Between the Girls (The Basin Lake Series Book 3)

by Stephanie Vercier

  And while I trust her feelings for me, I can also picture the new guys that will be surrounding her at college, men who will drool over this girl who wears heels and dresses and looks both hot and studious all at once. More importantly, she’s fucking smart. She could probably get into any school she wanted. She could get any guy she wanted.

  But she wants you.

  She loves you.

  That’s what I keep trying to remind myself of.

  But now, as I’m talking to Laney, I know that when I applied to those schools in August, I still was hoping for a second chance with her. And if there’s still even some small part of me that’s hoping for that, I’m a complete and total asshole.

  “I applied to a couple places there,” I tell her in a low, quiet voice.

  “Really?” She’s beaming back into the phone. “That would be so cool, Tyler. I miss you, and… ya know… I kind of fucked up with us. Second chances and all?”

  “I’m with someone,” I blurt out, needing to put a stop to Laney’s desire for a future reunion, no matter what our texts had said.

  “Really?” she says again, except she’s not beaming this time. She sounds disappointed. “You never mentioned that before.”

  “I know… well… I should have.”

  “Probably,” she says.

  “Her name is Claire,” I tell her, feeling pride in even saying her name out loud. “She’s got her shit together. She’s going to be a doctor.”

  “A doctor?” There’s a quick laugh. “All smarts and no looks I’m guessing?” It’s a bitchy thing to say, but there isn’t any actual bitchiness in her voice, more like she doesn’t want to imagine Claire being beautiful.

  “Beauty and brains,” I say, sounding smug even to my own ear.

  “So you don’t still love me then?” There isn’t anything but seriousness in the way she asks the question.

  “I…” I stumble on what to say before settling on what I should have realized a long time ago. “It’s confusing… I mean, I’ve been confused. And I do love you—that’s not something that’s easy to just turn off—but it’s just that I know now that it’s as a friend. I know that because I’m in love with Claire, and I owe her all of my heart.” The last part is said with so much inner resolution that I hope it comes across to Laney.

  She doesn’t say anything for a while, and I’m about to ask if she’s still there when she says, “I’m happy for you, Tyler. Maybe I love you more than a friend, like maybe I want another chance… well, will you let me still text you once in a while? You’re like one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever known.”

  “Laney, I’m not sure—”

  “It’s just texting, Tyler.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “But what? It’s not so terrible having a good friend back in Denver, is it?”

  But you just told me you love me more than a friend, that maybe you want another chance.

  “Sure… okay… I guess that’s fine.”

  “Good!”

  When we end the conversation and hang up a few minutes later, I’m left wondering why the hell I keep doing this. I’ve established, to myself and to Laney, that I’m in love with Claire, and I should be able to let Laney go without any guilt—she’s the one that cheated on me in the first place, right?

  And maybe Sam is right, that I’m still pissed off about her infidelity and allowing my hurt pride to keep this thing with Laney going. But if I got another chance with Laney and then was able to reject her, would that make me feel any better? I don’t think it would. I can’t see myself getting off on that or being satisfied in hurting another person.

  No, I don’t think I need a shrink for this. I was ready to let Laney go after telling her out loud I was in love with Claire, and I wouldn’t have been the one to offer to continue texting her. Maybe Laney needs this for a little while longer, but she’ll get over it. She’ll move on. But if her texts come even close to crossing the boundary into something more than friendship, I’ll put a stop to it—I won’t even try being nice. For now, my goal is just to move forward and hope to hell I don’t mess things up with Claire.

  CLAIRE

  “This is it!” I pretty much scream as I hold up a thick envelope from the University of Washington.

  Mom is already near tears, Grandma’s eyes are wide with excitement, and Kate is… well, Kate is sitting on the couch picking at her fingernails.

  “Well, open it,” Mom says, looking like she’s going to rip it out of my hands if I don’t.

