Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe
Page 24
“I don’t know what I want,” he says.
I hesitate. It really was an amazing summer. But it’s over now. And if I do have a chance of getting back together with Eli, I want to be able to say honestly that nothing happened with Gavin after I saw him.
The thing about Gavin—I like how he sees me, and who I am with him, but I’m not actually sure I necessarily like him. He’s kind of into himself. He cares too much about how he looks and what people think, and “being cool.” I guess I’d rather have someone who doesn’t care about that stuff, because that’s the person I’d like to be, even if I don’t always manage it.
He’s a cheater too. Not that I’m one to talk.
“Friends?” I finally ask.
“Sure,” he says. “If you can resist my charms, here in the moonlight.”
“I can resist them,” I say. And I find that it’s true.
My duffel is already in my car, which is parked right outside the bunk. Now that the campers aren’t here, we’re allowed to drive up to our bunks. Lis, Talia, and Janelle already took off, but I am doing one final check through the cabin one last time to make sure I haven’t accidentally left anything behind.
“Hey,” Danish says. “Heading out?”
“Almost,” I say.
“So, aren’t you glad you came back?” she asks me.
“I am,” I say. “Thank you for giving me the job.”
“You were a great counselor,” she says. “And I recommended you to be head of juniors next year, if you’re interested in coming back and replacing me.”
“You did?” I ask, pleased.
“I did. I think you’d be terrific.”
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. Stay in touch, ’kay? We should get together in New York.”
“I would love that,” I say. I give her a hug, grab my backpack, and get into the front seat of my car. I am going to my parents’ to spend a few days with them before going back to school. I am not looking forward to their fighting, but it’s only a few days. And then . . . sophomore year. NYC. Here we go.
Seven Months Post-Camp
I pass Washington Square Park, the wind blowing through my hair. It’s still pretty cold out even though it’s March.
I can’t believe I haven’t seen him since August.
It feels like we’ve seen each other—we’ve talked and texted and of course I follow him on social media. But we haven’t seen each other.
The texts and calls have gotten a little flirty too. Since he’s going back to camp, and I’m going to be head of juniors, it’s possible something might happen. . . .
I am just about to turn the corner onto Waverly Place when I bump straight into the last person I expect to see in New York City—Gavin.
“Oh!” I say. “You’re here! What are you doing in New York?”
He looks just as surprised to see me as I am to see him.
He’s wearing a hat and a leather coat—weird to see winter Gavin. Today of all days. Especially since I haven’t seen Gavin since the end of camp either.
“I’m actually here with Kat for the weekend,” he says somewhat awkwardly.
“Oh! Wow. You guys got back together.”
“We did,” he says. “For now. She’s doing a year away next year. So we’ll see.” He smiles.
“Where’s she going?” I wonder if it’s back to France.
“Montreal. McGill. She’s going with her friend Sydney.”
“Oh! Janelle is going to McGill next year, too.” Small world.
“No way. So,” he says, stuffing his gloveless hands in his pockets. “What happened with you and Eli?”
“Me and Eli?” I repeat. “We didn’t get back together. We’re trying to be friends, but . . .” We are not friends at all, actually. We say hello when we see each other, but that’s it.
At least I no longer feel a lump in my throat when I talk about him. Or see him. I’m sad that he’s no longer in my life, but it’s easier than I expected.
I messed up. He couldn’t forgive me. But I’m okay. He was a great first boyfriend, and he made me feel loved and beautiful, but that doesn’t mean he’s the right person for me forever.
I’ve dated a few people since the summer, but no one longer than a couple of weeks. I’ve been concentrating on my classes, and kicking butt on NYU’s intramural softball team, and doing student teaching at a public elementary school on the Lower East Side. I spend my free time exploring the city with Emily and Lauren.
“I heard you’re not going back to camp,” I say to Gavin.
“I’m not. I have a summer job that pays good money, at an investment bank. In New York, actually. Who did you hear that from?” he asks.
“Botts,” I say. “I’m actually on my way to meet him now. He’s in town for the weekend, too.”
“No way,” he says. “So, are you around this summer? We could hang out.”
“I’m not, actually. I’m going back to camp. I’m head of juniors.”
“Ha! Funny.”
“It was so nice to see you, but I have to go,” I say. I give him a quick hug and keep walking.
I push open the door to the restaurant.
Botts is waiting for me at the bar, and his face lights up in a huge smile.
“Hey, Rosenspan,” he says. “Wow, you look good.”
