Page 2 of Drive Me Wild
Trevor is tall and fit, with the messy hair you expect in a musician. I think he’s sort of cute until I look down and see the ring on his finger.
The cuteness instantly turns to cardboard.
A bright-eyed woman our age steps out of the house with a platter of cut veggies and a wide grin. She puts the food on the adjacent picnic table, wipes her hands on her cutoffs, and reaches out to shake mine.
“Hi!”
“Zoe, this is Avery. She’s the drummer.”
“Wildfire,” Cole calls Renée over his shoulder. “Can you grab the platter of ribs from the fridge?”
“Duty calls. Make yourself at home, and we’ll see to your stuff later. There are more people coming, so we’ll have tons of help.”
Renée disappears into the house, and I turn to Avery, who’s reaching in a cooler at my feet.
“So Zoe, do you also play music?” She hands me a beer, and we sit in chairs around a nearby fire pit.
“No, I leave that up to my bestie. I hear you’re doing great on the drums.”
Her cheeks flush, and she bites her lip before leaning toward me conspiratorially. “I’m practicing every chance I get. I had blisters on my hands for weeks when I found out they were looking for a drummer.”
I look at Renée as she puts on an apron and helps Cole with the grill. He leans over and nuzzles her neck for a moment, and her eyes close in pleasure as she soaks in the affection.
I’ve never seen her this happy, but I feel a stab in my chest again.
Even though she’s had more experience in the dating department than me, I thought I’d settle down first. When we were teenagers, she always talked about her dream of being a touring musician. I talked about the one thing I wanted— tobuild a life with a man who supports me running a successful business— while we raise a pack of wild, wonderful kids.
But here she is, living in this rustic lakeside cabin with a smoking hot fireman for a boyfriend and fronting a rock-and-roll band, and I have a car full of my stuff, no boyfriend, and a business that is falling apart.
Not exactly living the dream.
“How long are you in Owl Creek, Zoe?”
The question pulls me out of my reverie.
“I don’t— I don’t really know. I brought all my stuff, so I guess I’ll be here until I figure out what I’m doing.”
“Wow. That’s brave.”
I laugh at the thought. I’ve never considered myself brave. I am hard-working. I am consistent. I am dependable. But brave? I don’t feel like it’s a good fit.
“I needed to leave. It was time. I’m twenty-three years old and still live—I mean, lived with my mom. Which reminds me. I need to text her real quick to let her know I got here.”
I pull my phone out of my bag, send her a quick message, and then return my attention to Avery.
“I moved out a year ago. It takes some getting used to. I know a lot of people our age leave as soon as they can, but I didn’t want to leave my parent’s place. It’s just across the lake.”
Avery points to a house across the water and continues, “I’m close to my parents.” She shrugs in a way that says, “What are you gonna do?”.
I already feel comfortable with Avery. Unlike my best friend, Renée, I grew up with a solid connection to my mom. Renée’s mom died when she was young, and she didn’t have an easy time with her father and brothers. It’s always been a sticking point in our relationship because I didn’t feel like I could talk about my mom when she had such family pain.
“Me too. With my mom. But—”
A sleek vintage black truck creeps down the driveway, and I can’t help but stare. I’ve never been into trucks, but this one is…sexy.
It’s polished to a high shine, and the chrome on the bumpers and side panels is like a mirror. I can’t see who’s behind the wheel, but my mind is already forming an image of some type of James Dean character.
The engine rumbles as it pulls up next to my old station wagon, and the sound wakes something up in me— which is unsettling.
