Still The One (The Heartbreak Brothers 2)

“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 g

oing 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.”