Summer Swing (44 page)

I knew he was talking about meeting me, but I wasn’t sure to what extent.
“Well maybe that’s a good thing. What would you rather it be complicated with instead?”

“I don’t know, but I think I’m gonna add your name to one of my jagged mountains.”

“Really? Can I pick which one?”

“Sure, but two of them are already taken.”

“Oh, you mean by other girls?” I teased.

“Uh, definitely not. Thankfully.”

I could only assume one represented his time in prison… Maybe the other had to do with his parents?
But I decided to say, “I really hope I’m not one of your mountains, Tyse. Isn’t that a bad thing? I mean can’t I be your cozy valley instead?”

“Yeah, I’d rather you be.”

“But I’m a jagged mountain?”

He paused for a moment. “No, you’re not a jagged mountain, Ellie.”

“Okay, because I was thinking about getting my own jagged mountain tattoo. Would that be copying you? Oh,
wait
,
y
ou wanted me to
get a matching tattoo, right? So w
ouldn’t that work?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that would work. But I
don’t want you to get a tattoo
.”

“Why not?”

“Because you have beautiful skin. I don’t want you to mark it up with ink. It’d be like putting a
tacky
bumper sticker on a brand new
Bugatti Veyron.”

“A what?”

“Uh, it’s a car. One of the most expensive cars in the world.”

“Oh. You’re comparing me to a car?”

“Uh, I suppose. Is that offensive?”

“Mm
m
, depends on how much the car is worth.”

“A Veyron? Oh, over two million.”

“
Dollars
? Holy crap, I’ll be a Bugatti whatever.”

He laughed. “You far out value a car, Ellie. You’d be in the ‘priceless’ category.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet. I’d put you in that category with me.”
I could hear him scoff.
“What was that for?” I asked. “You’re priceless, too.”

“
Hm
, well I’m thinking you’re probably a priceless prune about now.”
He had totally changed the subject, but I did have to agree. “Hey, I’ll let you go for now,” he said. “I’ve got some things to do before tomorrow.”

“Okay. Are you going anywhere for Thanksgiving dinner? I mean do you and Nate do anything…?”

“Besides order pizza? No, not really.”

“What? You don’t even eat a turkey dinner?”

“Nah. It’s okay, though. It works for us.”

“Tyse, that kind of makes me sad.”

“Why?
It’s
just food
.”

“Well…because…” I sighed. “I don’t know.”

“It’s not a big deal,” he chuckled. “We can go down the road and get a turkey dinner if we really wanted to.”

“Like at a restaurant?”

“Sure.”

I groaned. “That’s not Thanksgiving!”

“Why
not? People do it all the time.
”

“Really?” I thought about some of the rest
aurants that I occasionally saw
advertise
for Thanksgiving dinner. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Anyway, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay. Bye
,
Tyse
.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

I reluctantly attended my family’s Thanksgiving dinner the next afternoon. My sister had called that morning to offer an apology, and even though I’m pretty sure my parents made her do it, I also knew she really did feel bad that we’d been fighting. I didn’t believe she was sorry for the things she said, but I believed she was remorseful a
bout the ill feelings between us
.

Although the day was free from offensive words, I could still feel a tension in the house that I was not comfortable with. I almost felt like an outsider in my own family, like
I’d been silently shunned by everyone else
. Even David, who hadn’t even been present for the whole ordeal the day before, seemed to be in on the admonishment. The only person I really felt comfortable around was Mallory, but that was because she had no idea what was going on with the rest of the family.

I later found out that David was pretty pissed that I’d had Tyse in the house with Mallory’s two small children. I was furious that they were treating Tyse like some kind of child molester, and when Dawn had made some “harmless” remark about David’s opinion (after he had left for the night) I almost blew a gasket. My mom almost freaked out when Dawn opened her big fat mouth, but I think I made the right decision by not even saying anything in response. I pretty much grabbed my things and left the house.

I bawled the entire way home, and it wasn’t because I felt like my family was being
mean
to me
; i
t was because I so badly wanted Tyse to feel accepted by other people. I thought for sure my family would understand that, and because they didn’t, I felt like
they had completely betrayed
me and everything I stood for
.

I did something totally and completely impulsive that night. I cancelled my snowboarding plans with Asher and booked a flight to California instead. It cost me an outrageous amount of money to leave the next morning, but for some reason I felt at peace with it and knew it was the right thing to do. I unpacked all of my snow gear and traded it for regular clothing instead, and I debated on whether or no
t I should call Tyse that night
or in the morning. It was pretty late
so I decided against it and
planned on just surprising him when I got to California.

I was so excited I could barely sleep that night.

A cab took me to the airport at six the next morning. I was still feeling pretty giddy when I boarded the plane at seven-thirty, and I still felt good about my decision. I was so excited to see Tyse that I could
hardly
contain myself. I was sure the
couple
next to me were tired of chatting after a half an h
our, but they were really nice
and listened to me babble on and on.

