Chapter 21

* * * *

I never told Dad I’d gone to talk to my uncle, but when I went back out to see Uncle Phil again just before Christmas to bring him a little gift, it was to find the windows of his cottage boarded up and a for sale sign stuck in the front lawn.

* * * *

It had been a long two years. My body had ached with the growth of muscle and bone, and I’d been uncertain what to do with the hormones that flooded my system. For the past year, girls had been looking at me with as much interest as their moms looked at Dad, and so had a couple of the boys, even one who I’d have sworn was straight.