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“Maybe she’s driving and can’t use her phone right now,” Summer offered, hoping to ease Miranda’s mind.
As stunts went, stealing a car and going for a joyride was top ten for teens. Summer wasn’t too worried about it. “It’s been quite a day. I think I’ll go take a quick shower before I have my dinner.”
Cody reached for her and took her hand. “I’ll come check on you in a few minutes. We’ll eat together.”
She brushed her fingers along his hard jaw. “I’d like that.”
Her dad stepped in front of her before she left the room. “I’m sorry Natalie’s acting out like this.”
Summer nodded, not saying anything, because what could shesay? Nate and Miranda needed to deal with Natalie. Summer needed time and space to decompress from all that happened and let it go.
Cody spoke up as she walked away. “Natalie is out of line.”
“And Nate and I will deal with her without your interference.” Miranda’s angry, defensive words warned Summer that the mama bear in her would protect her child, even when Natalie was in the wrong. It made Summer feel even more the outsider in this family.
Time, she reminded herself; it would take time for some of them to see her as an equal.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cody didn’t mean to get on Miranda’s nerves. He simply couldn’t hold back his anger. But he could take himself out of the situation and do what he really wanted to do: spend time alone with Summer.
She’d handled herself so well, given what Natalie had done.
He had no doubt Nate and Miranda had a stern lecture in the making for Natalie, so he opened the bag of food Summer had generously ordered for them and pulled out the containers, recognizing immediately that she’d paid attention and knew what they all liked. He left Miranda’s pesto pasta with chicken and Nate’s lasagna on the counter, along with one loaf of garlic bread. The rest, he kept in the bag. “I’ll see you guys later.” He rubbed his hand over Haley’s back to reassure her as he walked by and headed for the foyer, just as a car’s headlights swept across the front of the house. “She’s back,” he called out.
Nate and Miranda rushed out of the kitchen and caught up to him in the foyer as Natalie opened the front door.
“Cody.” Natalie’s tone was timid as she eyed him.
He was so angry, he held his tongue, not wanting to say something he’d regret later.
“Young lady, where have you been?” Nate barked out the words.
The nervousness and apprehension in Natalie’s eyes turned defiant. “Out with my friends. I told Mom this morning that I was meeting Rebecca and Stacy.”
Cody stood there stone cold and still, wanting to hear her explanation for what she’d done and how she was going to play it off like it was no big deal. His mind flashed to seeing Summer lying on the floor next to a pool of vomit, curled up like an infant, holding her pounding head, her face a mask of agony.
“Who said you could take your sister’s car?” Nate asked.
“She said I could borrow it. She wasn’t using it, so I took it.” It amazed him how she could look so innocent.
Nate’s usual patience snapped. “She wasn’t here because Cody had to rush her to the hospital. They had to shoot her full of narcotics to stop the agonizing pain. She couldn’t see straight. She couldn’t get herself there on her own. She asked you for help and you didn’t do anything.”
A plea filled Natalie’s eyes as she stared at him, possibly looking for help out of the jam she put herself in, but Cody didn’t see half the remorse he expected. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
Cody shook his head at that pathetic excuse and walked away.
Natalie shot forward and grabbed his forearm. “Wait. Don’t be mad.”
Cody turned and pinned Natalie in his gaze. “You know what I am? Incredibly sad about what Summer went through and how I found her. Your mom and dad didn’t see her lying on the floor helpless, but I did, and I will never forget it.” He pulled away so Natalie had to release him, turned, and walked away just as Miranda said, “We need to talk,” and Natalie huffed out her irritation that her parents weren’t going to drop this.
He knew how it felt to do something stupid and have to ownup to it with his dad. But he’d never purposely turned his back on someone in need. Natalie needed to own up to this and do the right thing.
Cody hoped she’d find a way to accept her sister, because Summer was a part of the family now and that would never change.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Miranda had never seen Nate so upset and angry at one of their girls. In the past, she was left to handle the discipline and heart-to-hearts on her own because of Nate’s busy work schedule. Not that she wasn’t also busy with her own job as a Realtor, but her hours were more flexible, and she supposed a lot of that kind of thing fell on moms the most.
