The Season of You & Me Read Online Free PDF

kitchen. I dug into my bag and pulled out my trunks, then met her in the kitchen. She took the suit out of my hands.
    “I can do that,” I said.
    She waved me off as she headed onto the deck. “No, eat before it gets cold.”
    The chicken parm and a can of Coke were on the table, waiting. Comfort food. I dug in, not realizing how hungry I’d been until dinner was in front of me. There wouldn’t have been anything that good at Liv’s get-together, more reason to feel better about not going, I told myself. Mom came back in, sliding the screen door shut behind her.
    “Hey, got something in the mail today for you,” she said,sorting through a bunch of envelopes that were on the counter. She reached into a large, puffy white package and pulled out a black tee. She fanned it out over the chair to show me. It read “Don’t Mind Me, I’ll Take the Stairs,” and had a wheelchair symbol popping a wheelie down stairs. I smiled. The shirt thing had become a joke between me and Mom, after my therapist gave me a That’s How I Roll shirt on my last day of rehab. My dad didn’t really like the dark humor—he was still convinced I’d walk again one day, and thought we were thumbing our noses at fate. I looked at it like a small act of rebellion. A way to show people I did have a sense of humor. That it was okay to laugh.
    “Thought maybe you could wear it on Monday,” she said, taking the seat across from me. There was something in her voice. Something that made me think she knew what Mr. Beckett had said to me.
    “Let me guess, you talked to Owen,” I said, twirling spaghetti around my fork.
    “Okay, maybe I did,” she confessed. “He wasn’t sure if he was going to tell you.”
    “I wish he hadn’t,” I said, shoveling the spaghetti in my mouth.
    There was a loud thud outside, then footfalls on the deck. My kid brother, Matt, was about to step into the kitchen when my mother stood up.
    “Wait—do not come in the house with those work boots. You’ll get mud and manure everywhere.”
    Matt grumbled as he pulled off his boots, then stepped through the sliding screen door a moment later, eyes large as he saw my food. He reached over and snatched the piece of chicken parm off my plate and inhaled half of it before giving it back to me.
    “Hey,” I said, but couldn’t help laughing.
    “All this manual labor works up an appetite.” It was Matt’s first summer working with Dad in our landscaping business. It shouldn’t have jabbed at me, but it did. It was sort of unspoken that one day it would be Lakewood & Sons, and I’d always railed against it, taking the job at the rec center when I was fifteen almost out of spite. I didn’t mind helping Dad, but I’d never seen myself slinging manure for the rest of my life. There was more to it than that, but it was never anything that interested me. Until the choice was taken away. And while I could still help now, going along on a job would be challenging.
    Challenging. I hated that fucking word sometimes.
    “Where’s your father?” Mom asked.
    “He had to go back out to get gas for the mowers. We have a big job tomorrow,” he said, opening the refrigerator door and pulling out the carton of orange juice. He didn’t bother with a glass.
    “Matty, be civilized; I can fix you a plate,” Mom said.
    He closed the carton and put it back in the fridge. “No can do, Moms, got plans.”
    “Oh really?” she asked, leaning against the counter.
    “Yeah, I thought you’d be out too, Bry,” he said.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “Liv’s going-away party.”
    “Party? I thought it was a couple of people.”
    “Started out that way. Nick texted me—they’re moving it back to the house, so I’m gonna hit the shower and go over.”
    Nick was Tori’s twin brother. Our neighbor. My friend. Sort of.
    “Are you telling me there’s going to be a party next door?” Mom asked.
    Matt grinned. “Chill, Mom. Nothing to worry about, we’re just hanging out; we