The Art of Being Indifferent (The Twisted Family Tree Series)

by Brooke Moss

  “Aw…” I giggled as I tripped up a dune. “You just gave me a warm fuzzy.”

  “Lots of girls tell me that.”

  I grabbed a handful of sand and chucked it at the leg of his pants. “Shut up.” I looked back at the lot where we’d parked. I still didn’t see Drew’s black car anywhere. “Where is he?” I muttered.

  Mac reached the top of the dune, then held his hand out to me. “Don’t worry. He’ll be here.”

  Once I stood next to him, I brushed the sand from my jeans. “Do you…” I swallowed. “Know about Drew’s dad?”

  He gave me a sideways glance. “Do I know about Mayor Baxter? Yeah. I know about him.” Mac paused, a line appearing on his forehead. “When we were kids, it wasn’t as bad. But he still scared the hell out of me. He would yell and break stuff. Then when we saw him in public, he’d act all cool. Smiling and campaigning and shit. He’s been a douche bag for as long as I can remember.”

  “I’ve known guys like him before.” When Mac looked at me, I added, “Bully dads. They’re everywhere. I’ve just never met one that has the whole town fooled before.”

  “He doesn’t have everybody fooled,” he said. “There are people around town who know what Mayor Baxter is really like, but too chicken to speak up. Hell, my dad even knows.”

  I wrinkled up my face. “Isn’t your dad a cop or something?”

  Mac snorted. “Yeah. Technically. Baxter’s got him in his back pocket, though.” When I gaped at him, he shook his head. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s not smuggling drugs or helping gangsters, or anything. But when Baxter needs to have a quick escape from the Whidbey Inn with his secretary, my dad’s the guy he calls. All it takes is some flashing lights and a mistaken emergency out the front of the building for Drew’s dad to slip out the backdoor. You know what I mean?”

  “Yeah.” The song at the bonfire ended, and someone put in a Kid Rock CD. “That musical segue didn’t shock me in the least,” I mumbled.

  Mac’s somber face broke into a grin. “Welcome to Twisted Tree. Come on, let’s go get a beer.”

  Wrapping my arms around myself, I followed him down. People turned and watched me approaching, but this time I wasn’t met with looks of shock or disdain. In fact a few of them even nodded or smiled. Guess tagging along with Drew for two weeks had changed things.

  Though not in all departments. Maddie and her minions—who were having an impromptu dance party near the fire, even though they were the only ones dancing—stopped to gape at me as Mac and I approached. As soon as they stopped moving a nearby group of guys groaned.

  Super. Just when social acceptance was within my grasp…

  “Want one?” Mac plucked a can of beer from a cooler and held it out to me.

  “No thanks.” I ducked my head to hide behind my hair, then remembered I’d pulled it back. Crap. “I’ll just wait for Drew.”

  “Well, look at that.” Maddie’s voice cut through my brain like a knife. “Posey’s here with your boyfriend, Alexis.”

  “’Kay.” He dropped it back into the chest. “You all right?”

  I nodded, pretending I didn’t hear Alexis having a conniption behind me.

  “Mac, how could you?” she whined, stepping between us with her hands on her hips.

  He rolled his eyes. “How could I what, Lex?”

  “Don’t take it personally,” Maddie said, putting her arm around Alexis. “Looks like Posey’s sleeping her way through the senior class.”

  I pressed my lips together. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come.”

  “Nah, you’re fine.” Mac turned his lazy gaze onto the girls. “Come on, ladies, don’t you have anything better to do?”

  Alexis’ nostrils flared. “Don’t you have anybody better to do?”

  Mac chuckled. “Very creative. I like that. Sadly, I don’t mess around with my boy’s girlfriend. Not my style.”

  “Why are you here with her then?” Maddie demanded, tapping the toe of her giant fur lined boot impatiently. Her short denim skirt showed her recent bikini wax. She turned her heavily lined eyes to me. “Or are you just here to take the trash out?”

  “Go to hell,” I snapped, pulling my jacket around my body tightly. Nothing like hanging out with a girl who looked like an Alaskan hooker to make me feel the chill in the air.

