Just referencing Nancy has my heart racing. “Something wrong?”
“No, but Nancy’s car has a flat tire.”
There’s something in his voice. “What?”
“Not sure. Just…I think someone caused it.”
I’m grabbing my keys and running out the door, barely remembering to lock up as I rush to my truck.
“I’m on my way.”
“Thanks. She won’t call Josh, and I’m not happy about that. Plus, Becca was the DD tonight and she had some wine.”
Which means she’s falling asleep.
“Be there in a few minutes.”
I start up my truck and head on over. When I get there, I notice that Nancy has the tire off and Everly is ready with the spare. Becca is leaning against the truck next to Nancy’s car, half asleep. I know Nancy doesn’t need my help, but if Wyatt is right, then she needs to take this seriously. Also, if she has been drinking, I need to take all of them home.
“Ladies,” I say.
I get a smile from two of the women and a sniff and a frown from the one I want to impress the most.
“Dude! Look, Nancy, it’s Travis.”
Everly’s pronouncement is kind of useless since they are all looking at me.
“Hi. Hi. Hi. Hiiiiiiiii!” Becca apparently came out of her sleepiness.
“Hey, Becca.”
She smiles and waves at me and I can’t help but laugh.
“I can change a tire, Travis.”
I turn my attention to Nancy and study her for a second. She’s staring at me like she’s pissed, and I have no idea why. It’s not like I haven’t picked her and Syd up after a night like tonight.
“I know you can. I’m here to drive y’all home.”
“Once I change this tire, I can drive us home.”
“You’ve been drinking.”
She sighs. “Okay, but I want to change the tire.”
This seems important to her, so I nod. “And, Wyatt said you could leave the car here.”
She nods and goes about putting the other tire on. I shove my hands into my pockets to keep from reaching out. It goes against my nature to let her do it herself.
“Travis,” Everly drawls next to me. “I didn’t really drink that much. I can probably drive us home.”
I study her and realize she’s right. Her eyes are clear.
“I don’t think y’all should be driving around on that spare. Mitch can come get it tomorrow and replace the tire.”
She nods and steps back. By the time I turn back, Nancy is letting the jack down. She puts it in the trunk—another problem for me but I let it go. We pile into my truck, illegally with four people across the seat but it’s Juniper. I doubt very much that anyone will give me a ticket.
First stop is Becca’s, and Everly slips out of the truck with her. “I’m gonna stay here tonight. Becca needs a caretaker when she drinks.”
“Night, ladies.”
“Thanks for inviting me out,” Nancy says.
Becca had started up the sidewalk to her house. She stops abruptly, then turns and does her signature curtsey and almost falls over. Everly grabs her as both of them begin giggling.
“Jesus, that girl had less than two glasses of wine,” Nancy says as she shakes her head. I don’t say anything for a second because when I looked at her, there wasn’t any anger. It’s been so long since I have seen her this relaxed, this happy. Fuck, I really am an asshole. Nancy is the sweetest person I know. Well, besides Becca. But Nancy hides it under a thorny exterior and I know she does it to protect herself.
High School Graduation Night for Syd and Nancy
I walk down to the football field, looking for my sister and Nancy. Thanks to shooting up a few inches in the last year, it’s easy to search them out. The two of them are posing for pictures with their friends near the stage where Nancy had given her salutatorian speech. Both she and my sister made it into the top ten of graduates. Granted, their class had less than one hundred people graduate, but it still meant something to be in the top ten.
My gaze focuses on Nancy, her hair no longer bright pink. Straight, spilling like black silk over her shoulders. I watch as she searches the crowd every now and then. I wished she was looking for me, but I know better. She sees me as the little brother of her best friend, the nuisance. No, I know who she is looking for, and I’m not sure they’re here. Her parents. Her grandmother is here. Estella Howard walks through the crowd and they part. Easy to understand since she always reminded me of a shark, always moving, never stopping, gobbling up all the prey in her path. And that path includes Nancy.
I walk forward, coming from the opposite side. Every now and then I get stopped, but I ignore most everyone. My one objective is to get to Nancy to protect her. I’s sure she’d tell me to fuck off, but I have this need to be there, to shield her from all the bad things in life. That includes her family. Not sure what is wrong with them, but there has to be something rotten for them to have no role in her life.
Estella gets there before I do—of course. She’s taken Nancy aside and I get bits and pieces of their discussion.
“What do you mean that neither of them showed up?”
Jesus. We didn’t have parents around, but even our bastard grandfather had shown up to watch the ceremony. Nancy was freaking second in her class and those assholes didn’t bother coming.
“They both thought it best not to be around each other.”
“It’s a large field. They could have sat at opposite ends and avoided each other.”
There is no missing the pain in her voice. Syd and I had each other, but even though Nancy had half siblings, she really had no one but that old bat of a grandmother. Well, other than Syd and me. We both loved her.
“Your mother is in Europe right now, not sure where. Your father…he mentioned it isn’t the Bancroft Academy.”
That was the school Nancy had gotten kicked out of before we met her. It was a boarding school in the Dallas area, and she had hated it. I am pretty sure she got kicked out on purpose.
“Of course. He only measures things in the realm of his image. I mean, I am salutatorian, but Dad did graduate from Bancroft, right? Sure, he was in last ten percent of his class.”
“He has a point.”
Nancy acts as if she has been slapped, stepping back. “Yeah, well, here’s mine. Tell him thanks for not coming because his inability to keep his hands to himself makes it dicey to attend a ceremony like this. Who knows who he’s screwed?”
With that, Nancy turns away and that’s when she notices me. I see the tears, the devastated look on her face, but she draws in a breath and straightens her shoulders.
“Hey, Tray Tray, let’s go find your sister.”
I nod and give her grandmother one last glance. She watches us before turning away. Her trusty driver Marvin follows her through the crowd.
“Nancy,” I call out. She stops and turns to face me.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, they suck.”
It’s lame but it’s the only thing I can say. What I really want to tell her is that she’s amazing, bright, pretty, and so damned wonderful. My heart is filled with so many things I want to tell her, but I hold my tongue. Little brothers of your best friend are never what women want as a boyfriend.