This Summer (4 page)

Carter breaks away from the other pool staffers and presses his hand against my lower back, leading me to the corner of the room. His face is close to mine and his jaw is set. His hands hover between us like he doesn’t know where to put them.

“I can’t believe you, Hadley.”

I step back. “What are you talking about?”

“We were together for two years, I know when you’re lying,” he spits.

“Carter,” I say. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

He exhales between his teeth. “You expect me to believe that you didn’t break off with me so you could act on your fantasy crush on
him
?” His voice is a low hiss. “I only quit so I could give you the space you asked for.”

“What do you expect Dad to do? He had to fill it because you quit!”

“How can I work with you after you broke it off? I don’t do the friends thing with girls. We’re either together or we’re not.”

My mouth clamps shut and I close my eyes, remembering our conversation from two weeks ago. “You agreed.”

“Yeah, that’s when I thought we still had a chance”

“Carter,” I say, exasperated. “We broke up.”

“Because of him,” he says.

“This has nothing to do with Will. We’re going to be across the country from each other in the fall. This is going to happen either now or later. I don’t think either of us needs to be tied down. I just need some time to adjust to that. But I don’t want to lose you in the process.”

He leans back, inspecting me as if my nose was about to grow ten inches long. “You’re serious about the friends thing?”

“Yes,” I say. “I just want to be free this summer. It’s our last summer before we move on with our lives.” I want to touch him, somehow reassure him, but I don’t want to lead him on. Instead, I wait.

His frown deepens. “The only way I think this can work is if you don’t see anyone this summer.”

I sigh. I don’t have any intention of hooking up with anyone but he has no right to keep restrictions on me. “Carter, I can’t promise that. This is us moving on. If you’re with someone—” The thought makes my stomach turn, something I will eventually get over. I did it before. “I won’t be upset.”

His nostrils flare. “Fine. Do what you want with anyone. Anyone but
him.
If you want me to believe you, you can at least promise me that.
”

The thought of being with Will presses against my chest. Carter was right. It was a fantasy years ago, but when he left it took a while to heal. I not only lost my best friend but my heart in the process. I couldn’t do it again. “Yes, okay.”

His hand touches mine briefly and a lightness surges in my stomach. “Friends.”

I smile. “Thank you.”

His mouth quirks up but his eyes are intense. For a second I think he’s going to kiss me. But Lily pulls me away, breaking the spell.

I exhale, saved by the best friend. It was easier to deal with the breakup when I was thousands of miles away on a boat, but having Carter inches away from me made me question my choices. If I had waited until the end of the summer, he wouldn’t have quit and all would be right in the world. I might have seen Will but he probably would have been in and out of town before I could blink. I wasn’t sure which situation was better.

Dad returns and starts in on the instructions for the first activity. He insisted that icebreakers were the key to building the foundation for a strong team. Every other year I was happy enough to do them, but what I wanted most at that moment was to be anywhere but there.

***

The next two hours fly by in a flurry of silly games and trust exercises and, when it’s over, I can’t escape fast enough. When I get outside I can breathe for the first time since seeing Will. That is, until I see his truck parked right behind Lily’s car. I completely forgot that I didn’t drive this morning and I’ll have to wait for her. But I’m not going back in that building.

“Screw this,” I mumble.

I sprint across the parking lot toward the playground. My tense muscles relax with each step and I slow my pace. Even though it was the last place I saw Will years ago, it still provided comfort as it always had. A place to reflect on a simpler time. As kids Will, Ethan and I would cut through the woods to get to the swings and battle who could get the highest arc or jump the farthest. Swinging always helped clear my head and at that moment I needed clarity. I plop down into the seat of the swing and sway using my heels as an anchor.

That morning I was excited for what was supposed to be the most memorable summer of my life and it only took one look at Will and that hope shattered. Maybe I
should
have taken a few summer classes in the city like Mom suggested. I would have been away from Carter and I’m sure my family would have never told me about Will until the house was suddenly occupied by another family.

I shove off the ground and start pumping my legs. The rush of wind in my ears pushes my cares away as I focus on the swing. My hair whips behind me and I take my mind back to a time when I didn’t have responsibilities and the only relationships I had were with friends. I close my eyes and pack all of my problems into an imaginary balloon and let it float away.

I open my eyes. Lily stalks toward the swings, her arms crossed over her chest. She doesn’t say a word as she gets onto the swing next to mine. We pump almost in sync for a few minutes before she breaks the silence.

“That was an interesting afternoon.”

I snort a laugh. “The understatement of the year.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

My shoulders lift. “What can I do about it?”

She blows out a deep breath. “That’s something you need to figure out, sugar,” she says in a thick Southern drawl. She lets out a low whistle through her teeth. “If that boy wasn’t hot enough, let’s just add an accent to that delicious mix.”

I grin but it quickly fades away. “Seriously, though. Carter is on the war path. He thinks I broke up with him because Will came back.”

“He’s still heartbroken,” she says in his defense. “Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to tell him about your intense crush on Will.”

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.

I grab a shopping cart and push it towards the first aisle, completely out of my element. Someone calls out to Hadley and she waves to a girl at the checkout.

“Do you have plans to go to school eventually?” Hadley says, bringing up that topic again.

I busy myself pulling a loaf of bread from the shelf. “I don’t know.”

“With your grades any school would be thrilled to have you.” There’s a hint of envy in her voice.

“You sound like Mabel.”