When Everything Changes (Summer of First Kisses Book 3) Read online

  I drained the pasta, and we fixed our plates. As we sat down at the kitchen table, Dad dug right in and winced a little because the food was so hot. I chuckled softly. “Hungry?”

  He nodded and took a drink of his water. “I worked through lunch.”

  “Well, start with your salad till it cools down.”

  “Which one of us is the parent?”

  “You are. But start with your salad.” I took a bite of mine and grinned at him.

  He put his fork down and smiled at me. “You look so much like your mother when you’re being bossy.”

  My heart gave a funny, painful jump. “Really? But I don’t look anything like her.”

  “Well, you’ve got my olive skin and dark hair—”

  “I’m the mirror image of Vovo,” I said, referring to his mother who still lived in Brazil with the rest of his family.

  “But all your expressions are your mother’s.” His eyes shone, probably with tears. He was always so tender when we talked about her. She’d passed away ten years ago from pancreatic cancer. It had come on swiftly and took her from us even more quickly, the only mercy being that she hadn’t suffered for long. My dad, who had loved her more than himself, had only held together because his three kids had needed him.

  “I just hope she wouldn’t have been disappointed in me.”

  “Disappointed? In you? What are you talking about?”

  I shrugged and twirled some noodles on my fork. “She always bought me dresses and curled my hair. Do you think she’d hate how…not girly I am?”

  He brushed his finger down his nose, a gesture that always indicated discomfort. When he spoke, his voice was deep and rough, his words more heavily accented than usual. “No, she wouldn’t hate it. She might have been mad at me for not making a bigger effort. But I didn’t know how to buy dresses or do your hair. And you just managed on your own, so, I let it go. But minha filha, you are the same ray of sunshine in my life you’ve always been. Don’t think your brothers and I don’t see all the ways you take care of us. You make sure the boys wash their clothes and that I take my vitamins—and a hundred other things. If that isn’t a feminine gift, I don’t know what is.”

  Part of my worry eased away. He was right. I might have a lot in common with boys, but I was also different in specific ways that meant I wasn’t a total lost cause as far as being a woman. But that didn’t mean I didn’t still have the same frustration about my looks and femininity as before. I continued to eat as I mulled it over, but after a few minutes, I realized that Dad kept looking at me.

  “What?”

  He had that expression on his face that he got when he wanted to talk to me. It was half-insecurity, half-determination. “Is all this soul-searching because of boys, by chance? Or…a boy?”

  Huh. Why was he asking that? “Not a specific boy. I’m just trying to figure out what I need to do to get guys to like me.”

  “Nothing. Do nothing at all to make boys like you.”

  I glared at him. “Dad.”

  He looked up from taking a bite, his deep-brown eyes sparkling with humor. He loved teasing me.

  Trying again, I asked, “Do you really want me to stay single my whole life?”

  He shook his head. “No. But maybe till you’re thirty or so.” He glanced out the window that looked out on our front yard. “Not that I think that will happen.”

  “I hope not. Which is why I’ve made a decision.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going shopping for new clothes. Can I have some money?”

  Since I only ever asked for money when I needed new cleats for soccer, his shocked expression shouldn’t have come as a surprise. So why did it hurt my feelings?

  “How much?” Since he made great money as a lawyer, I knew the hesitation in his voice wasn’t because he was worried about the cost.

  “I don’t know how much dresses cost.”

  “When are you going to wear a dress? You didn’t even wear one to your graduation.”

  “I need one to wear on dates.”

  “With who?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “Like I said, I don’t know anything about this stuff.”

  “Don’t worry. My friends will die of happiness when I ask them to help. And, you know—I can use my own money. I need to get used to that anyway now that I’m an adult.”

  “No. You’re saving for a car. I can’t have you gone to Florida State without some way to get home whenever you want.”

  “Cooper and Zane will be there too. You know they’ll bring me. Regardless, I almost have enough saved, and one dress won’t ruin that.”

