AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lizzy shudders. She looks so much like Lucy, right down to how she smiles and rolls her eyes when she’s nervous.
“Not yet,” she says.
I reach over and gently tap her on the helmet. “You’ve got this, I promise. Here. Hold on to my arm first.”
“Uh, okay.”
“Weight forward. We’ll do a practice one. Let me lift you up after you’ve dropped in. Don’t let your legs run away.”
“Okay, okay.”
She takes a deep breath and then ducks her head, laughing as I scoop her off her feet.
“See,” I say. “Now imagine that, but you keep going.”
Lizzy clenches her fists and nods.
“You got this, sis,” Kelly calls over, cupping her hands around her mouth.
“Hell yeah,” Jamie grins, causing his full silver beard to shift in the light. He claps his hands. “Go, Lizzy!”
“Lizzy, Lizzy!” Lucy cheers, and then everybody joins in.
Lizzy looks at me and smiles shakily. “Do you really think I can do it?”
“I’ve seen you skate since you were a little kid. You even skate this ramp. Dropping in is just an extension of that. You’ve got good instincts. Just don’t fight your body, and you’ll be okay.”
She kicks her board down, drops in, rolls smoothly to the other side of the ramp, and then leaps off her board. Her hands are immediately in the air, cheering, jumping up and down on the spot.
“Daddy, Mommy!” she cries. “Did you see?”
Jamie grins, then smiles at me. It’s the same way he’s smiled countless times. The one that says he’s proud of me. He’s the dad I never had. It’s the smile that says,We made it out of that hell together, kid, and it always makes me smile back.
The End
