The Silver Moon of Summer

by Leila Howland

  Dedication

  For Giff and Maryhope, and Aunt Dot,

  whom we loved so very much

  Contents

  Dedication

  1. Dive In

  2. Three Wishes

  3. A Shadow in the Rafters

  4. The Elusive Idea

  5. A Party for Marigold

  6. The Idea Arrives, At Last!

  7. Peter Pasque

  8. New Girl with a Notebook

  9. Rathbone’s News

  10. A Moment with Aunt Sunny

  11. Sunshine of the Night

  12. Auditions

  13. The Wrong Accent

  14. The Perfect Assistant

  15. The Boyfriend Test

  16. Best Friend Potential

  17. The Magic of Cake

  18. The Happiness Pie

  19. A Moody Sailor & a Clueless Sister

  20. The Oldest House in Pruet

  21. Spirits in the Lighthouse

  22. The Deal

  23. Lights, Camera, Action!

  24. Not a Lie . . . Exactly

  25. The Quaker Graveyard

  26. Love and Friendship on the High Seas

  27. Friendly Chickens, a Gentle Bison, and an Attack Goose

  28. The Fun Fourteenth

  29. The Not-So-Fun Fourteenth

  30. Fires and Feelings

  31. Adrift

  32. Tent Talks

  33. A Sister Needs to Take Care of Herself, Right?

  34. The Whole Real Truth

  35. A Surprise Guest

  36. Working Together

  37. The New Plan

  38. A Morning Full of Good Ideas

  39. Can’t Fool a Sister

  40. The Power of Suggestion

  41. Why Would She Say That?

  42. How Could You?

  43. The Tricentennial

  44. Family Portrait

  Acknowledgments

  Back Ad

  About the Author

  Books by Leila Howland

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  1 • Dive In

  “One . . . two . . .” Zinnie’s toes were curled up on the edge of the lighthouse diving board. Her palms tingled with anticipation, and her heart was in her throat as Marigold, Lily, Aunt Sunny, and Tony all counted together. Zinnie gulped a breath of air and plugged her nose as they all said, “Three!”

  “Woo-hoo!” Zinnie shouted, and jumped. The air skimmed her body. Then she plunged into the cold, salty water. As it engulfed her, she felt the possibility of all that was ahead in the next two and a half weeks.

  The Silver sisters were back in Pruet, Massachusetts, for their third summer, and Zinnie was certain it was going to be the best yet. The town was celebrating its tricentennial—its three hundredth birthday—and there was going to be a ton of activities, like an epic sand castle building contest; a parade from Charlotte Point all the way to the town beach; a sailing race with Omgansett, the next town over; a clambake at the yacht club and a dance at the casino. This first dip into Buzzards Bay was just the beginning.

  Zinnie flipped onto her back and gazed up at the clear blue sky. After their long plane ride from Los Angeles—during which Zinnie had read the entire third novel in the Dream Weavers series, Marigold had watched two and a half movies, and Lily had mostly slept—the cold water was refreshing. It was six p.m. here, but only seemed like three o’clock because they were still on West Coast time. She felt like she had the whole day in front of her to think and dream about what she would be writing for her blog.

  As an eighth grader in the fall, Zinnie would have the chance to be the editor in chief of Muses, the school’s literary magazine. During the first meeting of the school year, the members of Mrs. Lee’s Writers’ Workshop would nominate candidates, and at the next meeting they’d vote.

  Zinnie loved being in the Writers’ Workshop, and she really wanted to be the editor in chief. She’d noticed that it was mostly just the members of the Writers’ Workshop who read Muses. Zinnie was hoping to create something that everyone wanted to read, and couldn’t put down until they’d devoured the whole thing, like one of Aunt Sunny’s surprise brownies. Muses should live up to its name and inspire people. As editor in chief, Zinnie felt she could make that happen.

