Second Chance Summer

As I pulled open the door and stepped inside, a blast of air-conditioning and nostalgia hit me. The store hadn’t changed much from what I remembered; same single table, same painted signs listing the flavors and toppings. But apparently time hadn’t totally passed Jane’s by, as there was now a list of frozen yogurts, and many more sugar-free options than I had remembered before.

I didn’t need to ask what my father wanted. His ice cream order had never changed—a cup with one scoop of pralines & cream and one scoop of rum raisin. I got one scoop coconut and one scoop raspberry in a waffle cone, which had been my ice cream of choice the last time I’d been there. I paid and, finding my hands full with the cup and cone, was pushing open the door with my back. I was about to take my first bite when I heard someone say, “Hold on, I’ve got it.” The door was held open for me, and I turned and suddenly found myself looking right into the green eyes of Henry Crosby.

By this point, I should have just been expecting it. It probably would have been more surprising if I hadn’t bumped into him. I smiled and, before I could stop myself, I was quoting something I’d heard my father say, a line from his favorite movie. “Of all the gin joints, in the all the world,” I said. “You walk into mine.” Henry frowned, and I realized in that moment that of course he didn’t know what I was talking about. I barely knew what I was talking about. “Sorry,” I explained hurriedly. “It’s a quote. From a movie. And I guess I should have said ice-cream parlors….” I heard my voice trail off. I wasn’t entirely sure what a gin joint even was. Why had I felt the need to say anything at all?

“It’s okay,” Henry said. “I got what you were going for.” His dark hair was sticking up in the back, and he was wearing a faded blue T-shirt that looked so soft I had a sudden impulse to reach out and rub the cotton between my fingers. I didn’t do this, of course, and took a small step back, just to remove the temptation.

“So,” I said, grasping for something to say, but not coming up with much. “Ice cream, huh?” I felt my cheeks get hot as soon as I said it, and I glanced toward the car, wondering if my dad was finished at Henson’s and I’d be able to use this as an excuse to leave.

“Don’t tell me,” Henry said, nodding at my rapidly melting cone. “Raspberry and coconut? Still?”

I stared at him. “I can’t believe you remember that.”

“Elephant,” he said. “I told you.”

“Ah,” I said. I felt the first cold drip hit my fingers clutching the cone. My ice cream was melting fast, and since I was holding my dad’s ice cream in my other hand, I couldn’t do anything to stop it. But somehow, I felt weird about licking my cone in front of Henry, especially since he didn’t have any ice cream himself. “So,” I said, trying to ignore the second, then third drips, “how did that even start? Who first thought that elephants would be good at remembering things?”

“I don’t know,” Henry said with a shrug and a small smile. “Who decided owls were wise?”

“My brother could probably tell you that,” I said. “I’ll ask him.”

“Great,” Henry said with a small laugh. “Sounds like a plan.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, and I felt my eyes drawn to his arm, and sure enough, I could see it—the faint white scar by his wrist. I knew it well—he’d scraped it against the daggerboard when he’d swum under my boat, in the boys vs. girls tipping war that had raged the summer we were eleven. I’d touched it the first time he held my hand, in the darkness of the Outpost’s movie theater.

With this memory flooding through me, I looked at him, and took a breath to say what I should have said right away. That I was sorry, that I had never meant to hurt him, that I shouldn’t have left with no explanation. “So,” I said, as my heart started to beat a little harder and my sticky hand gripped my cone, “Henry. I—”

“Sorry about that! Parking took forever.” A very pretty blond girl, about my age, was walking up to Henry. Her hair was up in one of those perfectly messy knots, and she was already deeply tan. I suddenly realized that this must have been the blond girl my mother was talking about. Henry’s girlfriend. I knew that there was absolutely no logic in me feeling proprietary toward someone who I had dated when I was twelve. But even so, I felt a hot stab of jealousy in my chest as I watched her hand the car keys to him, their fingers brushing briefly.

“I want moose tracks!” Davy Crosby was running up, wearing the same moccasins I’d noticed in the woods. He spotted me and his exuberant expression turned sullen. Clearly, he was still holding a grudge about the bird-scaring.

The girl smiled at Davy and rested her hand on his shoulder before he wriggled away. I watched this interaction, trying to keep my expression neutral. So she was close with Henry’s brother, too. Not that I cared. Why should I?

“Did you know your ice cream’s melting?” Davy asked me. I looked down at my cone and saw that, in fact, things were getting a little dire, and melted raspberry—of course, it really couldn’t have been the coconut—was covering my hand.

“Right,” I said, lifting up the cone, which actually just let the ice cream run down my wrist. “I caught that, actually.”

“Sorry, Taylor—were you saying something?” Henry asked.

I looked at him and just thought about doing it now, saying I was sorry and getting it over with. Since we’d come back, I was feeling guilty about that summer in a way I’d never really had to face when we were in Connecticut. I’d even had to turn the stuffed penguin around in my closet, since it always seemed to be looking at me accusingly. “I was just going to say that… that I was really…” I trailed off, well aware that I had two extra audience members. I tried to go on, but found that I’d lost my nerve. “Nothing,” I finally said. “Never mind.” I felt the girl’s eyes on me, and I saw her gaze travel to my arm, where the drips had gotten even worse, forming a small puddle next to my feet where they were landing on the ground. “I should go,” I said, not waiting—or wanting—to be introduced to this girl who was clearly with Henry, and who was probably wondering why I was intruding on their time.

Henry took a breath, like he was about to say something, but then just glanced at the girl and remained silent.