Page 69 of New River Gorge(ous)
“That’s me,” June says, standing.
Brooke stands too, but I stay seated.
“Aren’t you coming too?” Brooke asks.
I shake my head no. “No, I’ll stay here. Unless Miss June wants me to come.”
We both look to June.
“Of course I want you to come. Who else could make sense of that doctor mumbo jumbo he’s about to unleash on me? All these doctory places are the same. Full of people who just don’t talk plain English. It’s not even Spanish. I’ve been watching some shows in Spanish just to practice, and doctor lingo isn’t even close to anyreallanguage.”
June’s here.
“I’ll only come back if you promise to be one hundred percent honest with Dr. Arkin.”
June crosses her heart. “On my honor.” She’s using humor, but I see the way her throat tightens and the way she shoves fear down.
Brooke clasps her hands in front of her and fidgets.
“Okay. Who’s coming back?” the nurse asks. “Is it all of you?”
“Yes,” June declares. “It’s all of us.”
“Well, you two?” June says from around her celebratory ice cream cone. “Now that you have good news about me, what are you going to do with the rest of your day?”
Brooke stops licking her double fudge, double scoop cone with hot fudge, and stares at me.
I set my cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream on the green plastic table.
“I have an idea,” I say, pulling out my phone and texting my friends. I am fully aware that Logan will hate me for this, but also that it will be fun.
A drip of chocolate falls off Brooke’s cone and plops onto her shirt. “Oh…”
“Whatever it is, Brooke, you should do it,” June says. “You only love once, right?”
“Meemaw.” Brooke rolls her eyes. “It’s you onlyliveonce.”
“That’s what I said.” June’s eyes sparkle with mischief.
“Who said anything about love?” Brooke asks, narrowing her eyes at June.
“I think you two did,” June says before taking a huge bite of her strawberry scoop. She says something else, but it’s unintelligible with the amount of food in her mouth.
My phone buzzes from where I left it.
Logan
Seriously, man? What did I ever do to you?
I choke down a laugh before I respond.
Beckett
That’s a yes, then?
Ben
Meet you in an hour.