  But first she was going to have to get nominated! And then, of course, she’d have to win. The blog that Mrs. Lee assigned each member of the Writers’ Workshop to keep over the summer was Zinnie’s opportunity to prove not only her talent for writing, but also for connecting with readers. She needed to think of what Mrs. Lee called a “hook,” a clever way to get the audience’s attention, and then she’d have to find a way to keep her readers hooked. “A hook with legs,” Mrs. Lee had said during the last meeting before school let out.

  Zinnie had brainstormed on the beach in Malibu, bouncing some ideas off her dad, before they left L.A. She’d also journaled about it, and of course, she’d been obsessing about it on the plane ride to Boston, even while she was reading her book.

  So far nothing was coming to mind, but she was hopeful that was going to change soon. Pruet was where she found some of her best ideas. As she swam her way back to the lighthouse in the smooth, even strokes she’d been practicing all winter, the salt pleasantly stinging her skin, she was sure her mind was opening up.

  “Is it freezing?” Marigold asked as she watched Zinnie climb the ladder up the side of the lighthouse to the porch.

  “Invigorating,” Zinnie said through chattering teeth.

  “Was it scary?” Lily asked as Zinnie climbed onto the wooden porch, which was warm from a long day in the sun.

  “More like thrilling,” Zinnie said, patting her little sister on the head.

  “You dripped on me!” Lily said. “It is cold.”

  Aunt Sunny stood nearby, holding open a striped beach towel. Zinnie left wet footprints as she ran into her aunt’s toweled embrace.

  “I’m so delighted you’re back, my dear,” Aunt said, squeezing Zinnie tight.

  “Me too,” Zinnie said. Something about Aunt Sunny’s hugs was deeply reassuring and comforting. It was as though she could hold the whole world still for a moment with her arms. “There’s nothing like summer in Pruet.”

  “Summer is our reward for getting through the tough winters,” Tony said.

  “Especially this winter,” Aunt Sunny said as she rubbed Zinnie’s back. “The storms were vicious.”

  Aunt Sunny had told them all about the blizzards that she and Tony had endured. There had been three in a row, knocking out the power for days. Tony and Aunt Sunny had had to sleep in the living room in front of the roaring fireplace to keep warm. Luckily, Aunt Sunny’s house had withstood the high winds, but not everyone had been so fortunate. Some of the houses closer to the shore had to be rebuilt, and the roof of the yacht club had been seriously damaged.

  But now the sun stretched their shadows, and birds sang back and forth above her sisters’ voices. They were discussing who would jump off the diving board next.

  “You go,” Marigold said to Lily. “I need to be a little warmer.”

  “But you’re bigger than I am,” Lily said. “And it’s so high!”

  “Zinnie already said it wasn’t too scary,” Marigold said.

  “There’s no reason to bicker, loves. You don’t have to jump today,” Aunt Sunny said. The lines around her eyes seemed more deeply etched than usual.

  “Is it true that the Pruet town council chooses one boy and one girl to lead the parade at the tricentennial?” Zinnie asked, trying to distract her sisters. Zinnie didn’t like to see Aunt Sunny looking worried, so she changed the subject to something she’d read about in
the Buzzards Bay Bugle.

  “That’s right,” Tony said. “The town council will nominate a young man and young woman who embody the spirit of James and Eliza Pruet, the town’s founding family.”

  “Wait, what?” Marigold asked.

  Zinnie’s tactic had worked—her sisters had stopped fighting.

  “They were said to be hardworking, spirited, and of course, very civic-minded. And the town council thought it would be fun to pick two people who embodied these same qualities to lead the parade on horseback,” Aunt Sunny said.

  “Horses? Wow. What does ‘civic-minded’ mean?” Lily asked.

  “It means that you care about the community,” Marigold answered. “Do they have to dress up in an old-fashioned way or get to wear anything . . . special?”

  “There won’t be any costumes, if that’s what you mean. But Jean has offered to make a floral wreath for our Eliza and a matching corsage for James,” Aunt Sunny said. “She’s been taking a lot of courses on flower arranging this year. She says it’s the new yoga.”

  “Cool,” said Marigold with a dreamy look in her eyes. Zinnie felt pretty certain Marigold was imagining that she and Peter Pasque would be picked to be Eliza and James.

