Read Words of Stone for Free Online Page B

gracefully. When she sat down, the skirt she wore over her swimsuit billowed and fell like an umbrella opening and closing.
    â€œYou are,” Glenn said softly, touching one finger to Claire’s sandaled foot. “And you are, too,” he said loudly, looking at Blaze. Glenn raised and lowered his eyebrows comically. Then he winked at him.
    Blaze could feel himself blush. “Da-a-a-ad,” he said.
    Throughout lunch Blaze tried to steal glances at Claire. His eyes flitted quickly from one detail to another. Yellow-green eyes. Long streaky blond-gray hair that made him think of animal fur. Skin tanned dark as tea. There was so much to take in, Blaze had to remind himself to chew.
    They talked about art and the high school and what a good gardener and cook Nova was. They talked about books and recipes and Blaze’s teachers from last year. They talked long after they had finished eating. Claire told Blaze that she had grown up in Chicago and that she liked being in Wisconsin now. Then they talked about art again. Glenn said that he wished he could make enough money painting. He wished that he didn’t have to teach. He couldn’t think of anything better than the luxury of being able to paint every day without worrying about mortgage payments and bills. And Blaze thought of his own blank canvas.
    Although Claire and Glenn tried to include Blaze in the conversation, he tended to nod a lot and give one-word answers and comments. He was busy observing and being shy. He found himself watching Claire’s hands.
    When they had picked up Claire at her apartment, Blaze had been surprised by the seriousness of her handshake. As Glenn introduced her to Blaze, she held his hand in hers for a long moment as though she really meant it. Her hand had been warm. His had been cold.
    After a while they went swimming. Blaze was leery about going in water over his head, so when they did finally go in the deeper water, he rode on Glenn’s back while Claire floated beside them. Periodically Claire would swim ahead and then somehow end up surfacing behind them. She’d pop up out of the water, dripping and blinking. Her eyelashes were beaded with water droplets and they sparkled. Her color was high, her movements quick and sure.
    â€œLook at that,” Blaze said to Glenn.
    Blaze had spotted a wiry towheaded girl and a big bald man not far from where they were. The girl climbed onto the man’s shoulders, then jumped off, making an enormous splash. She did it again and again, her laughter growing louder with each jump.
    â€œWant to try it?” Glenn asked.
    Blaze tensed, but said, “Yes.” His response surprised him. And he even asked Claire to watch.
    â€œWe should go a little farther out,” Glenn said.
    Glenn crouched.
    Claire watched.
    And Blaze climbed onto Glenn’s shoulders, holding on like a clamp. Glenn’s birthmark was visible between strands of his hair, between Blaze’s thumbs. Blaze hesitated. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes—and jumped.
    Blaze’s hands were in fists as he hit the water. Then they opened up. And so did his eyes. And so did his mouth. He took a breath under water.
    When Blaze surfaced, he was coughing. He grabbed Glenn.
    â€œAre you all right?” Glenn asked, carrying Blaze to shallow water.
    Blaze shivered. “Yeah,” he said. He coughed some more. “I just swallowed some water.”
    â€œThat was some jump,” said Claire.
    Blaze didn’t say anything for a moment, and then he told them quietly, “Maybe I’ll just sit on the beach for a while.” His throat and nose and eyes were burning. He shivered again.
    â€œWant company?” Glenn asked.
    Blaze shook his head no. He was embarrassed.
    Blaze walked the length of the beach looking at stones. Then he sat at the water’s edge, poking his toes at the bubbly fringe that lapped about him, wishing that he knew how to swim.
    â€œBored?”