Chapter 22
Stephanie had always seen her mom as a nice person to everyone.
Marlene had ignored Court completely when she was only a few feet away from her, talking to her.
Court wasn’t even the reason she was there.
Calvin was. Not that Calvin was paying her the extra attention she deserved.
He hadn’t seen her in years and was out golfing with the guys, like they always did.
Why couldn’t they see Court was a really nice person? That she wasn’t an annoying teenager if they were thinking she hadn’t changed. But neither even tried to see her for the person she was now. The person they would be proud of if they just gave her a chance.
“Really, Mom!” Stephanie turned on her mom, something that rarely happened.
“What?” Turning from the sink, her mom looked at her in question. She hadn’t even noticed what had happened? That her treatment of another person had been so callous?
Raining in her anger, she said, “You just told Court you didn’t need help and then demanded I help you right in front of her. What was wrong with her helping?”
“She’s a guest. I don’t make my houseguests help me.” Marlene stated with a wave of her hand in dismissal.
“So am I. I don’t live here anymore. But you still insist that I help. Court offered, and you didn’t let her.”
“I’m just from another generation.” Marlene turned back to the sink, as if the discussion was over.
“No, it’s because you don’t want to spend any time with her. Why did you even let Calvin invite her if you didn’t want her here?” Slapping her phone on the counter, Stephanie was surprised not to hear the screen break.
Turning back in anger, her mom said, “I told him not to, but he insisted. Now that she's here, they have nothing in common. There’s nothing to talk to her about. Don’t think I haven’t tried.”
“No, you haven’t. You ignore her whenever she’s near. I feel you don’t even know if you have anything in common with her.” Grabbing her phone, she waved her hand over the dirty dishes. “You can clean this yourself. I need some air.”
If her mom responded, she didn’t notice as she headed out of the house, away from her parents and the house she had been raised in.
One where she once thought everyone was welcome, but now she saw a lot was not.
But her memories were rose-colored because this was probably how they had always treated Court when she was a kid. How could anyone treat a kid like this?
Walking towards the lake, which was just a few blocks from the house, it was where she went whenever she needed to think. Lake George was always quiet, the only people who usually boated there were homeowners on the lake. And they seemed to leave the park alone.
Down the gravel road towards the boat dock and swimming area, she saw a single person sitting on the end of the dock looking out at the water, legs hanging over the end. Her white t-shirt made her stand out against the clear blue waters beyond her.
For just a moment, she debated leaving her alone, letting her have time alone. Except all she wanted to do was spend time with her again. There was that draw that she couldn’t explain and couldn’t fight all the time that brought her down the wood dock.
Before she got too close, she exclaimed over the waves crashing to shore, more to the water than to the woman, “Sorry about my mom.”
Not turning towards her, Court looked up towards the middle of the lake. “No need to apologize. She hasn’t changed much since I was a kid.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, that I didn’t notice what was happening back then.”
“You were what, twelve?”
“Fourteen.” She corrected, not really surprised she didn’t know how old she had been back then.
“Fourteen.” She said to the water, “Sometimes I wish Calvin would’ve just told Helene that he didn’t want me around back then. Instead, he treated me as if I was invisible for the few days a year I was here. That’s hard for a kid to understand. Hard for an adult, too.”
“It’s hard to be close to someone you barely ever see. Even if they were your kid.”
“Did they ever talk about me when I wasn’t here?”
Stephanie searched her memory for anything that would prove that Calvin had been a wonderful dad to Court and not just put all his attention on his step-kids over the years.
Except nothing came. “Not that I can remember. They did talk about you after you took off, but they weren’t all that concerned about you.
Even when your mom called and said you hadn't come home. That you were missing.”
“Helene wasn’t too concerned about me, either. I can probably say I wasn’t missed.”
“Where did you go?” Stephanie sat down near her, not close, but since the dock was narrow, there wasn’t a lot of space between them.
“I went to a friend’s house until school started.
By then it had been weeks, and I went to school from her house.
I was going to just stay with her, or someone else, if things got rocky with her.
Looking back, I can see it was a childish plan, but at least I was planning on staying in school.
Even back then, I knew how I saw my future. ”
“A girlfriend?” Her mind stuck on the word she, Stephanie asked.
Because that meant that Court was already out of the closet the last time they were together.
A time when Stephanie herself was questioning her sexuality.
Looking back, she knew it would have been nice to have someone who understood to talk to, except Stephanie hadn’t taken the time to get to know Court back then.
An opportunity that was missed. How many others had been right there if she had only been nicer to this person who was spending time in her home?
Court shrugged. “You could say that. She was a few years older than me, but I guess we did things that girlfriends did. At the time, I didn’t really think like that.”
There were so many questions swirling around her head, but Stephanie only asked one. “What happened to her?”
Leaning towards her a little more, Court shook her head ever so slightly. “I don’t know. We were already bored with each other when Mom pulled me from school. I never saw her again, but then again, I never went back to that school. She was in the same grade as I was.”
“Oh.” Was all Stephanie could say, because what else could she say?
She wanted to ask more about Court’s past. Where did she go to school next? Did she live with her mom again? How was their relationship? Did she have another girlfriend in high school? But she was already tense, and she didn’t want to make it any worse.
A boat shot across the lake in the distance, and they both watched until it turned sharply and went out of sight before Court spoke again. “I'm sorry about last week. I don’t do relationships, never have.”
“I wasn’t there to meet anyone. You just sort of…”
“Yeah, sorry again. I should have brought it up yesterday.”
“Why don’t you do relationships?”
Court was silent for a few minutes as she looked at the water. “I didn’t come from a great background that showed me that relationships worked. And from experience, I know they don’t.”
“Sorry your parents were crap.” Stephanie took Court’s hand and squeezed it, hating that Court’s dad had been at the same time a great step-dad to her and her siblings.
Holding hands, they slid into silence as they both watched the small waves on the lake. Neither tried to pull away, in fact, both shifted towards the other the longer they sat. Stephanie swore it was because they were step-siblings and nothing more.
Turning to Court, she was back under the spell that had been cast the week before. That feeling that they were one and nothing could tear them apart. When Court turned to look at her, it was as if they both knew what was happening, and each leaned towards the other equally until their lips met.
Not caring that they were in public and shouldn’t be kissing at all because of their parents, Stephanie gave in as Court’s tongue sought entrance and she gave it more than willingly.
The need to taste Court again had been so strong for so long.
She moaned when she finally had it again. It was like coming home.
Turning sideways, she slipped her arm around Court and pulled her closer, needing to touch her everywhere. From how Court was doing the same to her, Stephanie knew she felt the same.
Pulling away for air, Stephanie felt the ground beneath her fall away as she slipped off the dock. Court’s arms tightened around her, keeping her from slipping into the water below, and pulled her into her body and back onto the dock in the process. She had saved her.