Chapter 8 #2
“What?”
“None of us had cars in high school. Mom or Dad would drop us off or in a pinch, we were close enough that we could walk. With them having salaries paid by the public, cars and insurance for three kids were out of the question, especially needing to pay for three kids in college. West was lucky enough to earn his athletic scholarship. I had most of my college covered by academic scholarships and working part-time, but SMU was expensive. I didn’t have enough from my job to buy a car and pay the insurance. ”
“You went to SMU? When I did?” he asked, surprised at hearing they’d been at SMU at the same time.
“Yes. We ran in very different circles. You were always seen with girls named as Rotunda beauties. You lived the Greek life. Let’s be honest, Chance. Greeks didn’t acknowledge anyone who was a non-Greek. We didn’t orbit in your hallowed universe.”
He felt terrible that they had been at the same university, and he’d never known that.
Sure, he had gotten together with West when they had a break from school and seen Summer in passing, but he had never asked what the twins were doing or where they were going to college.
He realized that Summer was right. His focus had been on Greek life and all the parties, mixers, and formals.
He went to football games with his fraternity brothers and played intramural sports with girls from sororities.
“I apologize, Summer. I was pretty shallow then. If I would’ve known you were at SMU, I would’ve looked after you more. Had lunch with you each week. That kind of thing.”
She shrugged. “It’s all in the past, Chance.
Don’t worry about it. Changing subjects, you have to know more about SUVs than I do.
Do you know a good make? I saw some online that I liked, but Decatur only has a couple of dealerships.
We might need to go beyond it. Ft. Worth.
Dallas. Or at least the suburbs surrounding them, I suppose. ”
“We’re actually heading to Dallas now,” he shared. “I have an old fraternity brother whose family owns several dealerships there. I told him we’d come by this morning. Since you’re interested in SUVs, look up Nissan.”
“That’s one of the ones I liked. They had a Pathfinder. A Rogue. A Murano. Will I be able to test drive one?”
“You’re with me, Summer. You’ll be able to do whatever you want.”
She laughed, a deep, rich, warm laugh.
One that Chance wanted to keep hearing for the rest of his life.
“Tell me about this friend of yours. Do you think he can help me get a good deal? I read online all about dealer sticker prices and markups and blue book values. What to ask and how much to go above sticker.”
“You did do your homework,” he said, impressed. “Buzz will do right by you.”
“Buzz? What kind of name is that for a grown man?”
Chance laughed. “He’s actually the third in his family with the same, stuffy name. I remember his grandfather was Stanton. His dad goes by Stan. He’s Buzz because back when he was really little, maybe three, he found his dad’s electric razor and buzzed his hair. The nickname just stuck.”
“Oh, that sounds familiar,” Summer said, shaking her head, a smile playing about her lips.
“What are you talking about? Do you have a buzz story, Sutherland?”
“Close. Mom bought Autumn and me American Girl dolls for our fifth birthdays. She had just started reading us the stories. I don’t know if Kelby was into American Girl or not, but they had books about girls in certain times of history.
The Colonial Era. World War II. That kind of thing.
You could buy dolls and paper dolls. All kinds of accessories.
Mom didn’t buy dolls which were characters from the series, such as Felicity or Addie.
Instead, she custom ordered ones which resembled us.
Auburn hair for Autumn and blond for me.
As close to turquoise eyes as she could get.
“One of us—probably me—got the brilliant idea to cut both dolls’ hair.
Autumn and I had hair which was halfway down our backs, same as the dolls.
We cut her doll’s hair first and then mine.
Then I said that we needed to have matching hair like our dolls, so she cut my hair, and I cut hers.
You should have seen the look on Mom’s face when we went to show her what we had done.
Dad just laughed, though. He told Mom to take us to the Style Shack, and Betty Jo trimmed and shaped our hair so that we looked fairly normal.
She even did the same for our dolls. I thought we would be in a lot of trouble, but Mom and Dad sat us down.
Told us it was okay to be curious about wanting to try new things.
They encouraged us to check with them if we wanted to do anything like that in the future.
Autumn cried and apologized, but I never did.
Guess that was my stubborn streak. Gosh, I haven’t thought about that in ages. ”
“I always think of the two of you with long hair.”
“After that, we both let it grow out again. Neither of us wanted to cut it for many years. Even now, we just trim it.”
Chance felt her eyes on him. “I’m sure you have some kind of story like that from your past. You and West probably got into a ton of trouble that none of us ever knew about.”
“Well, I think the statute of limitations has lapsed for this. Do you remember that big, plastic cow that used to sit on top of the old butcher shop back in high school?”
He glanced over and saw Summer’s eyes widen. “No! You and West were the ones who stole it? I remember coming to school sophomore year. Everyone was talking about the cow in the courtyard. How on earth did the two of you get it down from the roof of the butcher shop and into the school’s courtyard?”
He laughed easily. “That’s on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know our trade secrets. Nobody ever found out, though, and West and I made a pact never to talk about it.”
“And you just broke it. For me,” she said softly.
“I wouldn’t say I broke it,” he said breezily. “You’re in the family. You would never testify against your brother. Like I said, the statute of limitations is way beyond being charged. Besides, Mr. Peterson got his cow back.” He grinned. “Even though it did have HHS branded on its rump.”
“I bet Mr. Peterson would be interested in knowing who took his cow even though it was a long time ago,” she told him. “I think you’re going to have to buy my silence, Blackstone.”
He put on his turn signal, moving from the left lane to the right and then slowing down, stopping on the shoulder of the road. Chance then turned on his flashers and slipped his palm behind Summer’s nape.
Her turquoise eyes grew large as he said, “I’m past the point of slicing my palm open and rubbing my blood against yours, like West and I did long ago, declaring ourselves to be blood brothers. We’re going to seal your silence with a kiss, Summer Sutherland. Is that all right with you?”
She wet her lips nervously, and desire rippled through him.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Chance unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned closer.
Then he pressed his mouth to hers.