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Summer After Summer

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2018
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“Told me what?” I managed to squeak.

“I, uh…” He paused. “Crap, this is hard.”

This time I didn’t interrupt him.

“I have a good friend who’s a guy.”

So what? “Some of my best friends are guys.”

He stared at me in amazement and then lapsed into a heartfelt chuckle. “Sometimes I forget about life in a small town.” He gave me one of those looks that said hey, dummy, I’m saying something important here. “He’s a really good friend.”

Oh. My. God! If they gave out stupidity awards I’d have a blue ribbon. “You mean you’re…” Somehow I couldn’t finish the sentence, especially considering the fact that I’d almost ravished him.

“Yeah, I am.” He leaned over the console and looked me in the eye. “I’ve really enjoyed being with you tonight. I hope we can be friends.”

“Sure, I’d love to be your friend.” He was smart, he was funny, he was a great conversationalist—and unfortunately, this major dreamboat wasn’t interested in girls.

If that didn’t beat all!

Chapter 4

“Jazzy, is he as scrumptious as I heard?” Misty plopped down on the dock where I was sunbathing. “Can you believe that nerdy Petey has a cousin who looks like a movie star?”

She scooted to the edge of the dock and put her feet in the water. “And I was having dinner with my parents! Are you going to see him again and does he have any friends?”

Oh, yeah, he had friends. But I wasn’t planning to share that even with my good friend. Whether he told anyone or not was his business.

I glanced up from painting my toenails and gave a heartfelt sigh. “He was, uh—he was nice.” I shook my head, pondering the abominable luck I had with boys. That led me straight back to Charlie and my unrequited love. I hated that term. It sounded like something out of a Jane Austen novel.

Oh, Mr. Darcy, my love for you is unrequited.

“So, are you going to see him again? Is he coming back anytime soon?”

“Get a grip, Misty,” I snapped. Uh-oh, losing my cool was a big mistake, especially with our budding attorney. I was never grumpy, not even when it was that time of the month. Now Misty would definitely know something was up.

“What?” She had that crafty look I hated so much.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t you nothin’ me, girlie. You’re keeping a secret and I want to know what it is.”

“Hey, y’all.” Those dulcet tones came from Bunny.

I was saved by my bleached-blond friend. She strutted down to the dock in the shortest, tightest pair of cutoffs I’d ever seen. “Aren’t those uncomfortable?” I had to ask.

“Nope.” She slipped her sandals off and sat down on the dock. “Let’s go riding.”

Cruising was our favorite hobby. Of course, in Meadow Lake, cruising was one of the few things a kid could do for entertainment.

“Sounds good to me,” Misty said. “I don’t have to be home for dinner until seven.”

“And I don’t have to go to work until tomorrow.” In my summer gig as a lifeguard, I worked a couple of days a week. It was a hard job—yeah, right—but someone had to do it.

“Where’s Mary Alice?” Bunny asked.

“Her dad’s holding a revival meeting. She told me they’re going down to the river to do some baptizing,” Misty answered.

Bunny laughed. “I guess riding around with us is out, huh?”

“Yep.” Mary Alice missed quite a few things the rest of us called fun.

Even though it was hotter than hell, we had the convertible top down. We were willing to sacrifice anything in the name of being “cool,” and believe it or not, that included scorched thighs.

We circled the Pink Pig several times. At three o’clock in the afternoon the pickings were slim.

“I have an idea,” Bunny said.

It wasn’t so much what she said as how she said it. The way my skin prickled, I knew we were heading for a mess of trouble. But before my good sense could issue a stern warning, Misty piped up.

“What?” she asked.

Bunny wore her “we’re gonna be oh, so grounded if anyone catches us” grin.

“We’re going skinny-dipping in the park.”

“No!” I shouted, almost causing her to run into a stop sign.

“Why not?” Bunny put on her affronted act.

“Because my daddy’s the police chief and if we get caught I’ll be a hundred and ten years old before I’m allowed to leave the house again.”

“Don’t worry about it. I have everything under control.” She turned the car toward the park.

Misty didn’t say a word. She was probably wondering whether she could survive jumping from a moving vehicle, because if that girl got nabbed with her drawers down in a public place, her parents would hustle her off to a boarding school that would make Oliver Twist’s look plush.

Our friend batted away our objections as if they were pesky gnats. So off to the river we went, the three of us like lemmings to the sea.

The park had a long winding roadway between the golf course and the water. River Road was popular with the high-school crowd for a couple of reasons—most of which made my daddy cranky. The Indy 500 wannabes used it to hone their racing skills, and the “parkers” favored the secluded areas to do whatever it was lovers did, not that I was an expert on that, being a virgin and all.

For this particular exploit we had to have privacy. My bare butt was not appropriate viewing material.

Bunny pulled into the small lot adjacent to a picnic area at the end of the drive. At that time of day, in that heat, the chances of running into a family were pretty slight. Anyone with a lick of sense was inside enjoying the air-conditioning.

“You guys coming? You’ll love it.”

Bunny was out of the car and halfway down the hill before Misty and I could decide what to do. Darn it, she started flapping her arms up and down making clucking noises. Who could ignore a challenge like that?

“I hate being manipulated,” I muttered. And that’s what my friend was doing, in spades.
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