  “I didn’t know about the horseback part,” Zinnie said with a smile. She didn’t care about wearing a floral wreath on her head, but she did think it would be fun to ride on a horse next to Max down the main street. Max was Tony’s grandson and Zinnie’s first boy-who-was-a-friend, though Zinnie had sometimes wondered if he might be her boyfriend. Now, she looked down at her arms and noticed she had goose bumps. Was it the breeze that had given them to her or the idea of seeing Max again soon?

  “So, Tony, when is Max coming?” Zinnie asked.

  “I think they arrive a few days before the tricentennial,” Tony replied.

  “That’ll be fun,” Zinnie said, though she felt disappointed. She and Max messaged back and forth sometimes, so she knew that he was going to be living in Italy for a while. The last time she’d heard from Max, he wasn’t sure how long their summer visit to Pruet was going to be. It all depended on his dad’s time off from the military. As the sting of disappointment sharpened, she realized how much she’d been hoping he’d be here the whole time she was, not just for a few days.

  “You really want to see Max, huh?” Marigold asked in a teasing voice.

  “So, are you going to jump or not?” Zinnie asked, embarrassed that Marigold had seen through her so easily.

  “There’ll be plenty of time for swimming,” Aunt Sunny said. “But now I think we should get you girls settled in.”

  “This year I’d like the bed near the window,” Lily said.

  “Hey, that’s always been my bed!” Marigold said.

  “Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you always get what you want,” Lily said.

  Zinnie realized that she wanted that bed as well—the view might inspire her. She was about to put in her two cents, but decided against it.

  The sisters had plenty of arguments at home, but for some reason their worst fights happened here in Pruet. Maybe this was because their parents weren’t around to stop them. Or perhaps it was because they were all sharing a room. Or possibly it was because summer, with its freewheeling days and long twilights, simply had more room for everything—happiness, dreams, ideas, and even conflict. Their first summer here, Lily had almost drowned because Zinnie and Marigold had been fighting. And then last summer, they’d ruined Aunt Sunny’s wedding cake because of another big argument. The idea of fighting again this year made her feel seasick. And the crease in Aunt Sunny’s brow was getting deeper by the second.

  “Hey, guys, can we make a deal?” Zinnie asked.

  “Depends what it is,” Marigold said.

  “Come here,” Zinnie said, and motioned for her sisters to join her in a huddle on the far end of the porch.

  “Let’s not fight this summer in Pruet. Let’s promise to get through the two weeks in peace,” Zinnie said. “For Aunt Sunny.”

  “Fine with me,” Lily said. “But can you two really handle it?”

  “Of course we can,” Marigold said, visibly annoyed that her younger sister was questioning her.

  “Shake on it?” Zinnie asked, extending a hand. Marigold took her sister’s hand in her own. Lily used both hands to cover her sisters’, and the three of them shook.

  “So then,” Lily asked. “Who gets the bed?”

  2 • Three Wishes

  “I can’t sleep,” Marigold said into the darkness of their attic bedroom. With its three narrow beds, one shared bureau, and the dollhouse that had been Aunt Sunny’s when she was a girl, the room was exactly the same as she remembered it. “Anyone awake?”

  Marigold held her breath and listened, but no one replied. She tucked her hair behind her ears, sat up, and gazed out the window—which was right next to her bed. Marigold had won the number guessing game they’d devised to see which sister would get the best bed. And as she pulled back the curtains to get a better view, she was satisfied she’d prevailed.

  The sky was a dazzling array of stars. It seemed to be practically begging her to make a wish. She located the North Star, which was easy because it was one of the brightest, and thought for a moment. Then she said to herself, I wish to find a perfect friend in my new school. She had been thinking about transferring schools ever since the clique of mean girls in her class had started excluding her in seventh grade, and after another year of it in eighth, she’d finally decided to switch schools.

