Breathe, Annie, Breathe (9 page)

Then why does he want to work for his brother? Just to spend time with him?

“And this is how you make money?”

He smirks. “It’s better than working at McDonald’s.”

“But you’re hurt…” I look at his bandaged ankle.

“I’ll take care of my foot all week, and I’ll be just like new for the race. I run through injuries all the time.”

“You really just run for money?” I ask.

“I love it too,” he says. “I love any kind of rush…hang gliding, BASE jumping…” He pauses to take a slow sip of tea. A grimace flashes on his face, but I doubt it’s ’cause the tea is bitter. I can smell the sugar.

That’s when the screen door opens and a little girl with Jeremiah’s light brown hair appears. She rushes over to him and he kisses her forehead. It reminds me of how my brother kisses my forehead and takes care of me.

“You brought a girl over?” She gapes. Before Jeremiah can respond, she sticks a hand out to me. “I’m Jennifer, Jeremiah’s favorite sister.” I smile at how direct she is.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Where’s our fried chicken?” Jeremiah interrupts teasingly.

“I got it, I got it. Hold your horses,” she says. “Who’s your friend?”

“I’m Annie.”

She swivels to face Jeremiah. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“Mind your own business! Go get our chicken, munchkin.”

His sister bursts out laughing, clearly pleased she’s gotten under her brother’s skin. I remember teasing Nick like this when he first started bringing girls around.

Jennifer darts back into the house with Maggy the dog loping after her, leaving me alone with him. It’s peaceful out here. The wind blows lazily, jingling the wind chime and rustling the grass. I breathe the warm air in through my nose. This house has no memories of my life, of high school, of Kyle. This place is just
blank
. I like that, the feeling of nothingness.

Jeremiah pats the seat next to him. I sit down and sway back and forth on the swing, listening to church ladies bustling about the backyard.

The screen door swings open and a woman appears on the front porch. “Jeremiah, your sister said—” She takes one look at me, one look at him, then rubs her eyes. I sneak a glance at Jeremiah. He’s gazing at her head-on.

“Mom, this is my friend, Annie.”

Oh, we’re friends now?

Then Matt crashes onto the porch, throwing me a worried glance. “Mom, I need to talk to you. Now.”

She gives me another look, then disappears inside. Matt nods at his brother and me before following his mom. What happened to southern hospitality? If this were Kyle’s house, his mother would’ve offered me lemonade and invited me in to chat about my college plans and my work at the Roadhouse. Jeremiah’s mother didn’t even say hello.

“What was that about?” I ask.

He plays with the glasses hanging from his shirt collar, hesitating. “My summer break from college started a few weeks ago and I moved back in. My mom didn’t want to let me live here again…but Matt convinced her I won’t upset her.”

I can’t imagine my mother not wanting me to come home. “How would you upset her?”

“She just didn’t want me around my little sisters until I figured some stuff out…and, well, my family’s too important to me to fuck everything up again…”

I’m not sure I want to know what’s going on. I have enough to deal with. But what could it be? Drugs? No, he’s too athletic for that. Steroids? He doesn’t look totally muscle man.

When the screen door opens again, Mrs. Brown gazes down at Jeremiah’s injured ankle, then approaches me with an extended hand. “Hi, Annie dear. So nice to meet you.”

“You too, ma’am,” I say.

“I’d love to talk but I have guests.” She gestures toward the backyard.

“No problem, nice meeting you,” I reply as she leaves as quickly as she arrived. What in the world? I mean, clearly Matt intervened, but what did he say to her? And why was she so distant and somewhat rude at first?

Jennifer comes out of the house balancing two paper plates loaded with chicken legs, mac ’n’ cheese, and biscuits. Jeremiah rewards his little sister with another kiss, and she runs off toward the back of the house.

“She’s sweet,” I say.

Jeremiah bites into his biscuit. “She’s only nice to me because I’m her ride to ballet.”

I smile at how much he loves her, then take a bite of fried chicken. I groan as it melts in my mouth.

“It’s good, huh?” he says, and I nod. We chow down in silence. A freight train chugs by in the distance, and when the sound dies away, I hear him clearing his throat.

“I didn’t just invite you over to say thank you for yesterday,” he says softly.

“I know. You invited me for fried chicken.”

