Page 1 of Lucy Loves Him Not
One
“Iwill not allow you to wallow at home alone watching reruns tonight. Gracie is only in town a short while and it’s both yours and mine last day of the school year, so tonight we shall drink margaritas and celebrate. You can watch reruns in a burrito blanket at home afterward, okay?” my older sister, Olivia, urged me through a voice message while I stacked things into my tote bag.
It was the last day of school for me as a kindergarten teacher, but it was also margarita night with my sisters. Olivia knew me well enough to know my out-of-character lack of chattiness in our sister text group meant I might be considering backing out of tonight’s festivities.
I let out a big sigh of relief as I turned off the classroom lights. My tiny, energetic students enjoyed their last day of school days ago. But after sending them off I had only a couple of days to finish taking down my classroom, print out hard copies of my grade books, submit them, and then there were end-of-year meetings. My real last day had finally arrived and all I wanted was to crawl into bed watchingNew Girlreruns until I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Instead, I put on eyeliner and pulled my curly, red hair into an updo in my yellow VW Bug before I metmy sisters for what the text message called asisterly celebratory dinner and drinks.
Olivia said this dinner was required for all three of us Rhodes sisters. Olivia was the oldest at 29, so she has a habit of bossing us around. I was aware that part of this urgency was that we only had our youngest sister, Gracie, with us for a short window in the midst of her busy college and dance schedule.
I slipped into the booth at our favorite Mexican restaurant, the eager-to-please middle kid, because while Olivia might be bossing us around, she usually had good ideas. And as a big salt-rimmed margarita was set before me, I knew she was right about this one, too.
“To the end of school, for all of us,” she said, holding up her own margarita to mine and Gracie’s glass. Olivia, with her glossy, straight auburn hair and her freckled, button nose was a determined, serious woman in such an adorable package.
We Rhodes sisters are all under five foot three and had been teased about it as a little (quite literally) trio growing up, but Olivia was the shortest clocking in at five feet.
“Well, for you two it’s the end. I have a summer semester starting in a week,” Gracie groans, still an undergrad at 22. She had the same untamed curls as me, but in a light, wheat blond instead of my fiery, copper red.
“You’re almost done, Gracie.” I reached across to her and gave her shoulder a comforting little squeeze. “You graduate in the fall. It’s so close.”
Olivia and I were both in education except on opposite ends of the spectrum. I taught the early years while Olivia was an ancient history professor at a small college outside of Austin.
“Do you think we could squeeze in a girl’s trip before your summer classes start?” Olivia turned to Gracie hopefully. “Maybe we could go to the beach for a few days?”
“Maybe?” Gracie scrunched her nose. “It’d be tight, but I might be able to make it work. I have eight days left.”
“I can’t make it work.” I slumped against the back of my chair. “I haven’t started working on the summer festival at all and I need to start right away. Like, that’s what I’m doing all day tomorrow.”
“Oh man, how could I forget about the all-consuming Annual Sweet River Summer Festival,” Olivia said dryly. “I think since no one pays you and it’s purely volunteer work, you could delay a couple more days for your sisters.”
“I have to start working on it as soon as possible. I haven’t gotten anything in order and the festival is the weekend after the Fourth of July,” I said, taking a long swig of my limey, sweet drink.
“Didn’t we decide we were going to have an intervention last year?” Olivia raised an eyebrow at Gracie.
“That we did. Especially after how out of control it was last summer,” Gracie grimaced.
“Out of control?” I protested. “Last year was not out of control.” My sisters cared about the festival, sure, but not in the way I did.
“It was unhealthy, is what it was, Luce. It was unhealthy thatallyou did was organize this little summer fest and nothing else.” Olivia waved a chip around as she drove the point home. It dawned on me that I didn’t remember anything from last summer except for planning the festival.
“It is not just alittlesummer fest,” I argued. “It’s a big festival for the whole town. It’s been happening for over a dec?—”
“Yes, okay. I get that. The festival has been around for a decade. It’s been our family equally as long. I get why you care about it. But it shouldn’t take over your entire life and you’ve let it do just that in the past couple of years,” Olivia said earnestly before stuffing another chip into her mouth.
“I don’t think I let the festival take over my entire life.” I crossed my arms.
“You literally turned down a date with one of the hottest guys in town because you said you needed to ‘focus on the festival,’” Gracie said in horror. “Focus. On. The. Festival.”
“Nick? Nick is not one of the hottest guys in town.” I shook my head. “I stand by my choice.”
“He is definitely in the top five,” Gracie countered passionately.
“Not in my top five,” I said. Although, I wasn’t sure I even had a top five. Or a top two, for that matter.
“Okay, we’re getting off topic.” Olivia patted the table to get our attention.
“Listen, this festival is important to me. Maybe too important sometimes,” I said, looking down at my drink. I swished the icy liquid back and forth. “It was Grandma’s baby. She poured her heart into it every year and I was always right by her side for all of it. Then she left it to me. I feel like everything I do for the festival is in her honor. Because of that, it doesn’t feel like it could ever betooimportant.”
Gracie scoots closer to me and wraps her arm around me. “I know it was always your thing with her. Grandma and I watched our ballets and she always took me to dance class. She and Olivia were obsessed with their history documentaries. And you two ran the summer festival together every year. We alllovethe festival and the work you do with it. Just maybe…get some help with it? Since Grandma left, you’re completely on your own.”
