Page 5 of If the Summer Lasted Forever
“How many kids are in your graduating class?”
Finally, I meet his eyes. “Seven.”
His eyebrows shoot up.
“I know.” I look away, trying not to smile. “We’re a big class. Last year there were only two.”
“We lived in a medium-sized city before we decided to travel,” Landon says. “What’s it like to live here?”
“In the middle of nowhere?”
He flashes me a smile that would make my insides all warm and liquid if I weren’t so guarded against summer boys.
“It’s fine,” I finally answer. “Busy in the summer but quiet the rest of the year.”
“No ski crowds?”
I shake my head. “We’re not close enough to the slopes to get winter traffic, though we do keep a few of our cabins open during the cold months, just in case.”
“What do the local kids do for fun?”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Fun…?”
He laughs, but before he can press for more, we reach the campsite. Mr. Tillman has already backed in, and he and Mrs. Tillman are trying to decide if they’re too close to a tree on the right-hand side before they unhook the Suburban.
Candy begins to bark as soon as she spots her Saint Bernard brother. The massive dog lies under the picnic table, slobbering all over a treat-stuffed chew toy.
“Landon,” Mr. Tillman says when he sees us. “Run inside and open the table slide.”
I shove my hands into my pockets. “Okay, well. This is you. Obviously.”
Landon hesitates, glancing at the RV, and then he gives me a smile. “Thanks, Lacey. I’ll see you around?”
“I’m always here,” I say, trying to be clever, but then I realize I’ve informed him I have no life.
His smile grows. “Me too—all summer.”
Justfor the summer.
CHAPTER THREE
“Error code 306.Please remove jammed paper to continue printing,” a popup says on my computer.
I growl under my breath. First, the printer wouldn’t feed the paper, now it’s jamming after printing only five pages. I yank at the paper, cursing the junky piece of office equipment in my head.
The front door opens, and Paige comes striding inside, letting in a cold, rainy gust of wind. “I’ve found my new summer boy,” she declares.
She’s wearing hot pink flip-flops, her favorite pair of shorts with the diamond rhinestones on the back pockets, and an oversized green sweatshirt she must have swiped from one of her brothers’ closets.
“Did you miss that it’s trying to snow out there?” I ask, grinning at her. She even painted her toenails despite the sleet.
Paige sweeps a hand over her outfit. “I’m defying the weather. It’s almost June. Itshouldbe warm.”
Living in the mountains gives you a different definition of warm. We’d be ecstatic if it got to seventy this time of year. It’s in the low forties right now and probably won’t get much over fifty.
“Who’s your new summer boy?” I ask, abandoning the printer. It and I are not getting along this morning, and we need a little time apart. I can print the maps later. Or better, Uncle Mark can fight with it once he’s finished repairing an electrical outlet in Cabin Six.
Paige gives me a Cheshire Cat grin and practically purrs, “Number Twenty-nine.”
