The Libby Garrett Intervention (Science Squad #2) (18 page)

And the female dog award goes to…

Once we reached Spanish Fork, my dad finally broke the silence, daring to speak up in the somber atmosphere. He met Adam’s gaze in the rearview mirror with a serious expression. “Not that I’m not grateful, but why are you doing this? Why help Libby, if dealing with this kind of thing isn’t easy for you?”

I was surprised when Adam met his question with a smile. “I’ve found that usually the more difficult something is, the more important it is.”

Holy profound! I’d given Coffee Man the wrong nickname. I should have been calling him His Holy Wiseness.

“For the last few years, I’ve attended a support group for friends and family of alcoholics. It’s completely changed my life. I’ve learned so much and have had several people step in and help me when I’ve needed it. I’m happy to be able to give back for once.”

Adam sent a smile my way that felt like a promise of the truth of his words, but I couldn’t return it. His answer made me feel so young and naïve. I was just a ridiculous, selfish teenager with a pathetic crush compared to the things he’d had to deal with. Avery had called him an old soul, but that wasn’t it. He was just mature. He’d been forced to grow up young, and it showed. It was no wonder he got along better with my parents than me. He may have been closer to me in age, but mentally he was a grownup. Adam was a man. A soft-spoken, reserved, humble man.

“Plus,” he said, pulling me out of my epiphany, “I’ve met the jerk Libby’s been dating, and I couldn’t, in good conscience, refuse to help once she asked.” There was a smile in his voice as if he’d been teasing, but it disappeared when he said, “She deserves better than a guy like that.”

The fierceness in his statement was startling.

“Damn right she does,” my dad muttered under his breath. He met Adam’s gaze in the mirror again and said, “Thank you.” His voice was as fierce as Adam’s had been. “Just be careful with my little girl.”

Adam didn’t hesitate. “I will.”

It was embarrassing to have them discussing me as if I were a fragile package my father was handing over to Adam for safekeeping. I couldn’t meet either of their gazes the rest of the drive home, but I felt both of them looking my direction off and on.

As if the night hadn’t been torture enough, my dad drove straight home instead of dropping Adam off at his place first. “Wait, Dad; you have to take Adam home.”

“You can take him home.” Dad grinned at me and unbuckled his seat belt. “I figured the two of you probably wanted the chance to say goodnight without your mom and me there to make things awkward.”

“Oh my heck, Dad! Like you saying that didn’t just make things awkward between us for the rest of our lives. I told you, we’re not dating.”

Dad widened his grin and shot me a wink as he got out of the car. Mom followed him, laughing under her breath. I slapped my hands over my face and groaned. “I’m going to petition to add a fourth rule to Newton’s Laws. No matter what variables come into play, there is one universal truth: parents are humiliating.”

Adam burst into laughter and got out of the car to take shotgun. Following his lead, I climbed behind the wheel and backed out of the driveway.

. . . . .

Adam only lived a couple miles from me in a small apartment complex not far from Jo’s. Now I was parked in front of that complex, and my father’s words were looming over my head like the inevitable zombie apocalypse that Levi swears will one day wipe out mankind.

“I’m sorry about my parents,” I apologized, knowing I couldn’t let him get out of the car without saying anything to him. “I told you, they love to torture me.”

Adam laughed. “Your parents are cool. They only torture you because they love you.”

“Yeah, they do.” I let out a breath, relieved that he didn’t seem embarrassed. “Thanks for coming today. And thanks for…you know…doing this.”

“You’re welcome, Libby. I meant what I said. I’m happy to help.” Adam stared into my eyes, as if making sure I believed him, and didn’t look away until I nodded my understanding.

The silence lingered until Adam cleared his throat and opened his door. “I’m off work at two tomorrow afternoon. Call me if you have some free time, because we have work to do.” Smirking, he added, “I promise I’ll try not to be such a grouch.”

With that, he grabbed his skateboard and jumped out of the Escalade. He never looked back. I watched him take the steps to his second-floor apartment two at a time, and waited until he disappeared inside before I drove away. Adam Koepp unsettled me. I didn’t get him, and I wasn’t used to not understanding stuff.

Adam

Mornings were always the busiest
at Jo’s. Weekends were a little slower than the weekdays, though—which I was grateful for this morning, because I’d gotten no rest after my day with Libby. I’d pretended to be asleep when my sister came back to the apartment later that night, because I didn’t want to deal with her questions, but I hadn’t actually slept.

By the time the early morning rush died down, I was cranky and my head ached. At one point the shop emptied, and I leaned my head down on the counter, hoping the cool glass of the display window would dull the throbbing. I don’t
think
I drifted off, but I nearly jumped out of my pants when someone pounded on the counter next to my head. Kate burst into laughter. “Sleeping on the job, Adam? In a
coffee
shop? What would your customers think?”

“I wasn’t sleeping.”

“Yeah, sure, you were studying the back of your eyelids.”

“Speaking of studying,” I grumbled, not in the mood for sibling banter at the moment, “how did it go with Avery this morning?”

When Kate groaned, my heart plummeted. I’d been so sure it would work out with Avery. She’d explained the odd thing to me every now and then, and I’d always thought she was a great teacher. I really thought she’d be a big help for Kate. But then Kate said, “If Mrs. Dressler were half as smart as Avery, I wouldn’t need a tutor at all. I feel like I learned more in the last two hours than I have all year.”

“So you think you’ll be ready for your test this week?”

Kate shrugged, but I could tell she was trying not to smile. “More than I would have been, but Avery says she’ll have my grade up to an A by report cards.”

