I turn and punch Oak in the shoulder.
“Ow!” he fake cries. “Don’t damage the goods.”
“Your dad make this?” Big D asks, interrupting before I can punch Oak again.
“Yeah. It’s just PVC pipe.” The simple structure is about five feet high and consists of three rows of pipe on a stand. The goal is to get your two golf balls glued to the ends of a piece of rope, or bolas, wrapped around the pipes.
“And a lot of glue!” Spence adds. The twins exchange high fives.
I grin happily, glad that the memory of them putting the game together is a good one instead of a sad one.
“They were silly on a glue high for a day,” I explain to Oak and his mom.
Ty and Paisley are still arguing about the rules when Big D separates us into teams. We decide it’s going to be the Bennetts against the Fords. Ty plays with us while Big D and Katrina’s bodyguards stand over on the Ford side.
Amanda offers to keep score, the Bennett way.
Halfway into the game, the Bennetts are kicking ass. Ty mutters it’s because we’re cheating.
“You’re on our team, Ty,” Paisley points out.
“It’s no fun winning when you’re cheating,” he grumbles.
“Throw the damn—darn bola,” Oak yells. “You’re holding the game up. You should get penalized for that.”
“See, you’re going to make us lose,” Paisley says, then pulls the bola from Ty’s hand and whips it across the lawn with perfect aim.
The bola knocks off one of Oak’s balls, which means we win again. The twins run around, high-fiving everyone while Paisley and I slap hands. We grew up playing this with our parents. There’s no way the Fords are going to beat us, no matter which way the game is scored.
“Come on, Mom, you got this,” Oak encourages when Kat steps up and swings her bola.
Oak’s behind her, so he doesn’t see her face tighten with emotion and her eyes flutter closed. She shuts her eyes as if to make a perfect mental imprint of this moment. When her son called her Mom, when he cheered for her, when they were in perfect harmony.
“Go, Katrina,” I yell.
“She’s on the other team.” Paisley scowls at me. “Between you and Ty, it’s like you want us to lose.”
I merely grin. I’m too happy to care about the outcome of this game because, as corny as it sounds, the day is a win.
After we defeat Team Ford three times in a row, the twins drag Katrina’s bodyguards inside to show off their gaming rig. Paisley and Ty bicker as they stow away the game. Big D trails behind them. Amanda has disappeared, leaving Oak, his mom and me out on the lawn.
Katrina and I settle into a couple of deck chairs, but Oak decides he’d rather sit on the ground, leaning against my leg.
“How’s everything going?” Katrina asks. The friendliness of the game has burned off a little, showing that the underlying tension between mother and son isn’t going to be erased with one game of ladder golf.
“Good,” Oak replies. He leans his head against the side of my leg, his soft hair rubbing against my bare leg. I reach down and smooth some of the hair out of his eyes. “You?”
She shrugs. “You know how it is. I’m old now so I’m only getting scraps, but there are a few things that interest me.”
“That sucks,” I say.
“What projects?” Oak wants to know.
“A couple small side roles in a few upcoming films. I just signed on for Weisenberg’s latest thriller. The others are mostly dramas and I’d be playing someone much older than myself.” She glances at her hands, almost in embarrassment. “I’m vain, dear. You know that.”
“They’d be lucky to have you,” Oak replies gruffly. The two speak to the ground, afraid to look at each other.
“Thank you. But enough about me. What are you working on?”
Silently, Oak makes circles with his finger on the stone pavers. When Katrina looks disappointed by his lack of response, I blurt out, “He’s working on new music.”
His mother’s eyes widen. “You are? That’s fantastic.”
He clears his throat. “Yeah, I’m trying out a new sound. Don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere. It will probably suck.”
“It does not suck. It’s awesome. I had shivers,” I proclaim.
He twists around to peer up at me. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“You don’t need to get a bigger head. Your ego is threatening to take over the entire southern coast.” I squeeze his shoulder to let him know I’m joking before turning back to Katrina. “It’s wonderful. More of Oakley and less of everything else.”
“That does sound wonderful. I can’t believe Oak is letting you hear it as he creates it. He never does that. What does Jim think?” Katrina asks.
“I haven’t shared any of it with Jim,” Oak admits, rubbing his cheek against my hand.
Katrina’s eyes, so like Oak’s, miss nothing. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s marvelous.”
“I know you and Dad never wanted me to sign that contract,” he mutters.
“Oh, Oak. Your father was just concerned that you’d be taken advantage of and you were so young. There are so many people who wanted to exploit you.”
“We both know that’s not why Dad was against it.” There’s bitterness in his tone.
She bites her lip. “We just wanted what was best for you.”
“Really? Because both of you basically stopped talking to me after I signed it.” This time he does raise accusing eyes to Katrina.
“You filed those emancipation papers!” she cried. “What were we supposed to think? You didn’t want us as parents anymore.”
“No, I wanted to make my own decisions about my music and my career.”
At first, Katrina opens her mouth to protest, but then she wilts, her desire to reconnect with her son overcoming any feelings of self-righteousness. “Then we didn’t do right by you. I don’t think either of us quite realized what happened until our little boy had become Oakley Ford—a man in his own right at the tender age of sixteen. We didn’t handle it well, and I’m sorry for that. We love you and I miss you, Oak. I want to spend more time with you. Can we do that? Maybe a little?”
Her plea is so heartfelt that my throat thickens. I’d give anything to have another day with my parents. Oak tilts his head to look at me and I know he sees my envy and grief because he reaches out to clasp my hand in comfort. It’s not Katrina he gives his answer to. “Okay, because I know it’s important to you.”
32
HER
Wanna come to a party? Justin’s parents are gone.
I show the phone screen to Oakley. He’s leaning against the counter, eating a piece of chocolate cake, which was what was in the big white box that Katrina brought. She left about thirty minutes ago, and Oak has been hanging around ever since. He doesn’t seem in any hurry to leave.
“Yeah, can we?”
“I don’t know. Do you need to check with Ty or Big D?” This earns me a frown, but I don’t back down. “What if they go all nuts on you?”
“These are the people who came to Maverick’s show with you?”
“Yeah.”
“They seemed cool.”
He clearly wants to go, so I text Kiki back.
I’m w/ Oak. How bad do u think everyone will freak?
OMG. Seriously? I’m freaking right now. Does he have any friends w him?
Yeah, dummy, me.
Ha ha.
If we come, everyone has to act normal. No asking him to sing. No trying to get in his pants. Do not make a big deal out of this.
Treat him like a normal guy from TJ?
Exactly.
He’s Oakley Ford, V. U R asking the impossible!
Then we’re not coming.
“I still want to go,” Oak says, peering over my shoulder.
“Does the word private mean anything to you?”
He rinses his plate off in the sink. “Yeah, it means that the stuff you and I do isn’t anyone else’s business.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”