Chapter 2
TWO
One Month Later
EVERLY
The sun filters through the car window and dances patterns across my legs.
I can feel my right arm getting sunburned as we wind our way through nameless little towns somewhere in the middle of Maine.
After we crossed the Piscataqua River Bridge, we sped up the highway, stopping in Portland for lunch downtown on the ocean.
Two hours later, after finally getting off the highway in a town featuring one gas station and nothing else, we’re finally making progress on our pending arrival to Silsby.
I roll down the window to enjoy the warm, fresh air but am quickly met by a crisp, chilly breeze that causes me to roll my window back up just as fast as I had put it down.
How deceiving. Is this how it’s going to be, Maine?
I wish her dad had just decided to settle in Portland.
Earlier, when we wandered around while waiting for a table at a small waterfront restaurant known for the best lobster rolls in New England, we had shopped the vendors that lined the brick sidewalks and slipped into a few of the small clothing boutiques.
It’s a small city, full of fishermen and tourists, but at least it’s a city.
“I’m pretty sure you may be the only human that still has a car with crank windows. You should check the Guinness Book of World Records on that one,” I yell over the blaring music of our favorite songs from high school.
“Shut it, Gloria and I go way back. Think of all the adventures we have had with her,” Alex says of her car.
“And don’t forget she is currently safely delivering you to the most magical summer of your life with your bestest friend in the whole wide world,” she says with a cheesy smile plastered across her face.
“So far… but you keep reminding me we haven’t reached ‘Moose Country’ yet.”
I smile and stare back out the window. Alex has always been that friend that instantly relaxes me and makes my soul happy.
She understands and embraces my oddities with zero judgment.
Since that call a month ago, I have been dreaming about this moment.
The idea of spending my whole summer in northern Maine doesn’t overly thrill me, but after doing some reading, I did come to find out that Silsby is a pretty cool town and a popular place for families to vacation.
It looks like it might not be as isolating as I imagined.
Silsby sounds like it could even be pretty lively.
Well, as lively as you can be for being in the middle of nowhere.
Saying goodbye to my dad had been a little tough, but with how much he works now, it became clear quickly that I wouldn’t get to see him that much this summer anyway.
Over the last month, with me helping out at the country club to earn a little extra money and Dad working a few extra shifts a week, we were like passing ships in the night.
Kyle just turned sixteen a few weeks ago, had grown a foot taller, and had some impressive muscles.
With all that combined, he has quite the active social life now.
Hanging out with his movie-obsessed older sister wasn’t high on his list of priorities this summer.
It became apparent how much everyone back home had changed over the last year.
My dad and Kyle had seamlessly settled into a new routine without me.
Over the last month, there were times I even felt like an outsider looking in.
I always felt such an intense responsibility to take care of them after my mom died, carrying the narrative that without me, they would be lost, but I’ve learned that’s not reality.
The hard truth is that people move forward, adjust, and form new routines.
Humans are very adaptable, but then there is me, still stuck in the past, hesitant to take any steps in a new direction.
“All right, so let’s chat a little about this new life ahead of us,” Alex says with a grin as if she just read my thoughts. She peers at me over her heart-shaped sunglasses.
“Why don’t I like the sound of your tone?”
“I’m just curious, what do you have in mind for extracurricular activities when we aren’t working ourselves to the bone over at the resort?”
“Well, you said your dad has a big dock and a nice little beach, so my plan will be sitting my butt in a beach chair and working on my summer tan. I brought a stack of books I’ve been meaning to get to. Plus, with you living on the other side of the country, we have a lot of movies to catch up on.”
“Ha. Okay, that all sounds fabulous, but not really what I had in mind, Evie Baby.”
“Sorry, should I throw some bird-watching and sunset moose scouting drives into my schedule?” I ask sarcastically. “We are going to the middle of nowhere to work at a resort that is best known for middle-aged and senior citizen fishing fanatics. How lively do you think it’s going to get?”
