Page 12 of Tanner
“We could be doing better with your help.”
“Tanner?” Rachel’s voice asks from behind me.
I turn, and I’m still stunned by how beautiful she is and that she's mine. She looks between Tegan and me with uncertainty in her eyes.
"Well, if my brother is going to be rude, I might as well make the introductions." Tegan holds out her hand to Rachel. “I’m Tanner’s sister, Tegan.”
Rachel lets out a breath and smiles before taking Tegan’s hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m—”
“My girlfriend,” I blurt out.
Rachel chuckles at me. “What he said.”
“Girlfriend?” Tegan glances at me. “You never said anything about having a girlfriend.”
Rachel’s smile disappears. Tegan’s trying to dig at me, but unfortunately, Rachel is getting caught in the crossfire.
“Tegan, I know you’ve come a long way, but I’ve already made plans to take Rachel to lunch.”
“Why don’t I join you?” She doesn’t bother waiting for a response like it’s a done deal. She opens the car door and gestures for Rachel and me to get in.
Rachel looks unsure but gets in first. I follow, wanting to be a buffer in case Tegan says something else that might offend Rachel.
"We were just heading down the street to the diner," I tell the driver.
"Actually," Tegan says, looking up from her phone. "I just made a reservation in Ashville. You two, don't mind, do you?"
“No, that’s fine,” Rachel says, but I keep my mouth shut.
The ride down the mountain is awkward. My only comfort is Rachel's hand in mine. When we get to the restaurant, Tegan gets out first, and I take a moment to talk with Rachel privately.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was coming.”
She shakes her head. “It’s fine.”
The lunch is pretentious and filled with uncomfortable silences. Not unlike most nights at dinner with my family growing up. Rachel does her best to make polite conversation, but the tension between Tegan and me makes it unsalvageable. She keeps trying to restart our last conversation about me coming back home, but I keep shooting her down.
“I think I’m going to go to the ladies’ room.” Tegan pushes away from the table and stands up. “Rachel?”
Rachel looks up and realizes that Tegan wants her to join her.
“You don’t have to go,” I tell her.
"It's fine," Rachel repeats for the fifteenth time. It's like that phrase is her new mantra, and if she says it enough, it will be true.
While they are gone, I pay the bill, wanting to get out of here as soon as we can. I need to send Tegan back home with my final answer that I’m not going to rejoin the family business.
Rachel looks somehow more uneasy when they come out back out to the table.
“Everything okay?” I ask and think the words"it's fine," just as Rachel says them.
I want to press Tegan to see what she said to her in there, but I know it will end up being a fight. Rachel picks up her sweater off the back of the chair as Tegan sits down again.
“I’m going to head out. You two have a lot to talk about.”
I stand up. “No, I’ll go with you.”
She shakes her head. “You stay. I’ll be fine. Tegan offered her car to take me back.”
