Page 23 of Summer Reading

“Excellent.” Her face fell. “But I probably can’t pay you.”

I shrugged. “Pay for the food and we’ll call it even.”

“Really?” she asked.

“It’s not like I have anything else to do,” I said. “Other than one random catering job, my calendar is wide open.”

Did I sound bitter? I was afraid I might. I forced a smile, but it made my face hurt.

“We can work out the details when I get the idea approved,” she said.

There was a noise at the end of the room where therobotics group was gathering. We both looked in that direction and I half expected to see Tyler frowning at me for being in his designated area. Thankfully, he wasn’t. In fact, all looked calm.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a big fat Chunky candy bar. “Look what I found at the store yesterday.”

She glanced at the silver-wrapped square of chocolate, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Do you remember—?”

“Of course I do,” I said. “That’s why I bought it. It brought me right back to one of the most humiliating moments of our adolescence. How could I not buy it?”

Em laughed out loud at that. “I truly thought I might die of embarrassment that day.”

I grinned. “I know. Who knew that shoving candy bars in our back pockets on a hot summer day would make them melt?”

“Yeah, and that when we went to take them out to share with Timmy Montowese, the cutest boy on the island, it would look like we pooped ourselves because the wrappers had opened and melted chocolate was all over our fingers and our butts,” she concluded.

We grinned at each other, and then a giggle escaped Emily, met by a belly laugh from me.

“It took meyearsto live that down,” she said. “You’re lucky you wintered off island.”

“No doubt,” I agreed.

I opened the package and snapped the candy bar in two, handing half to Em. She promptly broke it in half again and popped a piece in her mouth. “Still one of my favorites.”

“Same.” I shoved a quarter piece in my mouth as well.

“Is this a Vineyard thing?” a voice asked from behind me.

I felt a prickle of awareness on the nape of my neck, and I knew without turning around that it was Ben.

“No—” Em began, but I interrupted.

“Yes, it is,” I said. “At the top of every hour, we islanders have to have a bite of the chocolate of our choice. It’s totally a Vineyard thing.”

As if to back me up, Em nodded while I handed Ben the remaining square of my chocolate.

To my surprise and delight, he took it and ate it. His thick dark hair had just a bit of wave in it, curling away from his collar. He chewed thoughtfully, giving me the opportunity to study his lips. They were a warm shade of pink and full with a dip in his upper lip that was positively bitable. I glanced away and tried to focus my eyesight on something, anything, else.

Get it together, Gale. I made my expression blank and glanced back at him.

“Not bad,” he said. “I’m more of a Milky Way guy, but this’ll do.”

“It’s got raisins and peanuts,” I said. “It’s practically trail mix.”

Emily snorted, and we both turned to look at her, causing her to turn a faint shade of pink. She glanced at Ben and said, “Sam has volunteered to teach a cooking class to our teens. Isn’t that great?”

I glanced at her in amazement. Her definition of volunteer and mine were clearly two very different things.

“That’s right. You’re a chef,” Ben said.

---