Magnolia Summer

The Mississippi sun had no mercy. It pressed down on my skin like a hot iron, and I swiped at the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand.

“Lord have mercy, it’s hot enough to fry an egg on my forehead,” I groaned.

“Sure is, Brie.” Maggie barely lifted her head from the lounger beside me, her bikini top untied in the back. “Pretty sure my brain’s melting.”

“Mine melted an hour ago. I’m running on pure spite.”

Maggie had been my best friend since kindergarten, which made her less a friend and more a sister who happened to have her own bedroom. We’d just graduated together, and the freedom still felt strange, like wearing new shoes.

I slid my sunglasses up to wipe under my eyes, then went back to fanning myself, which accomplished absolutely nothing. Summers in Laurel could give a person heatstroke and a bad attitude in the same afternoon.

“We’re gonna miss days like this once you leave for school,” Maggie said softly, eyes still closed.

My stomach dipped, because she was right.

In August I’d be starting at the University of Tennessee. Momma was driving me up at the end of the month to set up my dorm room, and since I hadn’t decided on a major yet, my schedule was a buffet of general classes. I was nervous, sure, but underneath the nerves were something fizzy and bright. I’d never really left Laurel except for vacations, and part of me was dying to find out who I’d be somewhere nobody already had an opinion about me.

Because in Laurel, everybody knew everybody, and everybody talked.

Momma liked to say small towns grow small minds. That wasn’t fair to everyone, but I could name a handful of people who proved her point without even trying. She wanted more for me than this, even if letting go broke her heart a little.

It had always been just the two of us, really. I was born a twin, but my sister Bridget came too early and only lived for a few hours. Momma never fully got over it, and I think I carried an empty space around my whole life without knowing what shape it was. When Daddy left for another woman ten years ago, we leaned on each other even harder. He’s in Indianapolis now, and we talk now and then, but mostly it’s been us.

Which was exactly why a clean slate sounded so good.

“So,” I said, turning my head toward Maggie, “what’s the plan for tonight?”

She shrugged without opening her eyes. “Dylan said Seth’s having a bonfire. You wanna go?”

Seth.

Just like that, my whole body went tight, like somebody had pulled a string. I saw his dark eyes, and the way he sometimes looked at me like he was memorizing my face for later. My mind took a very unhelpful detour into what it might feel like to be kissed by him, slow and deep, until I forgot my own name.

Lord. That man could ruin me without even trying.

I shifted on the lounger and crossed my legs, hoping the heat in my cheeks would pass for sunburn.

I’d had a crush on him for years. Lately, though, the way he watched me made me feel like a tall glass of lemonade on a scorching day, and I was starting to think he knew it.

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, Ri already told me about it. Maybe we should make an appearance.”

I said it so casually I deserved an award.

I had never told Maggie how I felt, mostly because I could see exactly how it would go: a spectacular, town-wide disaster. Seth was twenty-four, and I was eighteen. He was also Dylan’s best friend, and Dylan was Maggie’s older brother, which made him roughly one step below a prison warden when it came to the two of us. He’d been protective since we were kids and had never stopped treating me like a second little sister.

He was also, to everyone’s surprise including his own, completely gone for my cousin Ri, short for Mariah. She’d come down from Cincinnati for the summer to help Momma at the assisted living center, and somewhere between the nursing home bingo nights and the Fourth of July fireworks, she’d fallen for him. Now she was staying for good.

I’d had my doubts about Dylan at first, given his history with women. But I’d stopped doubting somewhere around the third time I caught him staring at her across a room like she’d hung the moon. He called her before he left for work and again on his lunch break. He learned how she liked her coffee. He, Dylan Hudson, a man who once considered a second date a long-term commitment, was happily rearranging his whole life around her, and she was every bit as crazy about him.

I was thrilled for them.

I was also fully aware that if Dylan ever caught wind of my feelings for his best friend, it would turn into a complete shitshow.

Still, I had a month left before Tennessee, and I intended to spend as much of it near Seth as I could get away with. Then I’d leave and try to get over him.

Not that I believed I could.

“What time should we go?” I asked.

