This Summer (28 page)

“I got it,” I say firmly.

I fling the door open, a ghost standing in front of me. “Dad?”

His bruises and cuts are barely noticeable and his eyes are clear and bright. He steps through the doorway and pulls me close to him. My hands remain at my sides as he pats my back, hard, before stepping back again.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

Mabel comes into the room and lets out a high-pitched howl. She runs at Dad and he scoops her up into a more appropriate version of a hug. My jaw is slack as I watch them, the family resemblance more noticeable than ever.

“How did ya get here?” Mabel asks.

Dad sobers. “Dr. Santos and I had a long discussion. We decided I needed a change in environment for my recovery and he suggested staying with family. If you will have me.”

Mabel slaps him in the arm. “Of course we will.”

Dad meets my eyes. “A colleague of his works about an hour from here and I am scheduled to meet with him once a week.”

Mabel smiles up at her brother and takes my hand. “I have some great news too. That Trudy woman called just now. She said the house sold!”

“That’s great,” I say. “Now we can pay off the bills you piled up over the years.”

Mabel squeezes my hand but I don’t move my eyes from Dad.

Dad clears his throat. “I know what I did to you, to our family. And I regret that very much.”

I roll my eyes. “Is this one of those steps you kept tripping over the past two years?”

“Will!” Mabel hisses.

Dad holds his hand out to her. “I deserve that and a lot more for what I put you through. But now I’d like to make it up to you.”

“It’s too late for that,” I say. “I’ve already done everything that needs to be done. I got the house sold to pay your bills and I got a job so I can support this ranch. There’s nothing left for you to do.”

He digs his hand into his back pocket, opening his wallet. “There is something I can do.” He hands me a piece of paper. “I know the house sold and I arranged the down payment to be put in your name.”

I stare at the check with my name on it. “I don’t—”

“In a few weeks I’ll get the rest of the money and put it into a savings for you. For college.”

“But my schooling is already paid for.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “As much as you don’t believe it, you are my son. And a Carson always makes it on his own. The house sold because of the job you did and you deserve to take your life wherever you want to take it. Not be bought out by some cardiologist. Mabel told me about your interest in veterinary medicine and I think you should go for it.”

I look at the check again. That one alone could get me a year's tuition. “Are you sure?” I prepare myself for the rug to be pulled from under me.

“Yes. I’m as sure as I can be. It may be two years later than planned but I’ll spend the next ten here with Mabel to make it up to you.”

“Thank you,” I say, making the second step in our own recovery.

Dad smiles.

Mabel claps her hands together. “What a fantastic day. Now Will? What are you goin’ to do?”

***

Hadley

Even though it’s the last week of camp, we’re busier than ever. During our free time the counselors help with set-up and organization of the talent show. The kids spend their afternoon sessions in the auditorium rehearsing and helping with the sets and props. When it comes time for Oliver and Casey to perform their duet, Casey pulls me aside.

“He gets super nervous. But I promise it will be great.” I’m cautious of this because of the teasing that’s happened in the past with Oliver at the brunt of it. But because of the fact that Mrs. Yates is all for it, I allow their secret performance to go on.

Two days before the show, Tyler and I are in the projection room, rifling through various boxes of unorganized costumes and props. He lifts a plastic sword and twirls it in the air.

“
En garde
,” he says, thrusting it towards a box. The tip presses into the cardboard and the box topples over. “Oh shit!” He drops the sword and drops to the ground, gathering the contents of the box.

“You are just as bad as the kids,” I say over a fit of laughter. I start looking in another box. “I could have sworn there was another microphone in here.”

“Tyler were you looking for this?” Lily asks from the doorway.

I look up and she’s holding the extra microphone in her hand. Tyler backs out of the room, grabbing it on his way out.

“If this isn’t a set up, I don’t know what is,” I say lightly.

Lily scowls and turns around.

“Lily wait!” I say. Even though I imagined our confrontation with more angry and hateful words a million times in those first few days, I know the whole fight was stupid and mostly my fault.