He looks good, too. Taller than I remembered. He’s sunburned across his nose, and I bet it’s from his job teaching skiing to little kids on the weekends during the winter.
“You look sunburned,” I say.
“And are you glad to see me?” he asks.
“I’m very glad to see you,” I say.
“Good,” he says. “Because I’m very glad to see you.”
He pulls me into a hug. He feels solid and warm and genuine. He smells like soap and the suede of his jacket.
I hold on to him a little longer than intended.
The summer is only three months away.
Acknowledgments
Thank you thank you thank you to:
Kristen Pettit, my awesome editor! Thank you for your patience and brilliant insights.
All the amazing people at HarperTeen! You are the best, Clare Vaughn! Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you to Aubrey Churchward, Alexandra Rakaczki, and Jessica White. Also thanks to Farrin Jacobs and Jen Klonsky who both believed in this book a million years ago when I first pitched it.
My amazing team: Laura Dail, best agent ever. Samantha Fabian, new queen of foreign rights. Lauren Walters, my incredible designer and super reader. Caitlen Patton, assistant extraordinaire.
Austin Denesuk, Berni Barta, and Matthew Snyder at CAA.
My critique partners! E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle, I love you both and wish we could just cowrite everything together. Thank you for reading this as an early, crappy draft and for making it so much better. Hard pass on the fake teeth.
Love to my fab friends who read drafts or chunks of this book or just kept me company while I wrote: Jess Braun, Christina Soontornvat, Karina Yan Glaser, Courtney Sheinmel, Rachel Feld, Anne Heltzel, Jen E. Smith, Katherine Hartman, Mitali Dave, Logan Levkoff, Maverick Cortes, and Alyssa Stonoha.
To Wingate Camp née Pripstein’s! Unlike Sam, I was lucky to find my summer home when I was nine and fortunate to spend ten sun-filled, blissfully happy summers there. Cory Pecker, Ronnie Braverman, Laurie Weisman, Josie Glaser, Dahlia Monk, and of course, Jeremy Rubin: Thank you for all your schedules, help, insights, and for letting me come back for “research.” Wingate inspired only the best parts of Blue Springs. Love to all my former bunkmates, especially my summer BFFs Mel Fefergrad and Ronit Avni. Bunk 9 forever.
More love and thank-yous to family, friends, writers, and others: Elissa Ambrose, Aviva Mlynowski, Larry Mlynowski, Louisa Weiss, Robert Ambrose, the Dalven-Swidlers, the Dattilios, the Heckers, the Finkelstein-Mitchells, the Steins, the Wolfes, the Mittlemans, the Bilermans, the Greens, the Takefmans, Courtney Sheinmel, Anne Heltzel, Lauren Myracle, Emil
y Bender, Julia DeVillers, Julie Buxbaum, Elizabeth Eulberg, Robyn Spector, Targia Alphonse, Lauren Kisilevsky, Stuart Gibbs, Rose Brock, Aimee Friedman, David Levithan, Adele Griffin, Leslie Margolis, Maryrose Wood, Tara Altebrando, Sara Zarr, Ally Carter, Jennifer Barnes, Alan Gratz, Penny Fransblow, and Maggie Marr.
And so much love for my amazing husband, Todd Swidler, and my girls, Chloe and Anaballe. I love that I get to do sing-songs with you.
About the Author
Photo by Heather Waraksa
SARAH MLYNOWSKI is the author of several books, including the Magic in Manhattan series, Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have), I See London, I See France, and How to Be Bad (along with E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle). Sarah’s books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and optioned to Hollywood. She was born in Montreal but now lives and writes in Los Angeles. Visit her at www.sarahm.com and find her everywhere @sarahmlynowski.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Books by Sarah Mlynowski
Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have)
Cruisin’
I See London, I See France
Magic in Manhattan series
How to Be Bad
(cowritten with Lauren Myracle and E. Lockhart)
Gimme a Call
Don’t Even Think About It
Think Twice
Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
JUST A BOY AND A GIRL IN A LITTLE CANOE. Copyright © 2020 by Sarah Mlynowski. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Cover photographs © 2020 by GettyImages/Hans Hammarskiold (two teens sitting in deck chairs),
GettyImages/Susan E. Pease (blue sky over lake),
Shutterstock/Sasin Paraksa (wood texture)
Cover design by Jessie Gang
* * *
Digital Edition MAY 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-239712-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-239710-2
* * *
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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