Bending Under Pressure (36 page)

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Haley.”

“What’s wrong?” he interrupts.

“Could you come pick me up? My head is really bothering me and Mom didn’t answer.”

“She’s asleep,” he explains. “Give me a few minutes to change and I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, Walter.” I hang up and say, “My stepdad is coming to get me.”

“Okay. You can have a seat and wait here. Keelan, you should get back to lunch.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nods. “Text me later and let me know how you’re feeling.”

“I will.” He’s about to leave, but I grab his hand. “Thanks for being the best boyfriend.”

Keelan grins. He leans down to kiss my cheek. “You make it easy by being the best girlfriend,” he whispers.

Despite not feeling well, I smile until Walter comes to pick me up. The rest of the day is spent with Mom and Walter in their respective recliners, me on the couch, and us watching TV together with the volume low enough that it doesn’t bother me.

Dad may not be in my life, but it’s not like he is the only person I have. There’s Mom, Walter, Keelan, Jess, and even Keelan’s Mom. Maybe one day Dad will come around, but I’m not going to put myself in the position of letting him repeatedly hurt me. I have too much going on to deal with that too. There’s Keelan, the job I have to get, school, and soon, I’ll have to start thinking about colleges and my senior year.

I have people I can count on to help me. More importantly, I have people who treat me well. I’m surrounded by people who care about me and make an effort to be in my life.

That’s more than enough right now.

Keira: So...am I losing my brother? Natalie said you don’t want anything to do with us anymore.

I stare at my phone. It’s been one week since Haley’s accident and two weeks since I saw Natalie. She must’ve figured I’m not changing my mind and decided to tell Keira. What am I supposed to say to her?

“What is it, Keelan?”

I look up from my seat at the table at the sound of Mom’s voice. She’s cooking dinner. I’m supposed to be helping, but she told me to park it because I wasn’t being helpful.

“Kiera texted me,” I say before reading the text to her. “What am I supposed to tell her?”

“Is she losing her brother?”

“Not really. I never said I didn’t want anything to do with Keira. Just Natalie.”

“Then tell her what you want. If you want to still hang out with her and get to know her, then say so. Tell her you don’t get along with Natalie and just want to put some distance between you and Natalie, not between you and her.”

I nod even though she’s not looking at me. My thumbs fly over the keyboard as I type my reply.

Me: Not going anywhere. You and me? We’re good. Me and Natalie? Not so much.

Kiera: Okay, good. :) I can accept that. She’s not the easiest person to get along with, I know.

“Hey, Mom. Would there be a way for Kiera to live with her aunt again? Like even if Natalie didn’t want her to?” It sucks that she doesn’t like living with Natalie, but has to.

“Maybe. Once you’re thirteen, usually you can choose which parent to live with if they’re divorced. I don’t know what exactly she would need to do though. Why?”

“She’s told me she rather live with her again,” I answer as I type my text to Kiera.

Me: Maybe you should talk to Aunt Frances about living with her again. You can do that. Mom says you should have some sort of power over it.

Kiera: Really? I don’t know. I don’t want to upset Mom.

Me: Just something to think about.

We text until dinner is ready. I’m feeling a little suspicious about this dinner. Eating together isn’t a big deal around here. We usually do enjoy our meal as a family, but tonight, my parents were adamant about both Cameron and I being here for dinner. There’s something going on and I’m not sure what. I can’t think of anything, but I feel like I’m missing the obvious. They either have something big to tell us or we’re in trouble. No telling which it is.

Cameron must be thinking the same thing because a few minutes into dinner he asks, “Are we in trouble or something?”

Our parents laugh. “No. This is a celebratory dinner. Well, it might be,” Dad says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We haven’t brought it up because things have been busy around here between Keelan being grounded and then what’s happened with Haley,” Mom begins. “You two came to us about a month ago and asked us something.”

My eyes widen and I glance at Cam to see his eyes have too. “We get to become a Sanderson?” There’s a mixture of awe, hope, and excitement in his voice.

“That’s up to you. Do y’all still want to? We told you it would be a big decision. Have y’all been thinking about it?”

I haven’t been thinking about it much because I know it’s what I want.

“Yeah,” Cam answers. “Coach is going to have a fit because he can’t call us by our last names anymore. I still want to change it.”

Their eyes turn to me. “Me too.”

We all grin at the same time. I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll finally be theirs. I am already, I know, but taking on their last name firmly plants me in this family.

“Then we’ll start on all the paperwork,” Dad says firmly. His eyes are a little misty, and I realize this means as much to them as it does to us.

“We’ll go to Mrs. Elsie’s for banana splits after dinner, so save room, boys,” Mom tells us, giving Dad a pointed look, making us laugh.

“I always have room for a banana split,” Dad boasts.

“This is really happening?” Cameron seems to be struggling to keep his cool, and I can’t blame him. With so many unknowns about his past, he’s desperate to have something like his last name come from people who love him. He wants something to seal him into this family, too.

“It’s really happening, son,” Dad confirms.