  “My mind is made up. I’ll give you my credit card.”

  “Wow. Thanks.” His firm tone warmed my heart. He tried so hard to be good to me.

  He pointed his finger at me. “Just don’t go crazy.”

  I raised my eyebrow. He was teasing me, but I still felt an urge to reassure him. “This is me. Buying girl clothes. I’ll be doing good to make myself buy anything.”

  “You have a point. In that case, buy whatever you want.”

  I nodded, but that was going to be a problem. I didn’t exactly want a dress. But I was pretty sure I needed one.

  Chapter Three

  My friends flipped out when I texted to see who wanted to go shopping for a dress with me. Like, completely freaked.

  For a whole day, they carried on a nonstop argument about when to go and who was going and what time of day they could all make it for. Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with it because they did it while my phone was in my locker in the staff lounge at the water park.

  When I finally got to take a break and checked my notifications, I nearly groaned. After I scrolled through and skimmed everything, all I needed to know was in the last paragraph. Kat and Piper were going to take me when I got off work. Apparently, Sadie had just gotten a job working at a restaurant in the evenings and couldn’t go. Piper sent a GIF of a woman throwing money around, which made me laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  I turned around and saw that Cooper had come in, still wearing his lifeguard gear and dripping water across the floor. We were on the same rotation today but on opposite sides of the park. Feeling a warm spark of happiness at seeing him, I smiled and showed him my phone. “The girls are excited because I said I wanted to go shopping for a dress.”

  Cooper’s brows rose. He turned to put down his rescue tube and went to the cooler to refill his water bottle. “What’s the occasion?”

  Would he give me a hard time for this? I knew Zane would have, and so would my brothers. But with Cooper, there was no telling. Still, he had been pretty chill during our conversation yesterday. “I thought it might help me…” Another lifeguard came in, a girl I didn’t know very well. Like every other girl that worked here, Amanda had a thing for Cooper. I watched as she gave him a sidelong glance.

  “Hey, Cooper. It’s hot out there today. I thought I was going to melt.”

  “Yeah. It was a blaze.” But even as he answered her, his gaze remained focused on me. “Liv?”

  There was no way I was going to have this conversation where Amanda could hear it. But I also didn’t want to leave Cooper hanging, so I walked over to him and leaned close, waving for him to bend down. I rose up on my tiptoes and cupped my hand around my mouth, then whispered. “I need something to wear on a date.”

  “A what?” he asked out loud.

  Thinking I needed to get closer, I strained up on my toes until my lips brushed his ear. Man, I was so awkward sometimes. Good thing Cooper didn’t care. “It’s for a date.”

  I hadn’t even thought about the small puddle of water that had collected at Cooper’s feet until one of my feet slipped. Off-balance already, the only way to stop myself from falling was to grab on to him. At the same time, his arm went around my waist, securing me against him. I looked up and found him staring at me with an intensity I’d never seen before. I didn’t understand it, but my stomach fe
lt funny and my heart hammered as if I’d just run a mile. And why did I feel an urge to put my arm up around his neck?

  “You have a date?” Cooper asked, his eyes boring into mine.

  My brain felt fuzzy, and it took a moment to understand what he was asking. “No. Not yet.”

  In the silence that fell, I heard someone else come in, but I didn’t look to see who until they gave a sharp whistle and said, “Go, Coop!”

  Why did Zane have to come in at exactly that moment?

  Cooper and I pushed away from each other like we were afraid of cooties.

  “Shut it,” Cooper said.

  The two often teased each other, with Zane usually being the main aggressor. Cooper had a more serious personality and tended to let Zane call the shots in most situations. But there was no mistaking the steel in Cooper's voice now, and Zane got the message. He threw up his hands and turned away to his locker without another word. I, for one, felt like I might die.

  No doubt that looked like…well, something it wasn’t. As if things weren’t weird enough right now, the last thing I needed was for things to get awkward between Cooper and me.

