Page 44 of Meet Me in Aveline

“No. And since when do you call Fletcher, ‘Fletch?’” I asked, twirling the phone cord between my fingers.

“Since we officially became an item. He gave me his class ring and everything, can you believe it?” Avery squealed and I refrained from making a gagging noise.

“Oh, wow,” I said, trying to feign enthusiasm. “That’s really great, Ave.”

“Yeah, so hurry up and say yes to Theo so we can all double date. I mean, can you even imagine the four of us together? Power couples. Everyone at Stellarbrook will die.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” I replied absentmindedly. It was the furthest thing from the truth. Being anywhere near Fletcher was my idea of a punishment, but my mind was a million miles away. I touched my lips, remembering.

“We could all go sailing together. Or better yet, spend the days soaking up the sun on Fletcher’s dad’s yacht.”

Sailing and yachting had never been my things. They were Avery’s things, but never mine. Truthfully, I didn’t have anything in common with Avery at all. Our friendship was mandatory, and even though we were always together, we were completely different.

“Are you even listening to me?” Avery asked. I realized I hadn’t heard a word she’d been saying.

“What? Oh, sorry. Hey, listen, Ave, I need to go. I hear my mom calling for me.”

Avery sighed on the other end of the line. “Okay, Fletch is supposed to call anyway. Call me tomorrow.”

She hung up, and I leaned back against the pillow. I didn’t want to be a power couple with them.

Iwantedto kiss Tuck Anderson about five thousand more times.

THIRTY-FIVE

JULY 2005

LETTIE

I’d been doingmy best to avoid conversations with my parents over the past few weeks since I’d been sneaking off to Aveline almost every day. It hadn’t been that difficult considering they didn’t much care what I did during the summer as long as I was making it to my etiquette classes and the debutante teas and luncheons. Since I was diligently attending these without complaining, the rest of the time, I was free.

Tuck, Darcy, Beau and I had been spending days at Hidden Hollow in between working—Tuck at the bakery and me at the pet clinic—and our evenings were spent just the two of us. We’d go to the Green Gables Inn and watch movies in one of the empty rooms or lay out under the stars talking and kissing until I had to rush home before curfew. I always hated leaving him. It seemed that each night I had to go, it got harder and harder to separate our hands from one another.

By the time I got home, I missed Tuck and Aveline so much that I would rush into my room and sit at my desk, writing another letter. Tuck was the only person I really ever wanted to talk to, and the letters felt like a lifeline to an entirely separate reality for me. I clung desperately to exchanging them because it was the only time I ever really felt like myself. Even though we saw each other frequently, I still looked forward to getting another letter. Receiving them made it clear that when we were apart, Tuck was thinking about me just as frequently as I was thinking about him.

Before I went down to breakfast, there was a knock on my bedroom door.

“Come in!” I hollered.

Julia walked in, and when I looked in her hands, I saw the very thing I had been waiting for. She must have seen my face light up at the sight because she beamed, handing it to me excitedly.

“It came just this morning.”

I took it from her hands and looked at the tiny, scratchy handwriting on the front.

“Thank you, Julia. And thank you for keeping my secret.”

I had desperately needed to talk to someone about Aveline and about Tuck, and Julia had always been the only person I could trust.

“Of course, Violet.”

I looked down at the letter and then back up at Julia, noticing that she was still standing in my room, appearing to be waiting for something.

“I’m happy for you,” she said as she sat down on my bed and placed my hands in hers. “I always knew you were different from everyone else around here. That’s why I could never leave you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her. I’d always thought Julia stayed for the money. Even though my mother was a complicated woman to work for, she paid exceptionally well.

Julia chuckled. “Didn’t you ever wonder why I never left? Why I didn’t leave when you could cut the crusts off your own sandwiches?”

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