Page 4 of Catch the Sun

My eyes light up. Itispretty cool. “I love this. Maybe I’ll start a rock collection,” I say, plucking the stone from his hand and plopping it in the pocket of my tangerine romper.

“And whenever you look at this one, you can think of me.”

Max sends me a goofy smile that shoots a tickle to my heart. Almost like fluttery butterfly wings.

As we exit the woods, I spot Dad’s silver car waiting for us on the side of the street. He’s checking his watch and looking around the playground for me.

Ugh.

I don’t want to leave yet. The late August sun is glowing and warm, and it’s one of the last days of summer before school starts up again. We’re going into second grade. “My dad is here,” I mumble. “Guess I gotta go.”

Max makes a sour face. “Let’s meet back here tomorrow after lunch. I’ll tell my dad about the bench. I bet we can carve it up real fast.”

“Okay. I can’t wait.” Sighing, I trudge toward the edge of the playground, saying goodbye to McKay as I pass him.

“Bye, Ella,” he says back, his face smudged with sand and dirt.

Dad picks me up in his shiny car.

When I buckle my seat belt and roll the window down to wave goodbye to my friends, Max runs toward me at the speed of light. I learned about light speed in a book once. It’s fast.

Almost as fast as Max.

“Ella, wait!” he calls out to me, winded when he reaches the window. “I got this for you.”

I look at what’s tucked inside his fist, and my heart soars all the way up tothe sun-streaked sky. It’s a beautiful orange flower. The prettiest flower I’ve ever seen. “Wow, thanks!”

When he smiles, his dimples pop even more than my eyes. “It made me think of you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s bright like the sun,” he says, glancing skyward. “And the sun is bright like you.”

Dad glances at me over his shoulder. “Time to go, Ella. Say goodbye to your friend.”

I bring the flower to my nose and inhale deeply, my eyelashes fluttering over the neon-orange petals. “Bye, Max.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” The car begins to move, and Max runs to catch up with it. He runs faster and faster, almost at the same speed, almostcatchingit.

I hang out the window and smile at him just as the car jerks forward, too fast for Max to keep up with any longer. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” I yell back.

Max disappears out of sight when we round the corner and I slump down in my seat, the flower twirling between my fingers. Then I whisper to myself, “And every day after that.”

***

Dad drives me away in his shiny car. We leave Juniper Falls and head back to Nashville that night, suitcases and boxes stuffed to the ceiling in the back seat. He lets me sit up front, even though the police might give him a ticket. He says it’s a special trip, and because it’s special, I get to sit up front and eat a whole bag of gummy bears. I save the orange ones for last because they’re my favorite.

By the time we pull into my old driveway on the horse farm, my stomach feels sick.

But not because of the candy.

I think it’s because, deep down, something tells me I’ll never see Max again.

Mom and Jonah run down the long driveway and tackle me with hugs andtears. My brother spins me around in circles, my hair swinging behind me as I hold on tight.

I’m happy to see them—I am. But I’m sad, too.

As I walk toward the big ranch house and look around at all the horses, my belly suddenly pinches with a tight knot. I whirl around to Dad who is yelling at Mom about something. “Dad!” I call out, tears sprouting in my eyes.

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