The Weather Girl

by Amy Vastine

  He was surprised to find Rachel waiting for him by his desk when he stopped to grab his keys. “Great job at five, Travis. You’re really going to be a big draw.” She put her hand on his arm and not so subtly squeezed his biceps. She must have liked what she felt because she let out an appreciative hum. “You’ve been an excellent addition to the team.”

  Travis took a step back. He was far from excellent. He wasn’t even good yet. Over Rachel’s shoulder, he spotted Summer on her way to the elevators. She looked at him, then Rachel, before averting her eyes and ducking her head. She pushed the button on the wall and stared at the little arrows above the doors. As unpleasant as an elevator ride with the Weather Girl seemed, it was definitely the lesser of two evils at this point.

  Smiling graciously, Travis thanked Rachel and attempted to escape. She stepped in his way. “Did you bring dinner or would you like to join me for something to eat?”

  “That’s sweet of you, but—” he started.

  “Great!” Rachel slipped her arm under his. “I know this lovely place close by. The owners are big fans of mine. We’ll be treated like royalty.” She winked and led him to her desk to get her purse as Summer disappeared into the elevator alone.

  Intercepted.

  Thanks to Rachel’s love of attention, their dinner took forever. She posed for pictures with other diners and made Travis sign autographs. In the end, they didn’t get back to the station until it was nearly time to go on the air. Travis spent a few minutes hiding in the bathroom, practicing his report. It certainly wasn’t going to be flawless. He’d be lucky if it lived up to his mediocre performance at five.

  When he went to drop his notes on his desk before heading into the studio, Brian and Summer were standing nearby. “Come out for a couple drinks, Summer. It won’t kill you,” he heard Brian say.

  Brian Sanchez was a decent guy and a likable anchorman. He had one of those faces that made you trust everything he had to say. So far, he hadn’t given Travis any reason to believe that wasn’t the case. Brian was also the unofficial social director at the station. He organized poker games and managed the station’s softball team. He planned office picnics and Christmas parties. Tonight, he’d invited people out for drinks after work. Rachel had mentioned it at dinner—multiple times.

  Instead of accepting his offer, Summer cleared her throat. “Did you know that the average snowflake is made up of 180 billion molecules of water?” she asked.

  Travis shook his head at her response. Did she have any idea how lucky she was that her nerves didn’t affect her work? He stood up as Brian continued to press. “Do not try to freak me out with your weather facts. You’re coming with us. No backing out.” Spotting Travis, he pulled him into the conversation. “You’re coming, right Travis?”

  Travis held up his hands. “Don’t use me as bait. If she hears I’m coming, she won’t show for sure.”

  “Your presence has no effect on my decision to go or not,” Summer quickly retorted.

  “There you have it!” Brian smacked Travis on the back. “It’s settled. You’re both coming.” He smiled as he took off to catch one of the writers who needed some harassing about going out, as well.

  Summer looked less than thrilled at the prospect of drinks with her coworkers. “You don’t have to go,” Travis said, trying to give her an out.

  “Maybe I want to go,” she replied stubbornly.

  “Then you should go.”

  “Maybe I will.”

  “Great.”

  “Great.”

  “I guess I’ll see you there.”

  “I guess so.” Summer’s shoulder brushed against his arm as she slipped past him. As refreshing as her disinterest was, Travis was beginning to think it wouldn’t be so bad if she could at least tolerate him.

  The ten o’clock newscast didn’t improve his mood. Travis’s segment was passable at best. Ken was going to fire him if he didn’t find a way to loosen up. Even though the Rangers looked as though they were headed for their third championship in the American League, rattling off baseball stats just wasn’t his thing. He sat at his desk, wondering if being a football player was all he was ever going to be good at.

  “Who’s ready to celebrate Travis’s first full week?” Rachel said from behind him. Travis turned around to find not only Rachel, but also Brian and a few of the guys from the control room ready to go. The writers and the evening producer were standing by the elevators with two of the women from marketing who’d finished work hours ago.

  The large group headed down the street to a small bar with a pool table and good country music. As expected, the conversations centered on Travis, football or a combination of both. He found himself regurgitating the same stories he’d been telling all week long. Most wanted to know about Miami and what it was like to play in certain stadiums. Some wanted to talk about winning the Big 12 Championship game against Nebraska. Others focused on the high-school teams and what Travis thought of them. Rachel was clingy and her perfume made his nose itch.

  The only decent conversation he had all night was with Summer, of all people. He overheard her telling one of the production assistants about some hurricane activity in the Caribbean and he joined in, sharing his storm experiences last year in Miami. Unfortunately, other people didn’t find weather as interesting as he and Summer did, and it wasn’t long before the focus shifted to Travis and football. Like it always did. No matter how hard he tried to not let it. As soon as that happened, Summer disappeared.

  He found her talking to a young man in a black cowboy hat a little while later. His jeans and flannel shirt were a dead giveaway that he didn’t work for the station. Unfortunately, he had a nephew who played for the local high school, and he wanted to know what Travis thought about the competition in 4A. Summer moved on pretty quickly.

