About Last Summer

by Patricia B Tighe

  Geoff turned back to the group. “Speaking of costumes, do Noah and I have to be in drag for this thing?”

  Kenzie chuckled. “No. I asked your dad. He wants everyone to look basically like their normal genders.”

  “Then how are people supposed to know who we are?” Amanda asked. “I mean, I’ll be a butler probably wearing a dress or skirt.”

  “From our fabulous acting skills,” Geoff said.

  “That’s why you need to get creative with your costume,” Kenzie said. “Besides, you don’t always wear a dress, Amanda.”

  “Okay, got it,” Geoff said, ending the conversation. “We’re out of here.”

  Once he and Molly were gone, the others moved into the kitchen. Kenzie turned to me. “Ready to pick a costume?”

  “Yes,” I said, keeping my gaze fixed on her hazel eyes. Don’t look at Noah. Just don’t.

  “All right. Let’s go.”

  Amanda moved out of the pathway. “We’ll wait until y’all choose something. The closet isn’t big enough for everybody.”

  “Sounds good,” Kenzie said.

  I followed her from the kitchen, managing to leave without once making eye contact with Noah.

  Kenzie lifted up a hairy piece of material in triumph. “Yes! I knew we still had this! It’s perfect.”

  From my seat on a folding chair, I eyed the yellowed—what was it?—oh, a vest. “That’s amazingly gross.”

  “Isn’t it?” Kenzie grinned. “I think it’s from the 1960s. One of the grandparents wore it.”

  “Was it Gamma?”

  “I’m not sure, but she’s a great-grandmother so maybe not.”

  “Oh. So what’s perfect about it?”

  “I’m the Beast, remember? I’ll have my peasant skirt and blouse, and this used-to-be-hairy white vest to help me look like an animal. All I’ll need is something scary for my head.”

  “Or you could use makeup.”

  Kenzie set her costume items aside and continued digging through the bin. “I could. But we don’t have good stage makeup here.”

  “You could still draw whiskers and make your eyes scary.”

  “Ha, yeah. But I’d probably end up looking like a terrified rat.”

  I chuckled. “What should I do for a costume?”

  Kenzie surfaced, holding a sombrero. “I think we have a Robin Hood costume. You could use part of it to make your hunter. I mean, even a female hunter wouldn’t be wearing a dress.”

  “True.”

  “I think it’s in that box up there. The one that says circus.” She pointed at the top shelf of heavy plastic bins to one labeled CIRCUS in black marker.

  I stood and set the folding chair aside. “Why would it be in the circus bin?”

  “Who knows? I may be wrong, but I thought I saw it there before.” A chime rang out, and Kenzie checked her phone. “Dang it. Aunt Jenny wants to talk to me about Geoff’s party. I’ll have to finish this later.” She gathered up her costume. “You coming?”

  “No. I should probably look through these boxes.”

  “Okay.” She aimed her thumb over her shoulder. “There’s a stepladder over here if you need it.”

  “Thanks.”

  I picked up the sombrero Kenzie had left on the floor. Maybe I should be a Mexican hunter. Nope. Too stupid. I dropped it back in its box and then gazed down the long, narrow storage closet. Time to check out Robin Hood.

  I hauled the stepladder in front of the shelves and climbed up. The shelf with the circus bin wasn’t really high, but I still had to stand on the top step to get my hands around either side of the box. I slid it forward, balancing it on the edge. Would it be too heavy for me? I let it lean over a little to test the weight. Hmm. It was a little heavy, but I could handle it. Maybe. Besides, the thought of Kenzie laughing at me if I asked for help spurred me on.

  I lifted the box, the muscles in my arms and back instantly straining. Okay, not such a great idea. I backed down one step and had a foot in midair when the bin jerked, twisting in my hands. Oh, crap. Material hanging out the other side had caught on something, but my downward momentum couldn’t be stopped. My stomach dropped along with the rest of me, and a weird yelp flew from my lips.

