Page 17 of Five Summer Wishes

We sat in silence for a while. Not the stiff kind. The other kind. The kind that fills a space without crowding it.

“Remember when we used to come out here with peanut butter sandwiches and talk about who we’d be someday?” he said.

“I do.”

“You always said you’d wear heels and run a firm. I said I’d own a boat.”

“Guess we both got close.”

He smiled. “Close enough to disappoint ourselves.”

That made me laugh. Not a full laugh. But enough.

“Why are you really here, Harper?” he asked.

“Because Iris left a will and a wish list and I’m too stubborn to walk away before I check every box.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I looked out at the water. The moon was just a sliver.

“I think I forgot how to be still,” I said. “And this place won’t let me pretend otherwise.”

Nate didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he leaned back on the bench and said, “You don’t have to prove anything here.”

I swallowed hard. “That’s the problem. I don’t know who I am if I’m not proving something.”

The wind picked up. The tea went cold.

But I stayed.

When I got backto the house, the porch was dark.

One of the string lights had burned out. The air had that dense, briny chill that clung to your skin and made you feel like you’d been holding your breath.

Inside, the floor creaked under my feet. I moved slow, half-hoping no one else was awake. But as I turned toward the stairs, a quiet voice drifted from the kitchen.

“You okay?”

June.

She was sitting at the table in pajama pants and a stretched-out sweater, her hair clipped up, the steam from her mug curling like ribbon around her face. She looked like she hadn’t moved in hours.

I hesitated. Then I sat down across from her.

She didn’t press. Just pushed a second mug toward me.

I didn’t say thank you. I just took a sip and let it burn the roof of my mouth.

“I talked to Daniel,” I said after a moment.

Her gaze flicked to mine, quick and careful. “Yeah?”

“I called him. I don’t know why. Habit. Masochism.”

June wrapped her fingers tighter around her cup. “How’d it go?”

I let out a short laugh. “He offered to drive up here. Like that would fix anything.”

---