  Travis ordered one more drink from the bartender, who was quick to admit he had been a big Travis Lockwood fan. The old man kindly offered up his condolences regarding the shoulder injury. The pity was always hard to swallow. Travis could see it in people’s eyes before it even came out of their mouths. Everyone was sorry his dream hadn’t been fully realized. Sometimes Travis wanted to ask them how they knew what his dreams were. Maybe football had nothing to do with his dreams.

  After enduring one more conversation about UT’s prospects for a championship, Travis decided to call it a night. He slipped out, only to find the Weather Girl standing outside the door, digging through her enormous red bag.

  “Here I’ve been waiting all evening to find out what the Babylonians had genetically that we don’t and you’re out here trying to sneak away without saying good-night,” he said.

  “Good night, Travis.” She pulled her keys out and held them up, victorious.

  “You hate me so much you won’t even tell me, huh?”

  Summer exhaled loudly. “I don’t hate you. My grandma taught me hating someone is nothing but a big waste of time. Time that could be spent planting a garden or cleaning my room.”

  “I think your grandma was trying to get you to do your chores.”

  One side of her mouth quirked up as she headed for the parking lot. “Probably. She’s tricky like that.”

  Travis followed. “You’re killing me here. Why won’t you tell me?”

  “What do you want from me, exactly?”

  Travis sighed and decided to be totally honest with her. “Someone to talk to who doesn’t want to rehash every play I ever made on the football field. Someone who won’t sit across from me hoping I’m going to take her home or kiss her good-night.”

  “Don’t ever try to kiss me.” The fierceness in her voice left no room for doubt. “That will get you a slap across the face, mister.”

  He held his hands up in surrender. “No kissing. Yes, ma’am. But I really do want to know about the Babylonians.”

  She
clicked the button to unlock her car and pulled the door open. “I think the Babylonians could feel the rain coming like I do. My dad told me once that humans probably evolved so that we didn’t need to be that sensitive to certain things. We had better shelter, tracked seasons formally, developed tools like barometers and Doppler radar. We didn’t need to feel it anymore. Maybe I’m the last of the supersensitive humans.”

  When she talked about the weather, she came to life. There was something about the look in her eye when she shared that kind of information. It was a spark that flashed inside her, a light that he wanted to make brighter. “I think I get it. I might need you to be my date to the next Rotary meeting to explain it to them, though.”

  Summer flushed. “Did you know that we’ve been experiencing above-average temps for the last forty days in a row?”

  “It’s definitely hot around here. Not as hot as that place in Libya you were talking about, but still very hot.”

  She stared at him for a minute and he worried he hadn’t gotten the country right. He could have sworn she said Libya.

  Climbing into her car, she gave him one more curious look. “Good night, Travis.”

  “Good night, Summer.” He watched her drive away. She didn’t hate him. She didn’t like him, either, but maybe she was coming close to tolerating him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SUMMER KNEW THINGS weren’t going to go the way she wanted this week. It was destined to be a terrible, no good week. Between the changes at work and the date on the calendar, there was no way she was going to come out unscathed. Mimi stopped getting out of bed starting on Wednesday. Claimed to be feeling under the weather. A broken heart was not an ailment you could fix by picking something up at the drugstore, so Summer tried all her other tricks. She came over to help plant some bulbs for next spring, offered to paint the powder room Mimi had been complaining about a couple weeks ago, even asked for a cooking lesson. Nothing Summer did raised Mimi’s spirits much. By Saturday, Big D had given up trying and told Summer she should do the same. He figured she’d get out of bed on Sunday, no point in pushing her any more than they already had.

  Sunday was the tenth anniversary of her parents’ deaths and they always went to the cemetery for a small memorial. Mimi and Big D visited throughout the year, but the anniversary was the only time Summer went. It bugged her a little that her parents were buried in Texas. She imagined two free spirits like them would have wanted their ashes spread out over the sea, where their remains would continue the journey around the world for the rest of time.

  Of course, they hadn’t been expecting to die so young, and there was no will, no burial wishes written down. Mimi wanted them close and Summer’s other grandparents were out of the picture. They had basically disowned their Miss Georgia Peach daughter when she’d come home from college telling them she’d met a boy who wanted her to chase dangerous storms with him all across the country.

  Despite Big D’s advice, Summer showed up at her grandparents’ on Saturday anyway. It was better than sitting at home, wondering why Travis Lockwood cared so much about what she thought, or what Ryan was going to tell her when he showed up in Abilene tomorrow. She kissed her grandfather hello and made sure he had lunch before knocking on the bedroom door.

  “Can I come in?” Summer asked, pushing the door open a crack. The room was dark, the shades pulled down and the curtains drawn.

  “I’m not feelin’ well. You might want to keep your distance,” Mimi said softly.

  Couldn’t catch a broken heart, either, so Summer stepped inside. Mimi looked so small, all curled up on her bed under the quilt she’d stitched with her own hands. She had her back to the door and didn’t move when Summer’s footsteps made the wood floors creak. Summer ran her hand over one of the clusters of quilted stars. Mimi often joked she didn’t need to camp; she slept under the stars every night. She had sewn one with a similar Seven Sisters pattern for Summer when she moved out.

