Chapter Three Rowan
Chapter Three
Rowan
Summer unties the apron around her waist and sets it on the counter before turning on her heel and leaving the kitchen.
I give the dude who just chastised her a what-the-fucking-hell look and then follow after her.
She practically runs, exiting out a side door into the warm night air.
Her steps slow and she raises both hands to the top of her head as she turns in a half circle.
She looks like she’s either going to burst into tears or punch a wall.
“Are you okay?” It’s a stupid question. Of course she isn’t okay. I watched her fight her emotions on the field today but right now she’s not pretending.
“Fine,” she says, voice wavering and teeth gritted.
“Seriously, don’t sweat it. My dad is fine.
” I wave back toward the restaurant. So my dad got a little water spilled on his lap.
He doesn’t even like those pants. He was griping about them fitting snug the entire ride over to the club.
He had told me with a wink that it was a problem that he was sure had nothing to do with him getting a little soft around the middle.
“Yeah, well that accident probably cost me my job.”
“Then it’s a stupid fucking job.”
She laughs, short and bitter-sounding, as she turns away from me. I should go back inside and leave her to spiral on her own, but I can’t seem to make my feet move.
Her red hair is pulled up in a ponytail like earlier today but without the headband.
She’s in the standard khaki-colored pants and white shirt that everyone else here wears, but she looks a lot better in it than anyone else.
I doubt she’d like me to notice she’s hot right now, but she is.
Silas Lindsey’s little sister is a stunner. Who would have thought?
“I need this job even if it is stupid.”
A woman comes out the door behind us, the same one who had been at the table earlier apologizing and comping our meal.
“Summer,” she says, a hint of condescension in her tone.
Summer’s mouth pulls into a forced if not totally believable smile. Her eyes plead with me to go.
I clear my throat and then look at Summer as I say, “Thanks for your help. I’ll see you around.”
* * *
Back at the table it’s like nothing has happened—except Dad’s water glass is pushed as far away from him as possible.
“There he is,” my mom says as I take my seat. “We thought you’d skipped out the side door and taken off.” She looks good. Happy. She always is when they get back from a long trip, which makes it hard to resent her for it.
“The thought did cross my mind,” I joke, and they all laugh.
If there’s tension at the table, it’s only coming from me. This is weird. Weird but nice. I can’t remember the last time I had dinner with my parents. They’re gone more than they’re home. Traveling for work or pleasure. They work hard. They play hard too. I get that from them—the last part that is.
Kristy twists slightly in her chair as she says, “Rowan, I don’t think your parents told me what you plan to study at FLU.”
She’s a friend of my parents in the loosest sense of the word.
Not that she isn’t lovely and not that my parents don’t like her, but their relationship is based on mutual benefit.
As in my parents donate a lot of money to the university, and she’d like them to continue doing so.
I’ve met her before at parties and events, probably other dinners like this.
She’s head of admissions at FLU, a fact I had forgotten until today.
But it makes the reason for this dinner all the more obvious.
I give Kristy a small smile. “I haven’t decided.”
“Nonsense. He’ll study business management or maybe finance. Either one will set him up nicely for managing the dealerships after college.” My dad’s grin is so proud and confident as he looks at me.
My stomach swirls with unease as I nod at Kristy. “That’s what I meant. Something business-related, but I haven’t pinpointed my focus.”
It’s hard to hold her gaze or meet my parents’ eyes.
All my life, my parents have talked about my future like it was set in stone: finish high school, attend FLU, and work for the family business.
I knew it was their plan for me, but it always felt so far away.
And their attention is so fleeting that I wasn’t sure they’d even remember I’m graduating this year.
This dinner tells me that they not only remember, but they also haven’t given up the dream.
There’s a slight look of apprehension on Kristy’s face that tells me she understands at least some of the dynamics here, but she forges ahead anyway.
“FLU has a great business program.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard great things about the Blakenship Business School,” I tell her, wondering if anyone else thinks it’ll be weird for me to enroll in a major my family funded. No one but me, I guess.
My parents laugh and I take another drink of water, wishing it were something stronger.
The conversation moves to other university news—recent updates and professor happenings I don’t care about.
It isn’t that I’m opposed to FLU, or any college, really.
It’s just that I’ve never been able to look ahead and see my life like my friends seem to.
They have interests and goals, ambition.
I’ve never loved anything enough to imagine planning a life around it. Certainly not business or finance.
While they’re talking, I look out the restaurant windows to the pool area. Summer walks by carrying a stack of towels, disappearing from my line of vision as I stare after her. Looks like she didn’t get fired, so that’s a plus for the evening.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out under the table.
Amanda: Where are you?
Me: Running late. Dinner with fam. Be there soon.
I stare at the screen for a beat, waiting for her reply.
“That sounds great. I’m sure Rowan would love to help out with that,” my dad says. It takes me a second to piece together the sentence while I’m preoccupied, but when I do and look up, all eyes are on me expectantly.
“I’d love to help with what?” The uneasy sinking feeling in my gut tells me I will definitely not love it, but I’m probably going to be forced into it anyway.
Kristy faces me again. “FLU hosts several events in the fall for local high school seniors. It’s a great way to meet current students, find out about the academic programs as well as other campus activities.”
“Sounds pretty cool,” I admit. For people who are into that kind of thing.
“See?” My dad grins. So proud of… Wait, why is he proud?