“Oh, Evie. You don’t know the locals or the summer kids that arrive, and okay, admittedly, not a huge population, but there’s always a good camp party at some arrogant rich kid’s place.
And when I say camp, I mean summer vacation home.
You’ll be surprised by how entertaining the scene gets in the evenings. ”
“How do you know this? You haven’t been to your dad’s place since you were a kid.”
“You think just because I was eleven, I didn’t know what was going on?
My only real childhood friend was three years older than me and had an older brother.
I played Nancy Drew from time to time,” Alex explains.
“My dad confirmed not much has changed in the last eight years, and there’s never a shortage of out-of-staters coming up to spend a month golfing or fishing with their daddies.
Maybe an insurance plan, in a sense, so they aren’t written out of the will. ”
“Oh, great. They sound just like the people I hope to surround myself with.”
“Hey, who knows, maybe you’ll meet the man of your dreams. Speaking of boys, let’s get the update on your steamy love life. Spill, please,” she says, turning the music volume way down.
“You mean the lack thereof.”
“What about that sexy lacrosse player, James, maybe? The one that looks like he wants to devour you in a night of hot, passionate romping in every freaking photo I see of you two.”
“Josh. And, sure, he’s cute and the sweetest human, but with the sex appeal of a brick wall. I don’t know, he’s just… too nice. Trust me, I’ve tried. I just can’t get into it.”
“I get it. If he doesn’t do it for you, he doesn’t do it for you, but please remember that you don’t have to only date assholes.
You’re allowed to find someone who is actually nice to you.
” She is referring to my high school boyfriend, Austin.
I had been obsessed with the captain of the soccer team for years.
It wasn’t until junior year that he finally noticed me.
Probably because my bra size went up two cups over that summer.
Lucky me. We dated for six months—long enough for me to fully fall in love with him.
I lost my virginity, and then myself, completely when he broke my heart into a million pieces after he found a freshman he liked better.
Though the wounds have scabbed over, the debilitating insecurities are still easily triggered.
“Thanks for that reminder, but I have a feeling Silsby, Maine, isn’t going to be my love paradise.
The whole hick, country boy vibe has never really been my thing.
” I couldn’t admit even to Alex that I desperately longed to meet someone who gives me that rush of butterflies in my ribcage as Austin had.
Is it even possible to feel like that twice in your life?
It had been such an all-consuming whirlwind relationship, well, for me at least , that those emotions have been impossible to replace since.
I was the girl who always believed that when I finally fell in love, it would be forever.
I never considered that it might not be reciprocated, that the person you gave your heart to could be so cruel.
The idea of love feels so gray and jaded now.
“Enough about my overly exciting love life. How’re those Los Angeles boys treating you and your lady parts?”
“Unlike you, actors are not my thing. They take longer to get ready than I do, and we spend the entire date talking about them and their ‘career,’” she says, taking her hands off the steering wheel momentarily to make air quotes.
“They audition for one Honda commercial, and all of a sudden, they are convinced the paparazzi are after them.” She shakes her head in disgust. “There have been a few flings. Actors have amazing bodies, but the sex? Again, they expect you to do it all, and I’m sorry, but this sex goddess isn’t pulling out all her best moves just to get some egotistical pretty boy’s dick hard. ”
“Well, maybe your big romance is waiting for you in Silsby,” I joke.
“Maybe…” she says with a slight smirk. She turns the music up just as one of our all-time favorite middle school dance songs comes on. In the distance, I can make out a sign at the top of a hill.
Welcome to Silsby.
We follow the dusty dirt road for about a quarter of a mile until the trees are thin and Aurora Lake stands sparkling in front of us.
A range of mountains lines the far shore, making every cliché postcard of the state of Maine you’ve ever seen an instant reality.
Alex pulls the car into her dad’s driveway and parks near the large natural wood-colored house sitting back from the road.
The yard seems to mostly be left wild, with some paths to the beach and dock through the bushes.
I’ll admit, even with the chilly breeze coming off the water, it looks like heaven.
I can already picture myself spending lots of time in the hammock that sways slightly at the end of the dock.