The swing jolted, and she grabbed the arm of the bench in surprise. Her eyes snapped to Gavin. She had forgotten he was still there.
“Breathe,” he whispered, gently rubbing her back. She took a shaky breath, hating that he knew how to help her through the anxiety.
“Thanks,” she replied after she had control again.
He held a hand over his chest in mock surprise. “What? Did Lila Weston just thank me?”
She didn’t reply, she just shook her head and looked back to her friends on the porch. Dylan had never teased her like Gavin. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body and seemed to genuinely like everyone. They never spent much time together, but he treated her better than the rest of Gavin’s friends. Her dad joined him and Beth Ann, pointing to the little speaker playing music. Dylan started talking to him in his typical animated form—probably explaining how the Bluetooth let him play music from his phone. Her father was alarmingly bad with technology.
“Hey.” Gavin bumped Lila’s shoulder. With a wink and mischievous smile, he said, “At least you’ll have me around all summer.”
She groaned and jumped up. “Shut up, Gavin,” she said as she headed in the direction of her parents.
2
Sunday
Lila opened the sliding glass window and handed over a chocolate chip ice cream cone. The shop stayed busy all day, but it had finally let up around dinner time. As summer break began and all the different graduation open houses took place, people typically came and went nonstop from mid-morning until they closed. The little boy at the window said a quick thanks then ran off to play on the playground with his friends.
“I can’t believe you have to work on my last day here,” Beth Ann complained as she stepped up to the window.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Lila said. “Mrs. Miller was desperate when Cass and May called in. I couldn’t leave her hanging.”
She knew it shouldn’t have been up to her, but she truly loved the Summer Scoop. Mrs. Miller hired her three years earlier, but she’d helped out before then unofficially. In their small lake town of Summersville, there weren’t a lot of options—especially for teenagers—so Lila was grateful for the chance. Without the Scoop, she didn’t know what her life would look like. It had changed everything.
“I’ll be done by ten-thirty, then we can have one more sleepover,” she said. “We can stay up all night watching movies and eating junk food.”
“My flight is really early. I have to leave by like five. I don’t think I should stay up all night. As much as I want to…”
Lila sighed, frustrated that time had gone too quick. “Well, at least hang out here for a little while. I’ll get you some ice cream.”
“Chocolate va—”
“Vanilla swirl,” Lila finished with a grin. “I know.”
She turned away, grabbed a cone, and walked to the machine. Saying goodbye to her best friend would hurt. They’d planned to spend the day together at the lake’s beach, but now she was stuck watching others enjoy the sun from the shop on the hill beside it.
That seemed to be the theme of her life.
A plan to change that began to form as her mother’s words from the week before about making the most of her summer echoed in her mind.
“Mom, this isn’t fair,” Gavin said for the third time. “It’s my last summer before I have to be an adult. I have plans—fun plans. None of which involve working at the Scoop.”
“Honey, I know, but I really need the help.” She didn’t turn away from her spot at the desk in their living room. “I wasn’t expecting two people to quit the first week of summer.”
“So, hire a couple more people,” he pleaded. “There are plenty of high schoolers wanting jobs.”
“I will, but I don’t have time to do it by tomorrow. Besides, it will do you good to learn some responsibility before leaving for school.”
Gavin groaned, flinging himself down on the couch. His mom flipped through a stack of papers and made notes off to the side as she went. When he didn’t respond, she stopped. Setting the papers and pen down, she turned in her chair and took her glasses off. The weariness in her eyes struck him with guilt.
“Just give me a few weeks to get a couple more people trained,” she said. “Poor Lila is practically running the place by herself right now.”
That made him groan again. He dropped his head back and raked a hand through his short chestnut hair. “I have to work with Lila?”
“You know she works there. This isn’t news.”
“Can’t we work different days or something?” he begged.
“She works almost every day, usually all day.”
“Of course, she does,” Gavin muttered. For years, he’d heard about how perfect and responsible Lila was and how he should be more like her. “Mom, you know she hates me.”
She sighed. He knew she was just as tired of them fighting as he was, though he’d never admit it out loud. “This needs to stop. You’re practically adults now. You need to talk to her and figure out what happened all those years ago.”
Gavin shrugged. They’d had that conversation countless times. The truth was he had no idea what started it. He remembered playing in the sprinklers as kids, laughing and building snowmen in the winter. They did everything together, until they didn’t. She wanted nothing to do with him.
“Only a few weeks?” he asked. Knowing how important the shop was to his mom, he did want to help. Now that his dad spent so much time from home, she did everything on her own. And she rarely asked for help.