He looks up at me and shakes the hair out of his eyes as he chews. He swallows and takes a deep breath. Wow. I didn’t figure a guy like Jeremiah ever got nervous. “I wanted to say I’m sorry about what happened between us on the trails last month.”

“It’s fine—”

“No, it’s not. I let things get out of hand…” Since when do guys fess up for having one-night stands? Or in our case, a one-morning stand. Does that mean he didn’t want to hook up with me? That makes me feel relieved…and a bit let down at the same time.

He drags a hand through his light brown hair. “After what happened between us, I was a little freaked out but really happy, and I asked Matt about you. Yeah, he doesn’t want me dating any of his clients, but I wanted to ask you out anyway—you’re totally worth the risk…and then he told me why you’re running a marathon.”

I don’t want him to spoil this peace I’ve discovered here. A place that has no memory of Kyle. “Jere, don’t. What happened between us was my fault. Please stop talking.”

He holds up a hand. “Let me just get this out. I’m so sorry, Annie. I’ve felt like shit since that day. I feel like, I dunno, I used you or something.”

“You didn’t. It’s fine,” I say, even though it’s not.

He stretches his leg out and flexes his ankle. Then he speaks quietly, “I’ve thought a lot about you since we kissed…Honestly, I’ve thought a lot about you since the moment we met—”

“You didn’t call,” I say bluntly.

He nods sheepishly. “I wanted to ask you out. I couldn’t stop thinking about you—you don’t know how many times I started to text you but didn’t push send…I figured you were madder than a wet hen that I didn’t call, but my brother said I’m the last thing you need right now…It sucks what happened to your boyfriend.”

I look up at him. People usually say “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” and I get so sick of hearing that. It’s nice hearing Jeremiah tell the truth: it sucks. That’s all there is to it. Living with a hole in my life blows.

We finish our food, then he takes my paper plate and sets it on the little, wobbly table with his iced tea glass and newspaper. He looks at me sideways. “So if I were to call you—”

“You already did call me, remember? You woke me up at the ass crack of dawn and somehow convinced me to come check on you and your foot.”

He grins. “But if I called you for real…”

I clutch the swing, thinking of what happened on the banks of the Little Duck, how Jeremiah’s lips and hands set me on fire. But he waited an entire month to give me this speech. What if he waits another month before calling me again? Not to mention he’s into extremes and has that big scar along his jaw. That’s the last thing I need right now. I need white bread. I need vanilla. I don’t need a guy who hurts himself running on an injured ankle.

Speaking of extremes, I’ve seen Jeremiah naked, but this is only, like, the fifth conversation I’ve ever had with him. And the first
real
one. He is the weirdest guy I’ve ever met.

Jeremiah scooches closer on the swing, and with a finger and thumb, he lifts my strawberry blond braid and brings it to his lips. Does my hair smell like onions from the Roadhouse? He shyly presses his forehead to mine and his warm breath sends tingles down my neck. God, he smells good, like cologne and boy and the sun.

God
, he’s making a move on me. I’m not ready for this with anybody. Plus, we’re not even alone. His little sister and dog are buzzing around. Not to mention his mom has a bunch of church ladies over. I press a restraining hand to his chest. “I can’t do this right now.”

“So I shouldn’t call you then?”

“You already did, genius.”

“But for real…”

I don’t know anything about him. I don’t know if I want to get close to somebody ever again. “Maybe. I don’t even know you. I need time…”

He searches my eyes, then nods. “Fair enough.” He wobbles to his feet and grabs the crutches leaning against the house. “C’mon. Let’s go play some Ping-Pong.”

•••

I serve.

Jeremiah hits the Ping-Pong ball back toward me. I bite into my lower lip, working to concentrate. I slap it to him, and he rears back and wallops the ball. I lunge to the right but I miss. The ball rockets off the table and into a corner of the basement.

“Yesssss.” Jeremiah does the
Rocky
pose. “Another point for me.”

“Goddammit,” I mutter. Jeremiah’s playing Ping-Pong, standing perfectly balanced on one foot, yet he’s still beating me. This is stupid. He’s going to hurt himself worse. I tried to talk him out of playing, but he’s too thickheaded.

I dig the ball out from under a dusty shelf and throw it back to him. He catches it with one hand. He leans his head back and tosses the ball up to serve, and the basement door squeaks open and feet pound down the stairs. Jeremiah rushes to set his paddle down and grab his crutches.

“Don’t mention we were playing!” he whispers to me.

