A Constellation of Roses by Miranda Asebedo

Author:Miranda Asebedo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

ONE OF THE MANY JOYS of living in a small town is that when you don’t want to see someone, you start to run into them everywhere.

After more than a week of Jasper avoiding me at school, I run into him at Lee’s General Store while picking up sandwiches for lunch on Saturday. We lock eyes between the aisles of the tiny grocery store, me holding sandwiches for Auntie, Mia, Ember, and myself, and Jasper gripping a box of Pop-Tarts. I open my mouth to say something, but he turns on one heel of his stupid cowboy boots and hustles down another aisle. It feels miserable to be blown off while clutching an armful of lunch meat, and I want to tell him that I didn’t mean to find his prescription, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to chase after him like some kind of lovesick cow.

And that does it for me. I’m beyond feeling bad about looking through his bag. Now I’m just pissed.

So after lunch, when Jasper calls and tells Mia he can’t make any pie deliveries that afternoon because his dad needs his help on the farm, I’m not surprised. Instead I get stuck riding shotgun with Auntie in the old Suburban for deliveries, listening to her tell me about her first husband, who died of a heart attack while they were having sex. “What a way to go!” She chortles, clipping yet another curb.

By evening, I’m pretty sure I’ve got whiplash from Auntie’s driving, and my feet hurt from waitressing all day. All I want to do is go home, eat something, crawl into bed, and not think about Jasper at all. But on the way home, Mia says the car is almost out of gas, so she stops at Mitch’s Gas Emporium to fill up.

And who’s there, leaning up against the brick wall of the station, sipping a soda and laughing with Grayson and a couple of other guys from the football team?

Jasper fucking Ruiz.

Unaware of my angst, Mia reaches back from the driver’s seat and hands me forty bucks. “Can you run in and prepay, hon?” she asks. “It’ll take me a minute to get the stupid gas cap off. It always sticks. I’ve got to get it fixed.”

“I’ve been telling you that for years, but you never do it,” Auntie grumbles. “Bring me a beef stick,” she tells me. “One of the hot ones.” She notices the boys standing outside the gas station. “Oooh.” She snickers. “Look at those beef cakes.”

Mia ignores that last part. “You don’t need any jerky,” she says to Auntie. “We’re going home to eat right now. I have leftover shepherd’s pie in the fridge.”

Ember sits forward when she sees who Auntie is talking about. “I’ll go, too,” Ember says, pulling out her phone to check her appearance in its reflection. “I’ll find that spicy beef stick you like, Auntie. I know where they are.”

Mia looks surprised. Ember never offers to run errands because that usually means she’ll have to interact with other people.

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