The Weather Girl (5 page)

He found her talking to a young man in a black cowboy hat a little while later. His jeans and flannel shirt were a dead giveaway that he didn’t work for the station. Unfortunately, he had a nephew who played for the local high school, and he wanted to know what Travis thought about the competition in 4A. Summer moved on pretty quickly.

Travis ordered one more drink from the bartender, who was quick to admit he had been a big Travis Lockwood fan. The old man kindly offered up his condolences regarding the shoulder injury. The pity was always hard to swallow. Travis could see it in people’s eyes before it even came out of their mouths. Everyone was sorry his dream hadn’t been fully realized. Sometimes Travis wanted to ask them how they knew what his dreams were. Maybe football had nothing to do with his dreams.

After enduring one more conversation about UT’s prospects for a championship, Travis decided to call it a night. He slipped out, only to find the Weather Girl standing outside the door, digging through her enormous red bag.

“Here I’ve been waiting all evening to find out what the Babylonians had genetically that we don’t and you’re out here trying to sneak away without saying good-night,” he said.

“Good night, Travis.” She pulled her keys out and held them up, victorious.

“You hate me so much you won’t even tell me, huh?”

Summer exhaled loudly. “I don’t hate you. My grandma taught me hating someone is nothing but a big waste of time. Time that could be spent planting a garden or cleaning my room.”

“I think your grandma was trying to get you to do your chores.”

One side of her mouth quirked up as she headed for the parking lot. “Probably. She’s tricky like that.”

Travis followed. “You’re killing me here. Why won’t you tell me?”

“What do you want from me, exactly?”

Travis sighed and decided to be totally honest with her. “Someone to talk to who doesn’t want to rehash every play I ever made on the football field. Someone who won’t sit across from me hoping I’m going to take her home or kiss her good-night.”

“Don’t ever try to kiss me.” The fierceness in her voice left no room for doubt. “That will get you a slap across the face, mister.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “No kissing. Yes, ma’am. But I really do want to know about the Babylonians.”

She clicked the button to unlock her car and pulled the door open. “I think the Babylonians could feel the rain coming like I do. My dad told me once that humans probably evolved so that we didn’t need to be that sensitive to certain things. We had better shelter, tracked seasons formally, developed tools like barometers and Doppler radar. We didn’t need to feel it anymore. Maybe I’m the last of the supersensitive humans.”

When she talked about the weather, she came to life. There was something about the look in her eye when she shared that kind of information. It was a spark that flashed inside her, a light that he wanted to make brighter. “I think I get it. I might need you to be my date to the next Rotary meeting to explain it to them, though.”

Summer flushed. “Did you know that we’ve been experiencing above-average temps for the last forty days in a row?”

“It’s definitely hot around here. Not as hot as that place in Libya you were talking about, but still very hot.”

She stared at him for a minute and he worried he hadn’t gotten the country right. He could have sworn she said Libya.

Climbing into her car, she gave him one more curious look. “Good night, Travis.”

“Good night, Summer.” He watched her drive away. She didn’t hate him. She didn’t like him, either, but maybe she was coming close to tolerating him.

CHAPTER FIVE

S
UMMER
 
KNEW
 
THINGS
 
weren’t going to go the way she wanted this week. It was destined to be a terrible, no good week. Between the changes at work and the date on the calendar, there was no way she was going to come out unscathed. Mimi stopped getting out of bed starting on Wednesday. Claimed to be feeling under the weather. A broken heart was not an ailment you could fix by picking something up at the drugstore, so Summer tried all her other tricks. She came over to help plant some bulbs for next spring, offered to paint the powder room Mimi had been complaining about a couple weeks ago, even asked for a cooking lesson. Nothing Summer did raised Mimi’s spirits much. By Saturday, Big D had given up trying and told Summer she should do the same. He figured she’d get out of bed on Sunday, no point in pushing her any more than they already had.

Sunday was the tenth anniversary of her parents’ deaths and they always went to the cemetery for a small memorial. Mimi and Big D visited throughout the year, but the anniversary was the only time Summer went. It bugged her a little that her parents were buried in Texas. She imagined two free spirits like them would have wanted their ashes spread out over the sea, where their remains would continue the journey around the world for the rest of time.

Of course, they hadn’t been expecting to die so young, and there was no will, no burial wishes written down. Mimi wanted them close and Summer’s other grandparents were out of the picture. They had basically disowned their Miss Georgia Peach daughter when she’d come home from college telling them she’d met a boy who wanted her to chase dangerous storms with him all across the country.

Despite Big D’s advice, Summer showed up at her grandparents’ on Saturday anyway. It was better than sitting at home, wondering why Travis Lockwood cared so much about what she thought, or what Ryan was going to tell her when he showed up in Abilene tomorrow. She kissed her grandfather hello and made sure he had lunch before knocking on the bedroom door.

“Can I come in?” Summer asked, pushing the door open a crack. The room was dark, the shades pulled down and the curtains drawn.

“I’m not feelin’ well. You might want to keep your distance,” Mimi said softly.

