The Lilac House: An utterly uplifting feel-good summer romance (Lake Summers) by Barbara Josselsohn

Author:Barbara Josselsohn [Josselsohn, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838881573
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-03-12T18:30:00+00:00

14

On Saturday, Anna took the kids to the store to help out. She put Evie in charge of sorting the new leotards by color, and let Zac add updated sales figures into a spreadsheet, and promised that if they got a lot done, she’d arrange with Hope to leave early so she could take them for lunch at the Grill and then kayaking on the lake. It should have been a fun morning. But they were tired from the July Fourth festivities, or maybe the high humidity from the past week was getting to them—whatever the reason, things didn’t work out so smoothly. Evie started in on Zac, saying that Nicole was talking about him at camp, and Zac grew red in the face and demanded that she tell him what she said, and Evie kept saying it was a secret, delighted with the power she held over him. Anna threatened Evie with no kayaking unless she behaved—a threat she desperately didn’t want to carry out—and that’s when Hope invited Evie to take a walk to see how Stan and Trey were coming along with the new lilac-inspired smoothie they’d promised to invent.

Alone in the shop with Zac, Anna helped a few customers find tops and leggings, all the while keeping her eye on her son as he sucked his bottom lip and typed numbers on the spreadsheet. His initial optimism about camp was waning, and lately he seemed unsettled again. She worried that he was having trouble processing his feelings for Nicole. She ached for him, knowing how hard it must be to like a girl for the first time in his life, and not have Greg around—maybe not even to talk to, maybe just to watch and identify with. At night she would try to talk to him about camp before he went to sleep, but he only either complained about Evie or told her he was fine and she should leave him alone. She thought maybe it was hard for him to talk to her at night, when he was tired and likely feeling lonely, remembering how it used to be with Greg around in the evenings to watch the Yankees with. She wondered if maybe he’d open up a little to her now, when it was daytime and they were out of the house.

She rang up the purchase, and as the women left, she leaned her elbows on the jewelry counter where Zac was working. “How’s it going, honey?” she asked.

He stared at the computer. “Fine.”

“I wouldn’t worry about what Evie is saying. I think she’s just trying to get your goat.”

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

She paused, then decided to plunge ahead. “Is there anything you want to talk about? I mean, maybe about Nicole, or anything you’re feeling?”

He shook his head.

“I’m just wondering if you have any questions about… girls,” she said. “I know I’m not Daddy, but I was once a girl like Nicole, and I’m your mom. You can talk to me about anything.”

“I’m fine,” he told her.

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