Maggie sat up and squinted towards the house. “We should probably start getting ready. It’s already four-thirty.”

“Agreed.”

I slid off the lounger and retied her bikini top, which she’d clearly forgotten about.

“Girl, you are pink,” I said.

“No surprise there.” She rolled her eyes, wincing as the straps tugged her shoulders.

We grabbed our towels and made a run for the house. The second we stepped inside, the air conditioning hit my skin like a blessing.

“Oh, thank God for AC,” Maggie groaned.

“Amen.”

We raided the refrigerator and inhaled two bottles of water standing right there in the kitchen.

“Momma should be home soon,” I said. “You take the hallway bathroom upstairs, and I’ll use hers.”

I grabbed towels from the linen closet, and we split off at the top of the stairs.

In Momma’s bathroom, I caught my reflection and sighed. My nose and shoulders were a tragic shade of red. My skin doesn’t tan. It only burns, as a matter of principle.

I turned on the shower, brushed my teeth while the water heated up, then stepped under the stream and let it wash away the sweat, sunscreen, and chlorine. It was heaven.

Afterward, I wrapped one towel around my body and another around my hair and tiptoed into the hallway. Maggie’s voice echoed through the guest bathroom door, belting out a song with total confidence.

That girl could sing. She was painfully shy around everyone except me, her momma, and her grandma, and I’d spent years begging her to let the world hear what I got to hear for free.

I paused to catch the song and grinned.

Shania Twain. Naturally.

Back in my room, I stood in front of my closet and finally settled on a cropped white tee and a blue jean skirt, cute but not trying too hard, which was a lie, because I was trying very hard.

Maggie wandered in with towels still wrapped around her body and hair, dug through my closet like she lived there, and came out with cutoff shorts and a teal tank. We fixed each other’s hair and makeup, trading mascara and unsolicited opinions, then headed downstairs.

We were backing out of the driveway in Maggie’s Jetta just as Momma pulled in beside us. I rolled down my window.

“Hey, Momma! We’re grabbing food and heading to Seth’s for a bonfire!”

“Alright, y’all be careful! Love you girls!”

“Love you, Momma!” Maggie shouted.

She’d been calling my mother that since we were five, back when she’d spent so many nights at our house that it just made sense. Maggie had her own Momma, but when you grow up as close as we did, you end up sharing everything, even mothers.

I blew Momma a kiss, and we pulled onto the road and sped off into the warm Mississippi evening, windows down, with a bonfire and a boy I shouldn’t want waiting at the end of it.

* * *

“Where do you wanna eat?” I asked, tapping Maggie’s arm.

“Pizza?” She flipped through radio stations until she landed on a Tim McGraw song and cranked it up. “Pizza always wins.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

We sang along at the top of our lungs until we pulled into the parking lot of Max’s Pizzeria downtown. Maggie parked and nodded across the lot.

“Looks like my brother’s here.”

I followed her gaze and found Dylan’s truck. Parked right beside it was Seth’s.

My stomach did a full gymnastics routine.

“Good,” I said, already climbing out so Maggie wouldn’t see the minor panic attack happening on my face. “Ri’s probably here too. Let’s go steal their food.”

Inside, I spotted Dylan and Ri at a table near the back. Seth sat across from them, and beside him was a brunette with curly hair.

Wonderful.

I couldn’t see her face yet, but I already knew I didn’t like her.

Ri spotted us first and waved us over like we’d been missing for years. I trailed after Maggie, and we pulled up two chairs between Ri and the mystery girl, me next to Ri, Maggie beside me.

I could feel Seth watching me the whole time.

“Hey, guys,” I said, aiming for casual and landing somewhere in the neighborhood, and kept my eyes on literally anything else.

Then I got a look at the girl, and it got worse. She was gorgeous, with dark brown eyes, fair skin, and one of those bright, easy smiles that made everyone around her feel instantly at home.

Naturally.

“Hi! I’m Rachel,” she said, giving a little wave.

“Brie,” I said, waving back. “Mariah’s cousin.”

“And I’m Maggie. Dylan’s sister.”

“So nice to meet you both!”

