Pixie started crying. “I’m so sorry,” she bumbled at no one. “I’m so sorry! It seemed like a good idea because neither one of us had ever been with anyone and he’s not scary and I was that happy kind of buzzed and so was he and then it was all messy and awkward and it didn’t feel good at all and then it was over and even more awkward and now my head hurts and Leaves is mad at me!” She started sobbing into the pillow and howled, “Leaves is so mad at me.”

“Hey.” Charity knelt beside her and rubbed her back, saying a slew of reassuring girl things while I paced the room. Pixie eventually calmed down, and when she passed out, Charity stood up from the couch and glared at me.

“What?” I stood there, stunned and angry and… sad. I was actually sad.

She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t remember you freaking out like that when you found out I’d first had sex.”

“That’s because thinking about my sister having sex is gross. Thinking about Pixie having sex is…”

Charity waited with a cocked eyebrow.

“I didn’t freak out,” I said.

“You totally freaked out!” She threw her arms in the air. “God, Levi. Maybe you should just pee all over her so every guy she meets knows whose territory she is!”

That was the first time I realized how possessive I was of Pixie. And then the other day, when I saw Daren kiss her, all my buried desires came roaring back to life.

God, I still can’t believe I was such an asshole to her.

With a clenched jaw, I lift another roll of old carpet out from the east wing and haul it downstairs and out the back door. I toss it into a large pile beside the Dumpster, where it joins three other carpet rolls, an array of shredded baseboards, and peelings of old hideous wallpaper.

I hear the screen on the back door creak open and slam closed before the crunch of heavy feet on gravel meets my ears.

Turning around, I see Angelo smacking a box of cigarettes against his open palm.

“Levi.” He nods, pulling a cigarette from the box and resting it between his lips. “Want one?” The unlit cigarette in his mouth bobs with his words as he holds the box out to me.

I wipe a hand across my sweaty brow and shake my head.

He shrugs and retrieves a lighter from his pocket before flaming the tip of his cigarette. He takes a deep drag and watches as I hack up carpet rolls and baseboards so they’ll fit in the Dumpster.

“You’ve been working hard these past few days.” He tucks the pack in his pocket.

“Yeah, well.” I heave a roll into the trash. “Ellen needs the east wing ready by fall.”

He nods. “And work keeps the demons out, am I right?”

I cut up a baseboard, not really sure what he’s talking about. “I guess.”

He looks out at the field. “Relentless little bastards, them demons. You can push ’em away for years, but they eventually find you.” He takes another expert drag. “And then you gotta face ’em.”

I say nothing as I chuck pieces of wood and wallpaper into the Dumpster. He’s probably referring to a murderous bookie he owes money to or a rival mob boss who wants him to sleep with the fishes or something.

A faint rumble of thunder vibrates the earth, and I look up to see dark clouds in the distance. Monsoon season has been threatening to start for weeks now. I wonder when it will finally pour down its first summer storm.

Angelo stares at the impending clouds and sucks a few more drags of smoke through his lungs before stomping out the cigarette.

He tips his chin at me and says, “The sooner the better,” before heading back inside.

For a moment, I think he means the coming storm. But then I realize he was talking about facing demons, and I wonder if his sage mobster advice was directed at me.

After breaking up the remainder of the remodeling discards, I toss them in the trash and dust my hands off. Walking to the kitchen’s back door, I open the screen just as Pixie opens the inner door, and we lock gazes under another faint rumble of thunder.

I drop my eyes and move to the side. She does the same, both of us moving to the same side so we’re still in each other’s way. We don’t make eye contact as we jerk from side to side, trying to pass each other without touching. Awkward.

Finally, I stop and step back, letting her exit the kitchen with the bag of trash in her hand. As she walks toward the Dumpster, I quickly slip inside and head away from the kitchen as the smell of rain and wind laced with lavender chases after me through the open screen door.

When lightning strikes the earth, it scars the ground, branding it with heat and energy as it singes a path to where it can burn no more. I know this because I accidentally paid attention in science class once, but I think about it every time there’s a storm on the horizon. Like today.

A bolt of lightning cuts through the sky and touches down in the distance, and I can almost feel its electric current running through my veins.

I throw the trash bag away and head back inside the kitchen.

It hurt to see Levi just now; to brush past him and smell him and not talk or touch. Will it ever be normal between us again? My chest aches as I ponder the possibility that we might not speak for the remainder of the summer. Maybe even the rest of our lives.

My heart lurches at the thought.

I start cleaning up for the day. The lunch rush was crazy and, thankfully, everyone has cleared out of the dining room, so I have a moment to catch my breath before dinner starts.

Angelo carries a carton of dirty glasses into the kitchen and, through the door, I see Daren’s perfect form walking across the empty dining room. I hurriedly swing through the door.

“Daren,” I call out.

He turns and smiles when he sees me. “Hey, Sarah.”

“What was with the kiss the other day?”

His smile drops. “Oh. Yeah. Don’t be pissed.”

“I’m pissed.”

He runs a bashful hand through his hair. “I know that was shady of me—”

“Damn straight.”

“But someone needs to light a fire under Levi’s ass,” he says. “He wants you and he doesn’t want anyone else to have you, but he’s too much of a dumbass to act on it. And it’s been that way for, hell, I don’t know, years, at least. I just wanted to provoke him a little. Remind him that you’re worth pursuing.” He smiles again, but makes a face when he realizes I’m not amused. “It was lame. I know.”

I roll my eyes in frustration, but I get it. Daren has always gone out of his way to push Levi’s buttons when it comes to me. He and Charity might have had a rocky on-again, off-again relationship, but he was always a pretty decent friend to me.

I sigh. “Okay, well, next time you want to provoke Levi, could you do it without involving my mouth?”

“Yeah. I’m an asshole. Sorry.” He gives me apologetic puppy dog eyes that only a heartless witch could resist.

“It’s fine,” I say. “Just be careful where you put your lips from now on.”

He winks. “Oh, I’m always careful where I put my lips.”

I bet.

“Ew. Just go.” I make my way back to the kitchen and finish wiping down the counters before I wrap up another bag of trash and carry it out to the Dumpster.

As I toss in the heavy trash bag, a humid breeze lifts the ends of my hair and blows across my cheeks. I look up and see the dark clouds rolling in, and my thoughts fly to last summer.

It was one of those almost-stormy days, much like today, where the sun shone brightly between purple clouds as if the sky couldn’t make up its mind about the weather. The air was thick and humid but the steady wind cooled my skin as I stood with a large group of friends at the ridge burn.