Between the Girls (The Basin Lake Series Book 3)

by Stephanie Vercier

  “God, I’m a beast—forgive my diversion. Any news on her?”

  “Yeah, I had a talk with my mom. She told me what’s going on.”

  McKenzie’s eyes widen in anticipation. “And?”

  “I can’t say. Well, what I mean is that what I found out isn’t something Kate wants even me to know, so I kind of have to keep it to myself.”

  “Is it like because of a boy?” McKenzie’s ears perk up as if she wants it to be.

  I shake my head again. “No… really, I can’t tell you. The only thing we can do is be supportive.”

  She purses her lips, pushing them up and to one side, and I think she might fight me on that keeping it to myself thing. McKenzie is pretty much part of our family at this point, and I’m sure it stings a little not to be let in on this.

  “Are you okay with that?” I ask her when she doesn’t say anything.

  “Yes. I can be supportive, but it would help if I knew what I was supporting.”

  “It’s not my call. She doesn’t even want me to know.”

  “I get it, and I’m fine with that. When Kate is ready, she’ll tell me. In the meantime, what can we actually do?”

  Before I can even formulate a response, the front door jingles and James is barreling over to us.

  “Hey, babe!” He gives McKenzie’s shoulders a squeeze before grabbing the seat next to her.

  I’m just registering the addition to our table when I hear, “Hey Claire,” and startle at the sight of Austin looming above me.

  “Oh, hey.” I try my hand at being nice while really wishing he hadn’t tagged along with James.

  “Austin wanted some coffee,” James says with a dismissive glance toward me, likely knowing he fucked up in inviting him along.

  “He doesn’t drink coffee,” I say before turning up to Austin, “do you?”

  He smirks. “You caught me. I just wanted an excuse to see you again.”

  I eye McKenzie who eyes me right back, giving me that look that says she will seriously punish James for this.

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to see you,” McKenzie says without even the pretense of being friendly.

  “That’s not very nice.” Without any invitation, he pulls the chair up next to mine, hanging his arm behind my back.

  “I’m not doing this with you again.” I say it with a matter-of-fact firmness.

  “I think we should give them a few minutes,” James says, getting up and tugging at McKenzie.

  “I’m not leaving her alone with him!”

  I sigh. “It’s fine. I’ll be okay. I promise.”

  McKenzie looks at me like she doesn’t believe that, but she begrudgingly gets up, grabbing her coffee. “We’re just gonna be in the other corner, okay? Just yell if he makes any untoward advances.”

  “Untoward what?” Austin laughs.

  “Never mind.” McKenzie brushes my shoulder with her hand and then moves along with James.

  There was a time when I’d actively pursued being alone with Austin, when I’d been that girl who thought she was in love and was always hoping he might say something to me that would convince me that love was warranted.

  His eyes settle on me, but he doesn’t say a word.

  “So, what do you want with me?” I ask.

  “That’s a loaded question.” He smirks.

  “Do you even know what a loaded question is?” I reply, admittedly aiming low.

  With a quick laugh, he says, “Sure I know, just like I know I want another chance with you.”

  “You were a crap boyfriend, Austin. I don’t think you even took me to dinner once.”

  “I’ve matured,” he says, brushing at my ponytail with his hand but stopping when I inch away from him. “I’m working over at the garage now part time, full time once I finish up this semester.”

  “And then what?” I ask, deciding that if he wants to even think about pushing for another chance, then he better give me a damn good reason why I should let him.

  He shrugs. “And then I keep working. My uncle said I could take over one of his rental houses when I’m ready to be on my own. It’s big enough for two.”

  There is a small part of me that thinks what Austin is trying to offer me is sweet. In his own way, he’s asking me to think about moving in with him at some point and to have faith that he can pull his own weight financially, even if he’s not going to college. Maybe if he hadn’t been such a horrible boyfriend, I could try to imagine that would be enough for me, but then I’d just be lying to myself.

  “I’m going to be in school and residency for like ten years. I’m not going to get stuck in this town.”

