Not Another Summer Love Story

Chapter 26 - Sweaty Hugs and Pro Surfing

My eyes travelled over my bookshelf, mounted on the wall of my bedroom. I'd slept in again, something I was making an unwanted habit of.

I'd always loved adventure novels. Stories with a purpose, a quest, a prophecy to fulfil. Books that play with my imagination and took me away to a place far more interesting than my day to day life. Even if the main character was ordinary or boring, something always happened that made them someone special, someone worth reading about. 

Thinking about it, that was kind of like me this summer. But instead of a whirlwind adventure or magical journey, Alastair had turned up at the ice-creamery and wanted to make friends with me and the people I'd grown up with. From there, so much had changed in my life, and I hadn't even realised my walls breaking away like tiny grains of sand falling between my fingertips.

By the end of each summer, I honestly began feeling a physical repulsion to the colour sky blue. Today, as my eyes kept catching the glare from my slip-on shoes in the bright morning sun, I couldn't help wincing. I reminded myself to suggest a colour change to Susan for next year.

Sandy Cove was growing less and less populated by the day. Tourists were retreating home for the oncoming months of autumn, and people weren't travelling to the seaside with the gradual decline in temperature. The water was growing colder, and the pristine, sunny days fewer.

I was working with Susan, her hands nimbly unwrapped a packet of wafer cones and stacked them onto the stand.

"You must visit the Blue Mountains when you're living over there. At least make a day of it," she said, talking about my moving to Sydney for the year. Ever since she'd found out I'd be moving, she had been telling me tales and recommending places to visit. She had studied there herself. "Marvin actually took me there on a date once."

I looked at her as she gazed into the vanilla ice-cream dreamily. "You met him at university?"

She nodded. "He'd had the audacity to doubt my skills in business, so I decided to prove him wrong. We were both head over heels from there."

"That's really sweet," I said. Marvin, Susan's husband, had passed away several years ago. I didn't remember him much, but everyone at Sandy Cove seemed to adore him.

"University's a great experience, you know," Susan continued. "Not just for boys, but making something new of yourself. Starting afresh."

"Starting afresh sounds like a great idea," I mused. It seemed that there wasn't many relationships I had left here that hadn't been tarnished in the last few weeks.

"But don't forget your friends back home," she lectured.

"Of course," I said quietly. Those that I had left. Thinking about Maisie made my heart throb in desperation. Time was ticking, the summer was ending.

She plagued my thoughts throughout my shift. So when I heard the familiar, tell-tale noise of two little boys who I'd come to know very well, my hopes rose through the roof.

Maisie's two little brothers were pointing animatedly through the window of the ice-cream display, their chubby faces in awe as they described in detail their thoughts on each flavour.

"Oh, Valerie," Joy's voice spoke behind them. As if on cue, I inhaled the jasmine scent as I saw her kind, gentle face. "How are you going, dear?"

My hands were frozen around a metal scoop. Beside me, Susan shot me a knowing look and finished serving the customer I had been tending to. "I've, uh, been okay. How's Maisie?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Not good."

"Can we have two double-chocolate rainbow ice-creams, Valerie?" One of Maisie's brothers (possibly Sam, it was hard to tell the difference between them) asked loudly.