Page 13 of Promised Summer
RYAN
“There’s still some time before he’ll get here,” I said to Karla, who was currently clutching her plushie and had her nose pressed against the window. “Come have a snack first, so you’re not hungry later.”
I laughed at how dejected she looked as she wobbled toward me with her puppy. Karla probably didn’t even know what the worddejectedmeant, yet she was able to embody it so perfectly.
“Looks like our little girl is excited to see the animals,” my grandma commented from her seat at the kitchen table. Her smile was loving as she served Karla one of the simple yogurtparfaits I’d made earlier. It was hard not to love on her.
“Who did you say you’re going with again?” Mom piped up from the sink. She dried her hands with a dish towel, then joined us at the table.
“Just a friend.”
“Anyone I know?”
“I dunno, maybe,” I hedged and focused on my own snack. Even I wasn’t sure why I didn’t just tell her it was Jones. She was going to find out anyway when he came to pick us up.
Mom knew we used to be inseparable every summer I came to visit my grandma’s winery as a kid, but I doubted she knew why we stopped being friends. Everything had happened so quickly, and she was so overcome with her own grief that she hadn’t had time to pay much attention to the end of my friendship. An ending I single-handedly caused.
And there was the guilt again. Back to haunt me like a persistent ghost.
“Well, does thisfriendof yours have a name?”
I raised a brow at her. “Are you asking as my mom or as the local gossip?”
“I donotgossip,” she sputtered with an annoyed shake of her head. Her twin braids shook from the action, which had Karla giggling and shaking her head to jiggle her own matching twin braids Mom had expertly fashioned for her this morning.
Even after a week of watching and trying to learn how she made the braids so perfect, without a single strand of hair out of place, I was still lost.
“I merely like to stay informed on what’s happening in my town, is that such a crime?” she said in a huff.
“Oh, stop badgering him, Mae. I’m sure he has his secrets. You were the same when you started dating, too,always sneaking around doing who knows what,” my grandma commented.
“Just for the record, I’m not going on a date.” This time,Iwas the one sputtering. “Besides, my friend is a guy.”
I internally groaned the moment the words left my mouth. Why I felt the need to add that was beyond me.
Mom hummed in the knowing way all moms seemed skilled at, but I didn’t have time to ponder what it was she thought she knew when the doorbell rang.
Karla was out of her seat in seconds and rocketing toward the door with Puppy in her arms.
“Baby, slow down before you fall!” I called while rushing after her. She was already waiting impatiently by the door for me. She knew better than to open it herself, but her displeasure at how slow I was showed in the cute way she hopped in place like an angry bunny.
I smiled and opened the door. I thought I’d readied myself to see Jones again today, but I most definitely was not ready to be presented with the sight of a well-groomed Jones.
He’d looked good yesterday in his comfy gym clothes, but he was a shock to my nervous system today, all cleaned up and wearing a jewel-toned button-up that stretched across his muscles and drool-worthy jeans he must have painted on.
“You’re early,” I managed to choke out instead of telling him he was too fucking sexy to be good for my health.
“Shi…shoot, sorry”—he guiltily glanced at Karla—“I can come back later?”
“Nonsense! Since my boy seems to have lost his manners, I’ll be the one to invite you inside,” Mom said, pushing me aside to get to Jones. “If I’d known you were thefriendin question, I would have told Ryan to invite you over for lunch! It’s been too long, Jones. How have you been?”
She led him to a seat at the kitchen table and proceeded to push food and drinks his way. “It’s funny how I never see you around, even though we live in such a small town. And how’s your parents, dear? And I’m so terribly sorry about what happened. Please let me know if you need anything.”
Jones’ eyes were practically spinning from the force that was my mother. He managed to contain his emotions pretty quickly. “My parents are doing good. My mom is still leading my dad around by the nose,” he said with a chuckle, then shifted in his seat with an uncomfortable air about him. “And, um, thank you. I’m doing okay now.”
Had something happened to Jones? I wanted to ask, but we weren’t close enough for that. Not anymore. I glanced at my mother, hoping she would elaborate, but it seemed the one time I wanted her to gossip, she kept her lips tightly sealed.
Karla, probably tired of being patient, went to Jones’ side and lifted her yellow plushie to him.
