Page 3 of Passing Notes
“Thanks. See you in English.” I watched her hobble off, then turned in time to see Clara shoot me one last glare before shutting her door with a vicious slam and speeding away.
CHAPTER 2
CLARA
Hey there, quarterback. Just because I hang out under the bleachers doesn’t mean I’m easy. Stay in your own habitat, try a cheerleader. I’m busy. - Clara
Was there ever a time in my life when I had known what I wanted?
Like, from the bottom of my soul knew how I wanted to spend the rest of my life? No.
Liar . . .
I pulled into my garage and cut the engine. The rest of the day loomed in front of me like a one of those nightmares you wake up from that lingers around in your subconscious all day to wreck your mood.
Had school always started in August? What utter bullshit. It was hot, way too bright outside, and far too early for my liking.
At least I had done something useful before the Nick sighting. My baby sister had sprained her ankle over the weekend, and I had been pathetically quick to volunteer to chauffer her around for the next few weeks. Why not? It wasn’t like I had anything else going on in my life.
Leaving the garage door open, I wandered out to my driveway as my sister and brother-in-law pulled up to the curb to pick up his daughter, Lizzy, on their way to work at Monroe & Sons, a local contracting company. Barrett was an architect, and Sadie was an interior designer; together, they were adorable and nauseating. Barrett lived next door before they got married, but Lizzy and her husband rented the place now.
Gracie was the youngest of my three sisters. Sadie was the oldest, I was next, Willa was third. The three of us were all born within two years of each other and Gracie came almost ten years after Willa. She was the last hurrah of my parents’ miserable marriage before my dad took off for parts unknown, never to be heard from again.
We grew up on a farm in the foothills above Green Valley called Lavender Hill. When we were kids, it was a run-down mess, but year by year my mother had grown it into something spectacular.
“How were the boys this morning? First day drop-off go okay?” The look on Sadie’s face told the tale. My twin nephews could be a lot in the mornings.
“How do you think? It went by in a blur of exhausted chaos, whining, and complaints. Let’s schedule a margarita patio night. I need to unwind.” Barrett helped her out of his truck, the dang frickin’ gentleman. I couldn’t even hate him for taking my sister away—he was just too nice of a guy.
“So much yes to that. You’re my soul mate, Sadie. Sorry, Barrett, she’s mine and I’m never letting her go.” For years it had been me and Sadie against the world; sharing her with Barrett had taken some getting used to.
We’d grown up hard. Our mother was not a warm person. In fact, she used to be downright cruel. Her disappointment in us was the one constant in our childhood we could always count on, and she had never been shy about expressing it.
He closed her door and met me on the porch with a grin. “Aw, Clara. You don’t have to let her go—I’d never dare attempt to get between the two of you. Choose a night, I’ll take the boys with me and pick up tacos for dinner while y’all relax.”
“Damn it, I adore you, you sister-stealing punk ass.”
“Right back at ya, sweetheart.” His smile shifted to the side as he spotted Lizzy walking out of her house. He flicked two fingers out in a wave. “See you later.” Hand in hand they went back to the truck and left with Lizzy.
I waved them off, then wandered through the garage into the kitchen. I had bought this dang house to help out Sadie after her dumbass ex-husband left her, and for a while it had been great. It was impossible to feel lonely with her here to talk to and my twin nephews running amok all over the place.
After years of living alone in Nashville it had felt great to be with family again. And then Sadie got married to Barrett, took the boys, and moved up to Bandit Lake, into the house they fell in love in while renovating it for Monroe & Sons.
I missed the closeness I had shared with Sadie and the boys when we were all together under my roof. Late nights and early mornings were the times you really got to know a person, when the masks you wore during the day came off and everyone became their true selves.
The house was too quiet now and the last thing I needed was to be alone with my thoughts.
The past couple years had been terrible. I’d lost out on a partnership at my law firm for not sleeping with the newest partner—who was also the founder’s son—then quit in a fit of righteous fury. The HR complaints I’d filed were still “pending” and would probably be buried somewhere beneath a pile of proverbial papers for the rest of eternity. There’s nothing that old rich white guys loved more than other old rich white guys, and my former law firm was as old money and established as you could get. I suspected someone had been bribed to squash my complaints. I knew I should push the issue, but I’d lost the will to fight.
I’d had a boyfriend, a breakup, a pregnancy scare, and a second chance with said boyfriend, only to be unceremoniously dumped about two months ago when he decided to take a job on an oil rig and leave town. According to Chris, I was a handful. It seemed I was both too much for him and not enough all at the same time.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. I was better off unemployed and alone anyway. At least that’s what I was trying to convince myself of, though I didn’t quite believe it just yet.
I needed to reevaluate my life and it had to be done on my own. Therefore, with the exception of my brothers-in-law—who had proved their worthiness of my sisters—I was on an indefinite break from all men.
Like my father, who left when life got hard and never looked back.
Like the creeper I had worked for, who felt like I owed him free access to my vagina and a BJ in exchange for a promotion to partner.