Summer Swing (39 page)

“He’s not. My relationships with them are entirely different.”

“Truly Ellie? I mean you’re not… I mean with Tyse you’re not…”

“No,” I scoffed. “Dawn, we’re just friends.”

“Well I don’t even mean sleeping together, Ellie. I just mean that you’re not cozy with him, and you don’t hug and kiss each other
or anything like that
?
It’s nothing romantic?
”

“
No
. We don’t have that kind of friendship.”

“Do you
want
that kind of relationship with him?”

I didn’t want to pause too long so I just said, “With Tyse?”

“Yes, that is who we’re talking about here. Are you interested in him other than as a friend?”

“Dawn, I’m waiting for Gage
. I’m in love with Gage. The sooner he can figure out what he wants, the sooner we can get back on track. That is my focus right now.”

“Good, that’s a relief,” she sighed. “I just talked to him on the phone earlier when he called Wyatt. He’s looking forward to seeing you.”

My heart skipped a beat, but it was because I was worried. “Uh, did you tell him…
?
”

“No, I didn’t tell him you were with Tyse. But I did tell him you were having dinner with Mom and Dad. If he asks about it you should be upfront, Ellie.”

“I will be,” I replied, feeling a bit
insulted
.

“I didn’t tell him you were out with Tyse
last night
either, especially when he called here and wondered why you wouldn’t answer your phone.”

“I called him back last night, but he was already
half asleep
. He said he’d call back today but I haven’t heard from him.”

“He’s been helping a friend move. And how come I know this and you don’t?”

“Oh jeez, Dawn. Why don’t you get dumped and see how eager you are to call and pester the guy all the time.”

“
Ellie
, y
ou didn’t get dumped.”

“
Really?
Well whatever it was didn’t feel good. I just think that it’s up to Gage to
decide what he wants.”

“
Honestly? Mayb
e that’s where your problem is, little sis. Maybe you should fight a little harder
.”

I wanted to rip my hair out. How many times had I been the first one to call Gage, or to send him a text message? I was willing to visit him every weekend, just so we could be together.

“Dawn I can’t talk to you about this right
now.
I’m sorry, but I really don’t think you understand. I need to get to bed, okay?”

“Wait, Ells, I’m sorry—”

“I know, but I just
don’t want to
talk about
it
. L
ove you. Talk to you soon.”

I had to hang up before she said anything else.

I collapsed onto my bed, feeling physically and emotionally drained. I was tired of trying to figure out solutions to everything. Was that really what my life was all about? And the more I had to hear Dawn criticize my relationship with Gage, the closer I got to blurting out that she was married to a cheating pig.

I slept horribly that night, and I tossed and turned with all my thoughts battling each other every minute I was in bed. By the time I got up at four-thirty to get ready for work, I felt like a zombie. I applied more makeup than usual because even a
shower didn’t liven me up.
I
smoothed on some
citrus-scented lotion to make me feel peppy for the morning, but that didn’t help either. I went to work feeling worse than my Saturday morning hangover.

Tyse did call me around eleven. I was able to take my lunch break so I could meet him in the lobby, and I will never forget the look on Beth’s face when I entered the reception
area
. Both Tyse and Nate were standing by the doorway, but Beth looked completely and utterly infatuated with the two of them. She didn’t even try to
stop
staring.

“Hey guys,” I smiled.

Tyse looked mighty nice in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and I think Nate was wearing exactly what he wore the last time I saw him: a white tank t
op and super long,
baggy denim shorts.

“Hey,” Tyse smiled back. “Uh…” He turned to Nate and then looked at me again. “Maybe you two should officially meet. Ellie Abbott, Nate Hernandez
.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Nate. Uh, especially under safer circumstances.”

He partially smiled. “Uh, yeah listen… I’m really sorry about that. I mean for hitting you and then…and then being an ass. I was just
kinda
spooked, you know? I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay. No harm was done. Well, not much thankfully.”

I glanced at Beth standing up behind the counter, and her mouth was hanging open. I was sure she was stuck on
the
fact that Nate had “hit” me.

“Oh, Beth Swanson,” I motioned to her.

She seemed pleased that I’d introduced her. “I love your tattoos,” she said to Nate almost breathily.

He glanced do
wn at himself quickly. “Oh, uh…
thanks.”

I wasn’t sure how weird the time with Beth was going to get, so I ushered the guys outside.

“Sorry about that,” I said when the door closed behind me. “She’s got a weird fascination with
body art
.”

“You got a way better reaction than I did,” Tyse said to Nate.

“That’s because you’re still in the pretty boy stage,” Nate replied. “You gotta get that
el
lagarto
, man. Right up the forearm,” he motioned.

Tyse shook his head with a smile. “Maybe you should get one.
El
Legarto
Juancho
, right on your ass.”

Nate laughed really hard, and I was smiling even though I had no idea
what Tyse just told him to put on his rear.

“
El
Legarto
Juancho
would want to see the
world, if you know what I mean,
”
Nate said.

“Yeah, probably not a good choice for you.”

“What’s a
lagarto
?” I asked.

“Oh, a lizard,” Tyse answered.

I kind
of
scowled, bothered that I’d actually pictured a lizard tattooed on Nate’s butt.

