“Sure.” Van ruffled her hair, then wrinkled her nose. “You smell like smoke. You’re gonna need a shower when we get home.”
“Oops, sorry. My fault.” Becca shot her a smile.
“Ah, she needed one anyway.”
One by one, Van and Zoe said their goodbyes to the Hartson family, all smiles and hugs as they promised to come back soon. And then she was standing in front of Tanner, his warm eyes gazing at hers.
“Can I call you tomorrow?” he asked. “We need to talk about the drive-in.”
“I thought you’d forgotten.”
He slowly shook his head. “Just didn’t want to rush you. Or talk about business at a social occasion.”
She took a deep breath in. “Yeah, you can call me.”
“I’ll need your number.” He handed her his phone.
Taking it, she quickly entered her number in the contacts and passed it back. Their finger tips brushed, and she felt a jolt of electricity rush through her. She smiled shyly at him, and he winked back, as though he knew exactly the reason for her shiver.
“Okay then. We need to go. I’ll speak to you soon.” She glanced at him again. Should she hug him? It would look weird if she didn’t when she’d hugged every other member of his family. Yet she still hesitated. Not because she didn’t want to, but because it meant too much. She was already on edge. It could tip her over.
“Come here,” his voice was velvety soft. He reached for her, his arms circling around her shoulders and his palms flat against her back as he pulled her against him. The sudden movement took her by surprise. She wasn’t ready for it. She didn’t have her defences up. Her heart started to hammer in her ribcage so hard she swore he must be able to feel it. She was so aware of the way his fingers felt against the fabric of her dress.
Slowly, she lifted her head, looking up until her gaze met his. For a moment his eyes burned into hers. He swallowed, the prominent lump in his throat undulating with the action. All she could think about were his lips. The need she had to feel them on hers. He’d kiss her hard, the way he once had, then slide his mouth softly down her throat. Her body tensed at the thought, her nipples hardening against his ribcage.
If he’d kissed her, she would have let him. In spite of everybody around them. His family, Zoe, all of them. But instead he stepped back, releasing his hold on her, shifting awkwardly.
“Bye, Van.”
Her body felt icy without him pressed against her. Still, she forced her lips into a smile. “Bye.” And if her body felt like it was on fire? Well she’d have to live with that.
She wanted him. The exhilaration rushing through her was enough to tell her that. But she also knew what that kind of need brought. The low after the high.
She’d let herself fall for him once, and look what happened. This time, she was determined they’d stay friends.
“Can I ask you something?” Zoe said as they turned the corner into their street. It was almost nine o’clock, past Zoe’s bedtime, and she looked suitably excited that Van let her stay up late on a school night. The sun had dipped below the mountains and the street lamps had come on, flooding the road with light.
“Sure. Shoot.” Van glanced at her sister from the corner of her eye.
“Which one was Tanner and Becca’s mom? Was it Aunt Gina?”
Van shook her head. “No. Their mom died when they were little. Aunt Gina is their mom’s sister. She moved in to take care of them.”
“Is she married to their dad?”
The moon was glowing softly above the tree line. “No,” Van told her. “They’re just friends, I guess. But she’s taken care of all of them like she was their mom.”
“He’s scary.”
“Tanner’s dad?”
Zoe nodded. “He looked angry all night.”
It was strange how perceptive kids could be. “Yeah, he’s never been very happy. Not since their mom died.”
“Did you know their mom?”
Van’s brow wrinkled as she thought. “Sort of. We were just kids when she died, so I can’t remember her that well.” She could remember the night she died though. The frantic rapping of Tanner’s knuckles on her window in the middle of the night. His tear stained face as he climbed into her bedroom, sobs wracking his tiny body as he tried to tell her what had happened. It had been the middle of the night, and Van was dressed in her favorite sheep pajamas, her brain full of sleep as she tried to make out his words.
His mom had died less than an hour earlier. Tanner had been the only one of his brothers not to sit by her bedside as she passed. It had taken him years to admit he’d been too afraid to watch his mom die, and instead he’d run away and hidden in the summer house, his eyes scrunched closed as he prayed to a god he hoped was listening.
He’d only known she’d died when he heard Gray walk into the garden and let out a haunting scream. Gray had been almost twelve. The oldest of the five. Tanner had never heard him cry until then.
That’s when Tanner had run to her house. And without asking, she’d lifted her covers and they’d curled up together on her bed, their tiny frames nestled together in the scant comfort he’d sought.
His dad had knocked at the door some time before dawn and somehow Van’s mom had been sober enough to let him in. He’d grabbed Tanner’s hand and scolded him for running away, not hugging him, or ruffling his hair, or asking if he was okay.
At least Aunt Gina had changed all that when she moved in with them. She’d turned out to be like their mom but on acid, constantly chiding, chasing, and feeding them.
“If mom died, would you look after me?” Zoe asked. “Or would I go and live with Craig?”
They’d reached the bungalow. Van stopped and turned to Zoe, smiling softly at her as she reached to cup her sweet face. “Mom isn’t going to die,” she told her. “But I’ll always be here for you. No matter what happens. And I know Craig hasn’t been here much recently, but he loves you, too.”
Zoe’s bottom lip wobbled. She was such a deep thinker. “I don’t want to be alone.”
Van reached for her, hugging her tight. “You never have to. I promise. We’ll always take care of you.”
It was the one thing she knew, more than anything else. She’d protect her sister forever, the way she’d never been protected. From nastiness, from speculation, from gossip. She’d never have people teasing her because their mom brought home a random guy, or because the rumor about her stealing from the Fairfaxes had finally reached the school gates.
Kissing her sister’s head, Van promised herself she’d always be Zoe’s protector. Nothing else mattered. Not the way their mom was almost certainly still curled up in bed, nor the way her heart skipped every time she saw Tanner Hartson.
She was here for Zoe. Nothing else.
“How about you call your brother once in a while?” Logan complained over the phone to Tanner later that night. “I just spoke to Becca. She told me you bought the drive-in. How the hell didn’t I know this?”
“It only happened last week. The ink on the contract isn’t even dry.” Tanner shook his head, though he couldn’t help but smile. Of his three other brothers, he’d grown closest to Logan over the years. Maybe because Gray had been so busy touring the world and Cam had been chasing his football dreams, leaving Tanner and Logan to spend more time together. It had been Logan who was there for him when Van had told Tanner she never wanted to see him again and followed through with her threat.