Free Scene of the Brine by Mary Ellen Hughes Page B

pair.
    â€œShe’s quite the unique individual, isn’t she?” Piper said.
    â€œUnique? She’s awful! Sugar is lucky to be out of her reach.”
    â€œI agree. I’m not sure Sugar is ready to see that, but she has worse things to think about.”
    â€œYou mean about Zach? That should be cleared up by now, though, don’t you think? I mean, Daddy must just be eliminating people, ’cause no way could a nice guy like Zach do anything so awful.”
    â€œHow well do you know Zach?” Piper asked. She had to admit that her own good opinion of Zach was based on fairly brief interactions along with anecdotes shared by his not-unbiased mother.
    â€œZach was a couple of years behind me in school, so we weren’t good buds or anything. But he dated the younger sister of one of my friends for a while and I used to see him at her house a lot.” Amy paused a moment, considering. “He was quiet but always friendly. He liked to talk about plants all the time, even then. Allie’s mom, I remember, would ask him to check her gardens for poison ivy ’cause she was sensitive to it but could never spot it herself.”
    â€œAllie is the younger sister?”
    â€œUh-huh. A cute kid but kind of immature at the time—even for fifteen. She dumped Zach in a flash after they’d been going together for most of the year when someone on the football team took an interest in her.”
    â€œHow did Zach handle that?”
    Amy grew somber. “Pretty hard, actually. I remember Jessica, Allie’s sister, telling me that Zach still came over to the house, asking to see Allie. When she wouldn’t talk to him, he’d stand on the sidewalk out front for hours, looking at the house and I guess hoping she’d come out. Jessica felt sorry for him but eventually her dad had to have a firm talk with him.” Amy winced. “I guess that sounds a little creepy, huh?”
    â€œWell, he was what? Fifteen? What teenaged boy hasn’t acted a little goofy over a girl at that age? Or am I rationalizing?”
    â€œNo, you’re probably right. I don’t know why I brought that up when you asked me about Zach. Everything else about him was fine. Great, actually. He was terrific in science, you know, and he tutored kids who weren’t so good in it.”
    â€œDid he finally get over Allie?”
    Amy shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t date anyone after that. But Jessica told me he brought flowers to the hospital.”
    â€œHospital?”
    â€œYeah. When Allie had appendicitis. Or they thought she did. It turned out it wasn’t her appendix after all. I’m not sure they ever figured out exactly
what
it was. But she was okay. Anyway, it was nice of Zach to bring her flowers, don’t you think?”
    Piper wasn’t able to comment because at that moment Will walked in, coincidentally holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers. He grinned sheepishly as Piper’s eyes widened.
    â€œDon’t give me too much credit,” he said. “These came from a neighbor, Marguerite Lloyd, thanking me for pulling her car out of a ditch last week with my tractor. She grows them,” he said, looking down at the lovely bunch of white lilies mixed with pink carnations. “In her greenhouse. I thought you’d appreciate them more than I would.”
    Piper took the bouquet he held out and buried her nose in it, inhaling the lovely perfume. “Thank you!” she said, delighted, even knowing they’d been regifted.
    â€œI’ll get a vase,” Amy said. She turned toward the back, then stopped. “Are there any down here?”
    â€œI have a couple upstairs. In the kitchen broom closet. Top shelf.”
    Amy scooted up the stairs to Piper’s apartment as Piper leaned over her counter to give Will a thank-you kiss. “This makes my day, which hasn’t been the greatest up until now.”
    â€œThe Unger