Gracie Faltrain Takes Control Read Online Free

afraid I’ll leave and I’m afraid she’ll never trust me to stay.’
    â€˜So tell her that.’
    â€˜Hearing something and believing it are two different things. Your mother will trust me again, but she has to find her own way.’
    â€˜And what if that never happens?’ I asked.
    â€˜It will.’
    Dad’s a big believer in fate. According to him, the two of them were destined to be together because Mum hit him in the nuts with a tennis ball.
    â€˜Your dad has confused fate with tragedy, Faltrain,’ Jane says.
    â€˜I hit him in the balls on purpose,’ Mum says.
    â€˜Whether she hit him there on purpose or not,’ Alyce says, ‘their love could still be predetermined.’
    I’m on Mum’s side. Fate needs a little help sometimes, and if she was the one to get things started, then Dad has every right to get in there and give it some help to keep it rolling. I figure it’s time he started lobbing some balls in her direction, you know, hit her with some good times, remind her about their beginning, when they first started dating.
    If he does that, then Mum might start to trust him again like I do. Having dad back makes me feel warm and safe, like being inside on a night when the windows are full of frost.
    I want Martin to feel that way, too.
    â€˜Faltrain,’ he said when I explained it to him, ‘my parents are different. Mum doesn’t love Dad anymore.’
    â€˜I wasn’t saying they should get back together. I meant that if your mum’s not here she can’t fix things with you.’
    â€˜She stopped loving me as well,’ he said, and I could tell he believed it.
    â€˜How can that be?’ It was like saying there wouldn’t be a sun when we woke up in the morning. He pushed his hands further into his pockets and shrugged. ‘It just is,’ he said. And after that he walked a little faster.
    It doesn’t make me feel better, getting angry at him tonight. Apart from winning at soccer, there are only two other real buzzes I get, ones that make my blood hot like I’ve kicked a goal. Martin’s smile. Martin’s kiss.
    â€˜Well, Faltrain,’ as Jane would say, ‘there’s no way you’re scoring a goal tonight.’
    â€˜Mum,’ I ask when I get home, ‘would a mother ever stop loving her kid?’
    â€˜Is this a question about you?’
    â€˜No. Martin, mainly.’
    â€˜I can’t answer for his mum, love. Only she can do that.’
    â€˜Well you, then. Could you ever stop loving me?’
    â€˜Never, Gracie Faltrain. I will love you until I’m dead and buried. And then I’ll love you from the grave.’
    â€˜How could Martin’s mum leave him then?’
    â€˜Maybe she knew that if she stayed, she’d lose herself, and then there’d be nothing to give to Martin anyway.’
    â€˜But that could never happen to you, right?’
    â€˜That would never happen. Without you I am lost.’
    â€˜And Dad?’
    She hesitates for just a second, but I see it in her eyes. ‘He’s lost without us, too.’
    Dad and I are already toasty, but I guess Mum’s taking a little longer to heat up. She’ll trust him eventually, though. It’s like when your feet are ice and you can’t sleep. But then you wake up in the middle of the night and they’re warm.
    Mum and Dad are lost without each other, just like Martin is lost without his mum. I want to find a way to fix things for people this year. I want clear skies and sun and soccer. I want another winning season. For everyone.

5
    The average goldfish has a memory of approximately 3.65 seconds.
The International Journal of Scientists
    Lately Martin acts like he doesn’t care enough to remember our fights. He has the memory of a goldfish: gone after a few seconds. Even after our biggest arguments, I can call him and it’s as though nothing happened. I never kicked