LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Good morning,” she says. “I heard you talking.”

      I point to the window as I put the last strewn pen back in its place. “Will.”

      Mom’s eyebrows shoot up. “I see you’ve fallen back into your routine.”

      I focus on the corner of my desk as heat rushes up my neck.

      “Well,” she says breathily. “I’m going to start breakfast. Dad has to leave in a few.”

      “Okay,” I say, thinking of snow and glacial frost, anything to release the heat from my cheeks.

       Calm down you idiot.

      She leaves the door cracked open and I let out a breath as I hear her pad down the hallway. She’d given me the third degree about Will at dinner, Dad apparently keeping that gem from the entire family. But he dutifully shifted the conversation to the cruise and Mom had a lot to say about that.

      I didn’t want to make a big deal of Will being home, but she was my mom. I told her everything. Sometimes Lily got a bit too interested in detail, even on the hard topics, so Mom was a happy medium. She was there when I made an embarrassing mess of myself crying over Will those years ago. Only after months of her listening to me snuggled up in my bed did I start to feel silly. Turning off all thoughts of Will was my idea but she never pushed for anything I didn’t want. That’s what I’d have to do again, at least for the next two months. It would be easier for everyone if I was able to just be friends with him like I chose to do with Carter. At the end of the summer we will all go our separate ways and move on with our lives. I inhale deeply and let it go slowly, my body relaxing with each passing second.

      I grab my phone from the charger and turn it on. Dad has a strict “phone off” rule at night. He knew Lily’s habits of staying out late and calling or texting me in the early hours of the morning. I hadn’t protested at all, I liked sleep as much as he did.

      I tuck the phone into my pocket and grab my purse on the way out of the room. Halfway down the hall the phone explodes with nearly a dozen texts. I scroll through them as I descend the stairs. Lily had gone out the night before with the new kid at her non-summer job at a coffee shop on the local campus. Apparently a college guy who stayed on campus over the summer. I knew more about him from those texts than I wanted to that early in the morning. Or ever. But the one that makes me pause in the kitchen doorway is from Carter. Just three words.

       I miss you.

      My heart squeezes. The timestamp was 1:48 AM.

      “Is something wrong?” Mom asks.

      I look up at her. She’s leaning against the counter blowing into her steaming mug of coffee.

      I shove my phone into my purse. “Nope. Just Lily.”

      Mom shakes her head, smiling. “I just hope she’s careful.”

      “She is, Mom,” I groan. As much as Mom loves Lily, some of the things Lily did were not mom-approved and I could almost hear the gears in her head spinning, wondering if her daughter would ever be that careless. But she had to know better. I never broke curfew and never had a date with anyone except Carter who had been a perfect gentleman in front of my parents. Thinking of him made his text message pop into my mind again. In a way I was grateful that he took the job at the pool. I’d only have to see him for an hour a day which would be enough space for us. And hopefully he would get over our relationship soon enough. It should have bothered me that I was over it quicker than he was, but for some reason it didn’t. I guess there was something to be said about being the dumper instead of the dumped.

      I pour myself a cup of coffee and splash a bit of milk into the mug before settling down at the table. Mom rubs the sleep from her eyes as I grab the box of cereal from the table. This is her idea of “starting breakfast”. She’s great at baking but Dad is the real cook in the house. But this morning he’s going in extra early, so no fluffy pancakes for us. Hard footfalls descend the stairs. I already know it’s Dad by the way he gracefully flies down them.

      He’s dressed up this morning, well, if khaki pants and a similar shirt to mine is dressed up. He’s normally in jeans and a t-shirt. He swipes a kiss on Mom’s head and she mumbles sleepily.

      He plucks an apple from the bowl on the counter and peels off the sticker before washing it in the sink. He’s wiping the fruit with a paper towel when he turns to me. “Are you still mad?”

      The first spoonful of the cereal hovers in front of me. “About what?”

      He takes a bite of the apple, his thick eyebrows raised. “I see you’ve had time to adjust to the situation.”

      I ponder this while polishing off the spoonful of cereal. “I was blindsided a bit, thank you very much. But it’s fine. It’s a job right? We have to be professional.”

      He grins. “There’s my girl.” He turns to the clock on the microwave. “I’ll see you soon.”

      He fluffs my hair before leaving the room. “Love my ladies!” he calls from the door.

      I look at Mom who is still pretty zoned out. I finish half the bowl before my stomach starts to knot. I hate to lie to Dad but I made a promise to myself not to let Will get to me. My phone chimes.

      Another text from Lily: Driveway

      I down the rest of the coffee and scoop up my bowl placing it in the sink. Mom is particular about who loads the dishwasher. Only her. Not that we ever complained. I kiss her on the cheek and leave the kitchen. “Ethan!” I call up the stairs.

      “What?” he groans from his bedroom. He takes after Mom as another late-riser.

      “I’m leaving with Lily. Will is walking over in about a half hour if you wanted to go with him.”

      “Mm-yeah,” his voice is softer now, hovering over sleep again.

      “Don’t be late!”

      “Yeah.”

      I grab my purse and open the front door. The temperature has warmed significantly and I can already feel the stickiness in the air. Lily’s head is tipped back on the head rest as I flop into the passenger seat. The cool air conditioning feels fantastic and I turn the vent toward me.

      Lily jumps as if she had actually been asleep. Not surprising due to her late night texts.

      “You know we need to be there early on the first day,” I say, eyeing the two extra large travel mugs that I know are filled with black coffee. Neither are for me.

      She blinks a few times and settles her hand on the shifter, a wild grin spreading over her face. “It was so worth it.”

      I laugh. “I don’t want to hear it!”

      But I do hear it. The whole ride. Lily is usually pretty straight forward with discussions of her dates, but this one, nearly ten minutes long, has me thinking that she actually might be interested in a second date.

      “He’s going to the fireworks Friday, he said he’ll bring a friend.”

      I groan. “Are you setting me up on a blind date?”

      “It’s not a date. I just mentioned that my very hot friend is single and he mentioned his also-single very hot friend will be coming along. Well he didn’t call his friend hot, but I made sure he was attractive to guy standards.”

      She pulls into the park and I shake my head. “You know Carter is going to be there.”

      “I don’t see the problem. This is what single people do.”

      “I just wanted—” I pause, unsure of what I really want.

      She groans. “Wanted what? This is what you wanted. You aren’t tied down. You can go out with whoever you want. I’m not telling you to sleep with the guy but you can’t be a hermit until college. Don’t feel guilty about Carter. He’ll be fine. The girls at the pool

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