Page 22 of The Sweetest Thing
“Is it?” he asked, pulling alongside the air pump machine. “Guess I’ll check the tire. You hold that ice to your face.” He climbed down, squatted by the rear of the truck and surveyed the tire.Well, damn again. He was standing when Tansy’s rattletrap of a truck rolled up to the parking lot exit alongside him. “Tansy?” He stepped forward and knocked on her passenger window.
She ignored him.
“Tansy.” He knocked again, sighing. Of course, she was ignoring him. It was his own damn fault. “Thank you.”
Tansy’s head spun in his direction and her eyes went wide, then narrowed. She seemed to be waiting for something.
“Really,” he added, sincere.
She blinked several times before she nodded and pulled out onto the road.
Was she smiling?Nah.The only time Tansy ever smiled at him was when she’d bested him.Thatmade her happy.Boy, did that make her happy.
After the day he’d been having, a tire blowout on the highway would be the cherry on top. He glanced down the road, Tansy’s highlighter-yellow shirt visible through the back window of her truck cab. If someone had told him Tansy Hill would save the day, he’d have laughed out loud. But she had. And Astrid hadn’t been in the car to make her this time, either. He liked knowing that a little too much.I’m a dumbass.
DUMBASS. LEIFHELDthe ice to his lip, watching his brother watch Tansy Hill’s truck rattle down the county road. She’d totally just saved their butts even though Dane was a jerk to her. Then again, Dane had a lot going on.Thanks to me.He stared into the ice cup, his insides knotted. People sucked. Period. Like, all of them.
And Tansy must be trouble, too. Why else was Dane so...weird around her? Sure, she’d saved their asses twice now but there was something about her that made Dane act the way he did when she was around so... Leif shook his head.
His father drank too much and sucked at being a father. First his mom died and his dad flipped—at least, that’s what Dane said. Dane said their dad hadn’t always been the world’s worst father. Leif had a hard time believing that. He didn’t remember his mom. He did remember his father’s wives two through four. They weren’t all bad. Not until the end. Then his dad went to the hunting cabin, things got tense, people in town started talking and Dane was left to keep everything running smoothly. Or at least, Dane tried.
Kate had been the worst. Kate was the reason today had happened. Clay. Talking trash about his father, making Kate out to be some victim and Dane to be a real rat bastard. Hell yes, Leif had thrown the first punch—but Clay threw the last. The whole fight, Leif saw red. He wanted to shut Clay up. Then Kerrielynn Baldwin had stepped in. Nothing like seeing the most popular girl in school get pushed to the ground and knowing it was his fault. Leif had been making sure she was okay when Clay slammed his head into a locker. Their tussle broke that science equipment, too. Leif’s lungs felt tight and his hands fisted just thinking about it. All of it.
“You ready?” Dane climbed into the truck.
Leif let out a slow, unsteady breath. “Sure,” he murmured, turning the ice cup in his hands. Dane glanced his way and Leif braced himself. He didn’t want to talk about it. How could he? He didn’t believe Dane had hooked up with Kate, but a lot of people did. And they kept talking about it. Talking to him about it—like he had the inside scoop or something. Leif was sick of hearing about it.
“You want to drive home?” Dane asked, holding the keys out.
Leif stared. “I don’t have my license.”
“You have your learner’s permit. I’m in the car.” Dane jingled the keys. “The more practice the better.”
Leif glanced at his brother, then the keys. “I’m grounded.” And, if he wanted to drive, now probably wasn’t the best time to remind Dane of that.
“Yeah.” Dane sighed but didn’t take the keys back.
“My lip hurts.” He used his other hand to point at the ice cup he had pressed to his lip.
“Good thing you’re not using your lip to steer.” Dane frowned at him, crossing his arms over his chest. “You don’t want to drive?”
“I do.” If he ever got up the nerve to take off for good, it’d be easier if he could drive. Sometimes, that was all he thought about—going someplace where no one knew him or his father or brother or any of the crap about their family.
“Then take these.” He tossed the keys.
Leif slid across the bench seat and put the key in the ignition.
“Watch your speed.” Dane put on his seat belt. “Use your blinker. We should be good.”
Leif buckled up and turned on the truck. Every once in a while, Dane was cool. Like now. If he wasn’t always trying to be Leif’s dad and brother, Leif would probably like him more. Then again, he was a better dad than their father was.
“Oh, and the brakes are stiff.” Dane pointed at the floorboard.
“Right.” Leif put the truck in gear and started forward slowly.
“Relax. You got this, Leif.” Dane slumped back against the truck seat like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Even after he’d snuck out, been suspended from school, failed pre-Cal and gotten into a fight at school, it was like Dane still believed in Leif—like Dane trusted him to get this right. It was like Dane didn’t see Leif for the loser he was. Leif knew it. Their dad knew it. Everyone in school knew it. So why didn’t Dane?He’s a dumbass.
