“It’s good to see you,” Tanner said, standing to shake Nate’s hand. “How are you doing, man?”
“Great. Working hard, playing harder.” He laughed. “You’re the talk of Hartson’s Creek right now. My dad told me he’s been working on the contracts for the drive-in.”
Tanner lifted a brow. Nothing stayed secret for long, but he could have sworn his attorney was supposed to provide him with some kind of confidentiality. Not that it mattered, soon enough everybody would know. “Yeah. I guess I’m back.”
“I never thought you’d leave New York.” Nate sighed. “I guess we all come back in the end, right?”
“I guess so.”
Nate glanced at his watch. “I gotta go. I got a meeting in ten. I just came in to grab a coffee. Hey, you fancy catching up some time? Maybe get some of the old crew together?”
“Sure.” Tanner shrugged.
“Great. How about Friday night?”
“As in this Friday?”
“Yeah.” Nate’s face lit up. “It’ll be like old times. The guys, the booze, the partying. How about it?”
Tanner tried to think of an excuse, but none came. “Sounds good.”
“Excellent. I’ll put the word out. It’ll be fun. Let’s meet at the Moonlight Bar at eight.” He slapped Tanner on the back. “It’s so great to see you, man. I feel like I’m eighteen again.”
“It’s great to see you, too.” Tanner smiled, though the thought of feeling like he was eighteen again made him want to shiver.
Well that was his Friday night sorted. Maybe he should be happy he finally had something to do. Lots of things, if you included the drive-in, and trying to ignore the way he felt about Van Butler.
Van was cleaning out her closet when the front door slammed. She still had old clothes hanging in there – bootcut jeans that had long since gone out of fashion, along with checked shirts and sweaters that she’d never be able to wear again, thanks to the late development of her breasts. She looked up and wiped her brow with the back of her hand. The days had become warmer, any remnants of the fresh spring air blasted away by the warm Virginian sun.
“Zoe?” she called out. “That you?” Their mom had left the house earlier, saying something about a job interview. Not that Van had believed her. Who went to job interviews wearing skin tight jeans and a blouse with two many buttons unfastened?
There was no reply. Frowning, Van stood and shook her hair behind her shoulders, pulling open her bedroom door and looking into the hallway. Zoe’s shoes were on the floor where she’d kicked them off, her school bag resting against the peeling wallpaper.
Van rapped softly on Zoe’s bedroom door. “You okay?”
There was a grunt but nothing else. Van pushed it open, pressing her lips together when she saw her sister laying face down on the bed.
“Bad day?”
Another grunt. At least it was some kind of response.
“Sweetie?” Van said, sitting on the end of Zoe’s bed. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
A half smile pulled at Van’s lips. “I remember a lot of nothing happening when I was at school. It sucked.”
Zoe turned over, revealing red eyes and shining skin. “Yeah, well it would suck less if I wasn’t such an outcast.”
“You’re not an outcast. You have lots of friends.” Van ignored the ache in her heart. “Did something happen?”
“No.” Zoe swallowed hard. “Apart from all my friends going to see Maroon 5 without me.”
“They’re going to a concert?”
“Yeah.” Zoe’s bottom lip wobbled. “They’re all going with their moms.”
Of course they were. Ten-year-old girls didn’t go to concerts on their own. “Didn’t they think to invite you?” Van asked her.
“Their moms all know each other. They’re friends.” Zoe shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, though her red-rimmed eyes betrayed her. “Their moms don’t know our mom. She’s not one of their crowd. And they’re all so excited. They’re going out on Saturday to buy new outfits and have lunch.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not invited to that either.”
“I can talk to them,” Van suggested, smiling at her. “See if there are any tickets left. I’ll take you.”
“It’s sold out. And anyway, you don’t know them either. It’ll be lame if we tried to tag along.” Zoe picked at the cotton on her bedspread. “I’ll be even more of an outcast than I already am.”
Van gave her a tight smile. Why was growing up so damn hard? She hated the way she couldn’t fix everything for Zoe. It felt like history repeating itself. “It gets better,” she said softly. “Right now, I know it feels awful. But I promise you it won’t always be like this.” She laid down on the bed next to Zoe, smoothing her hair out of her eyes.
“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to live here any more.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Van pointed out.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to stay. You’ll leave again, and I’ll be left here with mom, and everybody talking about us.”
“What if I don’t go home?” Van asked her. “What if I stayed here and took care of you?”
Zoe’s eyes widened. “What about your job?”
“I’ve got a job here.” Van swallowed hard. “Tanner’s offered me one at the drive-in.”
Zoe turned on her side. The tears on her face had dried up. “Will you be selling tickets like you used to?”
“No. I’ll be setting it up and running it for him.”
“Wow. That’s a big job.” Zoe looked up at her, hope in her eyes. “Are you really going to stay?”
“Yeah,” Van told her. “I’m really going to stay.”
A smile broke out on Zoe’s face, Maroon 5 completely forgotten. She rolled closer to Van, circling her arms around Van’s neck. “Yay! You’re staying. This is so cool.”
Van hugged her back, closing her eyes for a moment. Had she really just agreed to stay?
Yeah, she had. And it was either the best idea she’d ever had, or the worst decision she’d made yet.
Right now, it could turn out to be either one.
Chapter Fifteen
Van scrawled her name across both duplicate contracts, sliding one into the envelope ready to hand back to Tanner, leaving the other on the table to file away later. It was almost nine o’clock on Friday night, and she and Zoe were the only ones in the house. Kim had gone out earlier, surprising Van with her blow-dried waves and freshly made up face.
“Don’t wait up. I’m meeting an old friend.” Kim had air kissed her, the strong aroma of her perfume with an undertone of gin lingering in Van’s nose.
“You’re looking better,” Van had said dryly.
“Don’t be mean. I’m trying to get better. You and Zoe have fun without me.”
That had been two hours ago. And Van still wasn’t sure if she was happy her mom was feeling better, or annoyed she’d left without even asking if Van was okay to take care of Zoe.