Summer Swing (21 page)

I scooted closer behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I’m sorry I didn’t handle this very well. Harlan told me not to expect anything, and for the most part I hadn’t, but
here I was
,
expect
—”

“Harlan?” He moved slightly so he could see me, and my arms went to my sides. “Since when do you confide in Harlan?”

“He was just at the game on Tuesday, Gage. He was there when—”

“Yeah, I saw the two of you talking and laughing the whole time,” he said dryly.

“Gage,
I’m not interested in Harlan. He’s just a funny guy that…” S
omething kind of hit me all of a sudden
. “Is that why you’ve avoided me all week? Have you been bugged that I was sitting with Harlan?”

He didn’t respond with words, but I could tell it
might
be
true.

“Gage…”

“No, that’s not it,” he sighed. “Honestly, I wasn’t trying to punish you for talking to him or anything—
a
t least not consciously. It did kind of hurt though, and I guess I just accepted it as another part of my nightmarish week.”

“Oh, Gage, I’m so sorry. He just likes to talk to me, and I like making fun of his accent.”

“So he doesn’t flirt with you or say things that are suggestive? Like taking over if things don’t work out between you and I?” he added with a raise of
his
brow.

“Yes, I guess he does,” I replied
with a frown
. “But he knows how I feel about you, so it doesn’t work.
He drove me home that night because I was upset about your dad, and that you left so
quickly, and because you didn’t want
me to come with you…”

“Ellie, that had nothing to do with you. I just wasn’t thinking straight—”

“I know, I realized that, but my little girl heart told me I was to feel wounded. I got over it though, when Harlan told me not to take it personally.”

He playfully groaned
at the mention of Harlan’s name
again
.

“Sorry,” I smiled. “But hey, he was on your side,” I added.

“Mmhmm, so it would work to his advantage next time.”

“
Oh, d
id you know that Felix Allen is his brother?” I asked,
shifting
the conversation.

“You’re kidding me. Felix? I don’t really see the resemblance—Oh, different last names…”

“Harlan was adopted by his aunt and uncle—Felix’s parents.”

“Hm. I guess I’ve never even talked to Felix. Maybe the Brit lingo would have put two and two together if I had.”

“Maybe you can chat him up the next time you play his team.”

His shoulders dropped again and he sighed. “I don’t think I’ll be going back,” he said.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I just don’t think it’s gonna work out. My sister is
going back to Berkeley after the funeral
—she’s got some student counseling thing she’s doing over the summer—and my mom will need a lot of help for a while. I have no idea what to do about my dad’s business, and there are things that need to be taken care of
right away
. I just don’t think I can do it all. I’m probably going to be living back at home for now. At least until things get taken care of, or school starts again.”

“What about
Rick
?”

“He’s got his own
business
to worry about. He’ll help with what he can, but I don’t expect him to. My mom’s family has been
in and out for the past few days, but I don’t think any of them have any plans to help out with anything permanently.”

“Is your mom going to be financially secure?”

He shrugged. “For now she is. My dad had a life insurance policy, but as for the business… Sh
e has no interest in running it.
”

“Well what are your plans for it? Are you still going to work there when you’re done with school? Maybe you can just find someone to take care of it while you’re gone. Does your dad have employees that are capable of doing that?”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Maybe.”

I had a feeling that maybe Gage didn’t
want
to run his father’s company. I knew that he was excited to work
for
his dad, but now that his dad was no longer
around
, maybe it wasn’t in the cards anymore.

“Gage, if running your dad’s business isn’t what you want, then you should probably consider a different option. I don’t mean to impose, but it’s just something you should keep in mind.”

“I would feel guilty if I didn’t.”

“I know, but sometimes letting go of things is for the best.
If you’re not going to be happy doing it, then I doubt your dad would expect you to. In fact, I
know
he wouldn’t.
”

“Everyone
else
expects me to. Even Holly.”

“Well your sister isn’t the one burdened with the decision. I’m sure everyone understands that you have a say in this, too.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Finally he did say, “I’ll be almost five hours away from you, Ellie. I’m not okay with that.”

“We knew that when you’d be going bac
k to Eastern. That’s also a four-and-a-
half hour drive.”

“Yeah, but at least there was some time before that happened. At least I knew I had another six weeks with you.”

“I can come down every weekend, Gage. I’ll leave straight from work on Friday afternoons, and I’ll stay until Sunday.”

“Every weekend? That’s going to be a lot.”

“Well that’s what we were talking about when we discussed you returning to school.”

“I know, but we were going to alternate weekends.” He took a deep breath
and shook his head
. “For now I’ll just see what I can do to get my mom back on track. I’ll just take it a day at a time, I guess. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. This will all work out, Gage.”

“Work out how?”

“Work out however it’s
gonna
work out,” I smiled.

He chuckled. “Sounds a little uncertain.”

“Okay, we’ll do what we can to make it work out how
we
want it to work out. I promise.”

