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Hailey grabbed my arm. “Why?”
“He’s leaving when the summer is over, Hales. He’s heading off to New York City to hook up with Nathan Everets. He’s got his life planned, you know?”
“And you don’t? You’re going to college in the fall and so am I. So what? That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun this last summer. In fact, it means we’re supposed to be having the best summer of our lives. This is it, Everly. Our last blast of fun before the next phase. And who’s to say that a relationship can’t survive college?”
“Relationship?” I snorted. “So that’s what you have going with Link? You guys just started hanging out last week and…”
“And what?”
Did I have to spell it out? “He’s Link. I don’t think he’s ever had a serious girlfriend.”
“People change, Everly.”
I thought of my parents. When had things changed for my father?
She hugged me. “Besides, we’re not sixteen-year-old kids anymore.”
“No.” I shook my head and tried not to laugh. “We’re a whole year older.”
“I’m serious,” she said with a giggle. “Our lives are about to change forever, and right now is the time for us to experience anything and everything. If we don’t grab what we want now, it might pass by and we’ll never know.”
“Never know what?”
She shrugged. “Well, for starters, you’ll never know if Trevor Lewis is the best thing that could have happened to you right now, in this moment.”
“Wow. You’ve been reading too many John Green novels.”
“And you’re being way too pessimistic for a teenager.”
“We’re teenagers, Hales. We’re supposed to be pessimistic.”
We reached my place, and I noticed that my mom’s car was in the driveway, which was strange since normally she didn’t get home from volunteering at the old folks’ home until at least five o’clock.
“What’s up with your mom?” Hailey asked as we paused at the end of my driveway.
Okay. That wasn’t how our conversations ever went.
“What do you mean?” Instantly, I was on high alert. I’d not said one word to a soul about what was going on at home. I knew the cracks were starting to show, but still, the only one who’d witnessed it had been…
“Did Trevor say something to Link?” I asked hesitantly.
“Trevor? No, why would he?”
“Well, what do you mean?” I asked, not answering her question.
“Nothing, really. I ran into her at the coffee shop this morning, and she just looked, well, honestly she looked like she’d been crying.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I shrugged and said nothing for a few moments. I hadn’t come down for breakfast until Mom had left for work and Dad left for his part-time job at the local community college.
“PMS?” I offered up.
“God, she must be as bad as my mom is. Man, she’s brutal lately.” She scrunched up her face. “I bet they’re going through menopause. My grams told me she was like a witch when she went through it.”
I eyed my mom’s car again. Why was she home already?
“I’d ask you to come in, but I have a feeling her PMS is still hanging around.”
“That’s all right. Mom and I are heading to the city for a bit of shopping, remember?”