Couldn’t catch a broken heart, either, so Summer stepped inside. Mimi looked so small, all curled up on her bed under the quilt she’d stitched with her own hands. She had her back to the door and didn’t move when Summer’s footsteps made the wood floors creak. Summer ran her hand over one of the clusters of quilted stars. Mimi often joked she didn’t need to camp; she slept under the stars every night. She had sewn one with a similar Seven Sisters pattern for Summer when she moved out.

Without asking, Summer climbed into the bed and wrapped herself around her grandmother from behind. She pressed her cheek against the back of Mimi’s shoulder. “Did you now that when lightning strikes sandy soil, this kind of glass forms? People have actually found tubes of glass in the sand after thunderstorms.”

“Lightning glass, huh?” the old woman replied.

“Yep. Kinda looks like a charred, hollow tree branch. I want some.”

“Touchable lightning.”

Summer smiled. “I knew you’d know why I thought it was cool. Being able to hold lightning in your hand? I’d feel like Zeus.”

“Touch all the lightning glass you want, but stay away from the electrical kind, please.” Mimi gave Summer’s hand a pat.

“Yes, ma’am.” They lay together in the dark and quiet, giving and taking comfort that couldn’t be expressed any other way. “Want to come to the store with me to pick up what we need for lunch tomorrow? Ryan texted me. He said he and Kelly would be here when we get done with church.”

“It’s a testament to the kind of people your parents were, him coming here every year to remember them. He’s never stopped being your daddy’s best friend.”

Summer squeezed her grandmother tightly. “Daddy had the best of everything. The best friends, the best wife, the best parents.”

Mimi sniffled. “The best daughter,” she added.

A few more minutes passed in silence. Sometimes Mimi came out from under the dark clouds on her own. Other times she needed Summer to show her the way. Summer rolled off the bed and went to the windows, throwing open the curtains. “Come to the store with me.”

Mimi didn’t argue or make excuses. Without any fuss, she sat up and hooked her legs over the side of the bed. As she ran her fingers through the tangles in her long blond hair, her all-cried-out eyes looked over at Summer. “I thank the good Lord every day that you weren’t in the car that night.”

Summer’s parents had traveled with her all over North America when she was a child. They were the ones running toward a storm when everyone else was running away. They were scientists and adventurers who lived every day to the fullest, and woke up every morning with the purpose of discovering something new. It seemed like some sort of sad joke that two people who chased deadly storms would be done in by a drunk driver on the way home from their anniversary dinner, but that was the reality. One simple date night ended in a horrific tragedy that left Summer orphaned at sixteen.

She’d shamefully cursed God many times after the accident. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she realized how blessed she really was. God took her parents but saw to it that she had her grandparents and they had her. The lump in Summer’s throat made it impossible to respond to Mimi’s comment. She simply nodded and gave her grandmother a few minutes to get ready. Maybe they both needed to get out of the house and focus on other things.

* * *

S
UNDAY
 
STARTED
 
LIKE
every other Sunday, with church and a leisurely walk home. The late morning sun was unforgiving today—temperatures were expected to reach into the nineties. The neighbors were all inside, enjoying their air-conditioning. Outdoor work had to be done just before sunrise or in the hour before sunset. The heat didn’t allow for much more. Big D pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. The collar of his white dress shirt was soaked.

“You sure you haven’t been feeling any rain comin’?” he asked his granddaughter. “What I wouldn’t give for some rain.”

“Nope. Nothing.”

“Sure your rain feelings aren’t being distracted by some other feelings lately? Like the ones I think you have for that sports fella,” Mimi chimed in with waggling eyebrows. She was unusually spirited given the date.

Summer nudged her with an elbow. How in the world had Travis found his way into their conversation? “There are no feelings. Rain or otherwise.”

“You know, the more I watch him, the more I like him. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be around him in person. He’s one good-lookin’ young man. Even Big D said he thought you two would be cute together.”

“I’m fairly certain I never used the word
cute,
” the old man interjected. “And leave the girl alone. Pestering her isn’t going to get you what you want. Knowing Summer, she’ll do the exact opposite of what you want just to spite you.”

Summer laughed. He knew her all too well. Her grandmother had this way of riling up the rebellious sixteen-year-old inside her, the one she never dared to be when she really was a teenager. Travis was exactly what Mimi wanted for Summer—someone with roots in the area, with good genes and a pleasant disposition. Someone she could settle down with here in Texas until they were old and gray like Mimi and Big D. Only Summer didn’t want to settle. Someday she was going to leave this place. Someday she would live a life of adventure.

“Travis Lockwood and I are completely incompatible. When you see it snow in July, you’ll see me and that man get together.”

“Careful, now, you know better than all of us that it snows somewhere in July,” Mimi said with a smirk. As much as Summer hated being teased, it was worth it to see her grandmother smiling. She’d endure anything to keep Mimi in this mood, today of all days.

