Anna shrugged. “Because when it comes true, I’ll remind you of this moment and you can thank me.”
Clem groaned and stood up, blushing. She shook her head and mumbled, “I’m going to finish the dishes.” Then she escaped inside, sliding the door closed behind her. The energy of a few moments ago deflated.
I glanced at Anna so confused. “What was that about?”
Anna seemed completely unruffled. “Aunt Lemon’s just flustered.”
“About what?” Girls were so confusing. Young or old. Fourteen or Twenty-eight. They were a conundrum.
“My wish makes her nervous.” She sighed. “And before you ask, I can’t tell you my wish from tonight because that’s the rule of birthday wishes. They don’t come true if you spill them. But I’ve made the same wish a bunch of other times and I can tell you those.”
“Okay?” This was such a weird conversation.
She took a big breath. “I’ve been wishing the same thing all summer. And it is…that you and Aunt Lemon would fall in love and we could be a real family.”
Had someone shoved a boot in my gut? Had Anna read my mind? ’Cause we had the exact same wish. I looked over my shoulder, watching Clem through the kitchen window, her head down, muttering to herself as she scrubbed a dish.
“Does Clem know about your wish?”
“Yeah. I told her a while ago.”
My body tensed, but I had to know. “And what did she say?”
She pursed her lips. “Basically that I shouldn’t get my hopes up.”
I slouched down, feeling like a fool. All the looks, the imagined tension…I’d been living a fantasy, pretending, just like in high school. It had been fun while it lasted, but it wasn’t real. We’d just been playing house. Apparently, some of us more than others.Idiot.Would I ever learn?
“But you know what?” Anna said, her voice shaky. “I can’t stop wishing it.” She looked up at me, her brown eyes turned down. “With Momma gone, you and Aunt Lemon are my best shot at a real family. I don’t want to fly back and forth. Spend the school year here and the summers out there. I know that’s what you guys are planning. Aren’t you?”
I sat there, speechless. That was my plan, exactly. What other option was there?
She threw her hands out. “Shouldn’t I get a say in what happens to me? Why do the adults get to decide when they’re not the ones who have to live it?”
Oh, man.
She was absolutely right. Everyone she loved was here in Seddledowne, except me. I may not be able to give her the happily ever after she’d hoped for Clem and me, but I could make it so she didn’t have to split her life down the middle.
I rubbed her head and pulled her against me. “Yeah. If anyone should have a say, it should be you.”
For the first time, I really considered the what-ifs of staying in Seddledowne. Would it be hard to live here and see Clem all the time? Yeah. Would it suck to give up my new job and let Mrs. Serafin down? The thought was sickening. I always followed through. Always. But looking at Anna, her pleading face, her guileless desire to have stability and be surrounded by family…I had to follow through for her.
Clem or not.
Jobless or not.
I needed to stay in Seddledowne for good. Man, these next hurdles were gonna blow.
Anna hopped up and went back inside. I pulled out my phone and found Christy’s name way down my message list. She’d been true to her word. The only noise coming from her direction had been crickets.
For the second time that summer, I texted her the words:
Me: We need to talk.
twenty-three
CLEMENTINE
Iwoke up the next morning before the sun, determination pulsing through me. Bo and Jenny were coming to pick up Anna and Huckleberry to go to Honeyville to buy a crate, collar, leash, and who knew what else. Tomorrow morning, we were all heading to Sandbridge for a week at the beach. Holden, Ashton, and Ford would be there too, which meant chaos and hilarity, but zero chance to be solo with Silas. If I wanted to talk to him alone and uninterrupted, today was the day.