  The event that really put her over the edge was when her former best friend, Pilar, officially ditched her for the Cuties clique last September by not inviting Marigold to her fourteenth birthday party, which was a sleepaway weekend in Big Bear Lake, in a nearby mountain town. When she asked Pilar about it later, she’d told Marigold that she thought she wouldn’t have fun because she wasn’t in the clique. Marigold not only felt like she’d been punched in the gut, she’d also lost some respect for her old friend.

  For her own fourteenth birthday, which had been in the spring, her mom had taken her and her sisters out for a fancy tea at a hotel in Beverly Hills. It had always been her mom’s rule that Marigold either invite the whole class or only her best friend. Since she didn’t have a best friend anymore, and she didn’t want the whole class to come, she decided to just celebrate with her family. They all got dressed up, and Zinnie spoke in a British accent the whole time. It was fun, but it didn’t feel much like a birthday.

  That was when Marigold announced to her mom that she really wanted to make a switch for high school. To her surprise, her mom agreed with her on the spot.

  Marigold was thrilled when she got into the prestigious Performing Arts Magnet school, also known as PAM, where she was going to be able to focus on all her favorite things: acting, design, costumes, and even directing. She was looking forward to all the other artists she was going to meet at PAM. She knew that artists weren’t like the Cuties. Everything was going to be better there. The school was across town, close to the beach, but her parents were willing to drive her.

  As hopeful as Marigold was about her friend wish coming true, and as happy as Marigold was about her acceptance to PAM, she was also sad she was really losing Pilar now. Different schools were like different universes. They’d probably never see each other again.

  Suddenly, here in her bed at Aunt Sunny’s, she was anxious. She’d gone to school at Miss Hadley’s since kindergarten. She would be starting school with absolutely no one she knew, traveling to a campus that was completely unfamiliar and three times the size of her old school. And she’d be going to school with boys for the first time since preschool! Boys! Marigold’s heart pounded. She took several deep breaths. Boys weren’t so bad, she told herself. Actually, she really liked boys, or at least one boy: Peter Pasque.

  Oh, Peter Pasque! Her heart fluttered faster at the thought of him! It was amazing how quickly anxiety could transform into delightful nervousness. She smiled
, picturing him on his sailboat. When would she get to see him? Tomorrow, she hoped. Yes—she would go to find him at the yacht club after sailing practice, which she knew ended around two thirty in the afternoon. She’d taken some sailing lessons in Redondo Beach over the school year. It would be so much fun to surprise him with her sailing skills this summer. And it would happen soon. Tomorrow was not so far away at all. At least, not if she could get to sleep. And then of course there was the dance during the tricentennial. Would she and Peter be chosen to be Eliza and James Pruet? It would be so dreamy to ride on a horse next to him, especially with a wreath of flowers in her hair! Would she even be eligible to be Eliza if she was merely a summer visitor?

  She and Peter had kept in touch during the year, emailing and chatting online once or twice a month, especially when certain constellations were in the sky—they had a thing about the stars. Their families sent each other cards over the holidays, and Marigold had placed the one from the Pasques, which had a picture of Peter in a fisherman’s sweater, in a special box of private things. For some reason she had trouble picturing him in anything but that fisherman’s sweater now.

  Could she make two wishes tonight? She didn’t see why not. After all, there were plenty of stars in the sky. She needed to find another good star to wish to see Peter as soon as possible! Oh, and she also wanted to wish that he didn’t have a girlfriend already. Make that three stars. She pressed her face against the screen and searched for the two next brightest stars. Thinking she’d have a better selection if she could lean out a little farther, she unfastened the clips that held the screen in place and gently put the screen on the floor.

  Feeling as romantic as Juliet on her balcony, she leaned out the window to look around. In the story, Juliet was fourteen too, Marigold remembered. The air was still and warm and smelled green and fresh, just like country air should. An idea occurred to her—a wonderful, summery idea. Maybe she and Peter could be like Romeo and Juliet this summer. And he could secretly visit her outside this window late at night! She took a deep breath, imagining the sight of Peter calling up to her from below. Just as she leaned out a little more, something small and dark and fast as a bullet whooshed by her ear.