  Talk, Liv. Talk.

  “So, anyway, I guess I don’t need a ride home today. Piper and Kat are going to pick me up.”

  Cooper nodded. “Okay.” He drew the word out, just slightly though. Enough to make me think he was disappointed.

  Or maybe he was just trying to figure out what to do about his friend acting like a weird idiot.

  Time to redirect. “Man, I’m starving. I’m going to go buy a corndog. Want one?”

  He shook his head. “No thanks. Where are you guys going?”

  “To the mall in Destin, I guess.”

  “Well, have fun.”

  I’d have fun being with my friends. There was no way I’d enjoy trying on clothes though. “Thanks, but this is going to suck a lemon.”

  He chuckled, his eyes gleaming with swift amusement. Happy to have things back to normal again, I moved to the door. But just as I left, I looked back over my shoulder and saw Zane point at Cooper in some kind of twin communication I didn’t understand.

  ***

  We’d been to three stores already by the time Piper and Kat dragged me into one full of trendy clothes and lots of ugly mannequins in strange poses. The first thing Kat did was run over to a rack of dresses and hold out a pink one with spaghetti straps and a short fluttery skirt.

  “Ooh, what about this one?”

  “You mean besides the fact that my butt would be exposed every time the wind blew? It’s pink, Kat.”

  “And you don’t like pink?”

  “Have you ever seen me wear pink?”

  “No. But do they even make basketball shorts in pink?”

  I pressed my lips together. “Yes, they do. Another color, please. And like I keep saying, something longer please.”

  “Fine.” She turned around and hung it back up. She sifted through the styles and pulled out a white chiffon dress with tiny blue seashells printed all over it, short sleeves, and a thin leather belt around the gathered waist. “How about this one?”

  “Ooh, I like that one,” Piper said, glancing over from another rack.

  “Not too terrible, I guess.” And compared to some of the other dresses they’d made me try on already, it was actually pretty.

  Piper grabbed another one, a pink floral wrap dress, from her rack and the dress Kat was holding. “Let’s head to the fitting room and get these on you.”

  I took a deep breath and followed her. I could do this.

  Trying on the dresses wasn’t so bad. They went on easily unless they had a fiddly zipper or something. The problem came when I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to imagine myself wearing one of them in public.

  I tried on Piper’s dress first and walked out to show the girls, who were checking out the shoe display near the dressing room.

  “The skirt is too ruffly,” I said.

  They turned around and looked me over. Piper rolled her eyes at me. “No, it’s not. It looks amazing and gives more contrast between your waist and hips. You kind of have that square athlete waist, you know, instead of the hourglass shape. This helps with that.”

  “I have a square figure?”

  “No,” Kat jumped in after a quick glare at Piper. “Are you kidding? I’d kill for your abs. And your figure is great. Exactly like a swimsuit model’s.”

  Piper chuckled. “Yeah, but not one of the ones with…” She held her hands up to her chest and made an exaggerated cupping motion to symbolize big boobs.

  “There you guys are,” a masculine voice said from behind us.

  I looked behind Piper and Kat and saw Cooper and Zane strolling toward us. Piper dropped her hands and blushed fire-engine red. I had never seen that happen before, but I was freaking out too much to think about it for long. I was wearing a dress, and now there were guys here to witness it.

  “What are you doing here?” Piper asked.

  Zane took a drink from the giant soda he held in one hand. “I don’t know. Cooper said you guys were hanging out at the mall, so we came to join you. Got a problem with it?”

  Kat laughed. “I don’t.” Her tone seemed to imply that Piper or I might. And I did. How was I supposed to try on dresses with them around? Especially with the way Cooper was staring at me like I was an alien or something.

  “I’m going to go change.”

  “You still have to try on the other dress,” Kat said, calling after me.

  “Not happening,” I called back.

