CHAPTER FIVE

      SUMMER KNEW THINGS weren’t going to go the way she wanted this week. It was destined to be a terrible, no good week. Between the changes at work and the date on the calendar, there was no way she was going to come out unscathed. Mimi stopped getting out of bed starting on Wednesday. Claimed to be feeling under the weather. A broken heart was not an ailment you could fix by picking something up at the drugstore, so Summer tried all her other tricks. She came over to help plant some bulbs for next spring, offered to paint the powder room Mimi had been complaining about a couple weeks ago, even asked for a cooking lesson. Nothing Summer did raised Mimi’s spirits much. By Saturday, Big D had given up trying and told Summer she should do the same. He figured she’d get out of bed on Sunday, no point in pushing her any more than they already had.

      Sunday was the tenth anniversary of her parents’ deaths and they always went to the cemetery for a small memorial. Mimi and Big D visited throughout the year, but the anniversary was the only time Summer went. It bugged her a little that her parents were buried in Texas. She imagined two free spirits like them would have wanted their ashes spread out over the sea, where their remains would continue the journey around the world for the rest of time.

      Of course, they hadn’t been expecting to die so young, and there was no will, no burial wishes written down. Mimi wanted them close and Summer’s other grandparents were out of the picture. They had basically disowned their Miss Georgia Peach daughter when she’d come home from college telling them she’d met a boy who wanted her to chase dangerous storms with him all across the country.

      Despite Big D’s advice, Summer showed up at her grandparents’ on Saturday anyway. It was better than sitting at home, wondering why Travis Lockwood cared so much about what she thought, or what Ryan was going to tell her when he showed up in Abilene tomorrow. She kissed her grandfather hello and made sure he had lunch before knocking on the bedroom door.

      “Can I come in?” Summer asked, pushing the door open a crack. The room was dark, the shades pulled down and the curtains drawn.

      “I’m not feelin’ well. You might want to keep your distance,” Mimi said softly.

      Couldn’t catch a broken heart, either, so Summer stepped inside. Mimi looked so small, all curled up on her bed under the quilt she’d stitched with her own hands. She had her back to the door and didn’t move when Summer’s footsteps made the wood floors creak. Summer ran her hand over one of the clusters of quilted stars. Mimi often joked she didn’t need to camp; she slept under the stars every night. She had sewn one with a similar Seven Sisters pattern for Summer when she moved out.

      Without asking, Summer climbed into the bed and wrapped herself around her grandmother from behind. She pressed her cheek against the back of Mimi’s shoulder. “Did you now that when lightning strikes sandy soil, this kind of glass forms? People have actually found tubes of glass in the sand after thunderstorms.”

      “Lightning glass, huh?” the old woman replied.

      “Yep. Kinda looks like a charred, hollow tree branch. I want some.”

      “Touchable lightning.”

      Summer smiled. “I knew you’d know why I thought it was cool. Being able to hold lightning in your hand? I’d feel like Zeus.”

      “Touch all the lightning glass you want, but stay away from the electrical kind, please.” Mimi gave Summer’s hand a pat.

      “Yes, ma’am.” They lay together in the dark and quiet, giving and taking comfort that couldn’t be expressed any other way. “Want to come to the store with me to pick up what we need for lunch tomorrow? Ryan texted me. He said he and Kelly would be here when we get done with church.”

      “It’s a testament to the kind of people your parents were, him coming here every year to remember them. He’s never stopped being your daddy’s best friend.”

      Summer squeezed her grandmother tightly. “Daddy had the best of everything. The best friends, the best wife, the best parents.”

      Mimi sniffled. “The best daughter,” she added.

      A few more minutes passed in silence. Sometimes Mimi came out from under the dark clouds on her own. Other times she needed Summer to show her the way. Summer rolled off the bed and went to the windows, throwing open the curtains. “Come to the store with me.”

      Mimi didn’t argue or make excuses. Without any fuss, she sat up and hooked her legs over the side of the bed. As she ran her fingers through the tangles in her long blond hair, her all-cried-out eyes looked over at Summer. “I thank the good Lord every day that you weren’t in the car that night.”

      Summer’s parents had traveled with her all over North America when she was a child. They were the ones running toward a storm when everyone else was running away. They were scientists and adventurers who lived every day to the fullest, and woke up every morning with the purpose of discovering something new. It seemed like some sort of sad joke that two people who chased deadly storms would be done in by a drunk driver on the way home from their anniversary dinner, but that was the reality. One simple date night ended in a horrific tragedy