Page 19 of Summertime Friends

“You might want to figure that out. Before the parents, yeah?” I say it with personal experience and regret.

That’s the first time that thought has crossed my mind.Do I regret everything with Brandon?It all happened much faster than I expected.

Chloe nods.

“The only people who get to determine whether it’s too soon or too fast are the two of you. Love doesn’t come with speed limitsigns. The two of you set the speed. You are the drivers of your relationship together. Speed up, slow down—who cares?”

“Right. Yeah, right. I needed that reminder. It’s easy to fall into the pressures of those around you and think you need to catch up or fall into their demands. I want to enjoy where we are at.” Chloe squeezes my knee. The red in her cheeks dissolves back to the color of her blush, and she’s back to herself. “I think we are going sixty-nine miles—”

I raise my hand to stop her from continuing. “No need to finish that comment.”

She smirks and finishes off her latte.

10

EMERSON

Six Summers Ago

Natalie is unusually awake before me. Prior to waking up, I had heard her phone go off but assumed it was social media notifications, and she forgot to turn her volume off.

Her loud footsteps rushing around the hotel room woke me.

“Natalie, is everything okay?” I ask.

She’s grabbing her suitcase out from under the bed when there’s a loud thud.

“Hit my head on the bed. I’m fine!” She’s rubbing the back of her head, hand tangled in her curls. “That was Mom. My grandma died.”

I shoot up into a sitting position. Grabbing my phone off the charger, I see that I have missed calls from my mom and hers.

“I’m sorry, Nat.”

“I’m booked on the noon flight out of Lisbon to Chicago. My mom is going to pick me up there this afternoon,” she tells me.

“Do you want me to come with you? Do you need anything?”

“I would have booked two flights if I did.” Her tone is snippy, catching me slightly off guard. “You are staying. Please finish out our trip for me.”

Climbing out of bed, I walk over to where she is opening the wardrobe, wrapping my arms around her in a tight embrace.

We spend the next hour packing her bags together.

Throughout the morning, at breakfast and in the Uber on the way to the airport, I kept asking Natalie if she was positive that I should stay. Despite only meeting her grandma once, Natalie is my best friend, and I’ll always be there for her. Natalie, annoyed,assured me that I was capable of staying without her and I shouldn’t worry about being alone—I wasn’t worried about that. She only requested that I send a postcard from the remaining destinations and live as she would.

With a final reassurance and a sad smile on her face, she closes the Uber trunk at the airport.

“Give your mom and dad a hug for me,” I tell her, giving her another hug.

“I will.” She squeezes me back. “Don’t miss me too much.”

***

I’m lying on a ledge in Miradouro das Portas do Sol. A park in Lisbon that is sandwiched by the city. If you look one way, you can see out over the city and into the ocean. The other direction is restaurants and shops. Beyond that is more of the city rolling up across the hills.

The sun is beating down on me, crisping my skin more than it already is. My hair is flowing out from under my head, slightly damp from sweating, nestled on my tote bag as a pillow. A book in my hands, the smell of the salty water and paper fills my nose as I read. Slowly, and some sentences twice because I’m distracted by the sounds around me. I can’t help it. The tram bells ringing, coming to its next stop. Birds flying in the sky. People, lots of them, talking and laughing. I wouldn’t call it eavesdropping when I tune into what they are saying because it’s in a different language. I can see people passing by in my peripherals, some stopping to pull out their phones for pictures or sitting on the benches.

All of it slowly becomes white noise.

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