  “Oooh, good one,” Alexis hissed at me. “Honestly, Mac, I don’t understand why you brought her. I thought she was screwing Drew.”

  “Hey, easy. Chill out.” Mac handed his can to her. “I just drove Posey here to meet him. You need to calm yourself.”

  Maddie stepped in front of Alexis, shooting me a dirty look before turning on Mac. “She does not need to calm down. You’ve been stringing her along for months. And now this?”

  Mac gestured between he and I. “This is my best friend’s girl. Nothing more. And this…” He gestured between himself and Alexis, “was never anything more than passing time. I’m sure Alexis remembers having that conversation with me. Several times.”

  “Oh, is that the one we had in the bed of your truck?” Alexis retorted.

  Maddie nodded. “He’s becoming more and more like Drew everyday. Slumming it with the foster kid.”

  “You’re both acting like morons.” Mac ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not screwing Posey. I’m not screwing anyone. In fact, if you two will excuse me, I’d like to change that tonight.”

  “You bastard!” Alexis cried, flopping against Maddie, who stroked her hair like a cat.

  “Like, seriously, Mac,” she hissed. “Of all the people to bring.”

  I spotted Jessa and Natalie sitting on a truck bed on the other side of the fire. “I think I’m gonna go mingle.” Patting Mac on the shoulder, I told him, “Good luck, big guy.”

  Mac smiled sheepishly at me. “Way to abandon me in the heat of battle.”

  “You dug your own grave.” I sidestepped Maddie and Alexis. “Let me know when Drew gets here.”

  “I’ll send him your way once we’re done talking.” Maddie pointed her beer at me, sloshing it into the sand. “He and I have unfinished business.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Do you, now?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You know we do.”

  “Just go, Posey,” Mac said, shaking his head. “Before her head explodes and you’re left covered in brains and mousse.”

  I walked away as Maddie started probing him. Why isn’t Drew here yet? When is he gonna get here? Has he mentioned me?

  Rolling my eyes, I wrapped my arms around myself and headed towards Jessa. I hated Maddie so freaking much. Like a dog with a bone she showed no sign of letting go of Drew any time soon. Normally I didn’t get into arguments over guys. No stupid high school boy was worth having a melodramatic cat fight.

  But Drew was different. He understood me in a way no one else had. He never judged me. He never pressured me. Drew just accepted me and I had no plans give that up any time soon. Especially not to a girl like Maddie. She didn’t deserve Drew. Maybe I didn’t either, but still.

  “Posey! Over here.” Jessa, waved at me from where she and Natalie bobbed their heads to the music. “I’m so glad you came!”

  “Hey.” I slipped onto the truck next to them and smiled.

  “Where’s Drew?” Jessa eyeballed Maddie as she emphatically gestured something to Mac across the fire. I was glad we couldn’t hear her.

  “He’ll be along,” I said, looking at Jessa’s slumping friend. “Hi, Natalie.”

  “Greetings, Posey!” she said with a giggle that mostly came out her nose. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

  Laughing, I looked at Jessa. “Is she hammered?”

  “Yes. Definitely,” she replied, taking a drink out of a red plastic cup.

  An unexpected wave of protectiveness washed over me. “Are you?” I asked, looking closely at Jessa’s pupils.

  “Nope.” She shook her head, her hair dancing across her shoulders. “This is soda. I’m Nat’s DD tonight. She was nervous to talk to Todd B
aker after the meet, and she started drinking. I took her keys from her purse about two beers in.”

  “Good.” I sighed a breath of relief. What was wrong with me? When did I become the protective older sister type? “So you have your license?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I got it this summer, right before you came. Do you have yours?”

  I shook my head. “No. I’ve always lived in the city. Took busses everywhere I needed to go. Never really had anyone to teach me.”

  “I’m sure Dad wants to teach you.” She practically bounced in place as she talked. “He’s the one who taught me. Mom tried, but she got too frustrated.”

  “Wow. I sort of pictured John and Paula being to overprotective for stuff like that.”

  “Yeah. They’re pretty high strung, but they only do it because they care. They wanted me to have my license. You know, in case of emergencies. You want to get yours?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. I’d never thought about getting my license before. At least, not before moving to a damn island too far away from a music store to walk. “I guess. I mean, if your parents want to teach me.”

