Page 20 of Nixon’s Promise

“I get it,” I cut her off.

“Just sayin’.”

“Yeah, I know what you’re just sayin’. I appreciate you looking out for me, but we are just friends. He’s my neighbor and he’s taken to Zack. You should see him, Becky. He’s back to being my happy kid brother. Too bad all of Nix’s goodness hasn’t rubbed off on Mandy.”

“She still giving you a hard time?”

God, I hated bitching about my sister. I loved her, I really did. I also knew she was hurting, we all were. I missed my dad and Carla every day. So many times I’d wished I could pick up the phone and call one of them for advice. I wished Carla was here to plan Mandy’s seventeenth birthday. I wished my dad was the one teaching Zack how to ride a dirt bike. Not that my dad knew how to ride, but if one of us wanted to do something, Dad always made sure he’d research it and then teach us what he’d learned.

Hell, when I told him I wanted to be a software engineer, by the time I’d graduated the University of Maryland, Dad had taught himself pretty much everything I’d learned in my four years in college. He only did that so he’d know what I was talking about when he asked about my job. That was the type of man our dad was, thoughtful and attentive. I tried to be that way with Mandy so she’d still have that in her life, but she shut me down every single time I tried.

“Yeah. I swear she hates me. Her birthday is next week and she says she doesn’t want to celebrate it. I’m still on the fence what I’m going to give her.”

“What does she want?”

“A new fifteen-hundred-dollar phone and a car.”

“Right, because driving your Altima, leaving you to drive Old Blue, isn’t good enough.”

Man, I loved Becky. She always had my back.

I heard an engine whining outside and peered out the window.

“Listen, I gotta run. Zack and Nix are here with Zack’s new dirt bike.”

“Dirt bike?”

“Yeah, Nix gave it to him. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Nix gave it to him?” she whispered. Before I could answer her, Zack yelled my name. “McKenna?” Becky was still whispering. I hadn’t gotten to the part where Zack had started calling me by my first name.

“Gotta run, girl. I’ll call you later.”

“You better. Bye.”

I couldn’t see if she’d disconnected because I was on my hands and knees scrubbing around the kickplates of the cabinets with a toothbrush and my phone was on a nearby chair. I hated when my floor was sparkling clean until your eyes hit where the cabinets sat and all you saw was grime.

“In here!” I yelled. “Don’t let Duke in.”

I heard the screen door creak open, then slam shut and two sets of footsteps stop behind me.

“We got it running!” Zack exclaimed.

“I heard. Give me a sec and I’ll be out to see it.”

“Cool. Nix says the carb still needs to be adjusted but I rode it over here. It’s not that hard to shift.”

“Great.” I finished with the corner I’d been working on and looked over my shoulder. “All done. Let’s go see your new bike.”

I stood and smiled at Nix. He looked damn good in another pair of jeans and tight tee, this one navy blue. His biceps threatened to tear the cotton of the sleeves and I wondered if they made shirts that would fit him properly. “Hey, Nix,” I greeted.

With a scowl and a lift of his chin he headed for the door.

Zack’s exuberance gave no indication there was anything wrong between him and Nix. But maybe Zack was so excited about the bike he’d missed that Nix was upset about something. Or maybe Nix was just over having a teenage boy pestering him.

Shit. Zack totally loved hangin’ with Nix.

We’d barely made it off the porch when Mandy pulled in and parked the Altima.