Labor of Love Read online

  I had no idea.

  I was in shock.

  “Are you okay?” Jenna asked.

  “Brady left. He just left.”

  “Yeah, I know. Tank called to let me know.”

  “I don’t get it. He’s been so understanding—this whole time. And now, when I really need him, he just goes ballistic.”

  It was a little scary to realize how much I’d come to depend on him being there. That was so not what I’d planned for the summer.

  Amber had left Sean and joined us.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you’d be happy to see Drew.”

  “How could you possibly think that?” I asked.

  “I just thought since he wanted to be with you again—”

  “But I told you I was with Brady.”

  “Yeah, but I thought it was just for the summer.”

  It was. It was. But still.

  It was hard to stay mad at Amber. She just didn’t think, and I knew she hadn’t meant to mess things up for me. But still, she had.

  “Brady didn’t even give me a chance to explain,” I said. “He just said it was over.”

  Jenna sighed. “Probably because of Melanie. Don’t you think?”

  My heart did a little stutter. “Melanie? Who’s Melanie?”

  Jenna looked surprised. Startled, even. “He didn’t tell you about Melanie?”

  Shivers went all through me. This was worse than thinking I felt a spirit tickle me on a ghost tour.

  “Nooo. What’s this about?”

  She grimaced. “Oh, I don’t know if I should tell you, then.”

  “Jenna! I need to understand what’s going on here.”

  “Let me call Tank and see if it’s okay for me to tell you.”

  “You need Tank’s approval to help your friend?”

  “He told me, but I don’t know if I can tell you.”

  “Jenna.”

  She sighed. “Oh, all right. Melanie was Brady’s girlfriend.”

  “He had a girlfriend?”

  She nodded.

  Why was I surprised he’d had a girlfriend? Honestly I would have been surprised if he hadn’t. I mean, he had way too many smooth moves never to have had one. And he was so cute and nice. Of course he’d had a girlfriend.

  “When?” I asked.

  “I don’t know all the details. Tank just told me about how she broke up with Brady—because it was such a cold way to do it.”

  “What’d she do?”

  “She text-messaged him. He’s in class and he gets a text message: ‘I’m back with Mike.’”

  “Back with?” I repeated.

  “Yeah, apparently, she broke up with her boyfriend, then she was dating Brady, then she got back with the other guy.”

  “Did Brady like her? I mean, a lot?”

  She nodded. “Think so.”

  “This is so weird,” Amber whispered. “I don’t know if I should have come back.”

  “You should have come back,” I reassured her. “You just shouldn’t have brought Drew.”

  “No, don’t you get it? Saraphina said there would be things hidden. I thought she meant that stupid snake,” Amber said.

  Another shiver went through me.

  Secrets were things hidden. And Brady had one.

  Why hadn’t he told me?

  Then I remembered him saying how he hadn’t believed the psychic because life wasn’t good. But he hadn’t explained why.

  I’d finally discovered his flaw.

  My old boyfriend showed up and Brady just assumed I’d get back together with Drew.

  He was as untrusting of girls as I was of guys.

  Weren’t we a terrific pair?

  I’d never questioned why he’d been so agreeable to the terms of our agreement. Why a New-Orleans-only-no-breakup-predetermined-good-bye had been okay with him. Now I knew.

  He was as scared of getting hurt again as I was.

  “So what are you going to do?” Jenna asked.

  “I don’t know. I just…I just need to take some time.” I looked at Amber. “Go talk to Sean. That’s the reason you came back. And Jenna, go finish painting the bedroom. I’m just going to…I don’t know.”

  I walked away, walked across the yard to where we kept the ice chests. I opened one, searched through the icy water until I found a bottle. I closed the chest, twisted off the cap, took a long swallow.

  It didn’t help. My knees still felt weak. I sat on the chest.

  Maybe I’d just go home. Who needed this aggravation?

  Drew being here when I didn’t want him to be. Brady believing that I’d get back together with Drew—just because he’d shown up.

  Only I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to be here. I wanted to build a house. I wanted to be with my friends. I wanted to explore the city more.

  I’d run away once before because it had hurt too much to stay. But now, no matter how much it hurt to be here, I wasn’t willing to leave.

  I was vaguely aware of someone opening one of the other ice chests, the pop of a top being twisted off a bottle, the moan of the chest as someone sat on it.

  “Sometimes I hate it when the things I see really do happen.”

  I looked over to find Sara sitting next to me.

  “Amber’s back,” she said quietly. “And the black-haired guy with her? He broke something, didn’t he?”

  Oh yeah, big time.

  Sara looked sad. As sad as I felt.

  I nodded. “He used to be my boyfriend. And Brady was just so un-Brady about it. Do you happen to know any voodoo?”

  A corner of her mouth quirked up. “Voodoo?”

  “Yeah. I was thinking maybe a spell that would send Drew away and bring Brady back.”

  “You take three hairs from each of their heads, bury them in a backyard”—she jerked her thumb over her shoulder—“like this backyard, and jump up and down on the spot three times.”

  I looked at her, my eyes wide. “Really?”

  She smiled. “No. It’s never that simple, Dawn.”

  “Brady probably wouldn’t give me three strands of his hair anyway. He’s kind of protective of his hair. He has this fear of going bald.”

  She shook her head. “Huh. I don’t see him without hair.”

  I straightened up. “You mean, he’s not going to go bald?”

  She laughed. “Oh no, I don’t see him, see him. I just can’t imagine him bald.”

  “Oh. I thought if I gave him some good news…”

  What did it matter? It didn’t.

  I sighed. “I don’t suppose you see how all this is going to end.”

  She slowly shook her head. “Sorry.”

  I nodded. “That’s okay. Sometimes it’s probably better not to know.”

  “Yeah, sometimes it is.”

  And the way she said it made me think she knew more than she was letting on.

  “I hate leaving you alone,” Jenna said.

  We were back in the dorm. I was sitting on the bed.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Amber shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “You sure?”

  Tank and Sean were coming to get them for a night of listening to bands. I wondered what Brady was going to be doing. I was a little afraid to ask.

  So I didn’t ask.

  So typical of me. Not wanting to face the truth.

  I could see him dancing shirtless on Bourbon Street, gathering beads. I wondered whose neck he’d put them around.

  I wondered why he didn’t tell me about Melanie.

  It was strange, so strange, that all I could think about was him. How much I wanted to be with him.

  After Jenna and Amber left, I just looked at the ceiling and thought about him.

  When my phone rang, my heart gave a little jump—until I saw who was calling.

  Drew.

  I almost didn’t answer. Mostly because, suddenly, nothing was there. The anger that I’d felt earlier—it was just gone.

  “Hey.