  “Like it’s such a bad thing.” He looks away for a moment, annoyed I think.

  “It is a bad thing. We don’t even have a proper hospital here.”

  He keeps his eyes on me this time, and I can tell the gears in his head are working. Plan A has been blown to hell, but I’m sure he has a Plan B in store for me.

  “So we just hook up,” he says, brushing over my hand with his. “If you’re hell bent on leaving town, that gives us what, close to a year to be together?” He’s smiling now, perhaps liking this idea much better than the previous one. Hooking up means no commitment. He won’t even have to try. He won’t even have to buy me dinner.

  “Just hooking up is why I broke up with you—I’d have wanted more.”

  There, I said it—I had wanted more from Austin. No matter how moronic he was, no matter how incompatible, had he been sweeter and truly in love with me, I might have settled and seriously tweaked my dreams for him, even if it would have been a mistake. But I’m not going to settle for hooking up when it might only twist my feelings around again.

  He lets out a heavy breath. “I don’t understand girls. I really fucking don’t.” And then he gets up, and the bell at the door jingles when he leaves.

  McKenzie is back at the table in record time. “I heard it all,” she says, sounding impressed with her own listening skills. “Don’t let him suck you back in. Remember you don’t want to end up pregnant and stuck in this town, and Austin is the type that will cheat on you and divorce your ass before you’re thirty.”

  “I know all that,” I say, grateful for her friendship and the fact that she knows me as well as she does.

  “And I already told James no sex if he tries anything like this again, so we should be good on that.”

  “You’re amazing.” I get up and give her a tight hug, realizing how much I need it, especially when I can’t stop thinking about Kate.

  Mom and Kate went to the store a few minutes ago. Actually, Mom dragged Kate to the store. She’d have been content rolled into a ball on the couch watching TV and doing absolutely nothing, so tapped into her pain that I imagine it’s hard for her to even think of doing much of anything else.

  “Can I get you something?” I ask Grandma who is sitting up in her bed watching her favorite show in the world, Dr. Phil, with Lucille II in a ball at her feet, the first Lucille having recently passed away after being about as old as you can possibly get in cat years.

  “I’m doing just fine. Figured I’d turn in early tonight. How was your first day back at school?”

  “Not too bad.” I take another step into her room. “Grandma, did Mom tell you what’s going on with Kate?”

  Grandma’s smile turns down into something more wistful. “Yes, dear, I know. Kate will be okay. She’s got a family that loves her, and that’s what’s most important.”

  I consider that, but I’m not sure I completely agree. You can have all the love in the world, but Kate is the kind of girl that was born to be a mom. She was playing with dolls until she was twelve, dressing them, babying them, giving them names and saying those names would belong to all the kids she’d have someday.

  “Does Paige know?”

  “I don’t think so,” Grandma replies. “She’s so far away, you know.”

  When my big sister was still at home, I always thought she was keeping secrets fro
m us, especially about Garrett and Evan, her two best friends that became so much more than that. I’d been worried about her once too, so I’d broken into her phone—easy enough considering I’d watched her put her code in at least a hundred times—and reported my findings to Mom, which were that things were really bad between her and Evan. Paige hated me for invading her privacy, but I figured it was worth snooping if knowing someone’s secrets might end up helping them. And right now, I’m feeling like Paige needs to be let in on Kate’s secret.

  “I think I might call her.” I decide then and there it would be for the best.

  “Are you sure? I don’t know what Dr. Phil would say about that.”

  I can’t help but snicker. “I think Dr. Phil would support it, but let’s just keep it between you and me.”

  “All right, dear.”

  “Night, Grandma.”

  “Night.”

  “You’re positive?” Paige asks, having yawned when she’d first answered my call but now wide awake and alert.

  “Yeah, I guess she’s been to Dr. Cramer and two specialists in Spokane. It’s definitely real.”

  There’s silence and some rustling in the background.

  “Is Evan there with you?”

  “Uh huh. He kind of overheard.”

