Somebody Else's Sky (Something in the Way 2)

“Sounds epic,” Corey said, but neither of us looked at him. He flicked his cigarette into the fire. “I’m gonna go see if Cane’s back with more alcohol yet. He’ll need a hand.”

I still had half a cigarette left, and I didn’t like giving up something I’d once fought a man over, but I felt like I should offer. “Need help?”

“Nah, we’re good,” he said and took off, leaving Val and me.

“You think I’m an asshole, don’t you?” Val asked.

I hadn’t been sure what to make of Val when I’d met her. In some ways, Lake’s relationship with her reminded me of hers with Tiffany’s—one loud and attention seeking, the other composed, reserved. Except Val seemed to recognize that Lake’s quiet confidence wasn’t to be mistaken for meekness. She challenged Lake in a way her friends and family didn’t. Not even her dad, because Charles didn’t really want Lake to think for herself. “I think you’re a good friend.”

“Because I don’t have a dick?”

I pulled back, frowning. “What?”

“When Corbin tries to look out for Lake, you go caveman. Is it because you want her for yourself?”

I set my jaw. She had no right telling me my business, but my anger was diluted by the fire her words lit in me. Want her for myself. Want. Lake. For. My. Self. Lake did bring out the caveman in me.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Val said as Tiffany headed back in our direction. “But you can have her. Of that, I’m pretty sure.”

Tiffany pulled her hands into her sweater sleeves, trekking through the sand toward us. “I haven’t stopped smiling since the party,” she called out to me. “My cheeks hurt.”

“Why?” Val asked.

Tiffany’s smile fell. “Because I’m getting married.”

“Oh yeah.” Val snorted. “I already forgot.”

Val knew how to get to Tiffany. Unlike Lake’s other friends, I hadn’t seen Tiffany try to engage her. Maybe she wasn’t sure she’d win. “Maybe you’ve had enough beer,” I told her.

“Maybe.” Val tossed her empty beer can into a trash bag slumped by some lawn chairs. “I’ll see if the guys need any help.”

“So,” Tiffany started, “how do you feel about hydrangeas?”

I looked over her head. Lake was walking away from the bonfire, along the water. “What’s she doing?” I asked.

“Hydrangeas,” she said. “What do you think?”

“Huh? What is that?”

“A type of flower. For the wedding.”

“Tiff,” I said, squinting to see into the dark, “you know I don’t give a fuck about the flowers.”

“All right, geez. I thought you might want to try to care.”

I cared enough that I’d possibly made a deal with the devil, but I didn’t have time to get into that now. “Where’s Lake going?”

“I don’t know. Probably to drown herself because I stole her spotlight.”

My face heated as I dropped my eyes to her. I’d never gone into much detail about my sister’s death with Tiffany, but she knew Maddy had drowned. “Why would you say that?” I asked. “You have any idea how insensitive that is?”

She rubbed under her nose, looking away as she muttered, “About as insensitive as ignoring me?”

Tiffany wasn’t mean-spirited, but sometimes she did mean things out of hurt. I knew her comment about drowning hadn’t been meant as a barb at me—it was too low of a blow. But she needed to think before she spoke. “I’m going to go get Lake.”

“No.”

I glanced down at her. “No?”

She put her hand in my free one. “She’ll be fine. I need you here.”

“For what?” I squeezed her hand but let it go. “I’ll just be a minute. It’s not safe for her to walk alone in the dark.”

Tiffany folded her arms. “Manning.” She thinned her lips into a bloodless line. “I said no.”

She was telling me no. It was cute she thought she could. Before anything, I was a man, and I answered only to myself. Especially after the life I’d led. I’d bent over backward to make Tiffany comfortable, but I wasn’t indulging this kind of behavior. I took a drag of my cigarette and watched Lake get farther away. “I have to.”

“Like you had to let her in your truck that night? You couldn’t have just fucking said no and closed the door?”

I sucked nicotine into my lungs, hoping it’d morph into some kind of explanation for that night. I understood why she was paranoid after what she’d witnessed with her dad, but I didn’t need Tiffany throwing that in my face the rest of our lives. “I tried.”

“Try harder.”

I didn’t want to. Tiffany didn’t know that trying harder meant me walking away from the whole situation. I’d given her as much as I was able these past couple years. This moment wasn’t about her, though. Lake was hurting, and it was my fault, and I had to attempt to fix it. I kissed Tiffany on the forehead and started for the shore.