Higher Octave (Heavy Influence #2.5) by Ann Marie Frohoff Page A

rubbed Aly’s
back, not saying a word to us.
    “Oh no. What happened?” Grace’s voice was
strained as she came up behind Ethan and me. “What did you do?” She
nuzzled his wet cheek, holding two ice cream cones in her
hands.
    “He’ll be fine. No broken bones.”
    Grace shook her head, and pain draped her
face. “I told you not to run,” she whispered in his ear.
    “My ice cream,” he whimpered, “and my
boo-boos burn.”
    “Hey, hey, look,” I said, detaching him from
my chest and placed him on the ground. “You can have mine if you
promise not to run when you’re not supposed to.”
    He pouted, eyeballing the mint green and
chocolate ice cream in his mother’s hand, frowning. “What is it? I
don’t like that.”
    “Have you had it before?” I
asked, taking it from Grace’s hand. I looked at Aly and Nathan, and
he whispered something in her ear. What a
dick , I thought. Maybe he didn’t like kids.
“Try it, and if you don’t like it, we’ll go get you what you
want.”
    Ethan barely licked the mound of ice cream I
put in front of his face. I could tell he liked it, but he didn’t
want to admit it.
    “Okay,” I said. “I guess you’ll have to wait
in that long line again.” I pulled the cone back and gave it a
lick.
    “No! I like it. Gimme, gimme,” his green
eyes begged me, reaching up to me for the cone.
    “Um,” Aly waved her hand at me. “We gotta
go.”
    “See ya.” I nodded, looking away from her
like I didn’t care. I didn’t want to be so short with her, but how
else was I supposed to act? Seeing her made me all sorts of
confused. Nathan didn’t even look at me, only nodding his head to
Grace in passing.
    “Do you want some of mine?” She offered her
cone to me.
    “Nah.” I removed my hat, wiping my forehead,
and watched Ethan as he went to town on the ice cream.
    “What’s wrong?” Grace’s brow furrowed,
concerned. She didn’t put two and two together. She must not have
known what Aly looked like. “You don’t look well.”
    “That was Alyssa…with Nathan.”
     
    ***
     
    Grace and I didn’t say anything to each
other as we packed her things in her car. I could barely look at
Grace. I was embarrassed for being so sensitive. We only talked
with Ethan about our fun day while she drove me home. I didn’t
think twice about leaning over giving Grace a kiss on the cheek
when I said goodbye, thanking her. I even lingered for a moment,
allowing my hurt and anger to control my needy urge for affection,
until Ethan started laughing at us.
    What was I thinking? Ugh.
    I couldn’t act that way in front of him.
What was wrong with me? I mentally slapped myself as I walked
through my front door, confused and heartbroken.
    I sat in my living room,
staring up at the white ceiling fan that whirled around over my
head. Trying not to think about Alyssa and Nathan. She really was
with him, and it was killing me. I just didn’t know how to let
it or her go, but
I had to figure it out. I couldn’t let not having her consume me,
but it did…
    She wasn’t married yet. I still had a
chance. I would figure out her volleyball tournament schedule and
go to a game. I would go to her university graduation.
    Switching gears now that I
had a sort-of-plan, I lifted my legs up onto the coffee table and
stared at the pile of Sienna’s stuff. I looked at the time and
laughed, because it didn’t matter what time it was. I really didn’t
have anything going on. The songs Bobby and I had recorded were
being mastered. Notting was finalizing my European tour with my
booking agent, and all I was supposed to be doing was writing
music …and I did that , I told myself, trying to not feel like such a lazy
loser.
    “Sienna, what are you up to?” I said to no
one, and reached for the manuscript and pictures.
    I stared at the pictures of Sienna and her
sister, Stephanie. The chick she was with was definitely her older
sister, and the man and kid must have been Steph’s family. I don’t
know