the third cup and pitched it into the trash. “Coming.”
“You know, I think I owe you an apology,” Clara said as she drove slowly back to the student center.
“What?” Taylor asked. “No. No. You don’t. Believe me. You have every right to be mad.”
“I know, but I think it was actually more than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just… Lauren and Paige. They’d been saying all this stuff about you, about what you were really like and how I’d better watch my back. Stuff like that. And I didn’t believe them. I mean, I guess I didn’t want to believe them. But part of me did, I think. Part of me was bracing for when ‘the real Taylor’ showed up.” Clara sighed. “Don’t get me wrong. I knew things were tough for you. And I was so mad when they didn’t come for the trial thing. I couldn’t believe they would do something like that.”
Taylor could. Not because of them but because of her. “It’s okay, Clara. I haven’t been very nice to either one of them. Trust me, I’ve made a lot of mistakes.”
“Yeah, but we all have. All of us.”
“Maybe, but not like I have,” Taylor said, and she meant it more than she had ever meant any other thing in all the world.
The rest of the afternoon, Taylor rehearsed the apology she would give to Greg the second he showed up. Nelson had come and gone. She only knew it was him because that was the room he had gone into. The more she let herself go there, the more she realized how awful she had made things for all of them. Greg wasn’t the only one. He was just the one who had been brave enough to say something.
She wished she had thought to ask about his hours. Did he get off at six or eight on Fridays? At six-fifteen, she heard her answer come through the front door.
Scooting off the bed, she trekked into the hallway and found she was right though he was a sight and a half. “Wow. What happened to you?”
“Don’t ask.”
Carefully tugging on her T-shirt, she assessed him. Studying was out. So was talking.
“You want me to make you something?” she asked as he got to the room, stopping only long enough to pull his shoes off and toss them onto the floor, completely missing the closet.
“You don’t have to.”
“Well, somebody better.”
He sat on the bed, and she looked at him long and hard. This could not continue.
“Take a shower. I’ll fix something.”
“K.” But that was all he said.
Worry cascaded over her as she went to the kitchen and started pulling out pots and pans. The poor guy was going to collapse under the strain of all of it. Just as she got the sauce going, Wes came in, and he made the clear mistake of coming into the kitchen. Clear because the second he saw her, she knew he wanted to turn and run.
She flipped the burner under the noodles on. “Hey, how was work?”
At the refrigerator, he half-turned in surprise. “Good. Why?”
“Just wondering. Are you hungry? I can throw some more noodles in.”
“Oh. Uh.” He came out with a bottle of water and twisted it open. “Nah, Lauren and I are going to the movies.”
“Oh,” Taylor said, and she squelched what that name did to her. “That sounds like fun.”
Wes checked her with a strange look. “Yeah.”
She heard the water go on down the hall. “Are Nels and Paige going too?”
In all honesty, she couldn’t blame him for the strange, puzzled look he gave her. “They were thinking about it.”
“I just wondered. Nels was here earlier.”
“You… talked to Nelson?” he asked like that might be a federal crime.
“No, I was working on some stuff in my… in Greg’s room. I just heard him, that’s all.”
“Oh. I… Okay.”
“Greg’s in the shower,” she said, continuing so this might not have a chance to get too awkward. “He just made it in from the hospital. Twelve-hour shift.” She turned and leaned on the counter, arms and ankles crossed. “That’s insane, don’t you think? And on top of classes.”
Wes bobbed his head in agreement.
“Did you know his dad made him work in high school if he was going to be in the band?” Taylor asked, wondering if she was the only one who hadn’t been privy to that information.
That twisted Wes’s face. “Really?”
“Yeah. I was surprised too. I just figured he needed the money, but then when I really thought about it.” She shrugged.