Thin Love(4)

Was she here now? Had she finally returned to say goodbye to the mother she hated? Was it even possible that fate would bring them both back home? Now?

Had she forgiven him?

I will haunt you, Kona. When you think of me, see my face, hear my name, you’ll only remember that I loved you. You’ll remember that my love for you was never thin. You’ll remember this moment because it will be the biggest regret of your life.

She’d cursed him.

He can still see the pain in her eyes, the hollow shock that had transformed her features that day. He’d told her to leave. He’d told her he never loved her. All the grief he’d felt at that moment, Kona laid at Keira’s feet. Blame was a dagger he sliced into her heart, his own sorrow, his own pain, directed at the only girl he’d ever loved. He’d told her to walk away, he told her so many lies that went against everything he felt. But she had a future. At the time, he thought his was over. She deserved better than him, better than the uncertain fate he’d fallen into at twenty.

Keira’s curse stayed with him. There had been women; sometimes he cannot remember even one of their faces, but with her, the image is clear. Her soft, pale skin. Eyes like the sky, like the ocean trapped in a hurricane. That long, thick chestnut hair. There was no erasing her from his memory.

But now? No. It was too late. That bridge was ash by now, not even the splinters of its remains could be felt. She’d been gone from him for too long. But some nights, when the games are too rough, when his body aches from damage, from age, from too many years of exertion; he remembers how she would hold him, how every rake of her fingernails on his scalp brought him calm, how good it felt to protect her, love her completely. How she’d hum, her low, beautiful voice strong, comforting, as he lay on her chest finding the only real relief he’d ever felt, in the arms of the girl he loved.

No woman could erase her completely and nothing would ever compare to the sight and feel of his Wildcat.

The phone in Kona’s pocket chirps twice. The messages are endless, all saying much the same “meeting with the Steamers coaching staff at noon tomorrow,” or “interview with ESPN at five.” His manager is relentless. His fans are enthusiastic. His mother refuses to be rebuffed about him spending the morning with her.

They all want something. They say they are trying to help. But it has been a long time since he’s believed that anyone truly needed him. Still longer since he was convinced anyone wanted him.

Not since her.





“If you insist on being stubborn, Keira, then perhaps your father and I will rethink you living on campus.”

Keira tried to withhold her temper, fingers tight on her phone as her mother’s biting voice whined sharp. She withheld the small wish that her mother had never bought the damn thing for her. Everyone else had beepers. But Keira, and the well-funded sports teams at her private university, all got phones. She hated hers. Especially when her mother used it to pick a fight with her at eight a.m.

“Mother, Steven is your husband, not my father.” She heard the heavy sigh and knew by the clicking of her mother’s tongue that her comment wouldn’t be overlooked. “And I didn’t say no… exactly,” she hurried to say, hoping to forego a truly heated fight so early in the morning. “You don’t need to threaten me.”

“Surely you see that I am only trying to look after you.”

Keira walked past two girls standing in the middle of the hallway and tried to bite back the sarcastic retort itching to leave her mouth. Her mother always thought she knew what was best for Keira and if she didn’t agree, a quick slap changed her mind. Her mother picked out her clothes, had final approval over the classes she took, hell, she’d even insisted that Keira major in something “less frivolous” than music. Keira had agreed. She always agreed because that’s what good daughters did. She would not, however, easily agree to a date with Mark Burke.

“I don’t see how dating your canasta partner’s son is for my own good.” The same hall-blocking girls barged in front of Keira like she wasn’t there at all. Keira had to step back quick when one of them flung her purse over her shoulder.

Still, her mother yammered in her ear. “… decent boy from a good family and you’re eighteen now, Keira. It’s time you begin thinking about settling down.”

That had her coming to a stop just three doors from her English classroom. “Are you serious? I’m a freshman, Mother.” Behind her, Keira heard the two girls’ laughter moving along the dull beige walls, straight toward her. She stared right at their too perfect, overly made up faces, but they just rolled their eyes, dismissing her. Her gaze trained on their retreating forms, Keira continued her argument. She felt pathetic. She could mean mug some stupid sorority bitches but she couldn’t stand up to her mother. “I’ve been in college a total of two months and you’re already nagging about me settling down?”