  I hadn’t expected Paige to keep the news to herself. She’s practically married to Evan without the marriage license, but I’m a little worried he might tell his sister, McKenzie, and then there’s their stepdad, Dr. Cramer, who wouldn’t be allowed to talk about Kate’s condition to anyone but her and Mom.

  “It’s fine. I didn’t tell McKenzie yet though. Do you think I should?”

  Paige sighs, and she’s whispering something to Evan, his masculine voice offering muffled answers. “That’s really up to Mom and Kate,” she continues. “McKenzie is basically family, so she’s going to find the specifics out at some point, but I’d hold off for now.”

  “Okay,” I say, calming. “Thanks for taking the time to talk me down. Kate’s kind of always around, so it’s hard to find time to talk to Mom, you know? I really do appreciate it.”

  “I should be thanking you for calling me. Mom hasn’t told me anything, and I can only imagine how Kate is feeling.”

  “Yeah, it sucks.”

  “It does…”

  “Well, I should probably go so I can get some studying in for tomorrow.”

  “Always so studious,” Paige says with a giggle. “I’m proud of you, little sister.”

  “That means a lot coming from you.”

  “It does? Well, ya know… I always figured you hated me, but maybe now not so much?”

  I pause. I never hated my big sister. If anything I was jealous of her always getting to do things first, but she doesn’t need to know that, not right now at least.

  “I’ve never hated you. I love you. Now, say hi to Evan, and good night.”

  “Hi, Evan,” Paige says sweetly, and Evan yells a hello to me on the other end. “Night.”

  “Night.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TYLER

  “Well, you’ve just about survived your first week at Basin Lake High,” Nick says, sitting across from me at the table in the cafeteria that I’ve been joining him at since day two. “Are you ready to pack your stuff and go running for the distant hills?”

  Thankfully I’ve just finished swallowing part of my sandwich because the way Nick asks me that, like a game show host, cracks me up.

  “I’m a real comedian here apparently,” he continues in an animated voice.

  “Pretty much,” I say, shaking my head and taking a long drink of water.

  “So, what’s the consensus on our little berg? Yea or nay?”

  “Not as bad as I thought it would be,” I say, casually looking off to the side, trying to catch sight of Claire at the table she and her friends sit at.

  “You’re looking for her, aren’t you?” he says knowingly. “Claire Kessel has managed to entangle the heart of yet another young man.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” I attempt to sound dismissive before taking another bite out of my sandwich.

  “Happens to the best of them,” Nick says in a resigned tone. “Some say the reason Austin didn’t graduate last year was because he was so sprung for Claire that he couldn’t focus on any of his school work.” He raises his brows, puts a hand to his heart and looks at me quizzically, then drops the hand, turns his expression light, shrugs and says, “Others just say he’s a fucking dumbass.”

  Again, I laugh, but not before the idea of Claire being with this Austin guy makes me jealous, a feeling that just adds to the mess in my head.

  “And, let me guess, you’re a member of drama club,” I say, deciding to focus on Nick and not my bizarre feelings.

  “Me? Drama club?” He almost looks offended. “Even if I was interested, that club is boring as shit here. All they ever do is Wizard of Oz. They call it a town tradition, but it’s basically the same old thing being recycled over and over again.”

  “You aren’t sticking around here after you graduate, are you?” I can picture Nick a lot of places, but Basin Lake isn’t one of them.

  “As far away as humanly possible!” He rips into his apple, taking a huge bite out of it while I can’t seem to help myself from zoning in on Claire.

  She’s laughing at the moment, but she wasn’t just a few minutes ago. She’s been quiet all week in chemistry, and I didn’t say more than two words to her when we were paired up again.

  “She’ll probably be at the bonfire tonight,” Nick says. “If you have a thing for staring at her, then you can stare at her tonight.”

  “I wasn’t staring,” I say defensively. “I just…”

  I just what?

  I’m not over Laney, and the last thing I want is to be put through the ringer with another girl. And yet that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t seem to stop thinking about Claire.