His little sister appears along with a very sophisticated looking girl with long black hair and freckles, wearing diamond studs, short khaki shorts, and a cute tank top. Wow, she’s pretty. Is she here to see him?

“See, I told you,” Jennifer says to the girl.

She raises her eyebrows at me, then turns to Jeremiah. I start to worry that she’s pissed at me for being here with him, but then a sly grin pops on her face when she notices the Ping-Pong ball rolling around on the floor.

“Why are you playing Ping-Pong on that ankle, Jere?” she snaps. “You sit down, right now.”

He swallows hard.

“Jeremiah Brown!” a voice shouts from upstairs. His mother.

“Great,” he mutters. “Why are all the women in my life out to get me?”

“I need you to jump-start Mrs. Englewood’s car!” Mrs. Brown shouts.

“Coming, Ma!” Without another word he crutches up the stairs.

“Hi, I’m Kate,” the beautiful girl says, stepping forward. “I’m Jere’s brother’s fiancée.”

I shake her hand. “Matt’s?”

“Yep. And you are…?”

“I told you! She’s Annie,” Jennifer says with a grin.

“I’m Annie.”

“We didn’t know Jere was dating anybody,” Kate says.

Where would she get that idea? A girl can go to a guy’s house without doing him or whatever. “We’re not dating.”

Kate and Jennifer exchange a significant look.

“Jere used to bring girls home a lot,” Jennifer says. “But not anymore.”

“Oh?” Is he in a girl drought like Kelsey’s in a guy drought? Given how cute he is, I find that hard to believe.

“Jenn,” Kate warns, but it doesn’t do any good because she starts spilling all the juicy info.

“He used to bring girls home all the time, but he wasn’t serious about them. And Mama and Daddy got so tired of it they said if he brought one more girl home that he wasn’t serious about, Mama would stop cooking for him! And that is
serious
.”

“Okay,” I say slowly.

“But he brought you home!” Jennifer says, bouncing on her toes.

I take a deep breath. This has been an overwhelming day. An overwhelming year.

Kate clucks her tongue at Jennifer. “Your brother’s gonna get you for spilling.”

“Er, he doesn’t have to know. At least I didn’t tell Annie that Mama kicked him out.”

Kate shuts her eyes. “Now you’re in for it.”

“Oops,” Jennifer says sheepishly.

“Your mom kicked him out?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah, because he kept getting hurt at contests and stuff—he went to the hospital three times in one month! He, like, broke his arm mountain biking and didn’t tell anybody it hurt, and the bone grew back wrong and he had to have surgery to make his arm bend the right way again—”

“Jenn—” Kate tries to interrupt, but Jennifer is undeterred.

“And then he nearly lost his eye when he bungee jumped off this bridge and had to get ten stitches.” That explains the thin scar beside his right eye. “Mama said he couldn’t keep coming home and scaring her like that,” Jennifer says. “So he said he won’t do that stuff anymore because he loves me so much and he missed me.”

“How long did she kick him out for?”

“I didn’t see him for like a year!” Jennifer exclaims. “He missed my birthday party at Pizza Hut. And I had a two-tiered raspberry cake!”

My heart begins to speed up. How damaged is he? I touch my throat, swallow hard, and blink the tears away. I’m excited for college, but also dreading it because I won’t see Nick every day anymore. And Jeremiah didn’t see his sister for a whole year?

Kate senses my distress, I guess, because she whispers in my ear, “He used to do extreme sports, and he was hurt a lot, and their mom didn’t want his sisters seeing him injured when there was no reason for it. But Matt’s trying to help him get better.”

Is that why he works with Matt? Is that why he was so quick to jump to Jeremiah’s aid today out on the porch? How bad was it? He went to the hospital
three
times
in one month? He broke his arm and didn’t tell anybody? Crazy.

I’m glad when Kate changes the subject. “So, Annie, how did you meet Jere?”

“Running on the trails. When are you and Matt getting married?”

“We’re planning on next summer.”

“I’m gonna be a bridesmaid!” Jennifer says. “And I get to pick out my own dress. It has to be a certain shade of dark red, but I can pick any style I want.”

“Sounds pretty,” I say. “You’ll look good in that color. Do you have any pictures of styles you like?”

She nods and rockets up the stairs, presumably to get pictures of dresses, and I sigh, grateful for the diversion.