“You weren’t kidding. How’s the foot?” Summer looked down at Ava’s bare feet for evidence of injury.
Ava wiggled her toes. “It’s fine. Shocked me more than anything. The stairs always creaked, but I thought it was part of the cabin’s charm. Not an actual problem.”
She sighed as she considered the mess that was her life. Stuck in her dad’s cabin in a town where she felt like a stranger. One ex wouldn’t leave her alone and the other she wished she could stop thinking about. Her mood soured even more.
Summer picked up on her spiraling emotions. “Everything is fixable, Birdie.”
Ava gave her a disbelieving look.
“Fine. Everything in this cabin is fixable. How about that? We’ll figure it out,” Summer assured her. She stared at Ava while taking a sip of her remaining coffee. After a moment, she decided. With a nod toward the stairs, she continued, “But we’re not fixing it today. You need to have some fun.”
“Summer, I don’t think I’m in the mood for—”
“Look, I know I fucked up yesterday and made everything worse. Let me make it up to you. Besides, you’re already in a crappy mood, and hanging around here won’t help.” Summer raised her eyebrows with a pointed look until Ava gave in.
“You’re probably right,” Ava agreed.
“Glad you see it my way. Now go shave your legs and put on your swimsuit. We’re going to the lake.”
After an argument where Summer insisted Ava leave her phone behind so she couldn’t check in with work, and a brief snack run, the two of them arrived at Cedar Lake in the heart of town. They took advantage of the empty floating dock, usually occupied with sunbathing teenagers, and swam the 15-yard length with a waterproof cooler to claim the floating wooden platform for themselves.
Ava took a sip of her watermelon seltzer and tipped her head back to feel the warm rays on her face. Summer picked around a bag of trail mix to pull out the chocolate bits.
The lapping water and gentle rocking of the dock lulled Ava into a short-lived state of relaxation. A moment in time where she forgot about the reason she was in Cedar Falls or the messages from her persistent ex. Her anticipatory anxiety about her potential promotion and her dread at running into Owen again. For a bit, she could ignore it all.
Then her head became too quiet, and the thoughts flooded her mind all at once. Her chest tightened, and she blinked against thebrightness of the sun. The warm contentedness vanished, replaced by a sinking feeling she’d avoided by staying busy.
“Whoa, your aura is all off.” Summer’s voice interrupted her spiral.
Ava turned to give her friend a skeptical look. “You still think you can read auras?”
“No, I’m messing with you. But your face pinched like you have to use the bathroom or something,” Summer teased.
Ava shocked herself with a laugh, and Summer winked in response.
“You should move here, you know. Then we can do this all the time. In the summer, at least.”
Ava leveled a look of exasperation at Summer. “Only took you twenty-four hours to make your first suggestion I move. I’m impressed you held back so long.”
Summer opened her mouth to sass her back, but her attention turned to something behind Ava. The gently lapping water became more frenzied with the approach of someone swimming up to the platform, then the floating dock rocked as the newcomer climbed the ladder to join them. They both yelped when droplets of water hit their sun-warmed legs as the visitor shook the excess water from his hair.
“Hey, squirt. Fancy seeing you here,” Summer greeted her nephew.
He plopped down cross-legged, facing them. “Got any snacks?” Avery asked with an expectant look.
“I have trail mix. Want some?” Summer tossed him the bag she was holding.
Avery dug a wet hand into the bag and threw a handful in his mouth. His face twisted in disgust. “Ugh, did you eat all the chocolate again? You always take the good stuff,” he said. He glowered at Summer, but it only spurred on her teasing.
“There are still plenty of raisins in there. Your favorite.”
Avery huffed in annoyance and picked out the nuts. Between the two of them, only raisins would be left by the time they were done.
Ava took in the young boy. She’d left in such a hurry when they met yesterday, but her memory served her right—he was the spitting image of Owen. With a wide smile and chocolate brown eyes she was sure got him out of all kinds of trouble, he was Owen’s kid. Except for the freckles dotting his face. Owen didn’t have a single freckle on his skin, only a tiny mole on his right shoulder blade and an oval birthmark on his bicep she had no business remembering was there. And she especially had no business remembering all the times she’d kissed that very birthmark while curled against his side.
The dock jostled again from someone climbing up the ladder, yanking Ava from her inappropriate thoughts. Embarrassment flooded her when it turned out to be Madeline in a black bikini. Like yesterday, a black baseball hat with a rafting company logo across the top covered her wet curls.
“Jeezum, kid. I swear you get faster every time I see you,” Madeline said as she crested the ladder.
