Page 131 of Salto

I really sucked at sitting in silence. And a few moments later, I cracked.

“So you know how I went to see my family…” The words spilled out of me.

“I’m guessing something went down?”

I didn’t answer for a second.

“Yeah, sort of.”

He waited patiently for me to continue.

“My sister. She hasn’t been making the best choices as of late. She got caught in a car with someone who had drugs. She didn’t go to jail or anything, but my parents sounded worried.” I swallowed, feeling the emotions come surging back up again.

“She knows better than to hang out with people that could get her in trouble like that. She’s only seventeen, and the past few years she’s been going through a typical teenage phase, or so I thought, but now I’m wondering if something more is going on. I mean, hopefully she’s not involved with drugs or anything, but the possibility won’t leave my head, and I’m scared and⁠—”

I trailed off, sucking in a sharp breath.

I looked over at Rove.

But he was already looking at me, his expression unreadable. And it was the first moment I considered that maybe I’d divulged too much.

“Forget I said anything. I’m dumping all my family’s stuff onto you and⁠—”

“It’s not too much for me,” he said quickly, cutting me off. “I understand.”

“You do?” I was surprised to hear him say that. All the irritation I’d felt only a few minutes ago had evaporated. He’d completely disarmed me. And now I was waiting expectantly to hear what he was about to say next.

“This is tame compared to the issues my family has,” he said, and I didn’t know how to respond to that. I waited, wondering if he’d elaborate.

After a few moments, he finally did. “My mom actually struggled with addiction.”

My breath caught.

“It was one of the reasons I moved here to the United States, to live with Vanta.”

It wasn't at all what I'd expected him to say. I didn't know how to respond, but he didn't give me the chance.

“For the first part of my life, things were normal. It was the three of us, and we lived a pretty ordinary life. My mom loved to garden, and we had an apple orchard.” He smiled as if remembering it. “After practice, I’d come home and we’d take care of the trees together. One day my mom was up on the ladder, and she fell.” He swallowed, his jaw clenching briefly before continuing. “My dad’s a doctor, and he owns a little family medicine clinic in the town I grew up in.”

He leaned his arms on his knees and watched the waves, still not looking at me as he continued his story. “She broke some bones in her hand. It was a fluke accident. She had to go to the hospital. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but she had to go in for a few treatments, and they gave her some medicine to help with the pain.”

He swallowed, and the expression on his face caused a pit to form in my stomach. “My dad, he prescribed her some refills at one point. And pretty quickly she became dependent on them.”

He paused again, and I waited, barely breathing. “Because he was a doctor, he'd been the one to help prescribe them to her. And he blamed himself for a long time.”

He finally looked over at me, his green eyes warm with the orange sunset in their reflection.

“My dad called Vanta when things got bad. He didn’t want me to have to watch my mom go through her rehabilitation. So before long I was on a plane to the United States, and I continued my gymnastics training here.”

“How is she now?” I whispered.

“She’s better,” he said, nodding. “I mean there were ups and downs throughout my whole life. We don’t talk very much. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen her or my dad in person.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, my heart aching for him.

“What I’m trying to say is, I understand.” He cleared his throat, sitting back on his palms again, his eyes returning to the ocean. “I know what it’s like to worry about a family member making poor decisions. The overwhelming urge to step in and take control for them. But whatever is going on with Jamie, she seems like a smart girl, so she’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I just want to help her.”