  Noah

  The fall probably took two seconds, but to me, it felt like ten minutes from the time I heard the screech as I was stepping through the closet door until I managed to throw myself under Gabby. I wasn’t even sure how I did it. But her head connected with my gut, whooshing out the rest of my air. Clothes rained down, and the box hit my elbow before clattering to the wood floor of the closet. I inhaled a tight, sharp breath and clutched at her arms. “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice rough from the panic that still pounded through me.

  Gabby gasped and started to roll away, but I held onto her. “Wait. Give yourself a second.” There was no reason to think I’d said that because I liked holding her.

  No reason at all.

  But after only a moment, she moved, rotating so that she sat facing me, but not touching. “Are you hurt?” she asked, her voice low.

  I shook my head and sat up. “You need to be more careful—”

  Her lips pinched together.

  “—the gravity’s really strong right here.”

  A smile broke out, and she released a husky laugh, looking truly relaxed for the first time in two days. Warmth spread through me. My arm lifted as if someone else controlled it. Smiling, I reached toward her, even as alarms clanged in my head. Stop. Don’t touch her. I couldn’t let myself feel her skin. Remember the plan! At the last second, I moved my hand and pulled a long, diamond-patterned sock from her shoulder. “Yours?”

  “I was wondering where I’d left that.” She took it and looked around at the clothes scattered everywhere.

  “What is all this stuff?” I reached past her and held up a rainbow-colored fuzzy wig.

  She still looked concerned. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

  I couldn’t make myself answer. I’d probably find a couple of bruises later, but right then all my attention was on her. I shook the wig. “Is this clown stuff? There aren’t clowns in this play, are there?”

  “Robin Hood was supposed to be in the same box.”

  Oatmeal suddenly made up the core of my brain. “Robin Hood.”

  “Yeah, for the play.”

  Was Robin Hood in the play? I’d either missed that somehow or just couldn’t think straight because we were so close to each other. She smelled lemony, which was completely different from the way she’d smelled last summer. Then it was always baby powder. To dry up the sweat, she’d said.

  Gabby twisted the sock into a long rope. “You realize I couldn’t get the Coke for you yesterday because Amanda did it first, right?”

  Oh, yeah. The order I gave. She let the sock unwind in her hands, then started twisting it again. She wouldn’t look at me. “It’s okay,” I said. “There’ll be more chances for you to wait on me.”

  I meant it to be funny. But she obviously didn’t think so. She jerked her head up. “Yesterday,” she said, her voice sounding rough, “you said you wanted answers.”

  Okay, guess we were getting serious. I got to my feet so fast I almost conked my head on the low, slanted ceiling. I picked up the knocked-over stepladder, closed it, and set it against the wall.

  “But I don’t know what the questions are,” she continued.

  The burning that simmered just under the surface whenever she was near almost came roaring out of my mouth. My mind snapped into focus. How could she not know what the questions were? They were simple. Why did you disappear? Why did you dump me? Didn’t you love … I couldn’t even let myself think it. I straightened the mostly empty box and started throwing costume pieces into it.

  From the shuffling noises behind me, it sounded like she’d gotten up. The wig I’d been holding earlier flew past me into the box. Had she been trying to hit me with it?

  “The questions?” she asked, her voice hard, like she was clenching h
er teeth.

  She sounded pissed. Perfect. So was I.

  I dropped a huge clown shoe into the box and faced her. A blush reddened her cheekbones, and her mouth worked as though she might cry. My heart lurched, but then she lifted her chin. Stiff and proud and gorgeous.

  Nope. I wasn’t going to feel sorry for her. I said the first thing that came to mind. “Here’s a question for you. What’s he like?”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “Your boyfriend. What was his name again? Alejandro? What’s he like? Probably a jock. No, wait, he’s an actor just like you. You’re probably in all the plays together. Everyone thinks it’s so sweet.”

  “Are you insane?”

  “No, seriously. Tell me about him. How’d you meet? Was it love at first sight?” I tried to make myself sound sappy, but the words came out with a bitterness I couldn’t hide.

  She picked up the other clown shoe and dropped it in the bin. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Your last one then. Tell me about him. You’ve probably been through a ton of guys this year.” I had no idea what I was saying anymore. All I wanted was to hurt her.

