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Brock’s fingers tightened on Summer’s shoulders. He tried to pull her into an embrace. “Hey, I’m sure we can—”
“Didn’t youhearwhat I just told you?” Summer tore herself out of his grasp. “I’m a failure and a fraud, Brock, not the expert everyone thought I was! And if Grandma cancels the deal, it’ll be my fault.”
He stared at her, his eyes burning with some emotion she couldn’t interpret. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out.
“I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was just trying to make things right!” Then she couldn’t take it anymore. She turned on her heel and dashed for the diner’s back door. Thank God she’d left her car parked there!
∞∞∞
Back at the ranch house, Summer holed up in her childhood bedroom. Calls and text messages chimed non-stop on her phone. She turned it off.
She couldn’t deal with anyone’s sympathy or anger right now. Not when the enormity of her failure was crashing down on her like a brick wall collapsing in an earthquake. Without Grandma Abigail’s deal and the money from cashing out her half of the diner, there was no way Summer could reopen SummerTime.
She couldn’t even run back to San Francisco because she’d sublet her apartment until the middle of next month.
And Brock probably hated her for sabotaging his plans, as well.
She’d tried so hard. Worked her butt off. And all her plans had still failed.
Summer hadn’t cried this hard since Brock broke her heart and shattered her hopes during their senior year of high school. She’d learned back then that tears changed nothing. Crying didn’t get you anywhere. Only hard work and perseverance did.
Except they didn’t.
So why not curl up on her bed and let all of her pain pour out of her?
Summer didn’t know how long she lay there, sobbing, a flood of tears pouring from her eyes. Long enough to dampen the dusty old teddy bear she clutched to her chest and leave a clammy wet stain on her pillow.
She was distantly aware when her family arrived home in a crunch of gravel under truck tires, followed by the muffled sounds of conversation.
Are they talking about me? About all the trouble I caused?
Summer rolled over, curled into a miserable ball, and cried some more.
When a brisk knock sounded on her door sometime later, she’d finally stopped sobbing and was lying on her bed in numb misery, watching the last rays of sunshine from the long summer evening spear through the window and land in a pool of golden light on her rug.
“Summer?” Autumn asked. “Can I come in?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, but turned the doorknob and entered, carrying a box of Kleenex and a steaming mug. The delicate scent of fresh peppermint drifted into the bedroom.
Summer sniffled and pushed herself upright. “What do you want?” she asked hoarsely.
“I wanted to see how you were doing. Grandma said you’d gotten some bad news. She looked pretty upset, too.” Autumn crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Summer. “Mom and Dad are talking to her right now, so I thought I’d come up here and check on you.”
She pulled a tissue out of the box and handed it to Summer. “Here. Blow.”
Despite her utter misery, a ghost of a laugh moved through Summer. “You sound just like Mom.”
Autumn smiled gently at her. “I’ve had some practice with being a mom.”
When Summer had finished blowing her nose, her sister gave her the mug of peppermint tea. Growing up, there had always been a large patch of mint growing next to the back porch. A hot infusion of the fresh leaves heavily sweetened with honey had been Mom’s remedy for everything from sore throats to heartache.
Autumn waited until Summer had finished half the mug before asking, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Summer shook her head. “Whatever Grandma Abigail told you… she’s right.”
Autumn sighed heavily. “I’m sorry about everything that happened to you in San Francisco. It wasn’t your fault, and Grandma needs to get over it.” She shook her head and handed Summer another tissue. “You know how she gets when she makes a Grand Plan and things don’t work out exactly the way she envisioned.”
Summer nodded. “It wouldn’t be so bad… except I’m not the only one who’s in trouble now.”
