Charlie looks really torn. “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. Can y’all catch a ride?”
“Yeah, for sure,” Sophie answers.
Uncle Michael gets up from his seat and comes around the table. “Are you leaving?”
“Yes, I’m tired. Heading home.”
He puts an arm around me and pulls me close. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I give him a big hug. “I swear. All good.” And then I get out of here before he offers to ride home with me.
“Text me that you made it home!” Sophie yells as I walk away from the table.
Leo is leaning against my car when I make it to the parking lot. “I thought for a second you’d changed your mind.”
“You know how hard it is to break away from that group. Lots of good-byes.”
I unlock my car and we slide inside. “So where to?” I could offer for us to go back to my house since no one’s there, but that seems a little more than what we are right now.
“Ice cream?” he asks.
“Oh, that sounds good.”
There’s a Baskin-Robbins not far from here. They have bright pink metal picnic tables out front and my absolute favorite flavor—peanut butter and chocolate.
Once we’re inside and it’s our turn to order, Leo has to try three or four samples before deciding what he wants. And he doesn’t even pick one of the flavors he taste-tested.
“Weirdo,” I say, and I swear the girl behind the counter wants to agree with me.
After a short back-and-forth between us, he pays for the ice cream after he reminds me I paid for the Uber last night so it’s only fair.
Luckily there’s an empty picnic table, and we sit across from each other.
“I’m guessing you’re the kind who thinks he’s going to get something different but always ends up with the same flavor every time,” I tease.
He’s smirking. It’s cute. “I definitely like trying new things,” he says. And then adds, “But I also like coming back to one I know is a favorite. Makes me appreciate it more.”
And I’m not 100 percent sure we’re still talking about ice cream.
“You’re in Baton Rouge now?” I need to steer us to a safer subject.
“Actually, St. Francisville.”
“Do you like it?”
A big spoonful of ice cream disappears into his mouth, and he shrugs instead of answering. Then he says, “I would have rather we’d stayed here. I liked it here, liked our house, my friends, my school. It’s okay down there, but even after all these years, I still feel like the new kid. I guess that’s why I really got into golf. It became my thing. And if I do well in this tournament, it will make a huge difference for me, since a spot on the team would also include help with tuition. I really need that.”
I think about how important my own scholarships are to my family. It does make a huge difference.
“I can’t even imagine what it would be like moving somewhere I didn’t know anyone,” I say. “My entire life I’ve been surrounded by family. Not a day goes by that I don’t see at least half a dozen of them. Sometimes I think it might be nice to get away. Go where everyone doesn’t know everything about you.”
He rests his elbows on the table, his hands stretching out close to mine with his huge cup of mint chocolate chip between them. “And I just wish I could come back.”
“But I guess change is coming for both of us. By fall, we’ll all be somewhere new,” I say, twirling my spoon through my ice cream.
“You know, the other night at Nonna’s, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was when I heard all of you are headed to LSU. I thought at least one of you would go somewhere else just to be different. My money was on Sophie, actually.”