  “Okay, okay.” I tear the envelope open, pretty much tossing all of the contents onto the dining room table except for the first page, which I scan quickly.

  Dear Ms. Kessel,

  We are happy to inform you…

  “I got in!” I yell, just glancing at the rest of the letter to confirm I’ve been accepted.

  “You’re going to be a Husky!” Mom beams. “Your dad would be beyond proud of you for this, and I am too!”

  “That’s so far, Claire,” Grandma says with worry in her voice. “I’m not going to be able to see you very much.”

  “I’ll come for lots of visits,” I assure her, “and you guys can come to Seattle too!”

  “Oh, it’s too big a city for me and my old bones,” Grandma says.

  Mom laughs. “Your bones are not old. You’ve been saying that for years, but you can walk perfectly fine now that you don’t stay cooped up in your room all day.”

  Grandma throws an only slightly annoyed look at my mom, then with a serious tone says, “Dr. Phil would say you are minimizing my pain, but then Dr. Oz would tell me to get off my ass.”

  Even Kate who couldn’t be bothered to congratulate me is laughing at that. “Dr. Oz is a crackpot,” she offers once she’s done laughing, “but I like that bit of advice.”

  “He’s found several miracle remedies,” Grandma says before Mom cuts her off.

  “We can talk about Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil later. But today we are talking about Claire and the fact that she will be pre-med this fall at UW!”

  The flurry of excitement continues with Mom saying she’s taking us to DeNero’s and telling me to invite whomever I want.

  Tyler is the first person I call to share my news, even before McKenzie or Paige.

  “I got in!” I beam, unable to hold down my excitement.

  “U-Dub?” he’s asking me.

  “Yes, my first choice. I’m in!”

  “I’m so proud of you, babe. We have to celebrate.”

  “Mom wants to take us to DeNero’s, that Italian place downtown?”

  “Oh, sure… yeah… sounds good.”

  “The sooner you can get here, the better,” I instruct, feeling like I’m about to bounce off of a wall or something.

  “I will be,” he says.

  It isn’t until after dinner, after I’ve finally come back down to earth from the excitement of getting into my dream school that I notice Tyler is a little reserved.

  “Can we go to my house and maybe talk for a while?” he asks.

  “Sure.”

  Mom seems glad for the time we’ve all had at dinner, so she readily agrees to let me head out with him.

  “I hope you aren’t upset,” I say as he’s driving me back to his house.

  “About you getting into college? I’m happy for you, babe.”

  “But you didn’t get a letter yet from them, did you?”

  “You know my grades aren’t as good as yours. I’ll get in somewhere.”

  I decide not to keep talking about it because I don’t want to think where that somewhere might be. Even though I’m determined he and I will survive a cross-state romance, I worry that life might get in the way and that exterior forces could tear us apart. Paige had told me everything she had gone through with Evan that first year, how she’d been technically dating Garrett Hevener, but that she loved Evan and that they nearly didn’t end up together for so many reasons that it could make your head spin.

  So, I knew you could love
someone but that unexpected things could get in the way. That’s what scared me.

  “That’s wonderful, Claire,” Mrs. Duncan tells me once we get to his house and he tells her my news.

  “Really impressive,” Mr. Duncan says. “We’ll miss seeing you when you head off to Seattle.”

  “It’s not like she’s going to China,” Tyler barks back at his father, a moment of awkward tension between the two of them.

  “What was all that about?” I ask him once we’re outside on the deck, the night warm enough so that we aren’t shivering without coats.

  “My dad is just weird. You haven’t realized that by now?”

  I shrug. Mr. Duncan might be a little standoffish around me, but weird is not a word I’d assign to him.

  “Anyway, I’ve got to grab something inside. Wait just a minute for me, okay?”

  “Okay. Should I be timing you?”

  “If you want.” He grins, then hops up, leaving me alone on the outdoor couch while he heads inside.

