But Lee wasn’t an angry guy. He never had been. Which was why he was narrowing his eyes at me now, tilting his head and telling me in a cool, offhand voice, “Rachel gets Labor Day. But Iguess…I guess I can give you National Cupcake Day.”
“I promise I will make you the best, most incredible, most unforgettable cupcakes you have ever dreamed of.”
He raised his eyebrows at me, and we suddenly both cracked a smile. I’ve always been theworstat baking. Notably, one disastrous Home Ec class a few years ago.
“I promise I will get Levi to make you the best, most incredible, most unforgettable cupcakes you have ever dreamed of,” I corrected myself. Levi loved baking so much that he’d actually gotten a job in a bakery, in addition to his shifts at 7-Eleven. If National Cupcake Day was Lee’s and my new thing, I would absolutely be counting on Levi to make it killer. (Especially since there was a solid chance I might make it quiteliterallykiller by accidentally giving us food poisoning.)
Lee’s smile faded too quickly, but he still didn’t shout, or even pull so much as a puppy-dog face. He fidgeted and paced a little, and I knew he was stewing over all of this and howmuchit changed everything.
“Say something, Lee,” I mumbled. His silence was killing me.
“This was supposed to beour year,Elle, remember? We were going to take senior year by storm, have the best time ever before we went to college and everything started changing. But it’s already changing, isn’t it? And we did. And now this was going to be our best summer ever, ourlastsummer. It’s barely started and it’s already ruined. It’s not just our college plans. Mom and Dad are selling the beach house and…Nothing’s turning out the way it was supposed to, you know?”
He flopped down again on the stool next to me. I snaked my arms around him, grateful when he didn’t push me away. Lee smooshed his face into my shoulder.
“I promise I’m pleased for you about Harvard,” he said into my sweater.
“I know.” I did. “I haven’t…I mean, I haven’t accepted my place yet. Or turned down Berkeley.”
Lee drew back suddenly, shaking his head. “No. Elle, come on. Don’t make me that guy. You’re right, it’s a great opportunity. How could you turn it down? And if it’s what you want, I’m happy for you. Really! Even if I don’t look it right now.”
I bit my lip, feeling a little guilty.
I’d wanted to come and talk to him about it before I officially turned down Berkeley. It wasmydecision to make, but Lee meant the absolute world to me. He always had. If it had really broken his heart, if he’dasked,I knew I would’ve rethought it.
I felt guilty, because I knew he wouldn’t ask me to do that. And Lee knew it, too. I was giving him an out we both knew he would never take, not in a million years.
Not sure how to apologize for that, I told him, “I promise I wasn’t trying to keep secrets from you again. It wasn’t like that. I just got the letter a couple days ago, and…I needed to decide. You know, everything was happening with the beach house, and I didn’t want to make youmoreupset if I didn’t need to, if I’d decided on Berkeley, but—”
“But you didn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What about Brad, though?”
Thatwassomething that I couldn’t talk my way around or do anything about. But now I’d come clean about the college stuff, I told him, “About that. My dad’s got a fancy lady.”
Lee made a choking sound and pulled back to gawp at me, his face scrunched up and one eye squinting. “He’s got awhat?”
I explained about Linda, who Dad had been on a not-first date with last night, only just stopping myself from off-loading on him about how bizarre I found it all and how it felt like a lot to get my head around.
Lee gave a low whistle. “Mr.Evans, you sly dog. Who’da thunk it?”
“Ew. Don’t call my dad a sly dog. That’s gross.”
“Do you know what this Linda looks like?”
“No.”
“Last name?”
“I’d have looked her up online if I had a last name.”
“At least someone’s having fun this summer,” Lee muttered, his dark mood from a few moments ago returning in the blink of an eye. I could practically see the storm clouds gathering around his head again.
It was obvious that he wasn’t going to argue with me about this, though. He was obviously going to make every effort to be happy for me, be proud of me, and I loved him for that.
I had to make it up to him somehow.
