orlisten to crap-ola music. Some of them did chew tobacco, though, which was cool with Nathan.
On the day of classes, his mom dropped him off in front of the high school. He usually walked to Jack'safterward because it was only a few blocks away. He'd been in Lovett for a month now, and he guessed it wasn'tas bad as he thought it was the first few days he'd been here. He liked working in Jack's garage. He likedshooting the bull with the other mechanics, he thought as he walked to the back of the school.
Jack had shown him the business side of running Parrish American Classics, and it looked pretty cool. Maybehe could come here and work next summer too; and when he graduated from high school, he could work withJack and Billy full-time.
That'd be tight, but his mom would have a fit. She wanted him to go to college like his dad. She talked about itas if he had no say in it at all. She was trying to run his life like he was a little kid.
Nathan picked up a rock from the blacktop and threw it at the basketball backboard like he had that day he'dfirst met Jack. The rock fell to the ground and he kicked it.
He didn't know what to call Jack anymore. Calling him Jack felt weird, but he couldn't call him dad. His dadwas Steven Monroe, but Jack was starting to feel like his dad too. They got along pretty good now. Sometimesafter work, they just hung out and talked about cars and stuff. He'd gone over to Billy's and met the rest of thefamily, too. Billy's little girls screamed and giggled a lot, and the middle one ran with her head down and youhad to watch out for her.
Jack usually invited his mom to come along, and it was kind of like they were a family, but not. SometimesNathan caught Jack looking at his mom like he loved her. Then he'd blink or look away or say something andNathan would think he was imagining things. If Jack was in love with his mom, Nathan really didn't know howhe felt about that. Maybe it was okay since Jack was his dad. Sort of.
Jack had only made him mad one time. Nathan had gotten angry at his mom on the Fourth of July, and he'dyelled at her because she wanted to know where he was going and what he was doing. Jack had given him areally hard look and said, 'You don't talk to your mother like that. Now apologize.'
He would have apologized anyway. His mom bugged him sometimes, but he loved her. He hated to see how sadit made her when he yelled. It made him feel like his chest was caving in, but he never realized he was doing ituntil it was too late.
Nathan started across the field to the opening in the fence. It was Saturday and he didn't have work. Maybe he'dgo take a nap for a while or play the XBOX that his mom had brought back with her when she'd gone to Seattle.
His footsteps slowed as he watched Brandy Jo move through the opening and walk toward him. She wore a reddress with tiny straps and big chunky flip-flops on her feet.
'Hi, Nathan. I haven't seen you in awhile. What are you up too?'
'Taking driver's ed.' He stood up a little straighter, then slouched to put his hands in his pockets. Brandy Jo wasabout the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Even wearing those big shoes, the top of her head barely reached his chin.
He got that caving-chest feeling, only this time it had nothing to do with his mom. 'What are you doing here onSaturday?'
'I forgot my sweater in the school.'
The sun shone in her dark hair, and when she licked her pink lips, his stomach twisted. 'Need help?' he askedand almost groaned out loud. Of course she didn't need help.
'No, but I'd like your company.'
He swallowed and tried not to smile. He nodded and said, 'Cool.'
'When are you going to get your driver's license?' she asked as they walked around the side of the school.
'I have to take the test pretty soon.' Her bare arm bumped him right beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt and hisshoulder kind of tingled.
'I got my license last month,' she said.
'Do you have a car?'
She shook her head and her hair brushed the tops of her shoulders. 'Do you?'
'Jack is going to let me drive his.' He bumped his arm into hers to see what would happen, and the tingletraveled across his chest.
'Who's Jack?'
'He's... like my dad.'
She looked up at him through her big brown eyes. 'What do you mean? 'Like your dad'? Is he your step- dad?'
'No. He's my real dad, but I just met him about a month ago.'
She stopped on her big flip-flops. 'You just met him?' she asked, in the drawl of hers that he was starting tothink was real cute.
'Yeah. I've always known about him, but when my dad died ...When my first dad...other dad...' ...He sighed.
'It's confusing.'
'My mom's been married three times,' Brandy Jo told him as they started toward the front again. 'My daddydied, but my baby brother's daddy lives in Fort Worth. I have another step-daddy right now, but it's not lookingtoo good. Everybody's family is confusing for one reason or another.'
They walked side by side into the building, bumping arms and pretending it was an accident. Brandy Jo foundher sweater in the art room and somehow by the time they walked back outside, Nathan held her hand in his.
His throat kinda closed, and then she smiled up at him and he thought his heart stopped. It squeezed light and hewas afraid he'd pass out right there next to the stupid boulder with the words 'Lovett Stallions' chiseled in it.
Right there beneath the hot Texas sun. Right in front of the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He really didn't want todo that.
Nathan looked down at Brandy Jo as she talked about her family. He squeezed her hand, and she moved closeruntil their arms touched. His heart swelled like a balloon in his chest and it felt good and horrible andoverwhelming. He'd never been in love before. Well, except with Nicole Kidman, but that didn't count. But onthat day, beneath the endless blue sky over his head, Nathan Monroe fell in love for the first time in his life.
Daisy stuck her thumb in the end of the garden hose and sprayed down the hood of her mother's Cadillac withwater. Then she plunged a soft sponge into a bucket of soapy water and washed dirt from the car. The hotafternoon sun beat down on her, and she could feel it toast her shoulders, chest and her back above the scoop ofher red tank top.
She'd spent most of her day over at lily's, cleaning house and doing laundry while Lily sat on the couch with hercast resting on pillows. Lily's divorce was final now, and her lawyer had come through for her. He'd showed thejudge bank statements prior to Ronnie draining the account, and the judge had ordered Ronnie to pay Lily tenthousand dollars, monthly child support, and he had to pay Pippen's medical insurance, too.
Her mother was still over at Lily's fetching and toting. Daisy knew that her sister was having a hard time doingsimple tasks since she'd come home from the hospital. She didn't mind helping out, but Lily's messed up lifehad put Daisy in a bad mood.
Actually, it was more than just a bad mood. She felt unsettled, but lily had very little part in that. Lately, Daisy'smood had more to do with the sum total of her life rather than just one piece. She was anxious to get on with herlife, yet scared and uncertain. Her house in Washington hadn't sold yet, but it had only been on the market forabout a month. She was moving forward with her plans to open a photography studio, yet she felt a stitch ofanxiety when she thought of leaving Texas. It seemed to her that one moment she was crystal clear about whatshe wanted, and in the next she was confused as hell.
She'd gone out twice with Matt and she'd had a good time. But when he'd kissed her, she'd known therewouldn't be a third time. She was in love with someone else, and it wasn't fair to Matt.
Daisy leaned as far as possible over the Caddy's hood and washed a spot she'd missed. She glanced up as one ofthe biggest reasons for her confusion pulled his Mustang beside the curb in front of her mother's house.
Jack got out of his car and walked across the yard toward her. A lock of dark hair hung over his forehead,
