Page 18 of Save Your Breath

“It’s okay to smile,” she tells me before we hang up, as if she can see my face. “It’s okay to enjoy yourself. This is a wonderful opportunity, Aleks.”

“I know.”

“Ich liebe di so wie du bisch.”

I love you, just as you are.

“I love you, too.”

When I go downstairs, I wonder if Charlie and Holly have left. The house is quiet, and I wander through the living area, taking in another impressive view of the lake until I stumble upon the kitchen.

There’s a girl there.

She’s sitting at the kitchen island, the chandelier above her casting her in a warm glow. Her hair is brown and damp, sticking to the skin of her arms and back. It’s so long it nearly touches the hem of the sweatpants she’s wearing, which have been rolled twice at her hips.

I can’t see what she’s doing, but she’s bent over the counter, focused on something. One foot is tucked under her while the other is propped up on the barstool to her left. She keeps tugging at her hair with her right hand while her left works.

I realize as I get closer that she’s writing.

At first, I think it’s a poem. But then, I see the strange symbols and notice how she’s tapping her foot, how she’s humming a rhythm so quietly only she can hear.

I realize it’s a song.

The next step I take is close enough for her to hear, and she gasps, whipping around to look at me. She clutches her song to her chest like I might steal it or, worse, see what she’s written. I’ve scared her, which I’m used to, so I don’t apologize.

In fact, I don’t say anything.

I just… stare.

She’s beautiful.

Her eyes are an electric blue, a shade so bright and brilliant it puts the lake to shame, even with the large-framed glasses covering them. She has thick, dark lashes and brows the same color as her hair. Her lips are a dusty pink, pouty and soft-looking. She has a beauty mark on her left cheek, just below the crease of her eye.

She blinks at me, lashes fanning over her tan cheeks.

“There you are,” someone says from behind me. It’s Holly. She sweeps into the kitchen with a wide smile. She’s wearing a dress, a bit more casual than what she was wearing before, but still nice. She moves to stand behind the girl, kissing her cheek and placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders with a gentle squeeze. “And I see you’ve met our daughter, Mia.”

Mia looks at her mom, and then back at me, her cheeks red now.

“Hi, Mia,” I say.

“Hi,” she says back.

When she smiles, a dimple appears on her left cheek, just an inch below her beauty mark.

The emotion finally hits me.

Now, I am excited.

Elephant in the Room

Aleks

“Oh, God. This is pure gold,” Carter Fabri said, holding his phone up to record as I lined up to take another shot at the golf ball resting on the lush green grass.

I’d missed it the first swing.

“Aleks Suter,Suuuu Man— top scorer in the league, and Most Likely to Whiff on the golf course.”