Endless Summer

“Hello,” Lori answered. She was hoarse.

“Lori.”

“Adam,” she whispered. “I can’t talk long or my dad will catch me. He is insane. He thinks we spent the night in some kinky love grotto. It’s so unfair. He has no idea what dorks we are.”

“My parents are the same.” In defeat, I flopped backward onto my bed. e bed Lori should have visited sooner or later. But considering the last half hour, that would never happen. “Now you can cry.”

After a shower, I took extra time to dry my hair. Despite the fact that Adam and I had gotten each other in so much trouble—or maybe because of it—I wanted to make sure I looked as pretty for him as I had last night with my Ominously Good Hair.

Of course, this was ridiculous. All my efforts would be for naught. If Mrs. Vader stuck me in the warehouse, my blonde crowning glory would be full of boat grease and spiders by nine a.m. Also, I didn’t want to be late for work. Not this morning.

I did, however, want my dad to embark on his Sunday morning routine of going back to bed before I got downstairs. I had never seen him as angry as he was when I came home an hour ago, and I did not want a recap.

No such luck. When I popped into the kitchen, my dad and my brother leaned against the counter with their arms folded. Dad still looked red, but at least he wasn’t yelling anymore. I stepped through the doorway just in time to hear him say, “You take care of your sister today.” McGillicuddy gave my dad a two-finger salute. “Ayeaye, cap’n.”

Dad turned to me. “And you.” Every morning that I’d gone to play with the boys when we were little, or I’d gone to work at the marina this summer and last, he’d told me, Watch out around those boys next door. This time he couldn’t muster the words. Focusing on me, he opened his mouth, breathed in, breathed out.

He turned to my brother and repeated, “Take care of your sister.”

My brother and I closed the door behind us—softly, so as not to startle an already shell-shocked father—and walked through the garage to the yard, heading past the Vaders’ house to the marina. As soon as we were out of Dad’s earshot, I said, “Well! It’s a good thing you’re not serious about taking care of me. Dad can keep me from going out with Adam, but he’ll never see me on the lake. He won’t know about anything I do at the marina, because you won’t tell him. Hold up a minute.” I’d been limping behind my brother on one bare foot and one flip-flop, sca

Now I dove into an azalea and brought out my flip-flop. I shoved my toes into it and turned around.

McGillicuddy frowned at me.

Suddenly I realized how it looked to him and to my dad. “Come on,” I pleaded. “A flip-flop in the bushes does not mean anything. If you ever see my bikini top hanging from the bird feeder, I give you permission to raise an eyebrow.”

He cleared his throat. “Dad will see you on the lake. While you were in the shower, he went out on the screened porch, dragged the lawn chair into position, and made sure he could see the lake through the trees. After work I’m supposed to get out the ladder and clip more branches out of the way.”

“Oh.”

“And if I see you with Adam, I have to tell Dad.”

“You are not serious,” I wailed.

“I promised Dad. It’s a big brother’s duty. Just because you’ve lost his trust doesn’t mean that I—”

“I didn’t do anything to lose his trust,” I interrupted. “Adam and I fell asleep. That’s the truth. You know Adam’s harmless.”

“I do not,” McGillicuddy said sternly.

“Well, not harmless, but he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“He wouldn’t mean to,” McGillicuddy acknowledged. “But Adam’s got it bad for you, Lori. And sometimes what Adam intends to do and what he actually does are two different things.”

I scowled down the hill. Early morning mist rose from the smooth lake and evaporated as it touched the sun. A little over two weeks ago, I’d skipped happily toward that mist, knowing it would burn off to reveal a whole summer day working with Sean. A week ago, I’d still thought I was after Sean, but I’d fallen for Adam, whether I knew it or not. Yesterday Adam had won me over. It had been the best birthday ever.

We’d screwed it up already. Literally. We were the only two teenagers in the world who could get in trouble for hitting a home run when we hadn’t even gotten to second base. Now the fog over the lake looked menacing. It lapped at the marina piers and curled toward the warehouse and the showroom. It threatened to grab the little love affair between Adam and me and drag it under the surface of the lake, never to be seen again.

Then McGillicuddy said, “I have to tell Dad if I see you with Adam. Just don’t let me see you.”

“Thank you,” I gushed. I would have hugged him if that wouldn’t have been weird. Instead, he turned to walk toward the marina again, and I skipped beside him.

What a relief that somebody was on our side. e situation had seemed bad this morning after Dad yelled at me. It had seemed downright hopeless after I talked to Adam on the phone and he told me he was as grounded from me as I was from him. But I figured everybody would cool down after a few days. Yesterday my dad had been happy Adam and I were a couple, and Adam’s mom had helped throw us together in the first place. It wasn’t logical for them to do a one-eighty just because Adam and I had stayed out all night.

Or maybe it was logical, but it wasn’t fair.

Now that we had my brother as an ally, I felt better. I was sure I could fix everything. As we shuffled across the mat of pine needles, I asked him, “Can you talk to Dad for me?”

My brother eyed me. I didn’t blame him. Dad had put on quite a spectacle this morning. His friendly lawyer facade had crumbled completely after a night of dead-or-missing daughter and no sleep. He yelled at me all the way through breakfast, and I had the strangest experience of being the reasonable one in the argument. Unlike him, I’d gotten plenty of rest. I’d slept through the night just dandy on Adam’s chest. I had felt awful about keeping my dad awake and worried—until he started yelling.

“Can you?” I prompted my brother.

“Dad’s pretty mad,” he said.

“Really,” I said flatly. “I did not get that at all.”

“You should ask Frances,” he said.

“I thought of that.” If anybody besides my brother would believe Adam and I didn’t deserve to be treated like sexual deviants, it was my ex-na

But something about the idea of going to her for help made me uncomfortable. All those years she was our na

Plus, she’d warned me a week ago that seemingly i

Plus, “Everything changed yesterday when she started dating Dad.”

My brother nodded. “It’s disconcerting.”

“Very disconcerting.” I hauled open the door to the marina office and waved him inside. “And I’m not sure she’s on my team anymore.” I stepped over the threshold after him, into enemy territory.