Summer Burns (26 page)

"
Because he wanted to!
"
She dodged my throw--not hard since I always sucked at throwing things--and hurled a balled up towel at me.
"
He wasn
'
t a baby. He could make up his own mind, Summer. Men do that! They can choose!
"

And then it was on.

Things thrown.

Glass shattered.

Baby powder flying.

I stopped when it came to the wax pot--throwing hot wax could not be good.

And I learned that Shelby
'
s kickboxing class had nothing on the grappling skills I learned from all the wrestling matches I watched in school. I had her in a headlock on the floor when the door opened.

Winter, Mom, Autumn, assorted other staff, all stared at us. Powder floated in the room, giving everything a hazy white dusting.

"
What?
"
I panted as I started to release Shelby.

"
Summer, have you lost your mind?
"
Mom stared at me, and while I
'
d only seen that look a time or two in my lifetime, I knew it.

It wasn
'
t good.

She was about to go absolutely medieval on me
...

This was not going to be pretty. Nope, not in the slightest
. And from the look on Winter
'
s face, I was pretty sure she was going to help Mom rip me up one end and down the other.

I looked at Shelby, and she looked at me. Both of us were covered in baby powder, our hair gray, our faces alabaster.

I couldn
'
t help it. I started laughing.

So did Shelby. Not just giggles, but those teenage girl explosions of laughter that make no sense to anyone around except the people laughing, and even then, they don
'
t always know why they
'
re laughing.

They just are.

Then it happened. Because my asthma
'
s a bitch, my laughter turned to wheezing. This one came on fast, too. Because one second I was fine, panting from being out of breath, but otherwise fine. And then I was in full blown asthma attack.

My hands shook and my chest ached, and I had that momentary panic, wondering if I would ever get air in again. The room started spinning and the floor started getting closer and closer to my face until I hit it with a smack.

"
Oh my god, is she okay?
"
Shelby said.
"
What did I do?
"
The woman was crying, that much I could hear. Of course, she was sobbing on the floor next to me.

I felt someone shove the rescue inhaler in my mouth.

I breathed.

In and out.

In.

In
...

Ahh
...

The air started to move again. I must have looked pretty bad, because when I started breathing again, so did everyone else.

"
I
'
m okay,
"
I managed to croak out.

"
That
'
s good,
"
Mom said.
"
Because right now, Summer Bettes, I am so mad at you, little girl! You have destroyed this wax room!
"
And off she went.

I felt like I was two. Of course, as I looked around the room, I knew I deserved every yell and scream that my mom said.

"
And you
'
re lucky that Shelby here doesn
'
t sue us--
"
Mom
'
s lecture was cut off by Shelby.

"
I
'
m not going to sue you,
"
she said.
"
If anything, I
'
ll help you clean.
"

I glanced at her.
"
You don
'
t have to do that.
"

"
No, I think I do,
"
Shelby said.

~*~

It
'
s amazing what a fight, baby powder and cleaning with your nemesis will do for your relationship.

Will Shelby and I be friends?

I doubt that
'
ll ever happen.

But we both came to an understanding of sorts. I didn
'
t realize how much I blamed her for Jake going into the Army and then eventually dying. She didn
'
t make him, not really. She just told him he
'
d look good in a uniform. She listened to him, when I wouldn
'
t.

Jake just wanted to go.

I had just always blamed her, when really, I needed someone to blame that wasn
'
t myself.

As far as Matthew went? She didn
'
t even know who he was, other than she
'
d seen him somewhere before. She had been at the salon, getting a manicure, when Matthew had brought me lunch.

But she swore he
'
d never called her.

If she was lying, I didn
'
t care. I wanted to believe her. Flinging powder and then cleaning it up together would bond people in a strange way.

Mom had taken me home after the cleaning was done, and I was lying on the couch, resting. The buzz from the asthma meds was wearing off and exhaustion had taken over.

Mom came in and brought me a cup of her custom blended tea for relaxation. The citrusy smell from the lemon grass greeted me, and the aroma made me feel a little better.