  “I’m out of here.”

  Gabby tried to brush past, but I grabbed her wrist. “Come on. You said you wanted the questions. It’s only fair you give me the answers.”

  She stared at my hand on her wrist as though it were a roach. I let go and dropped my arm to my side. I’d never expected to earn that look from her. Anger I was okay with, but disgust? Not so much.

  Gabby slowly raised her gaze to mine. But her eyes gave away nothing. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. “You want to know about my last boyfriend?”

  I didn’t, but I’d started this thing, and I’d see it through. “Sure.”

  “Then go look in a mirror. It’s you, you freaking jerk.”

  I reeled like a cartoon character who’d just run into a wall painted to look like a road. Stunned was an understatement. I was her last boyfriend? She hadn’t dated anyone since? Even I had gone out a couple of times. I couldn’t believe it. Were all the guys in her school blind?

  She shook her head at me and then twisted around to go.

  I didn’t know what to say, but I couldn’t let her leave. She was already in the hall before I got my act together. “Wait—”

  “Oh, Gabriela,” Amanda’s voice called from nearby.

  Great. Just what I needed. I left the storage closet. Amanda and Haley were walking toward us, looking smug. Seeing me, Amanda quickly smiled. “Hi, Noah. I was wondering about something.” She turned to Gabby. “Why’d you come on to Geoff at the table read yesterday? Wouldn’t that make Alejandro jealous if he knew?” Every word out of her mouth was a taunt.

  Gabby stared at the younger girl, her throat moving as if she were swallowing. “Come … on?” At the sound of her Spanish accent I wanted to break something.

  “Yeah,” Amanda said. “Everyone saw you flirting with him.”

  She shook her head wildly. “Oh, no. It was meant to be a fun … funny event.” She put her hands on her cheeks. “I am sorry.”

  The change from angry American girl to embarrassed Spanish girl was so abrupt it gave me a headache. She was such a good actress. Why did I keep forgetting that? Every single thing she’d ever said to me was probably a lie. Including me being her last boyfriend. Even though it had sounded like the truth. Good actress, remember?

  Amanda tilted her head and studied Gabby like she didn’t quite believe her.

  Haley, though, seemed to be taken in. “Don’t worry. It’s okay. Geoff probably didn’t notice.”

  Amanda frowned. “Yes, he did. You might want to tell him it was just a joke. You know, so he won’t be all weird around you.”

  Gabby bit her lower lip. “I will do that.” She squeezed past the girls. “Excuse me. I need to find Kenzie.” And she was gone.

  I stared at the place Gabby had been standing and dug my heels into the floor. I wanted to go after her, drag her outside, and yell until we hashed everything out. But how could I believe anything she said?

  “Noah?”

  I focused on Amanda.

  “What happened here?” She gestured to the remaining costume pieces strewn around the floor.

  Nothing I could tell her about. “A box fell,” I said as I walked away.

  Great. I had a new question to add to my list. Who the hell was Alejandro?

  Gabby

  The cappuccino machine in the coffee shop let out a long gushy hiss, covering up Kenzie’s words.

  I leaned over my cup of Earl Grey tea. “What?”

  Kenzie pointed at the still-hissing machine. I waited. Between that and the guy playing guitar and the people talking at other tables, Sacred Grounds Coffee was one of the noisiest coffee shops I’d ever been in. Not that I went to these places often. Coffee tasted like warmed-up pond scum, and the only way I could tolerate it was if I cut it with sugar, cocoa, and milk. But by then it was basically hot chocolate, and I only drank that in the wintertime.

  The machine noise stopped, and Kenzie cleared her throat. “So … seriously? Amanda said that?”

  “Yup,” I said. “She and Haley think I was flirting with Geoff. And they’re so worried it’ll make Alejandro jealous.”

  “Ha.” She twirled her spoon on the placemat. “Well, you didn’t seem like you were flirting to me. But then, all I saw was your back.” She flattened her hand on the spoon, stopping it in mid-spin. “Wait. Did you do the smile?”