  “Of course they do.” She bumped shoulders with me. “And stop calling them my parents. They’re your parents, too.”

  My knee jerk reaction was to deny it, but I refrained. Maybe I was delusional. But the Coulters had been so good to Drew—and me—for the past few weeks. They never complained about him hanging around as long as we stayed in the common areas of the house, and they always invited him for dinner. Cooper even had a fondness for Drew and asked him to read his favorite book to him every time he came over.

  Every. Single. Time.

  At first this irritated me. I wanted to be alone with Drew. The guy was hot, charming, and one hell of a kisser. Plus, when we talked, we talked. Seriously. We could spend hours and hours discussing just about anything. It never got old. A typical teenager would’ve been all sorts of rude to her parents if they never gave her privacy with her boyfriend. But the more I got to know the Coulters, the more I learned how to chill out.

  At least I had people who cared whether or not I got pregnant. At least someone wanted a guy to treat me with respect. As weird as it was—and yeah, it was weird—I sort of enjoyed having parents for the first time in my life. Maybe I was kidding myself. Every family I’d ever been stuck with got sick of me eventually. Surely Paula and John would be no exception.

  I just decided to enjoy pretending to be part of a family while it lasted.

  “Yeah. I guess.” I bit the insides of my cheek to keep from smiling. Maybe I didn’t want Jessa to run home and tell Paula and John I had finally come around. I didn’t want her to give them false hope. “So you came here when you were pretty little?”

  “Yup.” Jessa smiled and took a sip of her soda. “I came with casts on both my legs.”

  I snuck a glance at her legs dangling over the edge of the truck. They looked fine now. “I’ve seen you do three backflips in a row. Obviously you healed.”

  “Yeah. Thanks to Mom.” She stretched out a leg, patted it, and grinned. “She carried me everywhere until I was almost three, and took me on the ferry to physical therapy in Seattle three times a week. Dad built me a ramp so I could scoot my walker up onto the front porch.”

  My heart squeezed. “When did they adopt you?”

  “Twenty-three months after I came. We had a party, and they had pink balloons. I don’t remember much about it, but I remember the balloons.” She waved at someone I didn’t know, then went on. “Mom always goes all out. She and Grandma make a ton of food, and we buy a custom cake from a bakery in Oak Harbor. We go to the courthouse and the judge closes the courtroom to all other people except our family and friends. Then we get pictures taken, and it’s really awesome. You’ll love it.”

  I thought for a few minutes, trying to imagine what being in a courtroom with the Coulters would be like. I pictured their smiling faces, and the bright expressions on all of the other kids’ faces, and my stomach fluttered. Everything in my mind was hazy and blurred. The thought of someone wanting me forever was surreal, and entirely too much like a sickeningly sweet made-for-TV-movie to be my life.

  I shuddered, scattering the images in my mind away.

  “Posey?”

  Turning, I faced my foster sister. Her almond shaped eyes reflected the bonfire as she grinned. “I know it seems weird. I know you feel like you’re just playing house until you can get the heck out of this town.” I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. “But isn’t being a part of a family who loves you better than being surrounded by people who don’t?”

  Gah. I hated it when Jessa did that. Opening and closing my mouth a few times, I tried to think of a sufficiently sarcastic response. I didn’t want to be mean. I’d gone a few weeks without lashing out at any of the Coulters, and I didn’t want to backslide. It felt better to be nice.

  Huh. Go figure.

  “Don’t get all sentimental now,” she scolded me. “You’re boyfriend’s here.”

  I looked up in time to see Drew stride right past Maddie—who didn’t take it very well, and proceeded to toss her hair right across a crying Alexis’ face—and headed for me. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and covered his head with the hood on his jacket. My blood chilled when he passed the fire and it illuminated a red, puffy spot on his cheekbone.

  “Posey,” was all Drew said when he approached. He smiled, but the happiness didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “I want a boyfriend…” Natalie moaned, leaning down to face plant in Jessa’s lap.

  “Well, that’s our cue.” Jessa laughed, wriggling out from under her friend. Natalie’s head landed with a thunk on the truck bed. “I’d better get her home now.”

