Instead, I kept my hands folded in my lap, not wanting to overstep. Poor little Emily was obviously fragile. “Well then, maybe we could ignore her advice just this once. You probably shouldn’t share brushes with other kids, but I’m an adult, so that makes it more okay.”
I shouldn’t encourage her to go against her aunt’s wishes, but I was desperate to do something to comfort her.
She nodded slowly. “You’re practically a teacher, so if you say it’s okay…”
I dug in my purse for my small brush. “Take off your backpack and turn around.” Though we were sitting on the bench, she still hadn’t removed the huge pink bag that looked dreadfully heavy. It probably contained all of her textbooks that most students took home over the course of the first week of school.
Her hair was full of knots and tangles, so I started at the bottom and gently tugged at them.
“You’re good at that,” she said after a moment. “It always hurt when Aunt Christy did it.”
“Thanks.” My heart broke for the girl. “I’ve had years of practice.”
CHAPTER 10
Jake
I’D JUST FINISHED hauling a mattress up the stairs by myself—a heroic feat—when I got a call from the elementary school. Emily had missed the bus, so I needed to pick her up. Fuck. That was not how I’d wanted my sister’s first day in her new school to go. Maybe I should have planned to pick her up since I’d dropped her off, but with all the shit I’d needed to do today, I had thought it would be easier for her to take the bus home. Plus, she would be riding the bus home every day, so I figured she might as well get started with it on the first day.
I left the door unlocked for Ashley and Ben in case their buses brought them home before I got back. We were in a safe neighborhood, and all that was in the house were the few pieces of furniture I’d bought, so there wasn’t anything worth stealing anyway.
The school parking lot was nearly empty when I pulled in. Damn it. Even the teachers had left. I couldn’t remember what time school let out, so I didn’t know how long Emily had been waiting for me. I didn’t have any messages from the school, though. That meant she couldn’t have been waiting long. Still, as I approached the school, I couldn’t help but feel like a deadbeat guardian, like her being stuck at school was somehow my fault. Maybe I hadn’t properly prepared her.
In the school entryway, Emily was waiting for me on a bench, her feet swinging while someone brushed her hair. While Rachel brushed her hair. What the hell?
My steps came to an immediate halt. Rachel was the last person I’d expected to see. Things with my siblings had been so hectic that when she hadn’t texted me about getting together Sunday, I’d been too busy to give it much thought. It was just as well because I wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway, but now I wondered why she hadn’t at least been in touch, especially since she’d been the one who’d suggested making plans. No matter. Luck had put us together now, so maybe we could try again.
“Jake!” Emily jumped up. “I’m sorry! Are you mad? Am I in trouble?”
I moved toward her and pulled her into a hug. “Of course I’m not mad. And why would you be in trouble?”
She fidgeted. “Because you had to pick me up.”
I frowned. “It’s fine.” I didn’t remember her being so anxious. Damn Aunt Christy and Uncle Brian. Living with them had not been healthy for her. Damn me for not realizing that.
“You have to go to the office before we can leave,” Emily told me.
“Okay.” My gaze shifted to Rachel. She stared back at me, and I couldn’t read her expression, but I was fairly certain she wasn’t as excited to see me as I was to see her.
“Oh, this is Rachel,” Emily said.
“We’ve met,” Rachel said tightly, her mouth twisting into a slight scowl. Whoa, what is that about? Maybe she was pissed because I hadn’t said hello to her yet. But she hadn’t struck me as being petty like that.
“Sorry. Seeing you here took me by surprise,” I said. “But it’s good to see you again.”
“Sure.” She eyed me for a moment in a way that indicated she really wanted to say something more to me. When she turned to Emily, her expression warmed. “It was fun hanging out with you. Maybe I’ll see you the next time I’m here.” Then she left without a second glance at me. Cold. That was weird. That was not the impression I’d gotten from her the last time I’d seen her. What did I do to piss her off?
