Free Second Kiss by Natalie Palmer Page A

thinking that unlike his father, my dad cared that I came back alive.
    I didn’t tell Jess that Dad would understand. I think Jess liked to believe that no one knew what his dad was like. But my mom and Jess’s mom were good friends. I was sure my parents knew as much-if not more-than I did about their situation.
    I sat on the arm of our couch-still in my pajamas but with a hooded sweatshirt thrown on top-right next to Dad. I could feel the warmth of his shoulder as I leaned into him. He stared at the television and laughed along with the audience on the set as David Letterman announced his number seven of the top ten rejected James Bond gadgets. Still chuckling, my dad patted my knee. “What’s up, Gemma?” Then looking at his watch, said, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
    “Dad?” I said before he could dwell on the time. “I know I need to go to bed, and I’m going to go soon. And I’m going to make sure that even though I need to stay up a little bit late tonight that I’m going to wake up on time tomorrow morning and be in a really good mood at breakfast, and I’m going to be extremely alert during class.” I had asked Dad permission to stay up late enough times to know every excuse why he thought I shouldn’t. He began to speak, but I continued before he had a chance, “And even though it may take some strong determination to do those things on less sleep, I know it will be worth it-and I think you’ll agree-since it’s for a good cause.”

    Dad opened his mouth and then clapped it together with a smile. “And what-if my attorney general daughter will allow me to ask-is this `good cause’ that is keeping you up past your bed time?”
    “It’s Jess.”
    Dad sat forward and twisted to look around the room. “Is he here?”
    “He’s outside.”
    “Why is he outside?”
    My face fell. While the rest of my speech up to this point was a bit scripted, exaggerated, and even manipulative, the expression on my face now was nothing but sincere. Dad sat back into the couch with an, “oh.” He stared back at the television, but he wasn’t laughing anymore. He didn’t even appear to be paying attention to what was on the screen. He rubbed his hand down both sides of his face and scowled. “Well, your mom went to bed early with a headache, so you’ll have to be quiet, but why don’t you invite Jess into the house?”
    I watched my dad carefully. He looked deep in thought. I was never allowed to have friends over past eight o’clock on the weekdays. This was a big exception. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Thanks, Dad.” He nodded, and I got up carefully from the couch before he could change his mind.
    I opened the back door and cupped one hand around my mouth. “Come on in, Jess. My dad said it was okay.”
    Jess turned around to face me. He was obviously surprised at the invitation. Jess didn’t come inside my house very often. He came over more when we were little kids and would imitate scenes from Star Wars in my basement. But over the past few years we just talked outside. Jess looked up at my house as though it was a huge ship that he was terrified to board. He took a step backward. “I’m okay out here.”

    I scowled at Jess’s hesitation. “What’s the matter? It’s cold out here.” It was only September, but it smelled like it was going to rain. And the breeze brought a chill to my skin.
    Jess blinked his eyes a few times. “Just come out here, please?”
    I puffed out an exaggerated breath of air and stepped out into the cold. We sat down on our usual spot on the steps while Jess tossed an old basketball around in his hands.
    We hadn’t said a word to each other before Jess hugged the ball into his chest and announced, “My parents are getting divorced.”
    I was stunned by his words-especially the unemotional way in which he said them. Jess rarely told me anything about his parents anyway, and this was big. I wasn’t quite sure how to react. The first words that came to my mind