Thirty-One Letters

Ten

If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble—Moliere

"Oh, my god!  What on earth happened to you?"

Hadley looked down at her dishevelled appearance at her mom's exclaim of shock.  The leggings she'd worn jogging that morning were ripped and covered in dirt, her tank top had a large tear through it, and the skin on her palms, elbows, knees, and left cheek were scraped and red.  Flyaway strands of her blonde hair had come loose from her ponytail and were sticking up in random angles around her head.

It was no wonder that her mother was staring at her with a completely horrified expression on her face.

"I, um, went skateboarding."  Hadley kicked off her sneakers and walked into the kitchen to fill a cup of water. 

Her mother gaped.  "You've never been skateboarding."

"Thought I'd try something new."  She shrugged noncommittally. 

"But...why skateboarding?"

"A friend suggested it and it seemed like fun."

Truth of the matter was that after several hours of walking around aimlessly and throwing suggestions out, it was one of the only things that she and Ty had been able to come up with for trying something new.  He'd suggested a wide range of things—from baking bread to karate—but Hadley had already done everything he'd proposed.  She knew there were a million things she had never done before but when being given the task, her mind had gone blank.

Ty's proposition of skateboarding had arisen after he'd suggested surfing.  Hadley had smiled to herself but kept her proficiency in surfing hidden.  It wasn't a topic she'd really wanted to get into, especially considering how much she'd already confided in Ty about Tanner.  For all intents and purposes, Ty was essentially a stranger to her.  She hardly knew anything about him but some part of her calmed in his presence, enough so that she'd told him about the letters.

Hadley still didn't know why she'd told him but she couldn't deny that it was nice to share the burden of the tasks with someone else and Ty...He'd been the perfect companion all day, offering suggestions without being pushy and didn't seem to expect anything in return for his efforts.  He hadn't pressed for more details about Tanner or his death, hadn't said a word about her brother at all actually except for what she was willing to tell him of her own accord. 

Perhaps what she liked best about Ty was that even after she had told him about Tanner's suicide, he wasn't looking at her like she was a kicked puppy.  There was no awkwardness or side-eyed stares as if he was waiting for her to break down.  He didn't look at her as if she were at fault for not stopping him or like she was an exhibit in a zoo. 

Ty just looked at her as if she were nothing more than herself and it was something that she was incredibly thankful for.

He'd laughed when he'd first found out that she'd never been skateboarding.  "Wait," he'd said.  "You've never been on a skateboard but you've gone surfing in shark-infested waters?"

"You know, sharks really aren't that bad," Hadley had refuted.  "More people die from cows or vending machines or falling coconuts every year than from shark attacks."

Ty had turned thoughtful as he'd skipped a rock in the water.  It made three hops before making a 'plop' sound and disappeared beneath the waterline.  "Falling coconuts...seriously?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Huh.  Who would've thought?  Anyways, back to my original point.  How have you never been on a skateboard?  I drove past like three skate-parks on my way into this town."