she snapped. Before he could respond, she took off for the one place he couldn’t follow—the dreaded ladies’ room.
“Don’t mind her.” Travis spun around to find Rachel twirling a strand of hair. “She’s a little socially inept. I think she’s one of those savants. The kind of person who knows a whole bunch about one thing in particular but lacks social graces.”
If she thought speaking of a coworker that way was somehow becoming, she was wrong. Summer’s fear that he’d mock her made complete sense now. One thing he’d learned about women over the years was that the ones who tore down the others deserved his respect the least. Brooke had been a woman-basher, always pointing out the faults in the women she called friends. Travis had no time for that in his life anymore.
“Have you seen Ken? I need to check in with him.”
Rachel’s forehead creased. She was clearly shocked by his disregard for her comments about the weather girl. “He’s probably in his office,” she said, regaining her composure.
Travis nodded and took off. He figured there was only one way to earn Summer’s trust and therefore her help. He had to convince Ken that Summer needed her thirty seconds back.
CHAPTER THREE
THE MORNING SUN was no more forgiving than the one that beat down any other time of day in September. Summer fanned herself with the church bulletin.
“Excellent sermon today, pastor,” her grandfather said, shaking Pastor John’s hand.
“Thank you, David. I meant to ask Summer if we should be praying for more rain or not. You got us a little bit earlier in the week, but it wasn’t enough.”
Summer loved that people thought she had some sort of control over the rain because she forecasted it. Predicting and causing were unfortunately two very different things, but meteorologists got blamed for weather conditions regardless. “Never hurts to pray,” she replied.
“Isn’t that the truth?” The pastor smiled kindly. “We’ll see you next Sunday, Miss Raines.”
Summer followed her grandparents back to the house. They always walked to church unless the weather prevented it. Some people were born for this heat. David and Sarah Raines were two of those people.
“So, tell me about this new sportscaster y’all got over there at Channel 6 now.” Summer’s grandmother hooked arms with her and patted her hand. “I thought he was kind of cute.”
Summer’s eyes rolled behind her sunglasses. Travis was annoyingly cute and ridiculously humble. He was also the reason Summer had to talk faster during her report. Her blood boiled. She fanned herself a little faster.
“He’s barely capable of doing what he’s being paid to do, Mimi. I’m sure we stole a few viewers away from Channel 4 last week, but I’m not so sure they’re going to come back for more.”
“I think if he were on Channel 4, I’d switch over after you were done so I could see him.” Mimi winked and tugged on her arm. The woman always had a devilish look in her eyes—eyes that were the same blue as Summer’s. People always told her she looked like her grandmother. Mimi’s blond hair was a tad lighter but had the same gentle curl, although no one would ever know it because she always wore it in a long braid that fell down her back.
“You hear that, Big D?” Summer leaned forward to get her gentle giant of a grandfather’s attention. He walked without a care on Mimi’s other side. “You okay with her ogling the new sports guy every night?”
He shook his head at their nonsense. “She can look all she wants. She knows she’s stuck with this old man until the good Lord takes me away. Then she can get herself an upgrade.”
Mimi’s sigh was loud and exaggerated. “Knowing how stubborn your granddad is, he’ll probably outlive me and be the lucky one who gets to trade up.”
Summer laughed. “That’s probably best. They don’t make men like they used to. I don’t think you could upgrade if you were given the chance.”
Big D reached behind his wife and placed his hand on his granddaughter’s back. “You’re a good girl, Summer.”
Sundays were always the same—church and lunch with her grandparents, followed by a quiet evening at home...alone. Summer didn’t mind being by herself, but she enjoyed the first part of the day much more than the second. She loved working in the garden with Mimi or sharing the newspaper with Big D. Her grandparents were so different from her parents. They loved their simple life. They believed in putting down roots. They’d both lived in Abilene their entire lives. Before he retired, her grandfather had taught environmental science at the Christian university in town for over thirty years while her grandmother stayed home and raised three children. Summer’s father was the youngest and the only boy. Gavin Raines was more like a leaf in the wind rather than a tree rooted in the ground.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you deflected the conversation away from the sports guy,” Mimi said later as they put the finishing touches on an apple pie.
Summer smashed her lips together. She was not going to spill any of the feelings she was having about Travis. No matter how perceptive her grandmother thought she was being, there was nothing to tell. There was never going to be anything between Summer and the ex-football player who couldn’t read a Teleprompter to save his life. His presence at the station ruined her chances of doing more than reporting the highs and lows for the week. All Summer wanted was to share her passion for Mother Nature. Was that too much to ask?
She opened the oven and put the pie in before setting the timer. “Did you know that in ten minutes, a hurricane can release more energy than all the world’s nuclear weapons combined?”
“Well, well.” Mimi rubbed her hands together with a gleeful look in her eye. “There must be a really good story about this boy if I’m gettin’ weather facts.”
“There was a hurricane near Haiti earlier this week. I find hurricanes quite fascinating,” Summer said in her defense.
“I think you find something else more fascinating than you want to admit.”
“He took thirty seconds of my weather report away. I find nothing the least bit fascinating about him or football. Football, football, football! Do people in Texas not know there are other things happening in the world besides football?”
Mimi bit her tongue, trying not to infuriate her already irrational granddaughter. Summer had moved to Abilene when she was sixteen and never quite acclimated to the Texas way of life. Being raised by hard-core storm chasers probably hadn’t helped. “Oh, sweetheart, it’s not his fault that football reigns supreme around these parts. You can’t hold the general public’s preferences against him.”
Summer sat back down at the kitchen table, flustered. She hated that it was so easy for him. He waltzed into the studio and all the viewers were going to love him no matter what. She didn’t love him. She didn’t even like him. She barely tolerated him. “He also calls me Weather Girl. Says it sounds cute.”
Mimi had to cover her mouth to stop her laughter from sending Summer into a real fit. “He thinks you’re cute, doesn’t he?”
Summer crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at the old woman. “If it weren’t for the apple pie,
