Laughing, I shake my head. “I kind of figured that.”
“I love you, Lacey.” She pulls me into a hug. “I’m sorry if I’ve relied on you too much, made you feel like you could never live your own life.”
My eyes mist up, and I nod. I’m about to leave, but now that we’re talking—or rather, now that I’m talking to her—there’s a question that’s been burning inside me for weeks.
“Why did you want me to date Landon so badly? Didn’t you realize it would end like this?”
Her face softens. “Can I be honest with you?”
I almost tell her it would be a nice change, but I purse my lips and nod.
“You were driving me insane with your spreadsheets and laminated charts.” She smiles to soften the words. “After Thomas, you holed up in the office, working all the time. I just want you to be teenager while you still have the chance.”
I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes, almost smiling. “My laminated chart is awesome.”
She laughs—really laughs—and shakes her head. “I know.”
We’re both quiet for a few moments, pensive. Finally, sensing I’m at my emotional quota for the day, she says, “I’ve got to get to the studio.”
I nod. She squeezes my shoulder and then walks away. I stand in the yard, all alone, feeling lost. Everything I’ve ever known is changing.
After a moment, I rip open the envelope. My breath catches, and I bite my lip to keep from breaking down.
It’s a postcard. Landon’s standing on a sunset beach, smiling. His arm is slung around a girl’s shoulders, and she’s looking at him, laughing. She has reddish brown hair, freckles across her nose, and eyes that are the exact shade as my mother’s.
He used photo manipulation software to put me in the picture.
“Wish you were actually here,” is scrawled across the back in a masculine mix of print and cursive. “All my love, Landon.”
All his love.
I blink a few times, shove the card in my pocket, and march my way to Site Twenty-seven.
“Gretchen?” I ask when I see an older woman sitting in a chair under her awning. With the way the site is situated, they’re mostly in the sun.
“Yes?”
“You guys can have Twenty-nine if you still want it.”
“Is it available?” she asks, her face lighting up.
I nod and shove my hand in my back pocket, feeling for the postcard. The Tillmans are far away, enjoying the coast. They’re not coming back anytime soon.
And that’s okay.
It has to be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“You have mail,” Mom says the minute I walk into the office. She waves a plain white envelope in the air. “It looks just like the last one. Who are they from?”
My heart starts beating faster, and I snatch the envelope from her.
“Landon?” she guesses.
I mumble incoherent words and leave the office, heading for the house. As soon as I’m in my room, I sit on my bed and stare at the envelope.
Slowly, I tear it open and pull out another postcard. Landon’s at another beach, this one rocky. Again, we’re together.
He’s using pictures he took of me and purposely posing himself just to make them fit together with a few tweaks.
That’s insane.
That’s…
So Landon.
This time, the back reads, “Still wish you were actually here. All my love, Landon.”
***
“Another one,” Mom says, motioning to the stack of mail. She’s at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, waiting for me to come home from school. Big, fat snowflakes fall just outside the window, and our Christmas tree stands in the corner, all dressed in red and gold.
“This one’s red,” she says conversationally. “He must have been feeling festive.”
I slide open the card and smile as soon as I see his name.
I finally worked up the courage to call Landon not long after he began sending the cards. We talk almost every day now, but that doesn’t keep him from writing. His messages have gotten longer and longer, and now he usually sends several sheets of paper along with his postcards.
There’s something very personal and sweet about hand-written letters, especially when Landon is so enamored with technology.
“So where are you now?” Mom asks.
“Louisiana,” I tell her.
She takes another sip of her coffee. “I bet it’s warmer there than here.”
I smile. “It looks like it.”
***
The best thing about graduating high school is that my afternoons are now free to stalk the mailman. I wait until he’s gone, and then I hurry to the box.
I’ve become obsessed with checking the mail. You wouldn’t believe the places I’ve been to in Landon’s cards—the California coast, the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, state parks in Texas where trees drip with Spanish moss and alligators sun themselves on walking trails.
Every week like clockwork, a new card shows up. Every week, I fall a little more in love.
I have forty cards, and right there on top of a stack of bills and credit card applications sits number forty-one. I open it eagerly, hoping with all my heart the Tillmans have changed their course and are coming back this way.