  The night really is nice, and I’ll miss Basin Lake, the quiet and the way you can look out over the land that stretches out for miles and miles without a single house in sight. It will be completely different in Seattle, and I’m looking forward to that, but I’m not looking forward to the very real possibility Tyler won’t be there with me.

  I can’t get too lost in my thoughts because Tyler pops back out, holding a gift bag, two wine glasses and a bottle of what I’m guessing is sparkling cider.

  “You’re prepared,” I say, impressed that he apparently has some kind of gift for the occasion while I hadn’t even thought of what I’d get to celebrate when he gets his college acceptance.

  “I do what I can,” he says with a quick laugh. “Mom and Dad both okayed the wine, as long as we just have a little bit.”

  “It’s real wine?”

  “Yeah,” he laughs again. “But only a little. You can just sip it like you said you do on holidays.”

  I’m not a saint when it comes to not drinking. I’ve been to parties and been drunk, but I’m not used to it, and after I’ve had about half a glass, I’m already feeling pretty buzzed.

  “This is strong, Tyler,” I say, imagining a few more swallows and I might start slurring my words.

  “You’re a lightweight, babe,” he says, wrapping his arm around me, “and I’m officially cutting you off.”

  “That’s probably for the best.”

  “Sober enough to open your presents?”

  “Presents? As in plural?” It seemed like Tyler was always getting me something, even small somethings, a book about famous female doctors, a bouquet of flowers, a folded map of the constellations of the night sky. I’d tried to meet his penchant for gift giving with my own, but I wasn’t as good at it, couldn’t always anticipate what would make a good gift or something that I knew he’d enjoy, so instead I’d give him long massages, his shoulders, his back, his feet, whatever. And sometimes, just to be kind of annoying, I’d tell him the anatomical names for the muscles I was kneading, but he didn’t ever seem to find that part irritating—he called it endearing.

  “You deserve them for everything you’ve done to get to this point,” he says, pride in his eyes as he hands me the gift bag. “Go ahead and take a look.”

  Inside are two presents that have been neatly wrapped, and somehow I know he did the wrapping himself instead of pawning it off on his mother to do it. I’m not sure what to expect, just hoping he hasn’t gone overboard. But when I open the larger box and pull out a brand new stethoscope, it feels just perfect, like he couldn’t have chosen better.

  “I love it,” I say, wrapping it around my neck, putting the ear tips into my ears and placing the diaphragm on Tyler’s chest.

  I close my eyes and listen to the rhythmic beating of his heart, speeding up before it eventually slows back to normal again. When I open my eyes and pull it away from him, he’s smiling.

  “All normal?” he asks.

  “Healthy.”

  “Open the other one,” he says, clearing his throat and looking back to the bag as I remove the stethoscope.

  I offer him an excited smile and get right to unwrapping the other present, smaller but containing something just as special I’m sure.

  “It’s a caduceus,” I say, easily recognizing the beautiful silver necklace in the shape of a winged staff with two snakes curling around it, a symbol of the medical profession.

  “I hope you like it. I read that it’s really supposed to represent this god named Hermes, but that somehow they started using it as a sign for medical stuff.”

  “You’re right,” I say, the wine nudging my laughter more than usual. “But that makes it kind of cool, and I absolutely love it! Can you help me put it on?”

  He wraps it around my neck, his touch sending a warm shiver through me before he clasps it. And then he pulls me very close to him on the outdoor couch and leans his head against mine, the both of us looking out into the darkness beyond, illuminated only by the moon and the stars.

  Every once in a while, he pulls me a little tighter to him, as if he’s afraid I might slip away. It makes me sure he’s worried about me going to college in Seattle when his plans are still undefined.

  “Remember that I’m coming in October for the concert, no matter what,” he says, staving off my worry about us being apart.

  “That’s right… and I’m counting on it.” I close my eyes again, find myself touching the caduceus that now hangs around my neck and knowing I’ll feel close to him whenever I wear it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  TYLER

  Seattle, Washington

  “It’s such a big city,” Claire says once we’ve driven across Lake Washington, through the Mount Baker tunnel, the freeway making a final turn toward Seattle’s very tall skyline.

