Another long moment passed. The cicadas had started to sing, blending with the muffled sound of the television downstairs.
Then Jane’s soft voice finally spoke again. “So… how did Will look?”
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Can we stop talking about Will Darcy, please?”
“If that’s what you want.”
Lizzy could hear the grin in her sister’s voice. “I don’t know what I want anymore,” she replied.
The all-consuming anger she felt toward Will was fading, as his words, so raw and honest, replayed in her mind.
You matter, Lizzy… I wish I had told you that.
Maybe he was right. Maybe she did matter. But the fact that Will Darcy was the only person who might ever notice was a bitter pill to swallow.
After the sun had completely set and a chill settled into the air, the sisters headed back inside. Lizzy waited until she heard Jane close her bedroom door across the hall before she grabbed her laptop and went to sit on her bed. There was a long list of documents on her desktop: Numerous drafts of her application to Columbia. Information about GREs. Her acceptance letter. And there, just below it, the email outlining the terms of her deferment. She opened it, reading over the details again, how they were only allowing her to push back her enrollment for a semester, how it was contingent on whether a spot was available. And how she needed to confirm that she would be attending next spring by October 1, or she would forfeit the opportunity.
At the beginning of the summer, that date had seemed so far away, but now, with the season almost over, it felt like she had no time left at all.
How would she ensure that her father was well enough for her to leave before then? Or figure out what to do about the bakery, and make a plan to ensure that her family would be okay without her…? It felt impossible.
Lizzy lay back on her bed. The same bed she’d inherited from Jane in high school. The walls still had the same pink paisley wallpaper, the same travel posters. Nothing had changed in years.
And maybe, she thought as she reached over and closed her computer, it was finally time to start accepting that.
CHAPTER 22
When Labor Day arrived in East Hampton, tradition dictated that locals congregate at Donato’s for everyone’s favorite holiday of the season: Get the Hell Outta Town Day. This year was no different.
“Good riddance!” Hank Donato bellowed from behind the bar, raising his pint to the window as a steady stream of Mercedes and Land Rovers crawled by, heading west. The rest of the bar cheered, and somewhere on the far side of the room, someone started an off-key rendition of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.”
None of them really minded the weekenders. If they were being honest, Lizzy knew most of them would say they might even miss them. Sure, it was nice to have their town back again, to be able to drive down Main Street in five minutes instead of twenty, and not to share the beach with a half dozen influencer photo shoots. But the end of season also meant that the locals’ main source of income was gone. So many of their jobs, their businesses, existed because of the people who summered there every year. Now it would be a matter of hunkering down and surviving until next Memorial Day. Bennet Bakery was no different.
But today marked another milestone, too, one Lizzy hadn’t dared say out loud: Charlie had never come back.
And neither had Will.
Not that she wanted him to. In fact, Lizzy had been plotting out what she would say to him if he did. How she would balance all these new emotions and still play it cool. But that chance never came. And now the summer was over. Temperatures were already dipping below sixty at night. Jane was getting ready to welcome a new class of first graders this week. The gossip mill was even whispering about how a team had already been hired to winterize Marv’s Lament.
“Hello, Earth to Lizzy,” Piper said, cutting off her train of thought.
“I’m listening,” Lizzy said, her head lolling to one side as she turned to her friend standing behind the bar.
“Okay, what did I just say?”
“That you’ve come to your senses and decided not to abandon me for grad school next week?” Lizzy said, smiling brightly.
“Not even close. And today’s Monday, so technically I’m leavingthisweek. My first class is on Thursday.”
“Boo.” Lizzy’s chin fell into her hand.
Piper smiled. “Boston isn’t that far. You can come up to visit me whenever you want. Sasha’s apartment has a spare room.”
“And be a third wheel on your new domestic bliss?” Lizzy replied, mock-condemnation in her voice. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Console myself with a second basket of Tater Tots,” she replied, popping the last one from her current basket into her mouth.