“I like that a lot better. Thanks, Ellie—for being supportive. I love you.” He leaned toward me to give me a kiss, and it was very soft and sweet.

“I love you, too,” I replied, sliding closer to him.

             
             
             
             
             
Chapter Twelve

“Oh this can’t be happening,” I growled, trying to turn the engine over one more time. It was almost five-thirty in the morning and I had to be at work
by
six. Even if I did get my car to start, I’d barely make it there on time.

I was actually at Wyatt’s house.
I’d made a quick stop
on my way to work
to grab a few of Gage’s things to take down to him that weekend
straight from
the radio station
. I didn’t understand how my car got me from Lake Oswego to Portland, but now it decided to give up on me.

“Come on!” I told my car, hitting the steering wheel with the heel of my hand. “You’re a good car; you’re supposed to be dependable!”

It wasn’t
going to start, and I knew it, and I
knew Dawn was out of town with Wyatt, so my only option would be to call a friend or co-worker. Maybe my dad could bring up the SUV…

A knock on the window nearly scared me silly, and Tyse was standing at the driver’s door.

I stepped out
of the car and slammed
the door shut.
“My car won’
t start.
”

“Yeah, I see that. Pop the hood.”

“Why are you up so early?”

“I just got home. Pop the hood.” He motioned to the driver’s seat, so I opened the door and popped the hood. “It was cranking, right?”

“Huh?”

“The engine was turning over, but it wouldn’t fully start?”

“Oh. Yeah, it was ‘cranking
.’
” 

He barely smiled at my stupidity, and then stuck his head under the hood. I saw his hands checking a
couple of
things, and after a few seconds he hollered, “Turn it.”

I turned the key and there was still nothing. I groaned, and I knew I had to at least call into work to let them know I would be late. There was no way I was going to make it now—

“Turn it again,” Tyse said.

I did it one more time, and when it didn’t magically fix itself that time, I pulled my phone out to make the call.

“Your fuel pump is out,” Tyse told me
, coming around the car
. He stood at my open door with one hand leaning on the
top of my car.

“My fuel pump? Oh man, that doesn’t sound good—”

“Nah, no worries. It’s easy enough.”

“Easy for you to say. But I can’t, like, fix it right now, right?
It’s something I need to have done?
I need to get to work.”

He handed me a set of keys and said, “Here, you can take my truck. I know it’s not as nice as your car, but it’ll get you there.”

“Wait, what about—”

“Just get to work and I’ll take care of your car, okay? Hurry up, grab what you need for right now and I’ll trade you
vehicles
again
before your work day is over.”

“But—
”

“Ellie,
gimme
your damn keys,” he chuckled.

“Well, what about- what about money…” I grabbed my purse and only found about sixty bucks. I knew that wasn’t even close to what I’d have to pay the repair shop.

“You can pay me later,” Tyse said. “You have a reception desk at work or something?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Just leave my keys there and I’ll leave you
rs when I bring your car. G
ive me the address, and maybe a number, just in case.”

I was feeling pretty grateful for his help,
so
I grabbed a business card out of my purse and handed it to him. “Oh, on second thought…” I wrote my cell phone number on it. “You can just call my phone if you want. Or I have a lunch break if I
can
come pay for
it
or—”

“Okay, get to work,” he told me firmly, barely cracking a smile.

I grabbed a few of my things from the car, including a couple of folders and my laptop. I decided to grab my CD case as well, and a few miscellaneous ATM receipts that were in my center console. I didn’t like the idea
of people working on my car, especially if I wasn’t there. I was glad all of Gage’s things were
already
in the tru
nk.

I watched Tyse walk into the house and the front door closed behind him. For whatever reason he’d been out all night, I was glad he came home when he did. His truck was already unlocked, so I got behind the wheel to start the engine. First I had to move the seat up, and then I noticed the smell. For an old pickup, lavender was the last thing I expected to get a whiff of. I sniffed again, and I was pretty sure it was lavender.
I thought maybe he had some sort of air freshener hanging somewhere, but I didn’t see one.

I set my things on the passenger’s seat, careful not to bother what was already there. Besides a
Bears
sweatshirt, there was also a schedule and a few other papers.

W
ork was screaming my name, so as I drove down the street, I listened to Billy Joel coming from the tape player. It made me smile at first, just because it seemed so odd for Tyse, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. I almost wanted to stay sitting in the truck when I arrived at work, just to listen to more Billy Joel. But I kept the feeling with me as I entered the building thirty minutes late.

Despite my mo
rning inconvenience, my day went
pretty well. I went on air to deliver some pretty fun ideas about
restaurants for first dates, and it turned out to flow so well, I ended up sticking around longer than my usual time frame. It kind of evolved into Ken asking me about some of my first date experiences, and they particularly got a kick out of my first date with Gage in the emergency room.

Around eleven-thirty I got a call from the reception desk.