It was his turn to raise his browsatme.
“Fine. But I’m not Mom, and I don’t think I deserve to be punished for herchoices.”
“You’re absolutely right, and I don’t hold you accountable. That said, I gave you my conditions and I standbythem.”
“Twenty-five hours a week until school starts back up,” I recited. It had originally started out at forty hours a week, but even my dad could see how unfair it was to make me work the entire summer. It made an international trip impossible, but maybe I could still find a way to take a couple of days to go to the beach inCalifornia.
“I’ll even let you keep the money,” my dad said withawink.
“It would be illegal if youdidn’t.”
“Not if you were a minor. Family businessandall.”
“Lucky for me, I’mnineteenthen.”
“And lucky for me, I only have to pay youminimumwage.”
The man was infuriating. Paying me something decent wasn’t going to put a dent in his overall profits. For some reason, people still bought books from his shop, though I was baffled why. It cost more to buy a book from Between The Pages than Amazon. Not only that, you had to drive and go pick it up. I preferred to do my shopping from my phone, and my reading was limited to my horoscope, and whatever was on my social mediafeeds.
I couldn’t be less suited forthisjob.
“Anything else?” I askedimpatiently.
“Actually, yes. Jenny called in sick for her shift tomorrow, which means you get to start work sooner than we thought,” he said with asmile.
“Great.”
Time to get the best summer everstarted.
ChapterTwo
Rainier
Tap,tap,tap.
I hit my pen against the counter in a steady rhythm as I hummed a melody that had been stuck in my head forweeks.
It was a sad tune, and I couldn’t figure out why it kept coming to me. I wasn’t depressed, and the worst thing to happen to me lately was moving back home for the summer. Not that my family was terrible. I had just gotten used to a certain level of normalcy while off atcollege.
Tap,tap,tap.
I didn’t even want to be in the band. But in a string of weird circumstances that started with the original guitarist breaking his arm and ended with my neighbor, Matt, asking me to fill in, I was now officially part of River Valley’s most populargarageband.
They’d been playing gigs at a local bar called Wild Bill’s. A disgusting hole-in-the-wall that now featured a weekly teen night. Anyone who was anyone, and happened to be underage, was there on Thursday nights. The guys were getting more popular every week. People were even coming from other nearby small towns to watch them play. The things you did when you lived in the middle ofnowhere.
“Excuse me.” A clipped voice interrupted myhumming.
I’d been staring off into space and didn’t even realize we had a customer. I shook my head and looked up. A middle-aged woman stood on the other side of the counter. She planted one hand on her hip as she pressed her lips togethertightly.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t payingattention.”
“Obviously.”
“Can I help you findsomething?”
“I’m looking forabook.”
“Sure.” I got up from the chair that was behind the counter. “Whatisit?”
