Page 76 of Catch the Sun

Everyone goes silent. My ears burn underneath my beanie as my gaze ping-pongs from face to face. The memory of holding Max’s hand beneath the Taurid meteor shower flashes through my mind like a falling star zipping across the sky, and the heat from my ears travels to my cheeks.

McKay sets his jaw and tosses Max the keys with more force than necessary. “Fine. See you there.”

Brynn! does a funny, hurried skip over to me while everyone else tromps to their respective vehicles. She snatches both of my wrists and shakes them up and down with a little squeal, her pigtails bobbing over her shoulders. “Ella!” She manages to both shout and whisper my name, which is impressive. “There is anactualchance we could be sisters.”

The moment has escalated. “Sisters?”

“If you marry Max and I marry McKay, we’ll be sisters-in-law. That would be amazing!”

My cheeks never had a chance to cool before another wave of warmth permeates them. “Um, it’s not that serious. We’re just friends.”

“The way he looks at you, though! And he wants to spend ‘alone time’ with you.” Her grip on my wrists strengthens. “I saw the way you danced together at the Fall Fling. Max has never taken much interest in girls before. I thought he was gay.”

“He could be. We’re just friends so I wouldn’t know.” Something tells me he’s not.

Max rolls down the passenger’s side window and leans over the console. “Ready, Sunny?”

Brynn! grins wider, her eyes bugging out. “Sunny. Oh, my gosh—text me updates during the car ride!” Another squeal, and then an extra smooshy hug until we almost tip over. “See you there!”

My beanie is lopsided and my hair is full of static when she finally releases me. I can’t help but chuckle as I watch her flounce over to the black sedan beside the truck and hop inside.

I fling open the door and nearly topple again from the weight of it. “Ready,” I mutter, steadying my balance before tugging off my beanie and tossing it to the floor of the truck.

“That was quite the hug. It’s almost like she never planned to see you again.”

“The opposite, actually.” I slam the door shut and yank the seat buckle across my chest. “She wants to be sisters-in-law. Bound together by our respective matrimony to the Manning twins.”

Max hesitates before sticking the key in the ignition. “Interesting.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“The pressure is on for a proposal now,” he says. “At least I set the scene with the roses. Did you like them?”

When he twists around to glance out the back window while he reverses out of the driveway, I watch his biceps bulge and flex for a beat before slinking further in my seat and staring straight ahead. Then I study my fingernails as we pull out onto the road. “Sure. They were beautiful.”

“I thought so. What kind of rings do you like?”

I chuckle and bite my lip. “The candy ones. Orange, specifically.”

“Low maintenance. I can appreciate that.”

“Thank you, by the way. For the flowers.” Still gnawing on my lip, I peer over at him and catch the smile he’s wearing. “The last time someone gave me a flower, I was seven,” I say pointedly, playground magic sprinkling across my memory. “Then my dad came along and ruined everything.”

“I still remember picking that flower for you. It was bright like the sun, and the sun was bright like you.” Smiling softly, Max reaches for a pack of cigarettes on the dashboard, then falters. He leaves them there, untouched, and turns the dial up on the radio instead as a crisp wind shimmies through the open window. “Tell me about him.”

“My dad? He left us all for good a few months after that. Drove me back to Nashville to live with my mom because my teacher’s tits were more appealing than taking care of his daughter. They’d agreed to split up the siblings for whatever stupid reason, and Dad didn’t want to deal with Jonah’s anger issues, so he chose me. Mom and Jonah became close during that year we were all apart.” My teeth grind together as I stare out the window. Grudges are a burden on the heart, so I turned my heart into stone. Too bad there are cracks. It would be a lot easier to hate him if there wasn’t. It would be easier to hate Jonah, too. “Anyway…he’s a bastard.”

“Tell me about the before,” Max prompts after a moment of silence. “Before he left.”

I clasp my hands together in my lap and glance down. Memories, like water, always seem to find their way through even the smallest of fissures. I think about the times when love was effortless and trust wasn’t so hard-fought. I wish I could seal the cracks and remain watertight, but hearts—even stone ones—have a way of remembering what they once held dear. “My father took me to a Stevie Nicks concert a week before he ditched me for my teacher,” I tell Max, ignoring the stinging in my throat. “He propped me up on his shoulders so I could see better. I was so young at the time, but I still felt the magic of that moment.”

Max sets his elbow on the console between us, his bare arm grazing the sleeve of my sweater. There’s a heavy charge in the air, so he tamps it down by singing. “‘This magic moment…’”

A smile breaks through my sorrow and I throw him a look of gratitude for redirecting the mood. Then I purposely avoid thinking about the lyrics that come next. The part about lips. “I’m excited to see the bands tonight. You should play some of their songs for me.”

“Open up my Spotify,” he says, gesturing at his phone. “I made you a playlist.”

“Ooh, another list. But in song form.”

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