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“’Night, Pen!” she called into the living room, and Penny leaped from the couch to wrap Lark in a hug. “See you tomorrow.” When Penny released her, Lark’s eyes met mine. “Good night.”
Every part of me wanted to step forward and offer to walk her up to her apartment so I might steal another kiss. My eyes shifted down to her lips. She didn’t move. A lump formed in my throat, but the music from Penny’s show pulled me out of the moment, reminding me of my ever-accumulating responsibilities.
“’Night. Thanks again for today.”
Lark only smiled and gently closed the screen door behind her.
15
LARK
“I’m not goingto lie. Organic chemistry isnotmy strong suit.” I flipped the thick textbook over in my hands and aimlessly thumbed through the pages. It seemed like... a lot.
Kevin held out his hand, and I dropped the heavy textbook into his palm. He looked down at it. “It’s not that. I actually think this stuff is really interesting. The content isn’t really hard.”
He looked defeated. Embarrassed. I was sure it wasn’t easy admitting he had to retake the course and that it was putting his football season at risk. We needed a different approach.
“Okay, so what is it then? If the coursework isn’t hard, what’s the issue?”
Kevin considered my question. “It’s the projects, I think. The reading and the written work I have to do... it’s always due at the same time, and I never feel like I have enough time to do it all. Before I know it, it’s late and I get zeros or half credit.”
I hummed in acknowledgment. “I see. So then what’s the point if you’ve dug a hole so deep you can’t even get out of it.”
His eyes met mine. “Exactly. Last semester I could have aced every test and still ended up with a D.”
I glanced at the open computer screen and then down at the pile of books beside him. Then it hit me.
“Chunking,” I said with a satisfied smile.
“What?”
“Chunking. I think that’s what you need.” I spun his open computer toward me. “It’s something I learned when prepping for an audition and you have zero time to learn a whole script or monologue or whatever. Okay, here. Look.” I pointed at the long, overwhelming list of tasks Kevin needed to get done. “This is everything for the whole summer session, right?”
He nodded, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
“Well, it’s notalldue tomorrow or even this week. We need to prioritize. If I can help you figure out which things to do when, do you think you can handle the rest?”
He eyeballed the syllabus again. All I got was a shrug.
I bumped his shoulder. “That’s the spirit! Give it a try. If that doesn’t work, we’ll figure something else out!”
I pulled out the seat and plopped next to him, then tore a fresh sheet of notebook paper out of his spiral. I glanced over the syllabus, making notes on due dates, identifying longer projects that needed to be broken into manageable pieces, and separating everything into neat little rows I could put into one central place for him.
Kevin looked on quietly. His voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Thanks, Lark.”
Affection for this sweet, lost young man swelled in my chest. I stifled a goofy grin and nodded.
* * *
“Now this Icould get used to.” My face tipped up to the summer sun. The sand was warm beneath my towel, and the waves crashed only a few feet from where Penny, the boys, and I had plopped down on the beach.
Tourist season was in full swing, and in the three weeks I’d been Wyatt’s assistant and all-around go-to gal, we had all settled into a happy routine. It was far and away less stressful and more fun than the Sugar Bowl had been. Most days were filled with keeping Penny occupied and checking in on the others.
Michael and Joey had gotten part-time summer jobs working the snack shack on the beach—they claimed it was to make a few extra dollars, but I knew it was because working at the Sand Dollar allowed them to meeta lotof girls who were spending time at the beach with friends or family. They were good kids, but they were also nineteen- and twenty-year-old boys.
Penny was next to me, building a sand castle while Michael and Kevin were down the beach playing sand volleyball with another rowdy group of kids. I glanced at the Sand Dollar, and when Joey saw me, he flashed a grin and an awkward thumbs-up. His pinkie was still bandaged, though I suspected it was fine... he just liked when girls asked about hisdevastating injury.
I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself; then a shadow fell across my lap. I peered up into the frowning face of my boss.