  When I got back into the dressing room, I looked at the other dress, the one Kat had picked. I liked the color and the skirt looked longer than the others. It sort of flowed down in the back. I was sure it would fit me, and if I bought it, I wouldn’t have to try any more dresses on with the guys around. Decision made, I changed quickly back into my jeans and T-shirt, then slipped out of the dressing room, past my friends, and over to the register.

  “Liv, what are you doing?” Kat asked, coming toward me. “I didn’t even see that one on you.”

  “I’m sure it will look fine.”

  Piper was right behind her. “You mean this frustrating shopping expedition is over? I’m all for that.”

  I shot her an annoyed look. They were the ones who’d made me try on so many terrible dresses.

  As the cashier took the tag off the dress and scanned it, I glanced over my shoulder to see where Cooper was. He was over in the entrance with Zane, waiting for us. Individually, they were too good-looking for their own good. Together, every woman who passed by them gawked in a totally obvious way. Not that Cooper seemed to notice, but Zane smiled at the pretty ones.

  “That will be sixty-two dollars and twenty-four cents,” the cashier said, pulling my attention back to what I was doing.

  “For a dress?”

  She smiled. “Yes. They’re on sale.”

  I sighed. Sure, I’d spent twice this or more on a pair of running shoes, but that was different. Still, I inserted my dad’s card into the chip reader and got it over with. He’d probably be disappointed I’d only bought one.

  As I walked out with the girls, Cooper and Zane followed us. For some reason, I felt awkward and self-conscious as we walked, wondering if my ponytail was messed up from trying on clothes or if my hips swayed like Piper and Kat’s did. Which was stupid since Cooper—I mean, Cooper and Zane—were probably checking out other girls. Because we were all just friends.

  It was such a relief to not have to walk in front of them after our group ran into a cluster of women with strollers and toddlers and shopping bags. We had to split up and step to the side, threading our way through that knot of chaos the best we could. Once we were past them, we’d shuffled around so that Zane walked ahead with Piper on his left and Kat on his right. Cooper and I followed behind, and I liked this arrangement so much better.

  “Have you gotten anything to eat yet?” Cooper asked.

  “No. Apparently, you shoul
dn’t eat before trying on clothes.”

  “Why?”

  “Something about how clothes fit. But I think Kat is crazy. And yes, I’m starving.”

  Cooper nodded slowly. I looked up at him, wondering if there was a point to his asking, or if he was just trying to remind me how hungry I was. Finally, I just said, “Do you want to go get something? The food court is just ahead.”

  “Yes. I was just going to ask you the same thing.”

  “Well, you were taking long enough.” I faced forward again and called out, “Hey guys, let’s go get something to eat.”

  The three of them stopped and turned to face us. Piper nodded. “Yes. Let’s go.”

  Zane cleared his throat. “Actually, uh, I was hoping you and Kat would come look at a pair of shoes I’m wanting to buy and give me your opinion.”

  “Liv would know more about that than we do,” Kat said.

  Instead of arguing, Zane looped his arms through theirs. “But I want to know what you girls think.”

  As he hauled them away, I scrunched my brows together, trying to figure out what was going on. “Is it just me, or was that weird?”

  “It’s Zane. Of course it was weird. What do you want to eat?”

  “Anything, as long as it has meat.”

  Cooper laughed. “Okay. Want a burger or a gyro?”

  “Oooh, I forgot about the Greek place. Their fries with the herbed butter sauce are the best. Let’s get that.”

  “Perfect.”

  As we walked over, threading our way through the tables, Cooper led the way, moving chairs so I could pass. Once through the maze of the dining area, he paused and waited for me with a smile that gave my pulse a strange little rhythm.

  “I’m buying,” he said as we walked over.

  I did a quick calculation in my head. Since Cooper, Zane and I all worked at the same place, we ended up going to a lot of drive-through restaurants before and after work, and it was easier to just do it all on one ticket. “No, it’s my turn.”