She turns around slowly. “What?”

“You were right,” I say. “About a lot of things, actually.”

“Go on,” she says.

“It was wrong of me to keep whatever Will and I had a secret from you. We tell each other everything and the second he came back, I don’t know, I went back in time. And it started off innocent enough but when we got serious—”

“How serious?”

I give her a look and her eyes bulge.

“When we got serious,” I continue. “I didn’t know how to bring it up. Then he left and everything just seemed stupid at that point. You’re more than just my best friend, you’re like a sister. And I promise I never meant to hurt your feelings.”

She lets out a breath and comes into the room. “It was a dick move for me to hook up with Carter.”

“It was,” I agree.

She rolls her eyes. “I can’t entirely blame the beer for that one, but that’s over. It’s been over since that night. But thinking about it, it was the best chance I could to hurt you. And that’s even more messed up than hooking up with Carter, but can you blame me? You shut me out of your life. Almost as if you just checked out of our friendship.”

I can understand the feeling. “I know. And that was a crappy thing to do.”

“Can we admit we were both jerks?”

“Okay.”

“Truce?” She offers her pinky.

I smile, taking her pinky with mine. We shake. Lily laughs as she squeezes me against her in a bear hug. We hug for a few minutes, laughing. “You promise to tell me everything that happens in college?” she says against my hair. “I will need a report from each day. And I'll come down every weekend.”

“I will send you a Lily-sized report each day.”

She pulls away from me, her eyes moist. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

The future is scary, but at least we’ll always have each other even if we aren’t this close at all time.

“I have so much to tell you,” I say.

She smirks. “I’m all ears, sister.”

***

The last days of camp are bittersweet and I try to hold onto each moment. This will be the summer I remember for the rest of my life and I find myself pausing more frequently, taking mental snapshots for my memory bank. Lily and I are almost back to normal, the crack in our friendship is healing nicely, but we will need more time to completely seal it. I tell Lily about Will, but breeze over the intimate parts, much to her chagrin. It’s not something I’m ready to relive just yet.

The night of the Talent Show affords me enough controlled chaos that I don’t need to think about my personal life. I volunteered to be the MC for the night so there isn’t a moment that my brain is wandering outside of the show.

We go in order of age groups so mine are next to last. Jaclyn and Kelli perform a ballet routine they learned in their Elective, which is quite graceful. I’ve seen them practice but the stage is definitely where they belong.

Allison comes up to me and tugs my arm.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“I’m not feeling well. Can we do the group performance first? My mom is trying to make me go home. And I worked really hard.”

Oliver and Casey are close by, able to hear the conversation. “That’s fine,” Casey answers quickly and smiles at me. I narrow my gaze, but it seems innocent enough.

“Okay,” I say, and turn to Lily. “Can you tell Aiden that we’re switching the last two performances?”

She jumps out of her seat and runs to the side door.

The girls finish up their dance and the crowd cheers for them as they flounce off the stage.

“Great job girls,” I say as they come through the curtain.

“I know!” Jaclyn cheers and hugs Kelli against her.

I push through the curtain and face the crowd for one of the last times that night. I’m still not used to the bright lights that burn against my face, making the crowd a mass of black blobs. “The next performance is a dance number with the entire twelve to fourteen group,” I say into the microphone. My voice bounces back at me from all angles.

Applause rings in my ears as the kids come out and the pop song I never want to hear again for the rest of my life begins over the speakers. I watch the performance from behind the curtain. The boys are more into the dance than the girls seem to be. Pride swells within me and for a brief moment I wish Will was here to see it too. They nail a majority of the steps and even Allison has shown improvement, but halfway through she starts to look a little green.

A few minutes go by and the song ends. The lights go out and the kids run backstage.

“I don’t feel so good,” Allison says, holding her hand over her mouth.

“Lily!” I call.

Lily holds her hands out. “She’s all yours!”

I take off the headset. “I know. I’m going to take her to the bathroom. Cover for me. Tyler and Leo will bring the piano out. I’ll be right back.” I toss the headset to her and usher Allison out into the hallway.

