Maybe This Time(30)

Micah’s eyes turned pleading. “Soph. Come on. For me and my dad?”

Finally, I gritted my teeth and nodded once.

She let go of my arms. “Thank you.”

“Does he talk to you like that?”

“He yells sometimes, but usually isn’t quite so insulting. It’s his artistic temperament.”

“Is that the excuse he goes with?”

She led me toward the exit, as if she didn’t trust me not to dart back into the kitchen the second she left me.

“By the way,” she said, “when you were taking care of the oversized rat problem, I took a plate of food out to Gunnar.”

“Oh! Gunnar!” Now I felt even worse. “I got caught up in other stuff. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

“And he was okay?”

“Yes, just playing on his iPod.”

“And my mom?” I asked as we stepped outside. “How is she?”

“She’s mingling. You know how social she is.”

I searched the crowd until I saw Mom’s purple dress over by Kyle and the band. There was no music playing, and she was standing on her tiptoes saying something to Kyle. He didn’t seem irritated or embarrassed by whatever it was she was doing there. Kyle nodded a few times.

The band started playing some upbeat song and my mom cheered, “To Janet and Chad!” She grabbed the arm of the nearest guest and attempted to start some sort of conga line. Several people joined but most just looked on and laughed.

“I am not my mother’s keeper,” I said, just as a drip of moisture hit my face. One at first, followed by several more.

Oh no.

“Looks like this party is ending early,” Micah said. “At least they cut the cake.”

It was like her words gave the sky permission to open up. Screams and shouts could barely be heard over the noise of the sudden storm. Raindrops pounded down, and I ran straight for my mom, weaving in and out of bodies that were heading for the house or the parking lot.

Kyle had his guitar wrapped up in his arms, trying to keep it dry. Bryce had his suit jacket spread out over his drums. “My precious kit!” he wailed. “We needed to put a tent clause in the contract!”

“We had no contract!” Kyle yelled back.

My hair and clothes were drenched by the time I reached my mom.

She laughed. “That storm blew in quick!”

“Does Gunnar have the car keys?” I yelled. “All the windows were open.”

She cussed loudly, then took off.

The reception area cleared fast. I turned my face skyward. The stifling heat of the day made way for cool relief. It seemed to wash away all the tension I had been feeling moments ago about Jett Hart. And my mother. And everything. I smiled at the sky. “Is that the best you can do?”

“Don’t challenge the sky, Sophie,” Bryce said. “Please.” He, Jodi, Kyle, and Lincoln were carefully disassembling all the band equipment and carrying it offstage.

I took in the rain-soaked reception area and saw Janet’s bouquet sitting on the head table. It wouldn’t survive this storm. I picked my way around toppled chairs and over dropped silverware. This cleanup was going to be more work than normal.

One of the centerpieces tipped over right in front of me. Clear marbles from the vase rolled off the table and onto the ground, rain making them shine. I suddenly pictured diamond-studded shoes and embellished skirts, their wearers twirling across rain-soaked pavements, water and diamonds making the shoes sparkle.

The sound of a crashing cymbal pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Be careful with that!” Bryce yelled. I looked over to see the band disappearing around the corner with the last of the equipment.

I redirected my attention to the path in front of me. Too late, I noticed the amber-colored glass of a broken beer bottle and stepped right on it with my still-bare foot.

Ouch.

I sucked air in between my teeth. I looked around but there was nobody.

There was no way he could hear me but I tried anyway. “Kyle!”

The rain had let up a little and I heard cars starting in the gravel parking lot. My skirt didn’t have pockets so I’d left my cell phone in my purse in the coat closet when I’d arrived. Now I cursed myself for that.

Carefully, I made my way around the rest of the glass on my tiptoes until I reached the bouquet. It still looked good. I picked it up then hopped on one foot to the first tree I could find for a bit of cover. Still holding my bouquet, I leaned against the tree, hiked up my skirt a little, and lifted my foot to assess the damage.

A large piece of glass protruded from the center of my foot. Blood slowly trickled around it. My stomach flipped. I had only eaten that one piece of shrimp all day and the sight of blood was making me light-headed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement through the rain.

I lowered my foot. “Over here!” I called out.

The person changed direction and soon stood in front of me, water dripping off his hair and down his face.

“Sophie?” Andrew was holding my shoes in one hand and his jacket in the other. “What are you doing?”

I held up Janet’s bouquet. “Saving this.”

“And trying to get hit by lightning?” He nodded to the tree.

“There hasn’t been lightning since before the rain,” I said, pushing my bangs off my forehead so they would stop dripping in my eyes.