There’s one last stone in our pile. I glance down at it. “You want it?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No.”

I glance into his brown eyes. “You want me to do this one?”

“Yup.”

“What if I mess this one up?” I reach down and pick it up. “Like the whole bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, full count, two outs...”

He smiles. “I guess we’re about to find out how you do under pressure.”

I don’t care about the stone. I don’t care if I can skip it, or not. I just want to kiss him again. “You made the game up...”

“I did,” he quips proudly.

“Then you can change the rules.”

“I’m listening.”

“No matter what, I get another kiss. Either way it’s a prize.” I shrug.

“Ha. A prize either way. What’s your reasoning?” He chuckles.

“Either the prize for winning...skipping a stone, or a consolation prize for choking.”

“Deal.” He moves back and plops into the overgrown weeds. I’d call it grass, but I’m not sure I see any blades of grass. It’s mainly clover, wild onions, and dandelions. “How about if I give you a bigger kiss if you do it? That way you still have some incentive to do your best.”

I glance back over my shoulder. “Deal.”

I replay the instructions he gave me earlier. I turn so that my side is facing the water. I put the stone just right in my fingers. I look back to him, holding my hand out. “Like this?”

As my head turns, I freeze because it’s not Drew sitting in the field. It’s my father. As if freezing and not moving will make this real. It has to be a figment of my imagination. Our eyes are locked and he smiles as he gives me a thumbs up.

I feel a tear trickle down my face. I’m paralyzed, unable to move.