Katlyn Duncan - This Summer

Being honest with Carter made our quick friendship stronger. “Will was a huge part of my life. I couldn’t keep that from Carter. Besides, I didn’t think Will was ever coming back.” His silence after the first year convinced me of that.

“I think you should just do whatever the hell you want to do,” Lily says. “Screw Carter and screw Will. Not literally of course.” I laugh. “Let’s just do whatever we want this summer. No regrets. I’ll find some boys to help tide you over until college. Let’s have the best summer we can before you disappear from my life for four months at a time.”

I turn to her, but her gaze is focused on the ground in front of us. Her step-mom insisted that Lily pay her own way through college, even though her step-brothers came out of school debt-free. She made plans to take a year off to get money together before applying.

“Promise?”

I nod. “Yeah. I promise.”

“I can’t hear you!” she yells.

I tilt my head back and shout, “YES!”

“Ready?” she says.

I nod. “One, two—”

Lily jumps from the swing first before I can finish the countdown. “Hey!” I say, following her. I land on the sand and my knees buckle. I lurch forward, slamming my hands into the gritty sand.

Lily is mid-cackle rolling around on the ground. “Oh my God. Ow!”

“You cheated,” I say through tears, unable to breathe through my fit. I look around us. “And I still won.”

“I see my record hasn’t been broken,” Will says.

Lily’s laugh cuts off.

I look up at Will. Both hands are in his pockets as he balances on the separator around the perimeter of the swing set. He’s grinning at the ground where his foot hovers over a deep scratch in the wood. When I was ten and him twelve, he got the farthest jump we’d ever seen. From then on we always tried to beat it, but he did have the longest legs out of all of us.

I help Lily up from the ground and walk toward him, my heart hammering in my chest. “You’re right.” I tap the scratch we made with his father’s pocket knife with the toe of my shoe.

His eyes scan the park. “It’s nice to know a part of me will always be here.”

Lily clears her throat. “So, Will. How long are you planning to stick around this time?”

My eyes bulge from their sockets as I try to shut her up.

But he isn’t fazed. “I’d hate to leave Hadley high and dry.” Lily snorts but he ignores her. “Your dad needed someone for the summer and that’s what I plan to do.”

“And after that?” she prods.

He shrugs, fixing his eyes on mine. The sun reflects the flecks of gold and blue in his hazel irises. “Back to the ranch.”

Lily’s lips pucker in a see-he’s-leaving-anyway-so-let’s-enjoy-ourselves look.

Will points his thumb at the parking lot. “Hadley, can I take you home?”

I lick my suddenly dry lips. “I came with Lily.”

Will looks over my shoulder at Lily. “It’s on the way,” he presses.

“Ethan—” I say.

“He already left with Daisy.”

I bite my lip, hard, attempting to wake up from this strange dream. I turn to Lily and raise my eyebrows. She narrows her eyes at Will but shrugs. “It’s up to you.”

The awkwardness between us has to fade away or else the summer is going to be longer than necessary. Maybe it’s about time I get over Will Carson for good so I can finally move on with my life.

“Okay,” I agree.

***

The warm afternoon air blows my hair over my shoulders. I pull it away from my hot skin as the three of us head to the parking lot. We’ve fallen into an awkward silence, something I’m terrible at breaking. Lily squeezes my arm as we arrive at her car. “Text me,” she says and turns on her heel.

“Good seeing you too,” Will calls.

Lily waves her hand but doesn’t turn around.

Will chuckles and reaches over to open the passenger side door. I climb in. “Thanks.” He rounds the front of the truck and for a moment I watch him. I never thought Will could get any hotter, but Texas had seriously been good to him. I tug the hem of my shorts as he slides into the driver’s seat. I lean back, noticing a suitcase in the bed of the truck. “Did you just come in this afternoon?”

He wraps the seatbelt around his chest and buckles in. I do the same. “The last stretch was twenty-four hours.”

“Wow.”

He turns the ignition. “I was fixin’ to go to the grocery store. Do you mind the detour?”

A laugh burst from my lips. “You were what?”

He grins. “Sorry. I was about to go to the grocery store and was wondering if you wanted to come with?”

“Sure.”

“I have to say I assimilated quite quickly to the culture. Mabel helped with that.”

“That’s your aunt?” I’ve never met the woman, from what I remember she never visited them.

He nods and we start forward.

A few of the stragglers come out of the building, Carter one of them. I sink into the seat and thankfully he doesn’t see me.

“Lily said you and Carter dated.”

I sit up in the seat. “We broke it off a few weeks ago.”

“Why’s that?”

I sigh, reciting the same excuse I’ve told everyone. “We’re leaving for college at the end of the summer. It was going to end eventually.”

“Where’re you going?”

“NYU.”

“The dream,” he drawls.

“The dream,” I repeat. I can’t pinpoint the exact time I declared that I wanted to go to NYU, but even if he did forget how to use a telephone he didn’t forget everything. “How’s college for you?”

His expression darkens. “I didn’t go.”

“Oh.”

He pulls out of the park and down the main stretch toward the center of town. “My uncle passed away and left Mabel in a tight spot money-wise. So I’ve been helping her make ends meet.”

“Your dad too?”

“Yeah,” he says quickly.

“How come he didn’t come up with you?”

His hands tighten around the steering wheel. “He broke his leg last week. So he wouldn’t be much help.”

“That seems to be happening a lot lately,” I mumble.

Will’s phone rings from the cup holder and we both look at it. He snatches the phone and checks the screen before turning the ringer off.

“It’s right over there,” I point towards the bright orange and white sign of Fresh Mart.

“I remember,” he says, putting the phone down in the holder.

“Right,” I say. “Sorry.”

He pulls into one of the farthest spots of the lot. He’s out of the car before I get my seatbelt off. I lean into the door as it moves away from me. A squeal rips through me as I tumble out of the truck.

Will grabs my arms, hefting me up before I hit the ground. He gently helps me to my feet and I look up into his eyes. The corners crinkle and I know he wants to laugh. My skin flushes.

“I do have the capability to get out of a car on my own,” I say, politely removing my arms from his grasp.

He looks over his shoulder. “Mabel would kill me if you did that. I’m not surprised Carter never held the door for you.”

I didn’t need any more of Carter today. “A little warning next time.”

He leans close to me and I step back, my butt bumping into the side of the truck. “Warning. Every time we’re in a vehicle together, I will open the door for you.”

His eyes dance playfully and I can’t help but smile. “Thanks.”

He closes my door with a grin and leads the way up to the store.

CHAPTER FOUR

Will

I don’t have to worry about holding the store’s front doors for Hadley since they automatically open in front of us. Her shoulders almost touch her ears as we walk into the air-conditioned store.