Page 19 of Tulips and Lost Time

His lips angle up as the back door swings open again. But Marc’s footsteps are gentler than his sister’s. His temper, far calmer than hers.

For now.

“You need to simmer down, Kar.” He stops on the back stoop, cupping his mouth to shout across the yard. I don’t even have to get up from my perch by my opal drum kit and peek out the back of the garage to know. I’ve spent every damn day of my life hanging out at this house. “It’s not safe out there at night. You know it.”

“Are Jess and Laine going?” Mumbling so he’s not overheard, Scotch continues to strum his guitar, a quiet melody rolling through the garage. While Ang folds himself over my bike, listening in on two separate conversations and tinkering with the engine to keep his hands busy.

Because he can.

Because he knows how.

And because I thrash the damn thing and enjoy my monthly free service.

“Yeah, they’re going.” I peek over my shoulder toward the back of the garage and try to see, even through the brick wall, what the sibling duo are doing on the other side. “It’s just a party,” I shrug. “We’ll be there. So they won’t be in danger.”

“We’re playing,” Ang rumbles. “You know good and well we’ll be busy and won’t see half the shit they get up to.”

“And you know they’re gonna go, whether we like it or not. Better we get on their side, so they feel safe to tell us the truth, than piss them off and make them sneaky.” I turn back to my drum kit and slide the tips of my fingers over the skins. “They’re getting older. They know a party is on. They’re gonna be there irregardless. So we?—”

“Regardless.”

“Re…” I swallow my words and frown. “What?”

“Regardless,” Angelo repeats. “Irregardless isn’t a real word.”

“Whatever, man. Regardless, they’re gonna do whatever they’re gonna do. It’s smarter that we get on board now and become their allies.” I look to Scotch and raise a brow. “You, too. I know I’d rather party with my sisters, than find out they’re doing it anyway, unsafe, and hiding from us because they’re scared of getting in trouble.”

“Don’t look at me like I’m some kind of monster.” He drops his hand from the guitar’s strings and reaches across to scribble something in his notebook. “Britt and I are fine. Alex is the one riding her ass every damn step she takes.” He releases his pen and meets my eyes. “He went ballistic when she came home with her second set of ear piercings.”

“Wait till she moves on to belly piercings,” I chuckle. “Nose.” Then I wrinkle my lips. “Worse.”

“I stay out of it. I’m not her parent, and I’m not X. He’s got all the real estate on the over-protective brother bullshit.”

“Kar! You need to stop being so fucking bratty right now and listen to my reasons.”

“And Marc seems to have the secret to a great sibling/parent relationship,” I tease. “Dude needs to calm the hell down before he gives himself a coronary.”

“Are you volunteering to tell him?” Ang glances up from my bike and eyes me. “You gonna tell him to cool it with the protective stuff?”

“I might.” I set my sticks on the drumhead and push up from my stool. Turning, and careful not to kick things over in our over-full garage, I wander to the door and glimpse outside. “He’s gonna make her hate him if he’s not careful. She’s already keeping secrets.”

“What secrets?” Scotch’s music stops. His curiosity piqued. “Luca? What secrets is she keeping?”

Maybel.

Death threats.

Stomach aches created because of the anxiety she carries around a school she struggles to fit in to.

She has some of the best best friends in this town. Super protective. Super sweet. But when they’re in a grade different than your own, things can get kinda lonely, even if they get to reunite in the school cafeteria.

“Just regular stuff,” I mumble in response. Vague and unhelpful. Then I drop my hands into my pockets and walk into the backyard where Kari stands on the crappy halfpipe we built ourselves, holding a skateboard and looking down at knees she’s already skinned.

While ten feet away Marcus shields his eyes from the sun and glowers.

“It’s a friggin’ lake, Kar! The depth is inconsistent. The dock is rotting. If you fall in, no one will know until you’ve already drowned and died. And I won’t be able to save you because I’ll be busy playing my set.”

“Okay.” She drops the board to the pipe, letting it roll just two feet before she steps on it to stop its escape. “It’s fine.”

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