The Comeback Kiss

Chapter One

I knew I
should have sent her to boarding school,
Tessa Scuderi thought as she sat at her kitchen table listening to her sixteen-year-old sister explain how Robby Parker had knocked her up in a round of passion under the bleachers during the Lucy
’
s Lake High Chris
tmas Dance six weeks ago.

“
I
’
m so sorry to have disappointed you.”
Izzy sniffled, the moisture in her eyes shimmering in the soft glow from the light fixture hanging over their heads. “
It was just a big, stupid mistake, and now I
’
ll have to pay for it for
the rest of my life.”

“
Oh, cruel fate,”
Tessa said flatly, lifting her coffee mug to her lips. “
You
’
re not getting a car.”

Izzy
’
s eyes widened with pretend shock, then narrowed with genuine frustration. She smacked her hand down on the old linoleum table.
“
Oh, come on!”

Tessa pulled her elbows back and stared at the table. “
God, this thing is ugly. Why am I only just noticing it now?”

“
That could have
totally
been true! What if I was really pregnant?”

“
Impossible.”
Tessa shrugged and put her elbows back on
the table. “
No one who has ever actually had sex would use a phrase like
‘
round of passion.
’”

“
Hey!”
Izzy
’
s voice was sharp and offended. “
I got that from a romance novel.”

“
I rest my case.”
Tessa sipped her coffee and thought about the table. Maybe she sh
ould replace it. But it was such a hassle. The downside of living in small-town Vermont was how long it took to get to a damn Wal-Mart.

“
I could be
pregnant
,”
Izzy went on. “
That is
so
much worse than having my own car.”

Tessa couldn
’
t help but smile. “
And
what? You thought that if I believed you were pregnant for a few minutes, then I
’
d let you have a car out of sheer relief?”

Izzy shrugged, lifted her coffee mug, and sulked. “
It was a theory.”

“
It was a bad one.”
Tessa glanced at the clock: 6:45 in the mo
rning. She had to give Izzy credit for strategy; getting to Tessa early in the morning was a good move.

Not good enough, but the kid was only sixteen.

“
Look, Iz, I
’
ve got enough stress in my life without worrying about you getting speeding tickets
—”

“
I wou
ld drive like George Washington
’
s grandmother, I swear.”

“—
or a flat tire on the side of a dark highway littered with sexual predators.”

“
I
’
ll get AAA and a can of Mace.”

“
And if I
’
m concerned about you getting pregnant
—
which, just between us girls, is the
dark fear that keeps me awake nights praying to every variation of God known to man
—
then giving you a car is the very last thing I would do.”
She looked Izzy in the eye and spoke firmly.
‘
This discussion is over.”

Izzy
’
s eyes rolled up in a dramatic arc.
“
Just because you lost your virginity in the back of a car
—”

“
Little tip,”
Tessa said. “
Using my past against me does not help your case.”

“
If I
’
m going to lose my virginity, I don
’
t need a car to do it.”

“
But you do need a convenient location, and I
’
m sur
e as hell not going to be the one who gives it to you.”

“
God! You are such a tool. I
’
m not even dating anyone.”

Tessa suddenly felt bone-tired. She shouldn
’
t feel that tired at twenty-eight, should she? “
The tool is closing this discussion. You want some m
ore coffee?”

Izzy slumped back in her chair. “
Mom would have let me get a car.”

A heavy silence fell over the room, accentuating the absence they both felt so strongly. Tessa drained the last of her coffee, listening to the ticking of the wall clock as she
breathed in deep, not sure what to say. What do you say to a kid who was orphaned at the age of six? Ten years she
’
d been trying to think of something, and always, she came up blank.

“
Sorry,”
Izzy mumbled finally.

Tessa smiled. There was very little Izzy
could do that Tessa wouldn
’
t instantly forgive, and Izzy knew it. “
It
’
s okay.”

Izzy leaned one elbow on the table as the fingers of her other hand picked lazily at her Pop-Tart. “
You know what
’
s weird?”