Pretty and nice. Fantastic. I’d have to hate her quietly.

Seth shifted in his chair, and out of the corner of my eye I caught his gaze drifting slowly down the front of my shirt.

Absolutely not.

I crossed my arms, leaned back, and raised one eyebrow. “Hey, Seth. How’s it goin’?”

His eyes snapped up to mine, wide like a deer in headlights.

Yeah, cowboy. Busted.

He cleared his throat. “Good, Brie. Y’all coming to the bonfire tonight?”

I glanced at Maggie for backup.

“That’s the plan,” she said.

I turned back to Seth with my most innocent smile. “Do you mind if I bring someone?”

He scratched his jaw, slowly. “Don’t care. Do I know him?” His voice came out low and a little rough, and I decided right then that I was not going to react to it.

I didn’t get the chance to answer, because Dylan threw up a hand like a crossing guard. “Hold up. I need to inspect this guy before you go anywhere with him, Brie. Make sure he’s not a total douchebag.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “No, you absolutely do not.”

Dylan laughed, and Ri elbowed him in the ribs.

Maggie stared at me with her eyebrows halfway up her forehead. She knew as well as I did that, we had no plans to bring anybody. I gave her a tiny wink that said, Trust me, I’ve got this.

She slowly shook her head and started twirling her hair around her finger, which is what she does when she’s sure I’m about to get us both in trouble.

The waitress arrived with a small mountain of pizzas and pitchers of soda, set extra plates and glasses in front of us, and disappeared again.

“Eat up, girls,” Dylan said. “We’ve got plenty.”

While everyone dug in, Ri leaned toward me. “Who are you bringing?” she whispered. “Have I met him?”

I held up one finger, chewing, like I was consulting a mental Rolodex.

“Maybe Jeb and Nate.”

She shrugged and went back to her pizza. Love had apparently made her very trusting.

Meanwhile, Seth glanced at my way about every five seconds for the rest of the meal.

Honestly, it was rude, considering he’d brought a date.

It was also extremely satisfying.

I pretended not to notice, even though it was driving me insane.

When we finished, Dylan paid for everyone. He could be a knucklehead, but he was a sweet one.

“So y’all are meeting us at Seth’s later?” he asked.

“Yep. See ya there.”

Maggie and I said our goodbyes and hustled back to the Jetta. The second the doors shut, she buckled her seatbelt, turned to me, and threw both hands in the air.

“Brie. Who are we bringing tonight?”

“I’ll call Jeb and Nate,” I said, as if this were obvious. “I refuse to be the only girls there without dates.”

“I hope your plan works,” she muttered. “Nate told me he wanted a guys’ night with his cousin.”

I snorted. “Please. Jeb is obsessed with me. There’s no way he says no.”

“Alright. Call him.”

I scrolled to his name and hit dial. He picked up almost immediately.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jeb, it’s Brie. What are y’all up to tonight?”

“Nothin’. Probably video games.”

“Hm. Sounds boring,” I teased. “Why don’t you and Nate come to a bonfire with me and Maggie?”

“Sure. Where at?”

“Seth Madden’s house.”

“Don’t know who that is, but we’ll go if y’all pick us up.”

“Deal. We’ll be there in twenty.”

“We’ll be ready!” He sounded like I’d just offered him a million dollars.

Somewhere behind him I heard muffled arguing, which was almost certainly Nate, before I hung up.

“He’s in,” I told Maggie.

She blew out a long breath. “I can’t believe Nate agreed.”

I grinned like a villain.

“Must be the power of pussy.”

We both lost it, and Maggie laughed so hard the Jetta drifted over the line.

When we pulled up to Nate’s house, the boys practically sprinted out the front door. I hopped out to slide the seat forward and climbed into the back, with Jeb scooting in beside me and Nate calling shotgun.

“Hey, Brie,” Jeb said, nudging my arm.

“Hey, Jeb.” I nudged him right back.

He stretched one arm across the seat behind my shoulders, and I let him.

Partly because I needed him to be believable.

Mostly because I knew exactly whose attention I was after.

Seth’s.

And if Rachel happened to be standing in the way?

Well. We were about to find out.