  Without asking, Summer climbed into the bed and wrapped herself around her grandmother from behind. She pressed her cheek against the back of Mimi’s shoulder. “Did you now that when lightning strikes sandy soil, this kind of glass forms? People have actually found tubes of glass in the sand after thunderstorms.”

  “Lightning glass, huh?” the old woman replied.

  “Yep. Kinda looks like a charred, hollow tree branch. I want some.”

  “Touchable lightning.”

  Summer smiled. “I knew you’d know why I thought it was cool. Being able to hold lightning in your hand? I’d feel like Zeus.”

  “Touch all the lightning glass you want, but stay away from the electrical kind, please.” Mimi gave Summer’s hand a pat.

  “Yes, ma’am.” They lay together in the dark and quiet, giving and taking comfort that couldn’t be expressed any other way. “Want to come to the store with me to pick up what we need for lunch tomorrow? Ryan texted me. He said he and Kelly would be here when we get done with church.”

  “It’s a testament to the kind of people your parents were, him coming here every year to remember them. He’s never stopped being your daddy’s best friend.”

  Summer squeezed her grandmother tightly. “Daddy had the best of everything. The best friends, the best wife, the best parents.”

  Mimi sniffled. “The best daughter,” she added.

  A few more minutes passed in silence. Sometimes Mimi came out from under the dark clouds on her own. Other times she needed Summer to show her the way. Summer rolled off the bed and went to the windows, throwing open the curtains. “Come to the store with me.”

  Mimi didn’t argue or make excuses. Without any fuss, she sat up and hooked her legs over the side of the bed. As she ran her fingers through the tangles in her long blond hair, her all-cried-out eyes looked over at Summer. “I thank the good Lord every day that you weren’t in the car that night.”

  Summer’s parents had traveled with her all over North America when she was a child. They were the ones running toward a storm when everyone else was running away. They were scientists and adventurers who lived every day to the fullest, and woke up every morning with the purpose of discovering something new. It seemed like some sort of sad joke that two people who chased deadly storms would be done in by a drunk driver on the way home from their anniversary dinner, but that was the reality. One simple date night ended in a horrific tragedy that left Summer orphaned at sixteen.

  She’d shamefully cursed God many times after the accident. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she realized how blessed she really was. God took her parents but saw to it that she had her grandparents and they had her. The lump in Summer’s throat made it impossible to respond to Mimi’s comment. She simply nodded and gave her grandmother a few minutes to get ready. Maybe they both needed to get out of the house and focus on other things.

  * * *

  SUNDAY STARTED LIKE every other Sunday, with church and a leisurely walk home. The late morning sun was unforgiving today—temperatures were expected to reach into the nineties. The neighbors were all inside, enjoying their air-conditioning. Outdoor work had to be done just before sunrise or in the hour before sunset. The heat didn’t allow for much more. Big D pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. The collar of his white dress shirt was soaked.

  “You sure you haven’t been feeling any rain comin’?” he asked his granddaughter. “What I wouldn’t give for some rain.”

  “Nope. Nothing.”

  “Sure your rain feelings aren’t being distracted by some other feelings lately? Like the ones I think you have for that sports fella,” Mimi chimed in with waggling eyebrows. She was unusually spirited given the date.

  Summer nudged her with an elbow. How in the world had Travis found his way into their conversation? “There are no feelings. Rain or otherwise.”

  “You know, the more I wat
ch him, the more I like him. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be around him in person. He’s one good-lookin’ young man. Even Big D said he thought you two would be cute together.”

  “I’m fairly certain I never used the word cute,” the old man interjected. “And leave the girl alone. Pestering her isn’t going to get you what you want. Knowing Summer, she’ll do the exact opposite of what you want just to spite you.”

  Summer laughed. He knew her all too well. Her grandmother had this way of riling up the rebellious sixteen-year-old inside her, the one she never dared to be when she really was a teenager. Travis was exactly what Mimi wanted for Summer—someone with roots in the area, with good genes and a pleasant disposition. Someone she could settle down with here in Texas until they were old and gray like Mimi and Big D. Only Summer didn’t want to settle. Someday she was going to leave this place. Someday she would live a life of adventure.

  “Travis Lockwood and I are completely incompatible. When you see it snow in July, you’ll see me and that man get together.”

  “Careful, now, you know better than all of us that it snows somewhere in July,” Mimi said with a smirk. As much as Summer hated being teased, it was worth it to see her grandmother smiling. She’d endure anything to keep Mimi in this mood, today of all days.

  A cherry-red rental car was idling in the Raineses’ driveway when they turned down their quiet street. Ryan came jogging down the sidewalk to greet them with hugs and hellos. Seeing Ryan again was like reuniting with a long-lost family member. He looked the same as he had the last time she’d seen him. Ryan had an actor’s build—short but fit. What he lacked in height, he made up for in charisma and charm. He dressed as if he were auditioning for the role of Indiana Jones, minus the bullwhip. The man loved his khaki and his fedora. Wire-rimmed glasses were a new addition to the ensemble. They were an unfortunate side effect of old age, he complained. Summer rolled her eyes at that. His hair was a little grayer, but he still looked very much like the man she knew as a child.