A cherry-red rental car was idling in the Raineses’ driveway when they turned down their quiet street. Ryan came jogging down the sidewalk to greet them with hugs and hellos. Seeing Ryan again was like reuniting with a long-lost family member. He looked the same as he had the last time she’d seen him. Ryan had an actor’s build—short but fit. What he lacked in height, he made up for in charisma and charm. He dressed as if he were auditioning for the role of Indiana Jones, minus the bullwhip. The man loved his khaki and his fedora. Wire-rimmed glasses were a new addition to the ensemble. They were an unfortunate side effect of old age, he complained. Summer rolled her eyes at that. His hair was a little grayer, but he still looked very much like the man she knew as a child.

His wife, Kelly, was the complete opposite of the woman Summer’s mother had been. Grace Raines was born and raised to be a Southern belle. She grew up surrounded by wealth and privilege in Savannah. She went to college for the sole purpose of meeting a husband, or so her parents thought. Grace secretly had a passion for science and nature. When she met Gavin in an environmental science class freshman year, it was love at first sight. They were each other’s missing half.

Kelly, on the other hand, was a Yankee through and through. Business-minded and independent. Ryan had met her when he started working for the Discovery Channel. She was an executive, working out of their Maryland headquarters. It wasn’t love at first sight, but a relationship that grew over time.

As different as she was from Grace, Summer liked Kelly. She was smart and savvy, and always knew what to say and when to say it. That was something Summer never felt she could pull off. Knowing the average rainfall in San Francisco was anything but practical when you lived in Texas.

“When did you guys paint the house?” Kelly asked as they made their way up the walkway to the front porch. She already looked uncomfortable in the Texas heat. Her brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail and her cheeks were flushed. “We were looking for a white house and drove up to this green beauty.”

“Summer and I took that on last fall. We decided just because it was built in 1920 didn’t mean it needed to look like it,” Big D answered.

Ryan ruffled Summer’s hair as he had when she was a child. “Well, aren’t you the good little granddaughter?” She swatted his hand away. She was a good granddaughter, but she was also a twenty-six-year-old woman who had spent a long time getting her hair right this morning.

Inside the bungalow, Mimi brought out a pitcher of lemonade and glasses filled with ice. Big D switched on the ceiling fan and sat down in his faded blue chair. Ryan had loved Gavin Raines like a brother and had nothing but respect and affection for the man’s family. Summer appreciated that he’d never lost touch after her parents died. She also loved listening to him talk. He could tell a story that made her feel as if she were there. The tales he told about storms she herself had witnessed were even more spectacular. Her memory never did them justice.

Ryan and his television crew had been busy documenting the string of tornadoes that had ravaged much of Tornado Alley and some Southern states over the summer. “We spent two weeks in Joplin trying to help. The damage an EF5 can do—” Ryan shook his head. “—you can’t imagine. We could have spent two years there and still had work to do.”

“Six F5 tornadoes in one year. That has to be a record,” Big D said.

“Nope. There were seven in 1974,” Summer said, beating Ryan to the punch.

Ryan smiled. “You don’t even have to think about it, do you? It just pops into your head.”

Summer shrugged. Sometimes it was that easy. Mimi called it another one of her gifts. Certain things she read or saw got filed away in her brain. Then, when she needed them, they appeared. Of course, there were also those times when facts jumped out of their files randomly. It was times like that her gift seemed more like a curse.

After lunch, Big D and Kelly offered to help Mimi clean up so Summer and Ryan could catch up in private. Ryan listened patiently about the latest drama at work. When she finished her tirade about the ridiculousness of Texas football, he asked her to join him outside. “Let’s go check out that paint job.”

The front porch wrapped around the west side of the house. Brick-based pillars supported the hangover roof that provided the shade Summer and Ryan were enjoying. Mimi had set two stone urns filled with sweet-smelling pink, purple and white alyssum on either side of the front door. Ryan took a seat in one of the rocking chairs, gesturing for Summer to take the other.

“So...” he started.

“So.” Summer rocked her chair back and forth in an attempt to ease her nerves. She knew he didn’t want to hear about the house. Ryan had something up his sleeve, and she wanted to know what it was almost as much as she didn’t.

“Tell me something,” he said. “When you hear my stories, how do they make you feel?”

Truth be told, they made her jealous. Jealous she didn’t have stories like that to tell. She decided not to lie, but not to tell the whole truth, either. “I love your stories. You tell them well.”

“What if I could offer you the chance to tell your own stories?” He watched the curiosity almost kill her, then relented. “I’m starting a new show. It’s going to feature someone with a pure passion for storms past and present. Someone who isn’t afraid to chase a tornado or explore a polar ice cap. I need someone who knows more about weather history than all of my researchers combined. I need you, Summer. I want you to star in your very own weather show.”

Summer was speechless. This was it. The kind of adventure she dreamed about. Her gut told her to say yes, but her heart made her pause. There was no way this job would allow her to live in Abilene. Leaving Mimi and Big D was something she couldn’t do. Not right now. The timing was all wrong.

“It sounds amazing, it does. It’s just that my life is here. Mimi and Big D—”

“—seem like they’re doing great. Mimi looks better than I’ve seen her in a long time.”