We’re almost to the bathroom when she stops.

“Almost there,” I soothe.

She leans against the wall, her cheek pressed against it. “I think I just needed some air. Can you stand with me for a minute?”

I kneel next to her, away from her face, just in case. “Yes, sure.” I rub her back while she takes a few breaths. Lily’s muffled voice echoes down the hall and Allison perks up. She takes my hand. “Can you take me to my mom?”

She pulls me back down the hall where we came from. “Okay.”

We enter the dark auditorium through the side door and Allison leads me to her mom in the first row. There are two empty seats next to her. The chubby woman sees Allison and waves her over.

“And now Oliver Yates and Casey Winters performing a duet,” Lily announces.

Allison sits next to her mom and pulls me into the seat next to her. “Watch from here.”

“Are you feeling okay? “

Allison shushes me.

“This song is dedicated to our counselor, Hadley.” Casey’s voice is high and sweet in the microphone. Her eyes rest on mine briefly before I check Oliver out. His hands are poised over the piano as a projector screen lowers from the top of the stage.

Stunned, I sit in the open seat next to Allison. A grainy video flashes on the screen just as Oliver starts the piece on the piano.

My throat constricts. This isn’t happening. I recognize the song instantly and my hand presses against my mouth as the video focuses. I look around me and everyone’s eyes are glued to the screen. I turn around and Mom waves frantically at me and Dad gives a thumbs up.

Casey’s high voice is beautiful and matches the two kids on the screen dancing. I have to blink a few times to make sure this is really happening. The other counselors come out from behind the curtain to get a look at the performance. Lily’s face split in a wide smile.

The ending performance of Dirty Dancing that Will and I danced all those summers ago plays on the screen above us, with Oliver and Casey playing and singing over it. My neck and cheeks burn with heat. I tear my eyes from the screen and find myself captivated by Oliver’s fluid movements as his fingers seem to float over the keys. Casey’s voice is crystal clear, hitting all the notes of the song with perfection against Oliver’s instrumental backdrop.

My eyes return to the screen and I can’t help smiling. Soon enough the crowd is singing along and clapping with the song. I turn in my seat, a few people behind us urging me to stand up. Lily comes down the aisle and takes my hand. “I hate to say it, but he really knows how to sweep a girl off her feet.”

Casey finishes her part of the song and Oliver carries on for a few more bars before hitting the final note. I cheer for my kids and applaud with the audience. Harry and the rest of the kids burst out from behind the curtain and huddle around Oliver, patting him on the back. Oliver stands from the stool and takes Casey’s hand before they bow.

“I don’t understand,” I say to Lily.

She has to shout over the applause. “From what they told me, Will planned this a few weeks ago. He borrowed the video from your mom and set it all up.”

“How—” my voice trails off and I look at Allison.

“She used to play that trick on the babysitters she didn’t like,” Allison’s mother explains with an eye roll.

I reach for the headset. Lily bats my hand away. “I’ve got this.” She looks over my shoulder. “Now go get him.”

I turn around and butterflies explode within me. I grab onto the back of the chair to keep myself standing.

Even in the dark auditorium, I can see Will at the back of the room. His eyes lock with mine.

“Go!” Allison shouts.

I don’t waste a second. I jog to the back of the room, the rest of the crowd settling into their seats.

“How about another round of applause?” Lily calls through the microphone. Cheers envelope the space and I slow my pace toward Will who hasn’t moved from his spot.

I take him in. He’s wearing his counselor uniform, matching the rest of us. His lean frame pushes off the wall and heads toward me. His hand cups my cheek. His rough hands are all I’ve thought about over the past week.

“We should talk,” he says.

“Do I need to explain about telephones again?” I tease.

He quirks his lips. “And miss out on the opportunity to see you? Never.”

My lips part and I want to close the gap between us. His thumb traces a line over my. His hand disappears momentarily until he twines his fingers through mine. Pops of electricity dance over my skin as he leads me from the room.