If You Must Know (Potomac Point #1)(81)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ERIN

Apparently Mom’s earlier “thinking” had resulted in a decision to answer Amanda’s questions with yes/no answers, period.

My sister had to regret moving home at the exact time she finally stood up to Mom. Being surrounded by bad juju in that empty house across town must’ve been unbearable for her to willingly suffer this wrath. Mom’s mood aside, we had to make it work because Amanda and Willa belonged with us.

My sister’s inexperience with disapproval left her vulnerable, though. I suggested ignoring Mom until she surrendered. That always did the trick for me, but Amanda didn’t have my alligator skin. In the time it took me to pick an outfit, shower, and laze around my newly cleaned room, she’d already cooked dinner and done a load of laundry to win back Mom’s good graces.

Lexi honked her horn a second time, so I barreled through the living room to avoid being trapped by the tension, quickly waving goodbye.

I told myself my staying home tonight might cause a setback in Amanda’s battle for independence. But I also tore out of there because it was easier to run away than be cast aside once the “star” child made amends. A part of me—a selfish part—wondered whether Amanda’s return would affect the little rhythm Mom and I had forged while watching Jeopardy! and making sugar scrubs. We three Turner girls—soon to be four—faced weeks or months of breaking old habits and forming new ones.

And, aside from all those reasons to bolt, there was the fact that I hoped to bump into Eli tonight.

But running out the door didn’t make it easier to ignore my sister’s misery. She’d been brave today, calling Lyle’s dad and moving forward with the cops. We’d had an awesome sisterly breakthrough, yet I still hadn’t told her or Mom about my run-in with Lyle and Ebba. My dad had warned me not to build a relationship on lies, but this truth was more likely to destroy the progress we’d made.

I darted across the lawn—red Converse in hand—and flung open the dented door of Lexi’s Corolla.

“You look hawt, E!” Lexi smiled, eyeing my supershort, fitted black dress with white and red stripes running down each side. By pairing the dress with my sneakers, I’d put together a trendy getup, if I did say so myself.

“Thanks.” I buckled up before she pulled away from the curb, without mentioning the motivation behind my outfit. “Where’s Tony?”

“I dropped him at the club first so he could do a sound check. You know how he gets, taking this so seriously, like he was Garth Brooks or something.” She giggled, but when Tony sang onstage, he was Garth Brooks in her eyes.

Like every reference to country music lately, this made me think of Eli, who might actually know Garth Brooks.

I wondered if he’d recovered from his surprise ghost-a-gram since he’d scrambled away from Nancy and me on Monday. Each morning my yoga students had grown restless while I’d stared at the sliders, giving him an extra minute to show up. And every single time he didn’t, the sky seemed duller. Then I’d remember my mom’s advice and decide his disappearing act might be for the best. But tonight the buzz of anticipation swarmed my stomach. If he was at the Lamplight, I would check up on him. “Are we eating at the bar or stopping somewhere cheaper first?”

“Did you forget about the ladies’ night special on open-mic nights? How ’bout we drink our dinner? We can get a bucket of Bud and a bowl of peanuts pretty dang cheap.”

“Split an order of wings and I’m in.” I reached over to hug her shoulders while she was driving. “You’re the best date ever. Does Tony know how lucky he is?”

“He does.” Her satisfied smile reminded me of how my sister used to grin when discussing Lyle. But in Lexi’s case, she’d found the real deal. “You know, you haven’t said boo about Max these past few weeks. Do you miss him at all, or are you ready to move on?”

“I don’t miss him.” That sounded idyllic, but it actually made me a little sad. Watching Amanda agonize over her divorce had me questioning whether I lacked some essential gene needed to form a loving attachment to any man other than my dad. “I could move on with the right guy.”

With no trouble whatsoever, I conjured Eli’s face. Practice makes perfect, like my mother claimed. If I closed my eyes, I could picture the way his solemn eyes lit up whenever the first hint of his soft smile peeked through, like the sun cutting through fog. Man, that little smile did things to me.

“How about going out with Tony’s drummer, Dan? He’s pretty chill, and cute. Big brown eyes—all soulful like you like. We could double-date all the time.”

I nodded noncommittally but preferred Eli and his teal eyes. Lexi knew nothing about him, though, because bringing him up would invite questions I didn’t want to answer. “What time does Tony go on?”

“He’s second in the lineup, so probably between eight thirty and nine o’clock. There’s another singer after him and then two comics.”

“Ooh, comics.” I cringed. “They’re pretty painful in a joint like this. Maybe we can cut out before they go on.”

“Oh, come on, E. You gotta support people with the balls to get up there and try.”

“You’re right.” I practiced a fake laugh with a snort to see if I could pull it off. “Think that’ll convince ’em they’re funny?”