It was a spontaneous trip, right? I had no idea what to do once
I
landed in San Diego. I
only
had the address of Nate’s auto shop, but I knew they wouldn’t be there.

I ended up texting
Tyse
and casually asked what he was up to that morning. He replied that he’d met with the guys again and played another football game. He
said he
was pretty beat up but had a lot of fun, and they were all headed out for a late breakfast. I only responded:
G
lad you had fun, eat well and take care of yourself!
Text me when you’re home and I’ll call you.

I sat in a
chair
at
the airport, considering my options. Mainly I wanted to surprise
Tyse
as much as I could
, but I had some time to kill
. There were
rental cars available, but I really didn’t know if I wanted to go that route. I suppose it was my only option
besides taking an expensive cab—

“Excuse me, are you
needing
a ride?” a voice asked.

I was a little startled that I didn’t even notice him standing there.
A middle-aged man
was smiling pleasantly, waiting for my reply.

“Uh, well…”

“I’m sorry to just impose like that, but I was here to pick up another couple, and they have just changed their plans.”

He motioned across to one of the luggage carousels to the man and woman I’d been sitting next to on the plane. They both waved and smiled at me.

“They suggested that you might need a ride somewhere,” he added.

“Oh, uh… Well actually…”

“Yes? Where are you headed?”

“Um, I’m not sure really.”

He smiled. “Do you know what city?”

“Uh, La Mesa.”

“Oh, that’s not far.”

“But I don’t know how to find the person I’m looking for.”

“Oh, no problem,” he waved with a chuckle. “Easy enough. Oh, I’m Eduardo.”

“Ellie,” I replied, meeting his extended hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ellie. Uh, did you have luggage to collect…?”

“No, this is all I have.”

“Oh, smart traveler. One carry-on and a backpack.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure about the whole luggage thing, and I’m really not staying long
.
”

“Are you ready to go, then?”

“Sure. Um, just let me go thank…uh, the couple…”

“Okay,” he smiled.

I did thank George and
Maryann
, and then I followed Eduardo to his cab. Only it wasn’t a cab
, i
t was one of those…town car things. I was instantly worried about how much this was going to cost me.

“Um, you know…” I began.

Eduardo remained at the trunk, still waiting for me to hand over my bags. “Yes?”

“I don’t…I don’t really have a lot of money right now…”

He chuckled. “Oh, no worries. The ride is already paid for. You just tell me where you need to go and I’ll take you there.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “Yes. So…?” He was still waiting for me to hand over my bags, so I finally did. Once we were in the car, he rolled down the partition so he could talk to me. “So tell me what you know and I can find your, uh…”

“Friend. I’m here to surprise a friend.”

“Oh, how exciting,” he smiled.

So while he left the airport, I told him the story of Tyse. He listened well, smiling and nodding just as George and
Maryann
had, and when I was done, he asked, “So what’s his last name?”

I told him, and b
y then he had pulled off onto a side street so he could use
a
computer.

“Hmm, you said La Mesa, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And he attends San Diego La Mesa College?”

“Yes.”

“Well I found
three
addresses
, but one is just a post office box in La Mesa
…”

I didn’t even know the names of Tyse’s paren
ts, so I couldn’t exactly cross-
reference that, but I did know the names of his brother and sister. So going by that, Eduardo came up with
an
address that seemed to be where his parents lived.

“Solana Beach,” he announced.

“Oh. Where’s that?”

“Up the coast.”

“How far up the coast?”

“About thirty minutes or so.
Would you like to see if they could give us an address
for their son
?
”

Okay, I was really curious. I knew nothing about Tyse’s family
,
and I just c
ouldn’t pass up the opportunity, s
o when Eduardo asked me if that’s where I wanted to go, I replied, “Is that too far?”

“Solana? No, that’s okay. We can find his parents and then you can get his address for La Mesa.”

“You’ll take me to La Mesa too?”

“Sure,” he chuckled. “I have all day, Miss Ellie. I’ve already been paid, so you might as well let me do my job.”

“Oh.”

What choice did I have?

So Eduardo
headed for
Solana Beach, and because I knew nothing about the area, he gave me some little bits and pieces of tourist information along the way. He even joked that we could spend the day at Sea World if I wanted to.

But
I became very uneasy once we were actually
in
Solana Beach, and when he pulled up in front of a house and said, “Here we are,” my jaw dropped open.

“Uh, you’ve gotta be kidding me, right?”

Eduardo turned around to look at me, clearly confused, and then he rechecked the address. “This is the home of
Alastair
and Regina Morgan. I a
m certain of it.”

I just stared at the house, this massively beautiful house, and could only swallow.

“This is not what you were expecting?” Eduardo asked.

“Uh, no, not at all…”

“Would you still like to be here, or would you rather just call your friend?”