  “You can deny it, but it’s the law of attraction. Science doesn’t lie. Even if the said girl you are attracted to doesn’t even know you’re alive, this doesn’t make the law any less dynamic or true.”

  Now it’s my turn to put a little heat under Nick’s feet and take it off my own. “And who does the law of attraction have in mind for you?”

  I didn’t think Nick was the type to be easily embarrassed, but a dark crimson burns over his face, neck and up to his ears.

  “She go to this school?” I push, somehow picturing Nick being in love with some art student or computer programmer he’d met online.

  A slight nod is his only reply.

  “Come on, man. You have to tell me.”

  “I’ll tell you if you go to the bonfire with me tonight,” he says, his color starting on a slow return to normal.

  I sigh. I hadn’t exactly had anything else planned except maybe video chatting with Sam, but I’ve been a practical hermit all summer, and it’s starting to wear on me.

  “Okay, I’ll call your bluff.”

  “Nina Vargo.” He spits her name out like his interest in her is his own personal plague.

  “Nina from chemistry?” She’s the only Nina I’ve met so far, but I’m having a real hard time envisioning the girl I’ve been told is head cheerleader as Nick’s dream girl.

  “Indeed. Been in love with her since I was in second grade. Even made her an extra big Valentine’s Day card to show her how much.”

  “And her response was what?” If he’d gotten anywhere near as bad a response as I’d ended up getting from Laney, I’d really have no choice but to feel for the guy.

  “She loved it.” His smile is crooked, his eyes drifting like he’s looking into the past. “I think she might have even pecked me on the cheek, but by the time we hit third grade, Nina Vargo was in demand and didn’t have time for me.”

  “So, you really do like her? A cheerleader?”

  He nods appreciatively. “Without a doubt. That’s how I can see that you like Claire. Maybe if we team up and go to
this bonfire thing tonight, some kind of magical power will be activated, and we’ll actually get somewhere with them.”

  I laugh because he says it with near seriousness, but I guess that makes me more willing to go along with it. “Okay. I’ll definitely go.”

  “Really? Awesome!”

  I take another bite of my sandwich and sneak another look over at Claire, and this time she looks back… and smiles.

  CLAIRE

  I could swear that Tyler was watching me at lunch today, or maybe it was just me that was watching him, and he just happened to turn my way. Either way, I’d smiled at him, and he smiled back… or maybe he was just in the middle of chewing something—I’m not sure.

  If everything else in my life were settled, I could think a lot more about Tyler Duncan. More accurately, I could fantasize about him. He’s definitely the kind of boy that can populate your dreams, easily the cutest guy at this school with some secret edge to him that makes him even more enticing. What that edge is, I’m not sure exactly. And maybe I’ll never find out. He’s nice enough, but he doesn’t like to be bothered much in chemistry, and I doubt he’s interested in me, which is all the better because I don’t need any boy drama, even if there’s that part of me that disagrees.

  “I’m not going to that bonfire,” Kate says at the tail end of dinner, having barely touched a morsel on her plate.

  I look over at Mom for a brief instant and get a nod from her before I turn back to Kate. “Well, I won’t go unless you go. And this is my last chance for the first bonfire of the school year.”

  “Oh, please,” Kate says, not buying it. “Like you even care about the bonfire. Did you even go last year?”

  “Of course I did, and not just the first one.”

  “She did,” Mom adds, wanting to get Kate out of the house and with her friends as much as I do.

  “Probably because McKenzie or Austin dragged you there, not because you really wanted to. You’d rather study than have any fun.”

  I can’t help but shrug at the half-truth in that. I’d skipped more than my fair share of parties in consideration that studying for a big test or turning an okay paper into an excellent one was more important. Plus there was my part time job at the nursing home, working in the kitchen and delivering food trays to the residents; the volunteer job in Spokane and helping around the house and then trying to be involved in half as many high school clubs as Paige was. All of those took up plenty of time, and sometimes I just wanted what was left to myself.