“But
El
Lagarto
Juancho
is a special lizard,” Nate told me.

“It’s an alligator,” Tyse clarified.

“Ah, I see.”

“Uh, a famous cartoon alligator,” he added with a smile. “Wally Gator?” he tried when I still didn’t say anything.

“From Hanna-
Barbera
?” He nodded and I had to laugh. “Wally Gator, huh.” I looked at Nate’s arms and found somewhat of a blank space. “How about right there? Next to the uh… Is
that a pair of hands choking a
rabbit?”

Nate smiled. “Ah, good eyes. No
such thing as
luck
when you work hard
,” he said, pointing to its significance.

“Oh. Yeah, I believe that.
I hear you’ve built your own business. I’m sure that was a lot of work. Did you get your car, uh, what’s it called? Re-done? Made over?”

He smiled and pointed to a car in the parking lot. Surely that wasn’t the same car that hit me, was it? It looked totally transformed! Had it not been an older model of a vehicle, I would have thought it was brand new.

“Wow, you’re kidding me.”

“You like it?” he asked. “Maybe you’ll let me redecorate
your
car.”

I pointed to mine in the parking lot. “Pretty basic.”

“Oh, no way. Lime green?” he asked Tyse with a smile.

“Maybe a ging
er, with the wheel wells ablaze,
”
he replied.

“Ah-ha, nice.”

“Okay, you guys are not going to repaint my car, flames or otherwise.”

“You’d be one special lady driving that baby around,” Nate assured me.

“I’d rather not stand out. I’ve already been pulled over four times and been ticketed twice. And white is supposed to be a cop-friendly color,” I joked.

“Not when you burn ninety-nine down the freeway,” Tyse told me.

Nate laughed. “Ooh, a speed demon. We’ll add a pretty little
diabla
loca
in those flames.”

“I do not go that fast on the freeway,” I argued.

“Okay, maybe eighty. On
average
.”

I rolled my eyes.
“My car is zippy. It just feels that way. I don’t think your truck even went past seventy, did it?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, maybe once or twice.”

“Oh yeah, w
hat’d you gain on the ’88
Nissy
?” Nate asked.

“Just four hundred. I didn’t do as much work to it as I wanted to.”

“Well that’s not bad. You should’ve brought it back to Cali and we could revamp it to get another six.”

Tyse shrugged and then he seemed to remember something. “Crap, your lunch break, Ellie. I’m sorry, I totally forgot.” He motioned me to Nate’s car and took something out of the front seat. It was a white paper bag and he handed it to me. “You probably don’t have time to eat now, do you?”

“It’s okay, I can eat at my desk. Thank you so much. You really spoil me, you know.”

He made a noise of disagreement. “Whatever. How many things have I done in this city because of you? You’ve really made my time up here memorable, Ellie.”

I glanced at Nate’s movement, and he was strolling along the parking lot toward the street corner. I suddenly became nervous, wondering if he’d left Tyse to be alone with me on purpose. He took a look down the street, and then hung a left out of sight.

“
Well it was memorable for me too,” I said. “
I had a few more things I wanted you to do while you were here, but maybe next time, right?”

“Right.”

“Maybe you should come up for the holidays?” I suggested. “What do you have going on for Thanksgiving or Christmas?”

“Uh…usually not much.”

“You don’t
, uh
…”

“No, I don’t spend it with my family. They like it that way.”
I could have delved into that particular subject again, but Tyse ended up asking, “When do you have vacation time? When would you be able to come down to California?”

I took a breath to think about it. “Well, I have a full week in December and a full we
ek in April—plus the weekends added on there.
Other than that I can manage to take off a Friday or a Monday to make a three-day weekend. I have Labor Day and Memorial Day off…uh, Fourth of July…I don’t know. I work a basic schedule I guess.”

He slightly nodded. “Okay, I’ll write you in for all of those dates.”

I laughed. “I wish, Tyse.”

“I know, I’m kidding.”

“I could probably plan for April
for sure
if that works for you.”

“Yeah, that would work. It’s a long time away, but it’s better than nothing. You’ll be just in time for baseball season.”

With a smile I said, “That’s right, I could watch you play.”

He nodded again, but the look on his face didn’t really match his agreement.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

He sighed. “Just the fact that people always commit to ‘keeping in touch’ or ‘visiting sometime’ and most of the time it doesn’t happen. I guess I’d rather you not make the decision out loud. I don’t want to be disappointed. I mean I understand if you can’t make it, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

I wanted to disagree with him, but I knew he was right. It was the way people were. How many friends from high school or college had I agreed to keep in touch with and never so much as spoke a word to them since? It was human nature; the
intent
was there, but not realistically so.
 

“I don’t see that as being the case this time,” I replied. “I want to come see you in California, so I’ll make sure it happens. I’ll plan on coming in April, but there could be a weekend or two before then that I could come, too. I’ll just have to see.
But what about you?
Would you be able to come up for Christmas, maybe?”

I guess I expected him to answer yes right away, so when he paused, I wasn’t sure how to take it. Finally he said, “If that’s what you want then yeah, I could do that.”

“Of course it’s what I want. Why would I invite you if it wasn’t what I want
ed
?”