The Weather Girl by Amy Vastine Page B

forward to something would be nice. He wasn’t so sure he should be hoping for a tornado, though. “I think that’s what I’m the most afraid of,” he said. “I don’t want my life to be over. There’s still got to be something out there for me. I don’t want to miss it, you know?”
    Her eyes slid to his. “Then you have to use that fear to push yourself to take risks you normally wouldn’t. You never know what could happen.”
    He could fail. He could fail and fail again. The fear of it nearly paralyzed him. He was so used to living in a world where the only decisions he had to make were the ones on the football field. His path was always brightly lit and filled with one way signs. Now the world was filled with endless possibilities, and he didn’t have a clue what signs he should be looking for. Except the one pointing home. He came back to West Central Texas because it was the least scary place to start.
    Travis directed Summer to his cottage but didn’t jump out right away when they arrived. The rain had picked up and it pounded on the car so loudly it didn’t feel awkward to sit in silence for a minute. “Thanks for the lift. I owe you one.”
    “No trouble, really.” Summer shrugged. She reached back and grabbed her umbrella. “Here, use this. You can give it back to me on Monday.”
    “You sure?”
    “I can park in my garage. You need it more than me. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for you getting sick, now, would I?”
    “The way things have been going, I might need a reason to call in sick.”
    Summer shook her head. “You have to stop trying so hard. When you overthink things, the words get all jumbled. Try pretending you’re telling the crew what happened in the world of sports instead of reporting it to all of Big Country. It’s as simple as having a conversation with some guys at the bar.”
    “That’s some good advice. Thank you.”
    “Who knows, ESPN could come calling, and I’d get my thirty seconds back.”
    Travis’s laugh felt good coming out. “Well, we all know how much you want those thirty seconds.” Wishing her good-night, he popped open the umbrella and stepped into the rain. Summer lingered until he got his front door open, then backed out of his driveway after he waved. He shook off the excess water from the umbrella and set it by the door to dry. Flicking on some lights, he made his way to the couch and lay down, throwing an arm over his eyes.
    Summer was beautiful and interesting, but being around her made Travis feel mighty inferior. ESPN would never knock on his door, but he’d give her suggestion a go. Travis was used to carrying the team, not being the weakest link. Not that Summer intended to make him feel that way. She was who she was. She was excellent at her job. She bungee-jumped out of hot-air balloons. She believed in taking risks. Her only weakness was her inability to find her keys to save her life.
    Travis wanted to take some risks, too. He wanted to face fear and beat it. If only he could decide what risk to take.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    R ICHARD   WAS   IN   a particularly bad mood when Summer arrived at the station on a cloudless Tuesday. He had his fan on high even though the air-conditioning was set at a comfortable sixty-eight degrees. His thinning brown hair, peppered with gray, was damp at his temples.
    Richard didn’t get into broadcasting meteorology because of his looks. It was his knowledge that had won him his job some twenty-plus years ago. He loved to talk about things like jet streams and isobars, which tended to do nothing but confuse people. Summer thought part of his dislike for her stemmed from the fact that she knew more about weather than he did. It was his “thing” to know the science of meteorology. Summer came in and knew more, remembered more without having to look it up and presented it in a way that didn’t make people feel stupid.
    Today, he hated her because Ken had some big ideas. Ideas that made Summer the head and