One Song Away Read Free Page B

ones and he grins at me, his own dimples flashing. “Hey Claire-Bear.”
    “ Don’t call me that. Unless you want your childhood nicknames following you around.” Swatting at his arm, I raise an eyebrow.
    To his credit, my big brother blushes. Actually blushes. Wesley used to watch Doctor Who with our parents when we were kids, and since the main character is called The Doctor, Wes thought he was a medical doctor. He watched all the old episodes, and continued to watch even after he understood the difference between The Doctor and a doctor. We all thought it was hilarious for a long time though, and called him “Doctor.”
    “That was ages ago.” Wes shoves his hands in his pockets.
    “Yeah? When did you watch last?” I cross my arms over my chest and raise my eyebrows.
    “Last week,” he admits slowly. “Okay, you got me. I’m still a geek.” He shrugs, grinning.
    Glancing at my mom, who appears to be struggling not to laugh, I face my brother again. “You can tell me all about the episode while I unload some of my things.” I stride toward the car, but Wes zooms in front of me and blocks my path. “Yes?” I put a hand on my hip.
    “Mom told me about you moving home, Sophie,” Wes says. “Why do you think I’m here? I’m not going to let you do this all by yourself.”
    Tears flood my vision for the umpteenth time today, but unlike earlier, I can’t hold them back. “You’re here for me ?” A watery, Wesley-shaped person nods. “Oh.”
    My brother pulls me close. “Welcome home, sis.”
     
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    “To being home.”
    Raising my shot glass, I tap it against Sloane’s. “To surviving being home.” She laughs and we drink; the tequila burns slightly as I swallow, but I don’t mind. It’s been an insanely long week of settling in, so I need this.
    “Surviving, huh?” Her dark eyes focus on me with the same intensity she’s always had. “You’re not regretting coming back, are you?”
    I roll my glass between my palms, trying to squash the frown tugging at my mouth. “No. I mean, Mama and Dad are excited to have me here, Wes took a day off from school, and Cassidy is excited. So it’s nice, but…”
    “But it’s not Nashville.” Sloane supplies the explanation I can’t bring myself to voice.
    I can’t hide my frown. It pulls at my lips despite my best attempts to thwart it. “It’s been hard,” I say finally. “I’m happy to be here, because I know my situation could be a lot worse. But… Last week I was writing songs and thinking my life in Nash would never end, and now, I’m back at square one. I felt out of place sometimes there, but I have no idea where I belong here .” I laugh, but I can’t hear any humor in the sound. “I feel like I’m two versions of myself: the one who lived here before, and the one who lived there . I think I’m more lost than I realized, S.”
    Hiding won’t do any good, because she’ll figure me out anyway. Ever since we met in seventh grade, Sloane has had the ability to see past my defenses, to see me . We were partnered together for an English project because we were the last two students left. It could have been a disaster. Instead, we ended up becoming best friends almost instantly. Sloane was a new student, and I was invisible—except when the kids in my class needed someone to bully.
    After that project, we weren’t the lonely girls we’d been before. Sloane and I both learned what it meant to have a friend who always had our backs, and we both embraced who we were. For Sloane and I both, life has always been about going against the grain. When Jake joined our trio, we were hell on wheels, and I always felt complete with them.
    She narrows her eyes. “Sophie, you may have had to back up and change your strategy, but you aren’t lost.” Spoken like a runner, always planning the best way to outrun or hurdle over any obstacle. Sloane deals with races and heartbreak the same way—she charges past everything