“Kevin, Tiny, and I have been playing together for a while now. We had our first gig last night, and I wanted you to come down and hear us play.”
All the pieces clicked into place. The way Troy and Kevin paid so much attention to how bands set up at Equinox. Tiny calling him aside in the hall.
Troy went to work with the wrench, taking the lug nuts off the tire. “I wasn’t sure if we were still in a fight or not, though, so I called. Then when you didn’t answer, I decided to come on over and see how bad of fight we’re in.”
“Like I said, I fell asleep early, so I didn’t get your message. I told you yesterday that we were fine. That I wanted to be friends still.”
“Yeah, but your parting comment seemed more like a jab.”
Summer remembered the stupid girl with him, and annoyance welled up in her again. Unable to think of a way to explain herself, she decided to move on. “I’m not mad at you, I swear.” I’m just jealous. She crossed her arms, trying to warm herself up. “You care that much if we’re in a fight?”
“Of course I do. You’re one of my favorite people. I hardly saw you all summer, and it sucked. Even when we’re fighting, you at least keep it entertaining by giving me riddles to solve.” He shot her a smile. “I prefer the laughing and joking to the fighting, though.” He twisted off the last of the lug nuts and it clinked against the others as he set it down. “So, why can’t we seem to get along anymore?”
Summer shrugged. “Would you feel better if I said I’m going through a lot right now?”
Troy removed the flat tire. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing, really. Just personal stuff.”
“So that’s a no. You were mad when I was hiding my stuff from you. That’s why I decided to let you in on my drumming obsession. I’m finally admitting it to people, all except my mom, of course. I know I can’t hide it from her forever, but I’m going to hide it for as long as I can.” He glanced over his shoulder at Summer. “Not that I think she’ll punish me; I’m just scared of hurting her.”
“I get that. And I’m glad you told me.” Of course thinking of that day made her remember how she’d thrown herself at him and how wrong everything had gone after that. Needing a distraction, she propped up the spare tire for him.
Troy lined it up and placed it on the car. Summer handed him two lug nuts, then started twisting on the others herself. After they were on, Troy tightened them with the lug wrench and used the jack to lower her car back to the ground.
He gathered all the tools and stood. “Well, your tire’s fixed.”
“Thanks.”
She followed him when he walked back to her trunk and put the tools back in her car. He closed the trunk and turned to face her. “You promise we’re good?”
“I promise.”
Troy tapped her nose. “Good.”
Tiffany’s BMW pulled up in the driveway. She climbed out and waved at them. “Hello, Summer and…?”
“Troy,” Summer filled in. “Troy, Tiffany.”
“Nice to meet you,” Troy said.
“You, too.” Tiffany squinted. “What’s all over your nose, Summer?”
Summer turned to Troy. “You put black on my nose?”
He held his index finger and thumb together. “Little bit.”
She gave him a playful shove before turning back to Tiffany. “Troy was helping me change my flat tire. You can go on in. The door’s open. Can you just tell my dad I’ll be in in a few?”
“I’d be happy to.” Tiffany smiled at them again—giving them the Aren’t they adorable? look—then headed inside.
Using her sleeve, Summer tried to rub the black off her nose. “As if I’m not enough of a mess. I still need to shower and get ready so I can go to brunch with Tiffany and my dad.”
“I’ll let you go then,” Troy said.
“You can come in and wash up if you want.”
He rubbed his hands on his pants. “I’m good. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay.”
Troy started toward his Jeep.
“Hey, Mister Bond?”
He turned to face her.
“Let me know when Pieces of Flair gets another gig. I’d like to hear them play.” She paused before adding the last part, wondering if it was a bad idea, then going ahead and saying it anyway. “Especially if the drummer’s as cute as he’s rumored to be.”
Troy grinned, proving just how cute the drummer really was. “I’ll let you know.”
She watched him get into his Jeep and pull away. The fluttering in her chest almost eclipsed the horrible feeling in her stomach.
But the farther away he got, the sicker she felt.
Summer decided to see if food helped her stomach. She’d ordered the works—eggs, French toast, bacon, and hash browns—but she exchanged the hash browns for fries.
Her eyes wide, Tiffany watched Summer shove a handful of fries in her mouth. “I knew teenage boys ate like that, but I had no idea girls did, too.”
“I never had dinner last night,” Summer said, feeling like she needed an excuse to be eating so much.
“And she can eat me under the table on a normal day.” Dad grinned. “It makes me proud.”
“You sure know what to say to make a girl feel special.”
“That’s my job.” Dad looked from her to Tiffany. “So, hon, I was thinking you could tell Summer about how you got over fights with your sisters. More how you resolved them than the actual fights.”
Tiffany demurely wiped her mouth with a napkin and smiled at Summer. “Oh, we were always getting into heated arguments. One time my sister Tess and I had this fight over a boy…” Tiffany went into all the gory details, ending with how they decided the boy was a slacker who wasn’t worth fighting over.
It didn’t really help Summer. She hoped she never had to deal with a situation like that. The thought of doing this kind of job again—of ever having to repair another relationship—drained her.
“…and any time we got into fights my mom made us do dishes together,” Tiffany said, on to her next story. “That forced us in a room together, and by the time the last dish was put away, we had usually worked it out. Is any of this helping?”
Not really.
But then an idea hit Summer. She had a personal experience she could share. She knew what it was like to lose somebody. She just needed to apply that knowledge to Ashlyn and Pamela. In a roundabout way, Tiffany had actually helped.
“You’ve helped a lot, Tiffany. Thanks.” Summer turned to Dad. “Are we about ready to wrap this up? I want to get over to Ashlyn’s and see how her date was.” She exaggerated the next few words. “I think it would be very helpful to her.”
Understanding crossed Dad’s features, and he nodded. “I can’t eat another bite. I’ll get the check, and we’ll go.”
Summer whipped out her phone and sent a text to Ashlyn, asking if she could come over and hang out.
Her phone beeped within seconds.
Movie’s all queued up. Shirtless boys. Boxing. Bring your A game.
Summer certainly hoped this was her A game. This plan was more like her A-Z game. It better work because she had nothing else. Hope filled her, though, renewing her, making her feel like she could do this. This was going to work.
“Spill it,” Summer said the second she walked into Ashlyn’s room. “How was the date?”
Ashlyn’s face lit up. “He took me to eat at the Green Flash. At first it was a little awkward, but once we got talking, the conversation started flowing. We laughed, we talked. At the end of the night, he walked me to the door and gave me a kiss on the cheek.”