  “Yeah, bigger than Denver,” I say, trying to keep my eyes on the road while also not wanting to miss anything of the city I’d offered to take Claire to for the weekend so we both could get a better idea of where she’d be starting college in the fall.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to school here!” She’s pretty much beaming sitting beside me, her excitement written all over a beautiful face that hasn’t stopped smiling since we’d come through the Cascades.

  “Kind of a return home in a way, huh?” I turn to smile at her, just wanting to get another look at her face, while also attempting to negotiate the entrances and exits of the freeway and the sudden thick, nearly unmoving traffic.

  “Sort of, but I was too young when we moved to remember a whole lot. When we came over for Emma’s wedding last summer, it didn’t really feel like home or anything, just a big, fun city.”

  “You can’t be having too much fun going to school though,” I say, trying to make a joke out of it but inwardly worried she’ll be here without me, having a blast and meeting other guys.

  “Don’t remind me. Court and Denny told me you have to make the most of your free time, especially when it comes to med school.”

  Thankfully Court and Denny, two med students Claire met at Emma’s wedding, are a couple—I’m not sure how I’d feel if this Denny guy were single and giving my girlfriend career advice.

  “We’re not meeting up with them until tonight, right?” I’ve already taken the exit into downtown, the plan to meet up with my buddy, Sam, first and then hang out with Claire’s friends tonight. But they all seem to have a busy schedule, so I want to make sure nothing has changed.

  “That’s still the plan. Wow… I really have to pee. Do you have to pee?”

  I laugh. “Didn’t we just stop in Issaquah?”

  “I know, but I’m just sort of nervous meeting your friend, and I’m kind of nervous about seeing everyone tonight too. It’s just sort of overwhelming, in a good way of course.”

  “His place isn’t far,” I say, even though I’m just guessing based on the map I looked at before we left early this morning. “Can you maybe guide me the rest of the way?”

>   “Sure,” she says, picking up the directions I’d printed out. “Umm… let’s see. It says you want to be on Madison.”

  Between her phone and the sheet of directions, Claire is an excellent navigator. Like the time she’d guided me to the nursing home in Spokane, she anticipates whatever lane I need to be in and how long before I need to take a right or a left. She gets us to Montlake, the neighborhood where Sam lives, without us taking even one wrong turn.

  Once I park, I send a quick text to Sam to let him know we’re here. I haven’t seen the guy in person since he graduated high school in Denver and moved to Seattle, but he’s been like the older brother I’ve never had and helped me through some of my darkest days. I don’t admit to Claire how nervous I am because I shouldn’t be. I’ve been video chatting with Sam at least once a week for the last year.

  “It’s this building,” Claire says, pointing a slender finger across the street. She’s out of the car and dressed casually, a rarity in her life, though she was sure to let me know she’ll be changing into something different later.

  “Not as big as I thought it would be,” I say of the three-story apartment building on the corner of a major road and a much quieter one lined with older, single family houses.

  “But I like it because of that,” Claire says, walking around the Jeep. “It’s a lot more green and quiet here than downtown was.”

  “Yeah, me too.” I wrap my arm around her shoulder, and we walk to the door together, pressing the button for Sam’s apartment number.

  “So, it won’t be rude if I ask to use the bathroom… like immediately?” she asks after we’re buzzed in and making our way up the stairs.

  I chuckle. “Hardly. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Ty!” It’s the first thing Sam says, his door already open when we round the corner to his hallway. He follows up with a giant hug. “Good to see you, man.”

  “You too. It’s been too long.”

  “And this is Claire, huh?” He lets go of me and then pulls Claire up into his arms like he’s known her for forever too.

  “Hey,” she says, offering me an amused smile. “Can I use your bathroom?” she asks innocently as soon as he lets go of her.