Before I pull out the card, something else slips out. I read it, wondering what in the world Landon’s sent me.
And then I brace myself with a hand on the mailbox. It’s a plane ticket to Florida.
Landon’s bought me a plane ticket.
With shaking hands, I pull out the card. Landon’s once again on a beach, just like in the very first card, but this time, he’s by himself.
When I flip the card over, it’s blank. The usual letter is missing as well.
“I couldn’t figure out a clever way to ask you to join me,” an achingly familiar voice says from behind me. “So, I figured I’d just deliver this one myself.”
I whirl around, clutching the plane ticket and card to my chest.
He’s here.
Right here.
In Colorado.
“Landon,” I breathe, overwhelmed.
He shows me a matching ticket. “I have one too, in case you’re wondering. I figured we could fly together.”
I throw myself at him, clutching him so tightly, I’m not sure he can breathe. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you kidding?” he says against my hair. “Gray Jay is the happening place to be in the summer. Don’t you know that?”
I breathe him in, savoring his soap and laundry detergent scent.
“Will you come with me?” he asks, his voice softer and a tad bit hesitant.
“To Florida?” I ask.
He nods. “My family is there too. They miss you. Caleb’s been looking for the fountain of youth.”
I laugh, surprised he thinks I might turn him down. “Yes, Landon. I will go to Florida with you.”
“Unless you’d rather go cave spelunking than lie on a sunny beach.” He graces me with a rotten grin. “I know how much you enjoy that sort of thing.”
I pull back so I can meet his eyes. “Honestly, I’d even go explore caves with you. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I missed you.” He brushes his knuckle against my cheek.
“I have a whole stack of postcards with photographic proof that I’ve been with you the whole time.”
“You have been.” His grin turns crooked, and he taps his chest. “Right here.”
“That was the cheesiest line ever.” But I laugh despite myself.
He pulls me against him. “But did it work?”
“Yeah, kinda.”
Before he beats me to it, I wrap my hand around his neck, pull him closer, and kiss him.
“Have you figured out where you want to go to school?” he asks, letting himself get distracted by trivial life decisions.
“Nope.” I tug him back.
“Do you think we should talk about that?”
“E
ventually.”
He finally gives in, and we forget about school and responsibilities.
We’ll deal with all that later. Right now, all I know is Landon’s here, and I’m not going to let him slip away again.
After a few moments, he jerks as if remembering something and digs his phone out of his pocket. “I almost forgot.”
He holds it up, capturing the two of us in the frame.
“What are you doing?” I ask, grinning at the image of the two of us together.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He kisses me again and snaps the picture. “It’s for next week’s postcard.”
Bonus Scene
Landon
“I want out,” Caleb, my youngest brother, announces, twisting in his seat to look behind us at the office. “Why can’t I go with Mom and Dad?”
“I don’t know,” Hunter says, his nose buried in his phone like usual. “Maybe because they told you to stay here?”
My thirteen-year-old brother got stuck in the middle this afternoon, between Caleb and me, so he’s been especially caustic.
Caleb turns his eyes to me, begging me to give him a different answer. Though I’d like nothing more than to disagree with Hunter, I can’t. I’m just opening my mouth to tell Caleb to be patient when my sister’s dog coughs from the seat behind us. Something about it sounds off.
I turn around, resting my elbow on the back, and look at McKenna. “She okay?”
McKenna stares at the miniature dog with a worried expression. “I think so.”
Unable to mind his own business, George sticks his head over the back of the seat. Most people would shy away from him and his drool, but McKenna doesn’t mind—it’s why she gets the backseat all to herself.
Candy coughs again, but this time it turns into a gag.
Hunter finally looks up from the game on his phone and turns in his seat. “What’s going—dude. That’s not right.”
And for once, I have to agree with him. The dog hacked up some seriously nasty, rainbow-colored yuck. “What did she eat?”
McKenna’s chin wobbles. “I gave her some Skittles.”
“Skittles?” I demand, shocked. “Why?”