  I tore my eyes away from Drew’s rapidly swelling cheekbone. “Need some help?”

  She tried to maneuver Natalie’s arm around her shoulders. “Oh, um, I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Maybe nothing. Let us help.” Drew gestured for Mac to join us, who appeared glad to be getting away from Maddie and Alexis. “Are her parents going to be mad?”

  “No.” Jessa shook her head. “They’re out of town tonight, and her older sister is home from college for the weekend. But I’m going to have a strongly worded conversation with her tomorrow after she sobers up.”

  I smiled. That was Jessa… bringer of light and cheerfulness and a healthy dose of righteousness. She should’ve been the pastor’s daughter instead of Maddie, who was currently twerking on a football player whose name eluded me, all while glaring at Drew. “How will you get home?”

  Jessa held up some keys with a sparkly pink keychain. “I’ve got her car, remember?”

  Mac walked up, his eyes locked on my foster sister. “What’s up? Hey, Jessa.”

  “Hey, yourself.” She gestured to Natalie, who had started snoring. “Can you and Drew help me out?”

  “Sure.” He grabbed Natalie under the arms. “Baxter, can you grab her feet?”

  “Got it.” Drew took hold of Natalie’s feet, then leaned close to me and kissed my forehead. “Thanks for coming to my meet.”

  I looked at his cheek with a frown. “You okay?”

  “What, this?” He joked. “I got in a bar fight on the way here. Does it make me look tough?”

  Mac shook his head. “That wasn’t a bar fight.”

  “Was it me?” I asked quietly.

  Drew shrugged. “He doesn’t like me dating during the season. He thinks it makes me lose my edge.”

  “But you won!”

  “Yeah. He doesn’t care. It’s ok. I took care of it.”

  “Hey guys,” Mac interrupted. “This is a nice conversation and all, but can we move Natalie to the car? She’s getting heavy.”

  Jessa put her fingers to her lips. “Don’t say that. She’s really self-conscious about her weight.”

  “Yeah, because of Maddie,” I muttered.

  Drew leaned close and whispered, “Do you mind if we get out
of here? I’m not in the mood for a party.”

  “Sure.” My stomach whirled when his mouth touched the cuff of my ear. Would I ever get used to Drew’s touch? I hoped not. “I’ve still got an hour and a half until my curfew.”

  He pulled away and winked one of those green eyes. “Good. Okay, Jessa. You lead the way.”

  As Jessa guided us to Natalie’s old Honda, I avoided Maddie’s stare. It had been fun to go to my first party at Twisted Tree, but I wanted some time alone with Drew. We climbed the dune, and surprisingly, I spotted his shiny car off in the distance. I thought for sure his dad would’ve taken the keys again.

  Jessa unlocked Natalie’s car, and opened the backdoor. “Go ahead and slide her back there. Thanks, guys.”

  The boys did as they were told, and I noticed Mac fidgeting with his own set of keys. “Um, you might need help explaining this to her sister. Do you want me to follow you? Help you guys get her moved?”

  Drew hid his smile behind his hands.

  “That’s so nice of you,” Jessa said, bouncing a little. “Posey, if you’re home before me, tell Mom and Dad not to worry. I’ll be home by eleven.” She waved and hopped behind the wheel.

  “Got it.” I grinned. “Look who’s trying to woo my sister.”

  Drew pointed at me. “You just called her your sister.”

  I bit my lip, trying not to smile. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Pollyanna. It was a slip of the tongue.

  Mac’s cheeks reddened. “I’m not trying to woo anyone. I’ll catch you later, ok?”

  “Later.” Drew smirked and tugged his car keys from his hoodie pocket. As soon as Mac got in his pickup and the engine had started, he looked at me and laughed out loud. “He’s had a crush on Jessa forever.”

  “Really?” I watched Mac’s taillights disappear. “He’s not going to try to get into her pants, is he? Because then I’d have to break his kneecaps.”

  “No. He knows Jessa doesn’t do that kind of stuff. He’s respectful when the situation requires it.” Drew opened the passenger’s side door on his car. “Come on. Let’s get something warm to drink. It’s cold as hell out here.”