Kristy takes pity on me, clearly realizing I checked out of the conversation and have no idea what is going on.
“We like to have a mix of FLU students as well as high school seniors to run the events. I’d love to have you participate. You would be paid for your time, of course, but hopefully it’ll allow you a more in-depth look at university life while you plan for college.”
“That’s really nice of you, but with soccer starting and then school, I’m not sure I’ll have the time. And I meant what I said earlier,” I say, looking at my dad. “I’m not sure about FLU or even that I want to go to college.”
“What do you mean?” My dad lets out a small laugh. “Of course you’ll go to college.”
My mom reaches across the table and places her hand over mine, squeezing ever so gently. “This is your future, honey, and it’s important.”
Kristy gives me a reassuring smile. I want to say no.
Actually, I want to say, “Hell no,” but my parents are both looking at me with so much hope and love.
The last thing I want is to disappoint them on a rare occasion that they’re paying me any attention.
So I nod. “I guess I can help out at a few of the events.”
“I’ll send you a list of everything on the calendar, and you can let me know which work with your schedule.” Kristy smiles, and I do my best to return it.
After that’s decided, my parents and Kristy largely ignore me to talk about other things. I give my excuses after I’ve eaten, thanking Kristy and hugging my mom.
“We’re heading out tomorrow morning,” Dad says.
“Already?” I can’t hide the surprise in my tone. “You just got back.”
“There’s a dealership in Grand Rapids that is struggling. The guy is a friend, so I promised we’d go check things out and see if we can help,” he says.
“We assumed you’d be wanting to spend the last week of summer with your friends.” Mom smiles in a way that tells me she honestly believes that. Maybe she needs to in order to feel okay about jetting off again so soon.
“Yeah. You’re right.” I clear the emotion from my throat. “Well, I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”
I head out of the restaurant, eager to get to the twins’ house. Like most nights with my parents, it’s been a mindfuck.
I fire off another text to Amanda.
Me: Still at the party?
I look up from my phone and spot Summer standing at the end of the sidewalk. Her back is to me, but at the sound of my steps, she turns. And frowns.
That pulls a laugh from me. She really hates my guts.
“Hey.” I come to a stop a few feet away from her. “Is your shift over or did you spill another drink on someone?”
“Hilarious.” Her scowl intensifies and she turns back to face the parking lot.
“Need a ride?” I go to stand beside her. The wind blows the end of her ponytail into her face, and she hides behind it like it’s a shield.
“No.”
“Waiting for someone?” I don’t know why I can’t leave well enough alone, but there’s something about her cool indifference that makes me want to poke.
She doesn’t disappoint, sighing and turning to look at me. “My boyfriend is on his way.”
Boyfriend. Interesting.
“Does he go to Oakley?”
“Yes.” She grits out the word.
“What’s his name? Maybe I know him.”
“Doubtful.”
“Why? I know lots of people at Oakley.”
“He doesn’t play soccer or hang out at the country club.”
“I don’t usually hang out here either.” I pull at the neck of my polo shirt.
The look she gives me says she doesn’t believe me, but she works here so she must know I’m not a frequent visitor.
“So why the switch of schools senior year?” I ask.
“Believe me, it was not my idea.”
I could have guessed that. “Did you get expelled? Were you vaping in the locker room? Leading a gambling ring?”
I have at least a dozen more plausible explanations, but she cuts me off before I can get to them.
“Why are you so interested?” She crosses her arms over her chest, chin tilted as she waits for my answer.
“I’m just trying to get to know you.”
“For what purpose?”
My gaze narrows and I crack a smile at her outrage over me…gasp…talking to her. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
“You mean besides breaking my brother’s foot and being a giant prick to him over the last few years?”
“I was a prick to him?” That’s news to me. “And his foot was an accident.”
She scoffs. “That would be easier to believe if I hadn’t gotten a firsthand look at your style of play today. You like to rile people up and push them until they can’t take it anymore.”
No, that’s her brother’s style. Okay, fine, it’s a little bit mine too, but he’s way worse.
“I wasn’t the only one talking shit on the field. Your brother wasn’t exactly an angel.”
She faces the parking lot again, ignoring me and effectively shutting down this conversation.
I can’t believe this. Silas finally graduated and now I have his sister fighting his battles. I step off the sidewalk into the parking lot, but two paces in, I turn back. “Are you sure you don’t need a ride?”
Her brows lift as if she can’t believe the nerve of me. I can’t either, honestly.
“I don’t want to leave you stranded here. I can drop you off wherever you need. I won’t even try to make small talk.”
Her expression softens and, for a second, I think she’s going to accept, but then the roar of an engine cuts through the quiet night.
I step out of the way as a shiny red sports car pulls into the parking lot, makes a quick turn, and stops at the curb next to Summer.
The windows are down on the Mustang and the music is loud, though the bass is so loud I can’t make out anything except the rattle of the speakers.
It’s too nice of a car for such a shit sound system.
I take in the guy driving—short brown hair, T-shirt, and jeans. He looks about as average as can be. He’s a cardboard cutout of hundreds of other guys. She’s so far out of his league I can’t even begin to imagine them together. Maybe he’s only a friend.
“Hey, babe.” He gives Summer a chin jut, then picks up his phone from the console.
She stares at me over the top of the car. “Looks like you’re off the hook.”