The Art of My Life Read Online Free Page A

Coors Light from the cooler. “Want a
beer?”
    She stopped on the dock behind Zeke’s Ambition and leaned toward the boat to grab the Coors
from his hand. His eyes traced the tattooed flower stem where it
trailed south into the depths of her shirt.
    She straightened, narrowed her eyes,
and flipped open the beer.
    “ I have to study for a
poly sci quiz. Stay and keep me company?”
    She took a sip. “Looks like you’ve
already started studying.”
    He shot a glance at the tattoo peeking
from the neckline of her blouse. “Botany. Dasies. One in
particular.”
    “ Since when do you hit on
me?”
    Since Cal pissed him off. “Since I
can’t fight it anymore.”
    Her gaze slid to Cal as he walked aft
on his boat.
    “ Hey, I’m only asking you
to hang out.”
    Evie stepped aboard muttering
something about never measuring up. “So, I’m good enough for
you?”
    His eyes moseyed over her wavy blonde
tresses down to her hibiscus-red toenails. “Uh, that would be a
yes.”
    She plopped into a padded fishing
chair. “One beer. That’s all.”
    Fish leaned against the side of the
boat and crossed his arms. “So, are you and Cal
together?”
    “ I thought you had to
study.”
    He zeroed his gaze into her eyes. “I
am.”
    She took a drink, but not before he
saw her hand quiver. He was getting to her. Good.
    “ So, about
Cal—”
    Evie snorted.
    “ I don’t get it. Why do
you stick to him? His four-figure income? Because he got three
months jail time, six months’ probation instead of the pre-plea
felony that would have locked him up for a year?” Never mind that
Cal had actually gotten a raw deal in court. Never mind Cal’s
surfer six-pack and his to-know-him-is-to-love-him
personality.
    “ Cal’s got family. Ma left
me on that piece-of-shit boat with her pervy boyfriend and skipped
town when I was seventeen.”
    Who knew they had something in common
other than a mutual appreciation for hood ornaments? “My family
ditched me the minute I finished eleventh grade to run an orphanage
in Peru.”
    “ Not the same. Do you even
have a clue what it feels like to have a hole inside where family’s
supposed to be—since you were born? Even when Ma was around, she
didn’t, like, care .”
    The ache in her voice unearthed his
own, and he reached for the last beer in the cooler. Yeah, he knew
exactly what it felt like to have a hole inside where family was
supposed to be.
    “ I don’t know why Cal goes
all sea-urchin prickly about his mom. If Cal married me, I’d be a
best-freakin’-friend kind of daughter-in-law.”
    “ Hey, I’ve got family.
Mom, Dad, sisters, a brother, one more sibling than Cal has.” He
sounded petty, even in his own ears.
    “ Well, they’re not here,
are they? And why would I care?”
    “ So, you’re in love with
Cal?”
    “ Sometimes I hate
him.”
    Fish squinted at her. Was it the beer
talking?
    Evie stood. “I’m done puking out my
issues.”
    Out of the corner of his eye he saw
Cal moving around on the Escape . He followed Evie off the
boat. “I’ll walk you down to your boat.” He threw an arm across her
shoulders and darted a glance at Cal. But inside he felt like crap.
He was tired of superficial relationships with girls. And Evie
wasn’t a girl he could form a deep connection with.
    He was better than this, better than
trying to make Cal pay.
     
     
    The doorbell rang, and Aly’s chin
jerked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey she’d just
opened. Mom had taken her out for her birthday yesterday, and she
wasn’t expecting anyone. She jammed the spoon into the ice cream,
stuck it into the freezer, and jogged to the door. Maybe it was
elderly Mrs. Knox from the condo next door.
    She whisked open the door. The smile
died on her lips.
    Cal stood on the step, damp hair
pulled into a ponytail, his jaw freshly shaved.
    Shallow breaths moved in and out of
her nose, registering the scent of soap. Pin pricks dotted her skin
as though her whole body had fallen