"Katie, let's go," her mother said, "You have to go to therapy."
Bradin walked out the surf shop after his shift and headed towards the beach. On his way to the beach, he passed a doctor's office and peered inside to see Katie there. He stopped and watched her as she was trying to walk on her injured leg. With the faces she was making, he could tell that she was in a load of pain. He, then, saw the doctor hand Katie her crutches and tell her she could leave.
He sat on the beach thinking of Katie. He felt so bad for her. She was going through so much and she hasn't been home for one full day yet. She already ran into her ex-boyfriend, Tanner, making her life worse. He really wish he knew why Katie and Tanner were over with. With the way Tanner looked last night when he saw Katie, it must have been worse than just wanting her in bed like he normally wanted girls. Something deep must have happened between them.
"Hey, Brae," his friend Devin said, "How are you?"
"I'm okay."
"You look deep in thought. Surfing could help you out with that," Devin told him.
"Not with this," Bradin said, "Usually it helped me when I had something going on in my life and I could not control it. This has nothing to do with me."
"Did you hear that Tanner's ex-girlfriend is back from Iraq?" Devin asked.
"Yeah. I met her last night at Mona's Bar."
"What?" he asked, "Did you two talk?"
"Kind of," he said, "Then, Tanner came along. They argued and that was it."
"You do know what the argument was about, right?" Bradin shook his head and looked at his friend.
Katie sat on the beach watching families and couples enjoy each other's company. So many things have changed within a year. No one ever hung out on this beach with their families or as a couple.
"Hey," a male voice said. She turned around and noticed Bradin looking at her. She smiled a small smile and looked away. "Are you okay?"
"No. Not really," she told him.
"Katie!" a little voice yelled as a small figure ran up to her and jumped on top of her.
"AH!" she yelped grabbing her leg.
Bradin held Katie lightly as two adults got the little kid off of her.
"Mommy, what's wrong with her?" the little kid asked noticing Bradin holding Katie's hand as she felt the pain become greater.
"She got hurt, Frankie," his mother told him, "Are you okay, Katie?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"You haven't changed," Frankie's father said, "You're still the same it seems."
"I've changed a little bit," she told them, "This is Bradin. Bradin, I use to babysit this little boy before I went off to war."
Bradin smiled. He watched as Frankie walked up to Katie and hug her. "I'm sorry," he said.
"Don't worry about it," she said hugging him back.
"Are you going to leave me again?" Frankie asked Katie pulling away from their hug.
"I don't know, Frankie," she said, "If I heal within the next two weeks, I might. But according to the doctor, I don't think I'm going to fight again."
"I don't want you to leave," Frankie said.
"He hasn't behaved for any babysitter he's had since you left," his mother told Katie.
"You promised me you'd behave," she told the little boy.
"They were all mean to me," he told her.
Bradin sat there listening to Katie and Frankie talk. For some reason, he found it adorable. It seemed as if Katie was loved by people, mostly by Frankie.
"Why did you sign up?" Frankie's father asked.
"To prove something to everyone," she told him, "Everyone saw me as a weak person. I wanted to prove to them that they were wrong."
"Was it worth it?"
"Yes."
She felt Bradin squeeze her hand making her look at him.