  I hunched up my shoulders while twisting my lips to one side. “Maybe?”

  Kenzie laughed. “You man killer. What am I gonna do with you?”

  “Send me home? I’m making a huge mess of everything.”

  “No, you’re not. Well, other than breaking the circus bin, but we can put duct tape over the crack.”

  She didn’t know about my fight with Noah. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. Maybe because I was trying to forget the horrible things he’d said. There was an ache right behind my breastbone every time I thought about it and him.

  So, time to focus on something else. Like the flirting with Geoff problem I might be able to do something about.

  I dug my fingers into my forehead. “I feel like such an idiot.”

  Kenzie gave me a brief smile and downed the rest of her latte. “You done?” She gestured to my cup.

  “More or less.” I took one more sip of my tea. It was too warm outside to be drinking hot things anyway.

  We got back in line, and Kenzie pulled the scavenger hunt note out of her purse. “You want me to talk to Geoff? Tell him you weren’t flirting, just joking around?”

  “I’m more worried about Molly. I don’t want her knifing me while I sleep.”

  Kenzie glanced at me as we shuffled forward. “As if. Molly lives in her own little world. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Not if the look Molly had given me that morning meant anything. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  The middle-aged lady in front of us paid, and we approached the youngish, bearded guy at the counter. “Back again,” he said and smiled.

  Kenzie smiled too. “Yeah, we were wondering if you could help us out with a scavenger hunt on Friday.”

  “Oh. What would I have to do?”

  Kenzie held up the note. “Just give the guy this clue when he comes in.”

  He rubbed at the corner of his eye with a knuckle and yawned. “Sorry.” He looked below the counter. “Someone might toss it if I leave it here. Could you stick it on the bulletin board?” He pointed to a board covered with business cards and flyers on the wall near the entrance.

  “It’s two days away,” Kenzie said. “What if someone else takes it?”

  The guy looked at the line forming behind us, and then came to a decision. He picked up a pen. “What’s his name?”

  “Geoff,” Kenzie said.

  He wrote it on the inside of his forearm. “And who should he call if something goes wrong?”

  “
Kenzie,” she said, flicking a section of thick blond hair over her shoulder.

  His pen wiggled again. He gave her a sharp nod. “Done.”

  “Thank you, um …?” she asked with a brief lip twitch.

  Uh-oh. Kenzie was flirting.

  “Mark.” He smiled, his gaze more interested.

  “Thanks so much, Mark.”

  “No problem.” A bit reluctantly, he turned away to wait on the next customer.

  After pinning the note to the bulletin board, we stepped outside. “How many more places do we have to go?” I asked.

  “Three,” Kenzie said, looking back through the window into the coffee shop. “He was cute.”

  “Yeah, hope he doesn’t shower and accidentally wash those names off. That would make him a lot less cute.”

  Kenzie snickered. “C’mon. This is gonna be the best birthday wild goose chase Geoff has ever been on.” She started out at her usual race-walking speed.

  I had to jog to keep up. But that was okay. It would keep my mind off everything else.

  Kenzie drove the SUV up to the front of the house and cut the engine. “You gonna do it?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Talk to Molly. She’s out there in back by herself. I saw her when we were driving up.”

  “Oh. Missed that.”

  Kenzie picked up a shopping bag. “Can you help me get the food in? I want to go hide Geoff’s presents in our room.”

  “Sure.” Somehow I managed to gather up my purse and the two bags of Chinese food we brought home for dinner. The citrusy scent of the orange chicken made my stomach grumble. Once inside, we set everything on the kitchen counter.

  Kenzie nodded toward the back of the house. “If you want to talk to her, not that I think you need to, now seems like a good time. No one’s around.”

  I frowned. “K.”

  Kenzie raced up the stairs with the bag of birthday presents and gag gifts. I inhaled slowly and then exhaled. The chance to talk to Molly had arrived, but I didn’t want to go through with it. Awkward situations were always to be avoided. But I also didn’t want to spend the whole rest of the week worrying about whether Molly or Geoff hated me when I could just get it settled right away.