Page 20 of Mountain Pine
My cousin Carly would love her. Man, I miss her. She moved away the second she saw an opportunity and never came back. I have mixed feelings about that, but whatever.
My phone rings and it’s…
Well, what do you know. It’s Carly! Bet she sensed me thinking of her.
“Hey, cuz. What’s up.”
“Holy. Shit. What the hell is going on?”
“Uh. Nothing much. Why? What’s up with you?”
“Stop playing with me, Taylor! What happened with Conner?”
I pause the show and slowly sit up. “What do you mean what happened with Conner?”
Grace’s cell rings next. We both glance at it and see Dean’s face pop up on the caller ID. My instincts finally flare up. I blame the delay on the intensity of the show we’re watching.
And the bottle of Chardonnay.
“What did you hear?” I ask Carly.
Our moms are the town gossips and anything they find out, they run and tell the next on their made-up phone tree. If Aunt Rachel heard something juicy about Conner, she would call my mom first, then Carly. And if it was really something serious, Carly would call me.
Like this.
“Conner apparently beat the shit out of someone at the Salt Lick tonight.”
My cell rings again and I see Nick’s name light up my screen. “Carly. I gotta go.”
I’m yelling curse words and Conner’s name as I march my way across Dean’s front lawn. Grace is hot on my heels, keeping quiet.
“Conner, you asshole!” I slam my palms on the door to push it open, but it doesn’t budge. “Let me in, Dean!”
“Not a good idea,” he says from behind the glass. “Calm down and I’ll come out.”
“Calm down? Don’t you tell me tocalm down.” I kick his door. “Open up so I can get my hands on him.”
Nick comes around the side of the house with his hands raised high in surrender. “I come in peace.” He inches closer like I’m going to detonate if he makes the wrong move. These guys know me too well.
“I want to see Conner. Now.”
“He’s a little indisposed at the moment.” Nick lowers his hands and gives me a serious glare. “And you coming in hot like this isn’t going to help.”
I deflate a little. “What happened?”
Dean opens the door while I’m distracted by Nick and slips outside to meet us. “Just answer one question for us, okay?”
I cross my arms and tap my foot impatiently.
“Are you and Austin still together?”
My entire body locks up. I think I’m floating a little. For the life of me, I can’t understand why this question would outweigh the importance of Conner beating the shit out of someone in a bar.
Unless that someone was Austin.
Oh shit.
“No.” I clear my throat and blow out a long exhale. “We broke up.”
