The Season of You & Me Read Online Free Page A

ouch, Lakewood.”
    “You wanted to see me?”
    Mr. Beckett was my father’s best friend, best man, fishing buddy, a fixture at our house on Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. As Mom and Dad and my younger brother, Matt, were working through their own shit adjusting to our new situation, he’d been the first person, aside from my therapist, to help me feel that being paralyzed wasn’t some dismal life sentence. He didn’t do it with fake enthusiasm. No pom-poms, no clichéd words of wisdom or pity. He did it by being there, in the worst and best moments, offering silent acknowledgment to move forward, letting me feel shitty if I wanted to, but never allowing me to wallow so deep I couldn’t get out. From the look on his face, I couldn’t tell what kind of moment this would turn into, but I knew he wanted to talk about something. He took off his reading glasses, folded them with more care than necessary, and placed them at the top corner of theblotter before finally leaning forward on his elbows.
    “What?”
    “How are you feeling about Monday?”
    “Good. Ready.” Monday was my first day back as a camp counselor post-accident. I’d held the same job when I was fifteen, and figured things couldn’t have changed all that much in two years. Six-year-olds were six-year-olds. They ate. Ran. Spilled shit. And didn’t want to do much else but swim. Totally manageable.
    “Okay, cool.”
    “It doesn’t sound like you think it’s cool.”
    He blew out a long breath and leaned back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head like he was doing a sit-up. He looked at a water stain on the paneled ceiling as he spoke.
    “I do think it’s cool, and I’m glad to hear you’re ready, because I think you’re ready too.”
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “Don’t you think that looks kind of like Florida?” He pointed at the ceiling, outlining the water stain in the air with his index finger. “There’s the panhandle, and see, over there—”
    “Just be straight with me. I can handle it.”
    He looked at me again, sat upright in the chair. “A few of the parents have expressed concern about your ability to take care of the kids in case of emergency.”
    “Wasn’t that the whole purpose of that Q and A session lastweek? What kind of emergency?”
    “I don’t know. Polar ice caps melting. Werewolf bites. The usual stuff parents worry about. I know both you and Wade are more than capable of taking care of your group.”
    “Then why are you telling me this?”
    “I wanted you to hear it from me, not some trickle-down island gossip or mouthy kid. You can handle it—I wouldn’t have offered you a job if I thought otherwise—but I know it can be tough dealing with people who don’t understand what you’re capable of.”
    “Fuck it.”
    “Mouth, Bry.”
    “Who complained?”
    “Doesn’t matter. I reassured the parties involved, but since this is your first time back to work, I thought I’d give you some options.”
    “Like what?”
    “You know Olivia isn’t going to be with Tori in the culinary class anymore. Her father is—”
    “Working on an engineering project in Houston and they have to go there for the summer. Yeah, I know.” I left out that it was all Tori had been complaining about the past two weeks, pissed that Liv would be abandoning her for the whole summer and worried that Mr. Beckett was going to drop her cooking class and assign her to a group of tween boys.
    “This is the first year we’re offering that as a special elective. It’s been a popular pick, so Tori definitely needs help. Ithought I’d offer you the position, let you make the choice if you’d rather stay in one place, help Tori and have the kids come to you, or if you want to stick with the plan. I’ve hired a replacement for Liv, but I wasn’t specific with her assignment so there’s still time to switch things around, if you’re interested.”
    The one thing I’d loved about being a counselor was that no two