"
I don
'
t know what is going on with you, Summer,
"
Mom said.

I blinked.
"
What?
"

"
You destroyed my wax room.
"

"
It was a fight Mom, things get destroyed.
"
It wasn
'
t a great excuse, but I tried. Failed, by the way she glared at me, but at least I made an effort.

"
How many times have you seen Shelby in the salon, and never once have you spoken to her. And today, you destroy the wax room?
"

"
Things boil over.
"

Mom gave me that look, the one that pretty much insisted that I spill the beans, and tell her everything.

I squirmed on the couch, tried to deflect.
"
Where
'
s Emma? I need to go--
"

"
Stop it. I know what you
'
re doing. Spill, child. I already called Paula, she
'
ll bring Emma home. I told her you had an asthma attack.
"

I sighed.
"
What do you want me to say, Mom?
"

"
Try telling me everything.
"

I rolled my eyes.
"
Mom.
"

"
Explain this to me. Explain to me why you had to fight with Shelby.
"

"
We had issues.
"

"
Why did it happen, Summer? It
'
s like high school all over again.
"

I blinked. And it was. Oh, God, how it was. I started laughing. I couldn
'
t help it, because it was. We weren
'
t under the bleachers, and we weren
'
t getting suspensions, but otherwise it was the same.

And how friggin
'
stupid was that? The same issue, mostly.

I was jealous.
"
Okay, so you want to know? Fine, I
'
ll tell you. Shelby hit on Matthew.
"

Mom nodded.

"
She admitted to encouraging Jake to go into the military.
"

"
Jake always wanted to go.
"

I blinked.
"
No he didn
'
t.
"

Mom rolled her eyes.
"
Did you never notice how his eyes lit up whenever he spoke of his enlistment? Of his work? Of, truly any aspect of it?
"

I blinked.
"
Uh
..."

She shook her head.
"
He always wanted to go, you were the one who wanted him here.
"

I nodded, because she spoke the truth.
"
How come I never saw this?
"

"
Did you ever look? Or did you just ignore what you didn
'
t want to see, Summer? You
'
ve done that all your life--ignore what you don
'
t want to see, and move on, like it didn
'
t exist.
"

I didn
'
t know what to say. Or how to articulate what I felt, because it was like Mom just lifted a filter off my eyes, and all these memories started flashing that both corroborated what she said, and made me feel like a total asshole.

I really did ignore what I didn
'
t want to see.

"
Surely you haven
'
t been hanging onto this anger since high school, have you dear?
"
Mom asked.

I shook my head.
"
She hit on Matthew.
"

"
I see,
"
Mom said.
"
So all this about Jake was just underneath.
"

"
I guess.
"
I looked away, staring instead of at her at the fibers in the couch, trying to count the threads that made up the weave of the material.

"
She was threatening this new relationship you had, like she threatened the one you had before.
"

"
I
'
m not a client Mom, you don
'
t have to psycho-analyze me.
"

"
Maybe I do. It is rather unfortunate that I live with you, and I couldn
'
t see how much you haven
'
t healed since Jake
'
s death. And then Matthew showed up, and you
'
re trying to move on, but since the only way you know how to be a girlfriend was from high school, you
'
re behaving like a high school student.
"

"
Whoa, okay. Mom, you
'
re stretching.
"

"
Am I? I thought you and Matthew broke up.
"

"
We did. We didn
'
t. I don
'
t know. He
'
s not answering my calls.
"
Which Shelby said wasn
'
t because of her--he hadn
'
t been calling her either.

So what had he been doing?

"
That man adores you. Now, know, before I say this, that I love you, little girl,
"
Mom said as she patted my shoulder.

I turned to look at her.

"
What did you do?
"
she asked. And from the stern look on her face, I knew she was serious.

"
Why do you think I did something?
"

She raised her eyebrow with that Mom-glare that gave me the heebie geebies.

Guess I was stuck answering her question.
"
He wants more than I can give.
"

"
What can
'
t you give, Summer?
"

"
I can
'
t be his wife, Mom. I can
'
t go back to being in the military.
"