Cameron nods, but then stands. Dad barely has time to stand before Cam is hugging him. Pretty soon, we’re having one big family hug. Mom can’t hold back her tears any longer and I swear I see Cam quickly swipe one away. I can’t wait for all of us to have the same last name. Sure, I’ll still have a sister with a different last name, but this is different. These people are my family, and I can’t wait to be called Keelan Sanderson.

“K
eelan, I wasn’t expecting you,” Mrs. Rita says when she opens the door.

“I know. I’m sorry for just showing up, but I was wondering if I could see Haley for a bit.” I’m practically bouncing on my toes; I’m so excited to tell her the news.

“Of course.”

“Glad to see you and Mr. Walter are feeling better,” I say as she moves aside for me to go in the house.

“Not as happy as we are,” she laughs. “She’s in her room, but I warn you. She’s irritated. It’s hard to read a paperback when you only have one good hand to use. We’ll probably have to get her an e-reader for Christmas. She’s been asking for one for a year already.”

I laugh. “I’ll cheer her up.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Keep the door open.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I grin. Haley is indeed pouting when I enter her room. “Cheer up, Hales.”

“No. I’m going through reading withdrawals and can’t do anything about it!” She pauses as I sit next to her on the bed. “What are you doing here?”

“I hope you’re not too attached to calling me Keelan Moore.” Her brows pull together with confusion. “Mom and Dad are going to let Cam and me change our last names. I’m going to be Keelan Sanderson soon.” Though I’m not sure how soon. I don’t know how long it’ll take.

“Really? That’s great! I bet y’all are so excited. Keelan Sanderson,” she says, testing it out. “Do you think it’ll be hard to get used to it or answer to it?”

I shrug. “Probably not too hard. I mean I’m still Keelan. I don’t care either way. I’m too happy about it. I wish we could go up the water tower.” I lean over to kiss her softly, but I’m quick about it. I don’t want to get caught.

She smiles. “Yeah, I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon. Are you going to hang out for a while?”

“If you want me to.” I glance at the book on her nightstand. There’s a bare-chested, muscular man on the cover. “Is this what you were going to read?”

“Yeah.”

I flip it open to a random page. My mouth drops because I’ve landed in the middle of a sex scene. “This is porn, Hales! I didn’t know you read this kind of stuff.”

She snatches the book from me. “It is not. It’s just romance. If you’re going to make fun of me, you can leave.”

“I won’t. Want me to read it to you? Or hold it, so you can read?”

The offer is tempting to her, I can tell by how she keeps glancing back and forth between the book and me. “Won’t that be boring?”

It probably will be, but I want to spend time with her and I don’t have anything better to do. This surely has to have a positive effect on her, too. I’d rather play video games or go racing than read, but no one wants to race after what happened with Haley, even though she was driving alone.

“Hanging out with you is all I want to do, Hales. If you want to read, then I can hold the book for you.” It’ll be interesting to see just what she is reading, too.

“No, that’s okay,” she answers, her cheeks turning a shade of red. She must not want me to see just how dirty the book must be. “We can watch a movie with Mom and Walter though.” We do just that.

Soon, I’ll be Keelan Sanderson. We’ll hopefully continue on to the championship and win. I’ll still have a sister and an aunt. Maybe Natalie and I will eventually have a better relationship, but it’ll be okay if we don’t. I feel like I can breathe a little easier now, even with all that pressure sitting on my chest. My life has balanced back out and it feels stable again, like it’s easier for me to tackle. But when it gets hard, I’ll have Haley, my parents, Cameron, and maybe even Keira and Frances to help me through it.

Later, when Haley walks with me outside to my car, she lets me carefully wrap my arms around her waist to hold her.

“Thanks for coming to see me,” she whispers. “Do you think it’s too cold for some hammock time tomorrow? I think I could maybe get in and out of it okay.”

“No,” I say, easily able to see my breath in the air. “It’s not too cold. We’ll just have to bundle up real good. I’ll pick you up, take you to Mrs. Elsie’s for lunch and dessert, and then go to my house to lie in the hammock. How does that sound?”

“It’s a date, Keelan Sanderson.”

Nothing can wipe the grin off my face. I can see her Mom peek out the window, so I only kiss her cheek.

“Give me a real kiss,” she murmurs. “I don’t care if they’re watching.”

“I do.”

“Please?”

I dip my head and press a hard, yet chaste kiss to her lips.

She laughs when I pull away. “Not a real kiss, but I’ll accept it since I really like you.”

“Good because I really like you too, and it’d break my heart if you didn’t.” I kiss her one more time on the lips.

“I miss kissing you,” she whispers, her eyes downcast.

“I’m here to kiss you any time you want, Hales.” To prove it, I kiss her again. “Except for now because your mom is glaring at me, and I need to go home.”

Haley laughs again and says, “Okay, go. We don’t need to get in trouble again for a while.”

“Exactly. I’ll text you later.”

Because I can’t help myself, I kiss her one more time before heading home with a grin on my face.