And he smiles back, and then turns to gaze up at the tree where I was looking. “His name is on there somewhere with yours, isn’t it?”
“It’s just initials,” I say, glancing where Jason’s used to be.
“Want me to cut it out?”
I shake my head. My brother would have obliterated Mark’s name if I asked him. He wouldn’t have even made me tell him why. “It’s a good reminder.”
“Of what?” he asks.
“That I don’t get to change the past.” I step to leave again, but something invisible tugs at me and I meet Heath’s gaze again. Before the words are out I know I shouldn’t say them, but I do. “What if...what if it doesn’t rain again for a while?”
His eyes lower and I know I shouldn’t have asked. “Brooke—”
“What am I saying?” My smile is falsely bright as I back toward the road. “It’s summer in Texas. I’ll see you...when I see you.”
I come just shy of sprinting to Daphne, grateful as I start her that she doesn’t stall.
CHAPTER 21
Despite the heavy clouds rolling across the sky day and night, along with the occasional clap of thunder and lightning forking in the distance, it doesn’t rain in Telford the rest of that week. I can’t decide if I’m allowed to be disappointed by that or not. Either way, I am.
Martina McBride has been singing about Independence Day all week and thanks to Maggie and me, the entire rink is now finally draped in enough red, white and blue streamers to make Jeff declare us patriotic enough to match the rest of the town, which has exploded in excitement for today: the Fourth of July.
To Maggie’s horror as a vegetarian, the grill masters have been smoking meat for days so that you can’t set foot in town without salivating at the promise of the barbecue they’ll finally be serving up at the firework show tonight. And even though I won’t taste any this year, I’d put every dollar I have on Ann Keller’s banana cream pie to take top honors at the bake off yet again.
The craft fair was already in full swing when I drove into work this morning, and the antebellum cannon will be firing in a few hours to announce the start of the parade, which passes right past Polar Ice Rink. Needless to say, Jeff graciously offered to let me off early today—not so that I can take part in any of the celebrations, but so that my presence won’t hinder anyone from enjoying the ice after being out in the heat all day.
Wrinkling her nose as the door opens and the mouthwatering scent of pork spare ribs wafts in, Maggie eyes the clock for the fifth time and sighs.
I send a commiserating smile in her direction before returning to our task of scraping gum off the underside of the bleachers surrounding the rink. “Two more hours and we’re done.”
“But I can smell it from my house too! I wish your mom wasn’t sick so we could go to your house tonight. I mean there’s no way the smell reaches that far.”
Sadly it doesn’t, but even though Maggie has been to my house a few times, the lie about my mom came easily to my lips when she suggested it earlier. I never feel comfortable having her see my family, as though if she looked too long she’d figure out the truth I’m trying so desperately to keep from her.
“I guess if I’m wishing for anything it’s to be homeschooled like you,” Maggie says, jabbing with her scraper. “School starts the end of next month and I already know it’s going to suck so hard. You’re the only person in this whole town I want to talk to, and you’re not going to be there. You do all your work on a computer in, like, a few hours, and you don’t even have to put on pants.” She scowls at her jeans. “I hate pants. Don’t you hate pants?”
“Not usually, no,” I say, not wanting to mentally jump that far into the future. Right now, Maggie and I exist in our own little bubble. I know I can’t keep her to myself forever, but I don’t want to think about losing her weeks from now either.
I wantnowto last just a little longer.
I’m bracing myself on my elbow for better reach under the bench I’m working on when I see something that makes me gag a little.
Maggie peers at me from the next bench up. “What?”
I show herwhatwhen I finally chisel it free, and she shrieks while crab walking to get away from it.Itis a wad of gum and...other things wrapped around a Q-tip and covered in gray hair.
“What the actual hell? Is it dead?”
“It smells dead.” Holding it as far from my body as I’m physically capable of, I drop it and the glove I’m wearing into the trash and knot it closed. Maggie runs over and starts jumping up and down on the mostly empty bag. She doesn’t stop even when I give her a look.
“You want to take the chance that that thing crawls out of the trash bag and kills us in the bathroom?”
I start jumping on the bag with her. We pause after a minute, listening. Nothing, but we stomp on it a few more times just to be safe. I don’t wait for her to say it. Even though it’s less than half-full, I pick up the bag and head toward the exit. Maggie darts around me to get the door, flattening herself against it as I pass.
“Downside to being homeschooled—my shifts will always start earlier than yours, which means I’ll be the one finding stuff like this.” I raise the bag an inch and Maggie ducks away. “Still jealous?”
“Gross hairball gum monster or not having to wear pants...”
