Page 39 of Summer Ever After
She nodded. “Mmmhmmm. But we had Jenny, who was varsity swimming, and then I pulled in a ringer of my own for the canoe race. She was amazing.”
“She?” I knew that it sounded sexist, but for a team of all women to beat my dad and his crew, who trained all year for the regatta, would’ve been a huge upset.
Jessica splashed water at me. “Yes. She. You’re such a chauvinist.”
“Who was this girly Hercules?” I wiped the splashed water off my chest. Someone to paddle the front of the canoe would’ve needed to be strong as hell.
“Her name is Rosie. I know that we already made the deal, no more setups for the grump, but I think that you’d like her. You actually just missed her at the bar last night.”
“Grump?” I rinsed my cup off in the lake. “I don’t think I want to date a girl who has bigger biceps than me, and if she was with you four, I’m pretty sure she’s not for me.”
“You’re turning into the Grinch of Windswan Lake.” Jessica raised her eyebrows. “And, she doesn’t have bigger biceps than you, just better technique – and she’s not us. She’s actually one of the coolest women I’ve ever met. I wish you’d get over that girl from last year and open yourself up to new opportunities.”
This wasn’t the first time that Jessica had said something like that. “I’m not closed off Jess. I’m busy, there’s a difference.” Although, I knew that I was kidding myself. Every woman that I met was measured against what I felt with Daisy – and every single one of them came up short. “Well, I’m sure that anyone who bet against you lost their shirt.”
Jessica grinned. “I made ten grand.”
“I sure hope that you shared it with your team. And, if Dad finds out that you’re gambling again…”
Jessica narrowed her eyes. “It’s not gambling. It was a friendly wager.”
“I think that’s the exact definition of gambling, Jess.” I shook my head. “Are you going into the lake or are you just going to stand there?”
Jessica gave me a wry smile. “I did share it with the team. Most of it. And no, I’m not going all the way in.” She shook her hips and then got out of the lake.
“You just peed in there, didn’t you.”
She shrugged. “A lady never tells. Hand me your towel.” She held out her hand.
I wrapped the towel around my neck like a scarf and backed away from my sister. “A lady never pees in the lake.”
Leaving my sister to dry off the old-fashioned way – in the sun, Fanta followed me as I headed up to the cottage. If Jessica’s new friend was anything like her or her friends, she wasn’t the one for me.
I got out of my swim trunks and slid into a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. The packet of tickets to the ball sat on the island in the kitchen. If selling the tickets for a discount pissed off the board of directors, I wondered how giving them away would go over.
Not well, and I was fully prepared for the fallout.
I shoved the tickets into the inside pocket of my leather jacket, grabbed my helmet, and jogged to the dock. Trey dropped me off at the marina and I was soon kick-starting life into my motorcycle. My best thinking happened when I was riding my bike, and as I drove the winding road from the marina into downtown Windswan, I formulated my plan. I was going to Robin Hood the shit out of these tickets – and give them away to people who would never in a million years be able to attend a gala like ours.
I knew my father would hate it, but I didn’t care. I was going to do it anyway.
* * *
The townof Windswan is located at the south end of the lake. The year-round population of the town is about four thousand, but in the summer, swells to about ten thousand. It is the opposite of the neighboring town, Chance Rapids, which is also a small town, but because of the ski resort, gets the bulk of its tourism in the winter.
My family has a vacation home in both towns, yet I’ve never really spent any time off the mountain slopes, or the water, so finding a place to give away the tickets was an adventure in itself. Windswan is anchored with a round town square if that makes any sense. The downtown curves around the park, which is always bursting with flowers. Other than tourism, the biggest industry in town is the greenhouses, which provide the northwest with flowers. I didn’t know much about flowers, except that when we opened the cottage, tulips filled the town center, and when we closed it and packed up to head to the Chance Rapids chalet, it was the bright yellow and black sunflowers that dominated its core.
I parked my motorcycle in the town center next to a garden filled with flowers that looked too heavy for their stems, layers of pink petals formed big balls that looked ready to nosedive into the dirt. Daisy had stepped out of the field of sunflowers. Soon enough they would be blooming again, and it would have been a year since we’d made out on the beach.
A realization hit me. One so strong I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it already. I had no idea what an actual daisy looked like. I set my helmet on the handlebars of my motorcycle and looked up and down the street, wondering where to start my mission.
Parker’s Petals was directly in front of me. “That’s as good of a place to start as any,” I said to myself. Charms tinkled over my head as I stepped into the flower shop. To my surprise, a man wearing a pink leather apron stood behind the counter. “What can I do for you?” he asked as he stripped the leaves off of an orange and black spotted flower.
“I would like to order a bouquet of flowers.” I leaned on the counter.
The man set down the flower and pointed to the cooler behind him. “What’s the occasion?”
It wasn’t the first time I’d given flowers to someone, but it was the first time that I’d actually ordered them myself, usually it was my assistant. “Do I need an occasion?”