As I moved toward the office, I watched Rachel walk toward the parking lot. Maybe I’d imagined the cold shoulder. Or hell, maybe I’d imagined the connection with her the other night. Life was so crazy right now that I didn’t know which way was up. And it was bound to get worse before it got better.
I had to wait for the secretary to get off the phone before I could show her my ID to prove I was allowed to take Emily. I’d been prepared to get lectured about Emily being there after hours, but instead she apologized for the mix-up with the bus.
When I went back out to the foyer, I grabbed Emily’s backpack. Holy hell, it was heavy. What are they teaching kids these days? “How was your day?” I asked her as we walked out of the school. “Is your teacher nice?” I couldn’t remember the woman’s name.
“I like her better than mean old Mrs. Grakowski. She has this thing called warm fuzzies, and we earn them if we’re good, and then we can use them to buy things from the treasure chest. Since I’m new, she gave me twenty of them so my jar wouldn’t be empty. But I’m going to save up for the glitter paint kit. It costs three hundred fuzzies.”
I smiled. Hearing her babble made me happy because she seemed more like the little girl I remembered. I opened the door to my truck so she could climb in. When I walked around to the driver’s side, I saw Rachel standing with her arms crossed and glaring down at a beat-up car.
I hesitated only a split second before calling out, “Is everything okay?” She wouldn’t be staring at her car like that if it were, and I couldn’t help myself. My dad had always been a sucker for women stranded on the side of the road with car trouble. I guessed it had rubbed off on me. It wasn’t such a bad trait to have.
As Rachel made eye contact with me, her shoulders slumped. “Everything’s fine.” Her tone was icy, and there was no way I was imagining it this time. What the hell? I racked my brain, trying to figure out what I’d done to deserve the cold shoulder, but I came up blank.
I should leave it alone. She obviously didn’t want my help. But she needed it, and damn it, I wanted to know why she was being so cold toward me. For whatever good that’ll do. I should cut my losses and write her off—it wasn’t like I needed more drama in my life. But things had been good between us the other night, and I’d been riding that high ever since. I hated to think it had all been in my head.
I trotted over. “What’s wrong with your car?”
Not meeting my gaze, she gestured to the front driver’s side tire. The rim was nearly to the ground. “A flat. It’s no big deal.” She paused. “I already called Triple A.”
I stared at her. “You’re a bad liar.”
She scowled. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”
Emily came over. “Miss Rachel, is your car broken?”
Again, when she looked at my sister, Rachel’s expression softened, which dulled my irritation with her. “Yes, sweetie, but you don’t need to worry.”
“That’s right, because I was just about to change the tire for her.” I eyed Rachel, daring her to challenge me in front of Emily. It was a dirty move because it was obvious she’d quickly become fond of my little sister. I didn’t know why I couldn’t leave the situation alone, especially because it seemed Rachel would rather be stuck there than accept my help. “Is the spare in the trunk?”
Sighing, she held out her keys. “Yeah. The clicker doesn’t work for the trunk.”
I took the keys and pulled out the spare, which was a donut. Since there were no tools with it, I got mine from my truck and subtly checked the time on my phone. Ben and Ashley’s buses
would be home soon. I really didn’t have time to be changing tires, but I couldn’t leave Rachel in a bad way when it would only take me fifteen minutes, especially after she’d taken the time to wait with Emily. I wondered if she would have still done that if she’d realized Emily was waiting for me since she seemed to have an issue with me. I glanced over at Rachel and Emily sitting on the curb, chatting. Definitely. Rachel might have been acting bitchy toward me, but it didn’t come naturally to her.
I made quick work of the tire, which was in bad shape. I stowed it in the trunk and gathered my tools. The whole process had taken fourteen minutes.
“There you go.” I handed the keys back to Rachel as she stood.
As soon as her attention was off Emily and back on me, the sour expression returned to her face. “Thanks,” she said begrudgingly. “Can I pay you for your time?”
