A Year of Her Life

Chapter 20

***********

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while.  I have had some medical issues I have had to work through.  i think that i may have it settled now.  I hope, anyway.

There is only a couple of more chapters left in my little story.  I hope those of you who are still reading enjoy this chapter.  I did put a lot of effort into this one.  There is a lot of dialogue.  There is insight into the  Mother's POV.  we see that she may even feel a little left out of the family.

I also left you with a little cliff hanger.  You're welcome.

**************

“Thanks for lettin’ me come, guys.  I love to ski, but our boat’s been broken,” Johnny grinned as he spoke to my dad.

“No problem, Johnny,” my dad replied.  “Maybe we can get Savannah out there today,” he finished as he patted my shoulder.

“Maybe,” I settled back into my seat as I waited for my dad to drive the boat away from the dock.  My orange life vest kept me from really being able to get comfortable in the seat.  The vest was backless.  It covered my front and had a large neck that acted as a ‘pillow’ if you were in the water.  The straps were tight and wrapped around the vest and my body.

Dad was seated in the Captain’s seat at the wheel.  Georgia was seated in the other captain type seat beside him.  Johnny and I were sitting on the bench seat behind them.  I made sure there was a space between us because I knew my dad didn’t know that we ‘liked’ each other yet.  I didn’t want to tell him at all.

Within a few seconds we were speeding across the lake with the wind whipping at our faces.  As the boat built up speed it began to bounce and a fine spray of lake water coated my arm and face.  I loved the speed, but not the bounce.  I tried to hold myself to the seat by gripping the sides.  It didn’t really work and I kept bouncing with every hit the boat made on the wake of the other boats on the lake.

I felt Johnny slide closer to me and wrap his arm around my shoulder trying to hold me down to the seat.  I smiled at the gesture until Georgia turned to see.  She changed her expression from happy and fun-loving to one of fear.  She trained her gaze on Johnny and gave a small shake of her head signaling for him to take his arm from my shoulder. 

He got the message and quickly dropped his arm and slid away.  I looked over to my dad to see that he hadn’t turned to see the small display of affection.  Johnny looked at me questioningly, but I just looked away concentrating on the clear spray bouncing off the side of the boat.

My emotions were battling within me.  What would happen if I just told one person what my dad was really like?  As we sped to our usual spot I wondered if Johnny would believe me if I told him.  I wondered how the conversation would actually go.  I also wondered if it would make it better, even just a little.

When we finally made it to our spot I jumped up first.  I knew I needed to clear my head before I gave into the tears that had been threatening for the last few minutes.  I jumped into the lake sinking into the cool water before my life vest pulled me back up.  Johnny slipped the skis into the water and shoved them towards me.  Georgia tossed me the rope that would pull me behind the boat.

I held my body so that my head and feet were both above water so that I could secure the skis to my feet before Holding the long handle and giving the thumbs up to my dad so that he could take off and pull me to my feet with the speed of the boat.

It took me a couple of times to get up on my feet.  Each time I dropped the rope, my dad circled the boat around me and I had to grab it again while he yelled at me to try harder.  Well, that motivates a person to do better.