Seeing Red Read online

  Once upon a time, Summer had been close to them but they’d been young children when she’d left. Too much time had passed now, and, for whatever reasons, there was little love lost between the cousins. Actually, Summer knew the exact reason they kept their distance.

  They’d felt like she’d abandoned them. And she had.

  There were also a few employees who didn’t share the Abrams blood. Stella and Gregg were an easygoing, likeable couple in their thirties. They helped clerk the store and inventory stock. The newest hire was Braden Cahill. The tall, dark, and silent type, he was a twenty-something out-of-towner whom no one knew much about except that he was extremely easy on the eyes and could work a computer.

  As Camille, Socks, and Summer let themselves into the store, a long set of working chimes went off. Diana and Madeline, standing at the front counter, lifted their heads in unison.

  Camille waved at them, then turned to Summer. “I’m heading to my office. Think about this, okay? And if you really want, I’ll find you something to do.” Then she took Socks and let herself in the back.

  Left alone, Summer smiled at her cousins. Diana was tall and lanky, and wore her eye makeup so heavy that Summer always marveled that she could even open her eyes. She wore a peach halter top and matching skirt, a little diamante heart tattoo on her shoulder blade, and a scowl on her glossed mouth. Madeline had the same coltish physique but wore faded hip-hugging jeans, a snug, stretchy light-blue baby T, and next to no makeup.

  Before Summer could greet either of them, Tina rushed out from the back. Like the rest of them, she was tall and lean, and though she was in her early forties, she tended to favor items from the Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Today she wore a silky camisole top with a matching skirt and sandals, ribbons laced up her calves. She had four silver hoops on one ear, matching the silver beginning to streak her deep red hair that tumbled in thick waves to her shoulders. She had the sparkling green eyes of a pixie and the smile of a saint as she came close for a warm hug. “Darling Summer,” she said. “It’s about time you showed your pretty face. I thought maybe you’d leave without coming by.”

  The reproach was gentle, and easily swallowed. “I’m not leaving yet.”

  Tina didn’t comment on that, just hugged her again. “The girls are thrilled.”

  Madeline didn’t verbalize any such thing, but then again, Madeline rarely verbalized at all. She just rolled her eyes.

  Diana didn’t say a word either, just kept coolly reading her Cosmo magazine.

  Oh yeah, they were thrilled. “Grounded?” Summer asked them.

  Blowing a huge bubble as she kept reading, Diana lifted her middle finger. Madeline actually let loose a small smile and shrugged.

  Chloe came out of the back and took over the room with the sheer presence of her personality. She’d been nine when Summer had left. She’d recently turned twenty-one, and in celebration of that happy event had dyed the ends of her blond hair green, matching it with a green lip gloss. According to Camille, Chloe had a habit of changing the color of her hair with the seasons, saying whatever popped into her head, and dumping men before they dumped her, which actually happened to be a family trait in general. At the moment, Chloe was on a summer break from classes, working full time in the shop for lack of a better offer, but as she herself put it, a girl had to eat.

  Having been old enough to really remember Summer, Chloe held a bigger grudge from being dumped. She didn’t hug Summer, but she did offer a cool smile filled with trouble. “So. The prodigal daughter finally returns.”

  “I was here at Christmas,” Summer reminded her.

  “For what, like two minutes?”

  “Two days.”

  “Ah. So long. Well, I hope you’re here to work.”

  “She’s on vacation,” Tina said.

  “Hey. I’m on vacation, but I’m working,” Chloe said.

  “Because, darling, you owe me a lot of money.” Tina smiled and fondly patted her daughter’s cheek.

  “I’m not on vacation,” Summer said, getting tired of explaining that. “I want to work while I’m here. I want to be with all of you.”

  Madeline snorted.

  Diana laughed.

  And Chloe joined them.

  “It’s true,” Summer said.

  “We’ll see how long that lasts.”

  Diana popped another bubble and laid her magazine out for them to see. “Look, my horoscope says it’s a good day to land myself a guy.”

  “What does mine say?” Chloe asked, shoving Madeline aside so she could get closer.

  “That you’re a born bitch, but since it comes naturally to you, you should embrace it, not fight it.”

  Chloe smiled. “Excellent. What does Summer’s say?”

  Madeline pushed close again and flipped the page to search it out. Diana read it out loud. “It says, and I quote, follow your heart. Hmm. Where will that lead you, I wonder? Not here, its never been here.”

  “Things change,” Summer said, trying not to be insulted. “And I’m staying until the warehouse fire report is filed. That could be a few weeks.”

  “Weeks? Good,” Chloe said with selfish glee. “I just happen to have some work I’ll happily share. You can start by folding the new tablecloths and napkins. I suck at it.”

  “You definitely do,” Tina agreed, her crystal earrings a perfect match to Camille’s. “But we all have our faults. Now girls, I mean this in the most loving way possible, but get your sweet asses to work.”

  Summer braced for an argument, because for as long as she could remember, Tina’s relationships with her daughters had resembled a roller-coaster track. Up and down, and then back up again, never a calm moment, rarely common ground, and yet there was always emotion: huge, passionate, wild emotion.

  And also for as long as Summer could remember, she’d envied their relationships with all her heart. Not that Camille wasn’t wonderful, and always kind, but there hadn’t been huge emotion, passion, or much of anything in a very long time. “I can fold.”

  “Really?” Chloe beamed at her. “I just got officially happy to see you.”

  Tina just shook her head. “Summer darling, you’re too sweet.” She shot Chloe a look that said take notes.

  Chloe gave her a mock saccharine smile back, complete with salute and Tina laughed. “Oh, go on with you. Go be free and let me be.”

  “Gladly.” Chloe scooted close to Summer as Tina drifted off. “Hey.”

  “Hey yourself.”

  “See that guy over there?”

  There was only one guy in the place. The GQ-handsome one who’d just moved behind the counter. He’d slouched on a stool, and was working on a laptop. Summer knew he was the infamous Braden, the new bookkeeper. “I see him.”

  “Good. Now stop seeing him.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s mine.” At Summer’s long, appraising look, she caved. “Okay, maybe not yet, but I intend for him to be. So hands and mouth off.”

  “It’s hard to take you seriously with green hair.”

  “I mean it, Summer.”

  Summer eyed Braden again. He wore loose black cargo pants and a black collarless shirt on his slightly too-lean body, and an expression that said back off. And though he was scowling at his computer, his long dark hair in his eyes, he was pretty. In a caged tiger sort of way. “Consider my hands off. But—”

  “No. No warnings from you,” Chloe said with an adamant shake of her green-tipped hair. “You do as you want. You do who you want. You always have. Hell, you graduated from high school two years early, then skipped college to roam the planet. Do you know how cool that is? Now it’s my turn to do what I want, so go away before he sees how gorgeous and curvy and irresistible you are. Go save my hide and fold the new kitchen linens. They’re that way.” She gestured to the first alcove, decorated like a beach kitchen, complete with sand on the floor.

  Summer didn’t go. “I’m irresistible?”

  “Oh, please. Like you don’t know it. N