Finding June

by Shannen Crane Camp

  “You’ll be the first to know,” I promised, pulling him into a hug. He held me tightly for a moment longer than I thought he would, and kissed me on the cheek as we pulled apart.

  “He’d better not be the first to know,” I heard Gran say behind me. I turned to face my eccentric, flame-haired grandmother, who smiled, obviously resisting the urge to cry. “If anyone is hearing about your return to the great city of Hollywood, it’ll be me,” she said, shooting Ryan a mock threatening look. He held up his hands in defeat.

  “You win, Annette,” he said. “I can live with second in line.”

  “Everything’s all packed up and ready to go, Button,” my dad said next to me. I hadn’t even realized he and Joseph had managed to stuff everything into the cobalt blue and white (and rust) VW Bus.

  I turned and faced my dad, trying to memorize everything about him. I already barely saw him on a regular basis because he lived in different states (and sometimes countries) most days out of the year. But now that I was going away to college, I’d see even less of him. His dark hair had gotten grayer over the years and he wore glasses now, but his brown eyes were the same as mine and our smiles were identical. I didn’t think any amount of time apart would ever erase our similarities.

  Joseph, who had just finished saying his goodbyes to his parents and herd of siblings, walked over to join the group.

  “I love you, Dad,” I said as my dad gathered me into a warm hug.

  “I love you too, Button,” he replied, kissing the top of my head and making me feel like I was far too young to be setting out on my own.

  “Keep in touch,” Candice said as I hopped into the passenger seat and rolled my window down. She realized, then, that she had said something vaguely friendly and instantly corrected herself. “Ryan will probably jump off a cliff or something if you don’t.”

  Ryan rolled his eyes at Candice.

  “He didn’t deny it,” Benjamin pointed out.

  “I’ll miss you guys. But I’ll be back for Christmas, so keep Ryan away from any high places until then,” I said seriously.

  “Will do, chief,” Benjamin said with a salute.

  Joseph and I waved our final goodbyes as his new (to him) car pulled out of the neighborhood and on to everything that lay before us.

  Chasing June Coming Soon!

  Copyright © 2012 Shannen Crane Camp

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Sugar Coated Press

  Discover other titles by Shannen Crane Camp

  The Breakup Artist

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Nathan Lee and Aaron White: Thank you for being my on-call film consultants.

  Lizzi Relins: Thank you for being the one who made sure I knew English and British are not always synonymous.

  Jackie: Thank you for . . . everything. Editing, making me a clay sculpture of my characters to keep me motivated, helping me with the titles, coming up with possible titles for a baseball book we’ve never read, and looking at 10,000,000 pictures of people in sunglasses to find a cover I ultimately didn’t use.

  Jolene Perry: Thank you for answering my endless stream of questions on everything in the world and knowing how to do . . . well . . . everything.

  Cindy Bennett: Thank you for your endless help with navigating the world of publishing. You’ve been so awesome and our book signings are always full of candy and happiness, just like a book signing should be.

  Janet Swenson and Haleh Risdana: Thank you for teaching me the beauty of well-executed injury makeup.

  Every film teacher and film student I’ve ever worked with: Thank you for giving me random terms like C47 to throw out there so I look like I know what I’m talking about.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Shannen Crane Camp was born and raised in Southern California, where she developed a love of reading, writing, and anything having to do with film. After high school, she moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University, where she received a degree in Media Arts and found herself a husband in fellow California native Josh Camp. The two now call Utah home permanently (although they can’t be kept away from the California beaches for long).

  Shannen loves to hear from readers, so feel free to contact her at Shannencbooks@hotmail.com or visit her website for more information: http://shannencbooks.blogspot.com

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