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
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?”
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
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.
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.”
“Ooh, very gentlemanly.”
“Gentlemanly.” Ashlyn’s eyebrows drew together. “That word sounds very ungentlemanly. Is it even a real word?”
Summer shrugged “It’s probably not a word Matt would appreciate, so I won’t go spreading it around at school.”
“So what did you do?” Ashlyn asked. “I texted you when I got home, but when I didn’t get an answer, I figured you were busy.”
“I fell asleep—that’s how exciting my night was. I also left my phone in my car, and guess who showed up at my house when I went to get it? I was in my pajamas, no shower, no makeup—actually, strike that—I had smeary leftover makeup on. I looked absolutely awful.”
Ashlyn leaned in. “Who?”
“Troy! I mean, who just shows up at nine o’ clock on a Sunday morning?”
“A guy who’s so crazy about you that time doesn’t apply.”
Summer clicked her tongue. “Stop. I’m already messed up over the boy. I don’t need help in adding to my delusions that he actually likes me. Anyway, my tire was flat, so he helped me change it. And by help, I mean he did most of the work while I watched.”
“And that doesn’t convince you he likes you?”
“He’s just a nice guy.”
Ashlyn pressed her lips together. “Summer, you need to tell him how you feel.”
“I can’t.” Just the thought of telling him that she was crazy about him was enough to give her heart palpitations. “Besides, he should know.”
“He’s a guy. You have to tell them straight up.”
“Things are finally patched up between us, though. If I say something, I’ll just mess everything up again.” Summer grabbed her soda and took a large swig. “Let’s start this movie so I can think of something besides Troy.”
“Your wish is my command.” Ashlyn pressed play, then hit fast forward. “We’ll just watch the parts where they fight—Oh, here we go. Hot guys with no shirts.”
The two of them watched the guys sparring on screen. “See, when I move my feet like this,” Summer said in her best guy voice, “no one can hit me.”
Ashlyn took over for the more experienced fighter. “I’m the all-knowing mentor. I can hit you with my eyes closed. I sense when you need a punch in the face.”
The guy onscreen got hit in the nose, but kept advancing. “Hits don’t faze me.” Summer lifted her hands like she was boxing, too. “I’m a tough guy with a rugged past.”
Another hit. Blood poured from the cut over his eyebrow.
“Your past won’t mean much unless you remove the hate and fight for honor,” Ashlyn said. “Nothing is more powerful in a fight than honor.”
“Um, I’d just like to point out that doesn’t make any sense. Your fists are hurting me much more than your honor.” Summer couldn’t add anything else, because she started laughing too hard.
“Oh, now it’s boring talking with shirts on again. I’ll find us another fight scene.” Ashlyn picked up the remote and buzzed through a couple more scenes. They added their own special flare and dialogue until the credits ran up the screen.
Summer leaned back and put a hand on her stomach. “I think I got as much of a workout from laughing as
