“Oh no. Don’t even think about it,” Avi says. Her scolding mum-voice is aimed at Lennox, but the reprimanding look in her eyes is all for me.
Sorry, I mouth, my face twisting in a grimace.
She shakes her head, eyes closing and a small smile tilting her lips.
“Ah come on, if you did it, why can’t I?” Lennox asks, and I trap my lips between my teeth to stifle a laugh. It’s a fair question.
“We were older when we used to go on the roof. And it’s not safe. Off-limits. Understood?”
His shoulders sag but he nods. “Fine.”
“Fine,” she mimics, and he bumps her with his shoulder. She chortles before planting a kiss on top of his head.
My heart tugs in my chest with a longing for something I have no part of.
She looks… happy. At ease. This is the most likehershe’s been in the month since she arrived. I thought it was because of my being here that she was different, but maybe she just needed him here. She said he was her everything, and I can see it—he is.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Jamie – Eleven Years Ago
This is the hug I’ve been waiting for.
Avi feels soft in my arms as I wrap them around her. This year apart felt harder than the rest have. Maybe because I’ve played that kiss—the one that should never have happened, the one that lasted less than five seconds—on a loop in my head since. Not a single other kiss in the interim has lived up to it. Not a single date with another girl has given me the rush I feel whenever I’m with Avi.
This hug… This hug is exactly what I needed after months of nothing but the occasional email about school, friends, and our everyday lives. Which really aren’t that exciting. I know she broke up with Ian not long after she got back to Glasgow last summer, but that was the only mention she’s made of anything to do with boyfriends. I don’t know if she told me about their breakup to make me feel better or worse about kissing her.
But that all falls away in an instant once she’s in my arms. I press my nose into her blonde waves and breathe her in. The floral scent of her shampoo mixed with a new perfume she’s never worn before makes me lean in farther, wanting more.
Too soon she pulls back, but her arms that were wound tight around my lower back don’t fully pull away. Instead, she rests her hands on my hips and I feel each and every one of her fingers through my T-shirt.
“Hi,” she breathes.
“Hi,” I say, crushing her to me in another hug.
It’s not until a throat clears nearby that I remember we aren’t alone. Her parents and grandparents are standing nearby watching our reunion. They all know we’re friends and how much we look forward to these summers together, but I think even they realize something is different now. Maybe it’s because we’re seventeen and nearer to adulthood than childhood. Or maybe it’s just a recognition of whatever it is that pulls me and Avi together even after months apart…
We fully separate and I register the deep blush across Avi’s cheeks. They’re a vibrant red, and if I had to guess, mine match them.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. Good to see you.” I step around Avi to extend my hand to her dad before her mum draws me into a brief hug.
“You too, dear. Your flight over was good then?” she asks.
“Yes, ma’am. Arrived a few days ago.”
And a tortuous few days it’s been too. It’s always harder to be here without Avi, even if just for a little while. Over the last few summers, so much of this place has become tangled up in our friendship that I can’t seem to separate the two. I, of course, love being with my grandparents and seeing other friends too—though that’s become less frequent with each trip—but it’s like Cluaran belongs to me and Avi.
“Good. Well, as usual, I’m sure you’ll keep an eye on our Avonlea for us,” her dad says.
“Always.”
I glance sideways and Avi rolls her eyes, but a smile ghosts her lips. Her grandmother, though, purses hers and gives me a knowing look, like she doesn’t appreciate whatever thisdifferenceis this year at all. Like she knows how badly I wish I could kiss Avi right here, right now. I clear my throat and glance away.
“We’ll get your stuff unloaded. Dinner with us tonight, please,” Mrs. Stewart says to Avi. They usually only ever stay one night when they drive up to drop off or pick up Avi, so I understand them wanting one more dinner together before they go six weeks without her.
She nods and then squeaks in surprise when I grab her hand and pull her off toward the inn’s garden. If I only get her for a few hours today, I’m going to make the most of them. Her laugh rings out behind me as I drag her through the hedge. The one I meticulously trimmed yesterday in preparation for the amount of time we’ll spend going back and forth between the T&T and the farm.
“What’s the big rush, Jameson?” she says with a lilting giggle that hits me square in the chest. If warmth had a voice, it would be her laugh. That sound lights me up. It makes me melt.
