cute in this super shy way, and looking at her right then, he realized she was probably older than he thought.
Likely the same age as him.
He let his attention wander over her. Maybe it was rude, but he had the sudden urge to know everything about her. His focus stopped when he noticed she was holding something in her hand.
A half-eaten Red Vine.
“Are you gonna share, or what?”
A moment’s confusion dented between her bright blue eyes, then she jolted when she realized what he was staring at. “Oh, really? You like Red Vines? I mean, they’re kinda my favorite, and I could eat the whole package, but I really don’t mind sharing. You know, since you fixed my bike and everything.”
His grin only grew as she fumbled through the words.
“Who doesn’t like Red Vines?”
“Weirdos.” She almost grinned, and a slight laugh got out of him. A bunch of time passed as she just kinda stared at him.
“You gonna let me in or have me die from salivating over those Red Vines?”
“Oh, right, yes, okay.” Flustered, she widened the door.
He rested her bike against the exterior wall then strode inside. Shooting her a big smile as he passed.
Deciding he was definitely going to be her first friend because he got the sense that she needed one.
SEVEN
DAISY
I ran a towel through my wet hair as I wandered through Cash’s bedroom, trying to get my bearings.
To catch up to reality.
To ground myself when I felt like I was floating away.
But I was in Cash’s bedroom.
His room.
It brought back so many memories I didn’t know how to stay rooted in the present.