AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smiled at her. “Sometimes it’s nobody’s fault. Stuff just happens.”
She made a sad face. “As long as you’ll still be my friend.”
“Always,” I said, giving her a hug.
But it didn’t feel right being in Tate’s house. After Summer went to bed, I wandered around looking at photographs of him and Star when they were younger. I snooped through his drawers, looking at bills. In his study, I checked some of his notebooks, looked at drawings he made of who-knew-what. There was so much of the man that was a mystery to me, I had no idea what he was thinking about most of the time. I wandered downstairs into the gym, looked at all the equipment and got tired just looking at the weights.
Finally, I went into his bedroom, touched his perfectly ironed shirts, the rows of sneakers. I checked his night table and found books about adventurers, explorers as well as drawings that Summer had made when she was younger. The fact that he had kept them said a lot. I couldn’t bear being in his bedroom anymore. He was everywhere here, his smell and his presence surrounded me.
I quickly went downstairs and found some wine and opened my phone, scrolling around mindlessly until I was tired enough to go to sleep.
I decided to go home for the weekend.
It was my dad’s birthday and my brother Andrew was coming down from DC to spend the weekend with our folks. I hadn’t seen my eldest brother for quite a long time and I didn’t want to miss out on a big family get together. I rented a car and drove to the cabin on Friday night, arriving as my father and my brothers were building a fire for the barbeque. Andrew was ten years older than me, when my parents moved to Lake Tahoe, he was seventeen years old and about to finish high school. He’d stayed in the city while Steve and I had moved out to the lake with my parents. We didn’t see each other often, usually at Christmas and Thanksgiving. He’d gone to college in the capitol and worked as a lawyer for a big NGO advocating against gender violence. My parents were very proud of him.
“Little sis!” he called out as soon as he saw me walking up from the car.
He scooped me up in his arms for a warm hug. We stood around the fire in the backyard, drinking beer, listening to Steve telling us stories about the antics the tourists got up to on the boat, laughing even if the stories weren’t that funny. I helped my mom in the kitchen and she touched my cheek.
“I’m so glad you came, I didn’t know if you could get away,” she said. “It feels great to have everyone together for a change.”
And it was good to be around my family, where I didn’t have to think about what I should say, or how I should act.
“So, what’s it like working for Tate Sagarro?” Andrew asked me. “I mean, he’s famous, right? One of those Silicon Valley nutters.”
Everyone was looking at me, for once, interested in my opinion.
“It’s actually pretty great,” I admitted. “I thought he was batshit crazy in the beginning.” Everyone laughed. “I still think he’s crazy, but I’m beginning to see how his mind works. How he has to shut himself away to see the solutions he has to visualize.”
They were watching me. “I mean people see the wacky side of him, the guy who tries to break speed records and they think he’s chasing something he’ll never find. And maybe he is, but he’s always pushing boundaries, trying to find new ways of doing things.”
“I have that app of his on my phone,” Andrew said, talking about one of HumanIty’s biggest sellers. “It has made my life so much easier.”
“I hope this guy doesn’t let you near his car,” Steve said and everyone laughed again. Steve had taught me to drive and I had driven my dad’s truck into the side wall a few times while learning how to park.
“I actually drove his Porsche to the dealer when he sold it,” I said, very matter-of-fact.
“Bullshit!”
Steve wouldn’t believe me, until I told him about the tiny space in the car.
“The Ferrari is much bigger,” I said and Andrew’s mouth literally hung open.
For the first time, I wasn’t just their annoying little sister, but someone they wanted to listen to, whose stories they found fascinating. It was cool.
The next morning, I woke up early and joined my mom in the kitchen for an early coffee. The boys had already left for a fishing trip with my dad.
“I’m glad we have some girl time,” my mom said, squeezing my hand.
“How is it really going at the new job?”
My mom’s caring, kind words were enough to bring down the wall I had built around myself. I had no defenses against that.
“I love it,” I said simply.
“And LA? What was that like? We’ve hardly spoke about that since you’ve come back?”
“What can I say, it was drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll!”