My back stiffened. “What the—” Remembering my sister, I stopped myself. “Emily, can you wait for me in the truck?”
“Bye, Rachel!” Emily skipped over to the truck, and I waited until I heard the door close. Enough was enough.
“What the hell?” I asked, keeping my voice low so Emily wouldn’t overhear. “What’s with the attitude?”
Rachel opened her mouth to retort then closed it and pressed her fingertips over her eyelids. When she looked at me again, she appeared beaten down. “You’re right. It was uncalled for, especially in front of your sister.”
“Then what gives?” I was missing something, which was why I couldn’t let it go. I needed to know what I had done to piss her off.
She exhaled. “I guess I’m just bitter that you blew me off.”
I frowned. “I blew you off?” I had no idea what she was talking about. If anything, she had blown me off. I’d just been too busy to focus on it.
“Well, yeah.” Suddenly, she seemed uncertain. “I tried to make plans for Sunday like we’d said. God, I’m such an idiot. I thought you were actually interested.” She wouldn’t meet my gaze, but this time it seemed to be out of mortification instead of bitchiness.
“I was,” I said slowly, still trying to figure out what was going on. “I am. I didn’t blow you off.”
“I texted you. Twice.”
“I didn’t get any texts from you.” I pulled my phone out and scrolled through it. “See? Nothi—shit.” There were two texts I hadn’t seen until right then that I’d received Saturday night. How did I miss them? I thought back to what I’d been doing. Dinner at Red Robin. Emily had taken my phone. “I swear I didn’t see it until just now.” I could tell her the whole story, but instead, I decided on the simple version. I gestured toward Emily, who was peering out of my truck. “Things have been really crazy the last few days.”
Rachel looked at Emily and waved since my sister was waving vigorously at us. “I see that.”
My phone buzzed with a text. Shit. Ben was at the house, wondering where I was. I held up my phone. “And the craziness continues. That’s my brother.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Did he move in with you too?”
“Yeah. It’s a—” I frowned as my phone buzzed again.
Ashley: I’m hungry. Why is there no food here?
Damn it. I had been planning to go to the grocery store, but I’d run out of time. Looks like pizza for dinner again.
Sighing, I tucked my phone into my pocket and looked at Rachel. I would feel much more comfortable following her to the auto shop to make sure she got there okay. And honestly, though we’d gotten the mix-up straightened out, I didn’t want to leave things like this. But I had a responsibility to my siblings, and they had to come first. The spare tire would get her a few miles down the road.
“Make sure you go straight to get your tire taken care of. The donut is only a temporary solution.”
She nodded. “Got it. I’ll go straight there.”
“Sorry,” I said. Leave it alone, Jake. You don’t have time anyway. I ignored the practical thoughts because, damn it, I might not have had as much time as I did a week ago, but I wanted to see her again. That was one thing that hadn’t changed. “Can I make it up to you? Dinner? Lunch? Breakfast? Dessert? Whatever you want.”
She smiled, but her gaze went past my shoulder to my sister, who had her face pressed up against the driver’s side window and was making faces. “It seems you have your hands full at the moment.”
I sighed. “You have no idea. But I’ll text you. I promise.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve got to run. Again, I’m sorry.”
Rachel shook her head. “Don’t apologize. Go. Thanks again for the help.”
I flashed a grin. “I’ll send you a bill.”
***
Rachel
I WATCHED JAKE pull out of the parking lot. I am such an asshole. When I didn’t hear back from him, I’d automatically assumed that it had been about me, that he was purposefully blowing me off. But that was far from the truth.
Jake had been happy to see me and genuinely confused by my brush-off. I’d thought he was playing me further. How self-absorbed is that? If I was reading things correctly, Jake’s brother and sister had unexpectedly moved in with him. Yikes. I hadn’t even known he had siblings. Then again, I didn’t know him well.