Instead of answering me, she talks to the dog, asking her questions like the little beast will actually respond. A half-empty bag of candy sits on the seat between McKenna and her dog. Giving up, I turn around, trying to figure out how to best deal with this.
“I’m not cleaning that up,” Hunter says, holding up both hands. He’d back away if he could, but he’s still trapped between Caleb and me.
My youngest brother—opportunist that he is—dramatically covers his mouth. “I’m gonna be sick. You gotta let me out.”
“You are not,” Hunter scoffs.
Caleb then proceeds to fake gag, which makes Hunter yell at him to knock it off. As the two argue, I step out the door.
I stick my head into the office, zeroing in on Mom and Dad. “Apparently McKenna fed Candy half a bag of Skittles on the drive, and she just threw up in the back seat.”
“McKenna or Candy?” Mom asks.
“Candy. Now Caleb says he’s going to be sick if I don’t let him out.” My gaze moves to the girl behind the desk. She watches me with wide eyes, horrified. And why wouldn’t she be? Some entrance, Landon.
She’s pretty, I think when I should be listening to Mom. She’s tall, like Evie, but she’s not as curvy and her hair isn’t the same color of brown.
In fact, she doesn’t look like Evie at all. She looks real, I guess. She might have makeup on—maybe some of that black mascara stuff, but I think that’s it.
I bet she wouldn’t leave you to make small talk for thirty minutes with her parents while she finished getting ready for a date.
The thought makes me feel guilty—unloyal even. I’ve been with Evie for so long, it’s strange to think those thoughts about another girl. But I’m not with Evie anymore.
Mom’s asking me to walk Candy and Caleb to our site. Sensing my opportunity, and seeing the empty stand on the counter, I ask the girl for a map.
Her eyes fly to the stand, and she blanches. “I just ran out. Let me print you one real quick.”
“No worries,” I find myself saying. “Why don’t you show me the way?”
My gut tightens when she just stares at me. I thought it was clever, but maybe it hinted at desperation? It’s been too long since I’ve had to worry about these things.
“Sure,” she finally says, and then she darts up, nearly tripping over her chair. Her cheeks go pink, making her even prettier. She mumbles some trivial information to my mother—shower times and so on, and then she makes her way to me.
“I’m Landon.” I hold the door open for her.
Looking straight ahead, almost as if she’s avoiding looking at me, she says, “I’m Lacey.”
“So, you work here?”
As soon as I say it, I want to kick myself. Of course she works here—she was sitting behind the desk. Idiot.
She gives me a questioning look, one that has my attention moving to her pursed lips. Because there’s no recovering, I brush it off and wait for her to answer.
“My mom owns the place,” she finally says.
Even better. That means she’ll be here all the time.
She’s checking me out, letting her eyes sweep over me, though she’s trying to be nonchalant about it. I hold back a pleased grin and lead her to the Suburban.
One thing’s for certain, I think as I glance again at the girl by my side. My summer just got a lot better.
About the Author
Shari L. Tapscott writes young adult fantasy and humorous contemporary fiction. When she's not writing or reading, she enjoys gardening, making soap, and pretending she can sing. She loves white chocolate mochas, furry animals, spending time with her family, and characters who refuse to behave.
Tapscott lives in western Colorado with her husband, son, daughter, and two very spoiled Saint Bernards.
Click here to subscribe to my newsletter and be one of the first to learn about new releases, upcoming sales, and current projects.
Follow me:
Twitter
Instagram
Bookbub
My Website
Books:
Silver & Orchids
Moss Forest Orchid
Greybrow Serpent
Wildwood Larkwing
Lily of the Desert
Fire & Feathers: Novelette Prequel to Moss Forest Orchid
Eldentimber Series
Pippa of Lauramore
Anwen of Primewood
Seirsha of Errinton
Rosie of Triblue
Audette of Brookraven
Grace of Vernow: An Eldentimber Novelette
Fairy Tale Kingdoms
The Marquise and Her Cat: A Puss in Boots Retelling
Contemporary Fiction
Just the Essentials
Glitter and Sparkle
Shine and Shimmer
Sugar and Spice
If the Summer Lasted Forever
If the Summer Lasted Forever Page 18