I smiled my first real smile of the day. A weight lifted off my chest that made me feel a hundred pounds lighter. That was two miracles in a row. First, Libby’s parents didn’t hate me, and now Kate’s school problems were taken care of for no cost. I really needed to thank Avery.

Behind me, Josiah was cleaning the espresso machine. He smiled for Kate too, and said, “That sounds like cause for a celebration. You want a cinnamon roll, kid?”

Kate’s eyes brightened. “Hell, yes! With extra frosting? Thanks, Josiah.”

Laughing, I grabbed a cinnamon roll, and globbed a bunch of frosting on it. Kate had a sweet tooth that could rival Santa Claus. She was drooling before I handed over the warm, gooey pastry. When she tried to snatch it from my fingers, I pulled it back just out of her reach. “This is an advance for a good grade in math. Shameless bribery it may be, but you will owe me if you don’t hold up to your end of the bargain.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, good grades, I got it. Can I have the sugar now? Pretty please?”

I handed it over and watched Kate take a big bite. She groaned with pleasure. “You are my hero.”

I smiled again. She’s a great kid. “You headed over to the skate park?”

Kate shook her head and hopped up to sit on the counter. I glanced back at Josiah, but he just laughed and went back to cleaning. He had as big a soft spot for Kate as I did. “I’ll head over in a bit,” she said. “I came to get details about yesterday.”

It was my turn to groan. Girls and their gossip. At least I had good news for her. “It was crazy. She took me to her dad’s snowboard competition.”

“No way. Score one for you. Was it awesome?”

“It was amazing. I’m telling you, Kate, I think I missed my calling in life. I have got to try that at least once before I die. It looks like skateboarding on speed. Those guys were insane.”

“Wicked.”

I could only agree. “It was weird, though. We had VIP seats, and then Libby took me to meet her dad after it was over. She knows half those guys personally, so she introduced me to a few of them.”

Kate shook her head in amazement. Her eyes glossed over a little as if she were trying to picture it. “Crazy.”

“That’s not even the craziest part. Afterward, Libby’s parents took us to dinner at this fancy restaurant. It was so expensive the waiters wore tuxedos, and they didn’t even put prices on their menu.”

Kate’s jaw dropped. “For real? And they didn’t kick your sorry ass out on the street? What’d you eat?”

I gave her the smuggest grin—Libby’s dad wasn’t the only one who liked to torture people he loved. “I had a filet mignon cooked so perfectly I could slice it with a butter knife, and these cheesy garlic potato things that have ruined me for all other potatoes for the rest of my life. Even the vegetables were good.”

Kate licked her lips and narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re lucky you gave me a cinnamon roll, or I’d seriously hate you right now.”

I laughed. “It was a crazy day.”

“And things with Libby?”

The expectant look on Kate’s face made me cringe. Why did my sister insist on talking about girls with me? I shrugged. “Good, I guess.”

Kate’s eyes lit up deviously. “
Good, you guess?
Nice try. I know what you were trying to do, Mr. VIP and fancy food, but you’re not getting around me that easy. I want the real dirt. Come on, how did it go? Does she still hate you, or did you finally get the chance to make her
swoon
like you’ve dreamt of doing for so long?”

I pushed her until she had to hop off the counter, and I wiped the glass top where she’d spilled crumbs from her cinnamon roll. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Other people to annoy?”

Kate grinned at me. “Nope.”

“Well, get out of here anyway; I’ve got a customer coming—”

“Isn’t that Sean Garrett?”

Kate, having followed my gaze out the front window, looked baffled. “I don’t think he’s ever come in here before in all the years you’ve worked here.”

“Yeah.” I tugged at the collar of my shirt. It couldn’t be coincidence that he was here now. I wondered what he wanted.

Kate turned back around and gave me a wicked smile. “Think he’s figured out your secret and come to give you the Stay Away From My Daughter speech?”

“Shut up.”

“Hmm. Maybe I should clue him in and put you out of your misery.”

I glared at Kate as Sean came in the door and glanced around the shop. “Kate, I swear. If you say anything to him about me and Libby, I will
murder
you.”

“What’s it worth to you?”

“Kate!”

“Oh man, you’re so whipped.” Kate laughed and licked her fingers clean. “Chill, dork. I was just playing. I’m out. I hear the skate park suddenly calling my name.”

I frowned at her, and she laughed again. She jumped up and kissed my cheek over the counter. “Good luck with your man-to-man talk. I’ll pray for you, big brother. And don’t think this means you’re off the hook. You’re giving me all the juicy details later.”

She was impossible! How could she annoy me so much and make me smile at the same time? Sighing, I shook my head. “Always gotta be bustin’ my chops.”

“Somebody has to.”

She turned around and nodded at Libby’s dad, who was now standing behind her in line. “Sean Garrett, right?” she asked, surprising him with her recognition. “I’ve seen you in action. You rock.”

I chuckled when she held her fist out for him to bump. Sean laughed too, and bumped knuckles with her as he said thanks. He was still smiling when he stepped up to the counter. I sounded like a scared little douche when I said, “Good morning, Mr. Garrett.”

“Good morning, and seriously, call me Sean.” He looked behind him out the front window, where Kate was still hanging out, trying to pretend she wasn’t spying on us. “That your girlfriend?” he asked. “She’s cute.”

His voice didn’t sound accusing exactly, but he definitely seemed surprised by the idea of me having a girlfriend. I shook my head, more than happy to set him straight. “My kid sister.”