“
That parents keep letting their children play at Mic
hael Jackson
’
s house?”

“
That you still have a picture of that old car on the refrigerator.”

Izzy nodded toward the worn and faded photo, drawing Tessa
’
s focus to it as well. Tessa couldn
’
t help but smile. That car had been so cool. It was a vintage 1974 VW
Thing, a boxy, funky-looking model that didn
’
t sell well and didn
’
t last long; theorists were split on whether the blame fell on the name or the design. But Tessa had loved it with all her heart. She
’
d gotten it for a song from Oliver
’
s on the edge of to
w
n, had spent a summer painting colorful daisies all over it, stems intertwining like lovers...

“
Man,”
she breathed to herself, staring at the picture, transfixed in the memory of her last carefree summer. “
You just can
’
t replace something like that, you kn
ow?”

“
If you loved it so much, why
’
d you give it to Finn?”
Tessa
’
s shoulders tensed at the name.
Correction: I
gave
him my virginity. Bastard
took
the car.

But that wasn
’
t the official story, so Tessa kept quiet, suddenly feeling the weight of all the lies
she
’
d piled on the memory of that night ten years ago settling heavily on her existence. At the moment, though, it was more than she cared to think about, and it was definitely way more than she intended to explain to her little sister. She pushed hersel
f
up from the kitchen table, smoothing her hands over the skirt of her waitress uniform.

“
You got all your homework, right?”

Izzy sighed a martyr
’
s sigh. “
Yes, Warden.”

“
I
’
d have gone with
‘
Der Fü
hrer
’
over
‘
Warden.
’
It
’
s got more punch.”
Tessa led the way
out of the kitchen, through the living room, and to the front door, the same as she did every day. “
And you
’
re not getting a car.”

Izzy trailed behind her, like a sad, sole duckling. “
Tammy Myers
’
s mom gave her a truck for her sixteenth birthday.”

“
Tammy M
yers
’
s mom is an idiot.”
Tessa grabbed her coat off the rack by the front door, and handed off Izzy
’
s to her.

Same as she did every day.

“
God, you are wound tight. You know what you need? A man.”

Tessa fought the urge to laugh as her sister puffed up, nodd
ing her head furiously.

“
That
’
s right. I said it. You need to get laid.”

Tessa grabbed her house keys from the basket that sat on the half-moon table, then turned to her sister with a beatific smile, cupping Izzy
’
s sweet face gently in both hands.

“
Darling
Isabella, love of my pathetic and sexless life, you cannot manipulate, cajole, or otherwise engage me to the point where I will let you have a car,”
she said. “
You forget that when I was a teenager, I was just like you, only about a thousand times worse.
I know all your tricks, and I am immune.”

“
I hate walking to school every day,”
Izzy whined, shrugging Tessa
’
s hands away.

“
Builds character.”

She stuffed her arms into her coat. “
By the time I get there, my feet are frostbitten. How will you feel when I h
ave to have a toe amputated?”

“
It
’
s two blocks, Bette Davis. That
’
s the beauty of living in the middle of town. Everything
’
s within safe walking distance.”

Izzy stared at Tessa for a minute, then finally huffed and pulled the door open. “
Damnit. I really t
hought the pregnancy thing would work. You know, contrast and compare.”

“
I
’
ll give you credit, it was a nice strategy, but you still have much to learn, Grasshoppah.”
Tessa stepped out onto the porch, locked the door behind her, same as she did every day.
It wasn
’
t until she turned and bumped into Izzy, who had frozen on the porch right behind Tessa, that the routine of Tessa
’
s life finally broke.

“
Oh, my God,”
Izzy breathed, the words stepping out into the frigid February air in white puffs.

“
What?”
Tessa
said, but her eyes landed almost instantly on the
what,
and she froze as well. Time seemed to slow down as she stared at the street in front of her house. “
That
’
s not...,”
Izzy said, pointing. “
That can
’
t be . ..”