On one hand, yay! Maybe that meant I wasn’t a magnet for dickhead guys. On the other hand, oi vey. I felt like such a jerk.
Sigh. He’d said he wanted to make it up to me, but he’d had it backward. I was the one who needed to redeem myself. I felt like such an idiot, but I didn’t have time to wallow. I needed to get Greta the Jetta to the shop before it closed. She started on the first try, like she was trying to make amends for having a flat tire.
“We talked about this, Greta,” I told the ancient car. “I need you to hang in there for me.” Ever since my radio had broken, I’d started talking to the car much more regularly while I drove. It was too quiet otherwise.
I went to the tire place down the street from my apartment, and even though it was late afternoon, the guy took the time to look at my tire. But his news wasn’t good.
“I can’t patch that. And honestly, your inspection is due next month. Those tires won’t pass, so you might as well replace them now.”
My stomach sank. “How much are we talking?”
“We have a special right now. Buy three tires, get one free. Let me show you.” The nice man talked me through my options and helpfully pointed out a no-interest credit card I could apply for. I didn’t want to take on any more debt, but I also didn’t want to be dependent on the bus. That would be fine for getting back and forth to campus, but I would be screwed when it came to doing the rest of my observation hours at the elementary school. Not to mention I was considering widening my job search to nearby cities since my search in Bleaksburg had been fruitless. If that didn’t pan out and I had to go home, I would be stuck at my parents’ house whenever I wasn’t working. Public transportation was nonexistent in my small town.
So I signed my name with a flourish to the credit card application because I didn’t have a choice. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to install my new tires until the next day, so I was stuck driving home on my donut tire. As if I didn’t feel like enough of a loser driving around in Greta. I patted the steering wheel. “Sorry, girl. I didn’t mean it. You’ve been good to me.”
I was taking the honey instead of vinegar approach when it came to Greta, hoping the positivity would help her continue to limp along. I’d thought I was being responsible by buying an older and therefore cheaper car I could actually afford. But considering how often she had problems, I might have been better off having a car payment. It probably would have equaled out money-wise, and then at least the car would be reliable. Water under the bridge.
When I got home, Katie was in the kitchen with two huge packages of chicken breasts.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Cooking.”
“I can see that,” I said blandly. “Are we having a dinner party you forgot to tel
l me about?”
She shook her head. “I’m trying this whole meal prep thing that Wyatt does. You know how strict he is about his nutrition, so I thought I’d give it a try. Less carbs and sugar. More protein.”
I eyed the raw chicken. “That sounds awful.”
She shrugged. “We’ll see. Since I was doing this anyway, I offered to make extra for Wyatt. He’s got a lot going on this week.”
I leaned my hip against the counter and smirked. “Aren’t you turning into the little domestic goddess?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah… no. When Wyatt goes pro, we’ll hire a chef and a nutritionist and all that jazz. But until then, I’m willing to help out.”
Katie’s tune had changed dramatically in the last few months. She’d gone from using the secret of her child-star past as an excuse not to get serious with Wyatt to casually talking about what the two of them would do after they graduated. Though I was tempted to throw a big “I told you so” in her face—I’d totally seen that they were perfect for one another—I refrained because I was classy like that.
“So…” I said. “Guess who I just saw?” The way I’d treated Jake was eating away at me. I felt like I needed to confess to someone.
Katie slammed the knife she’d been using onto the cutting board. “Don’t you dare tell me you were with Adam.”
“What? No.” I wrinkled my nose. I hadn’t second-guessed my decision to call it off with him once. Hopefully, I hadn’t given off the impression that I regretted it. “Jake.”
“Oh.” Katie blinked, and then a Cheshire Cat grin stretched across her face. Oh Lord. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Her scheming smile curtailed my need to confide in her.
Trying to downplay the situation, I shrugged. “Maybe I misjudged him. Did you know his siblings moved in with him?”
Her eyes widened. “Really? Actually, it’s not all that shocking. Did you know his parents died in the fall?”
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