(updated and added content from the original Summer’s End)

“Regan,” Mom starts in her warning tone as she dries her hands on a dishtowel. “I know you’re a good swimmer, but you still need to be careful.” She gives Lane a look. “All of you do.” She’s mostly referring to Tobi and Cameron, who can sometimes be a little crazy.

Lane and I nod in agreement.

Lane comes to stand beside me. Mom follows, placing a hand on Lane’s shoulder. “You look out for my little girl today.”

I groan. Seriously?

“Yes, ma’am.” He drapes his arm around my shoulders. The motion causes his musky scent to swirl under my nose. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”

Mom pats his cheek. “I know you won’t.”

I shrug out from under Lane’s arm and hand him the cooler. “Let’s go.”  I muss up his hair.

He smirks and swats at my hand.

“Bye, Mom,” I call over my shoulder before the screen door bangs behind me.

Lane catches up with me, and we walk to the shed where the floats are already in the back of my dad’s ATV. All we have to do is sling my bag and cooler on top of them so they don’t fly away.

Lane ducks his head under the roll bar and slides in beside me, wearing his turquoise swim trunks, a ratty white T-shirt, sunglasses, and his ball cap with a country-boy rolled bill.

I start the Ranger and study him.  I like the way his sandy hair curls up around the bottom of his cap. It’s grown out over the summer.

“What?” he asks, beaming.

It’s not fair you can throw on old shirts, have messy hair, and look so good. That bright dimple framed smile of yours doesn’t hurt, either.

“Oh, uh, nothing.” I snort, laughing it off because I can’t tell him what I’m really thinking.

His expression changes. There’s something about him that’s different since he graduated, but I still haven’t been able to figure it out, especially not with those mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes.

I chalk up all this strangeness to the heat in this shed and back the ATV out. I’d say something about the countdown to school, but the motor is too loud. Instead of talking, I take in the pasture around us sprinkled with wild black-eyed Susans and delicate Queen Anne’s lace. This is a perfect summer morning to cool off with our friend group, G5, in the quarry swimming hole. We only have a few more Tuesdays of swimming before school starts.

Lane points a finger off to my left, and I follow it to see a patch of orange lilies next to an old fence row wrapped in honeysuckle. They’re my favorite, and he knows it. I wish I could smell them, but the only fragrances I catch are humidity and dirt.

Even though the likelihood of traffic this far out in the country is small, I check my side mirror just in case and make a left. This place is a ghost town, home only to dust devils and occasional visitors who fish and swim. It was once a bustling and quite literally explosive quarry. Now it’s also a hot spot for spontaneous summer night parties, but I usually stay away from that crowd.

Lane reaches over and pulls my ponytail, and I flick his hand. I can’t hear him laugh, but see his body quiver with laughter. I shake my head, rolling my eyes behind my sunglasses. He tugs my ponytail again and points toward the main road. A trail of dust is flying in the air from the other entrance. Probably Cameron.

We come up the small hill and look down to see if anyone is at the pond. It’s clear. I’m relieved there are no cars at the cliffs either. Directly across the pond from where we jump is a lower plateau, about a foot above the water. There’s a hidden spot in the saplings and tall weeds where I like to park, hiding the ATV so no one can tell when I’m there. Gossiping is a sport in this town, and I do everything I can to dodge it.

The dust cloud is getting closer, so I speed toward the dirt path leading to my parking spot.

Cameron turns on the trail right behind us, accelerates to pass us, and drowns Lane and me in dust. I stop, pulling the neckline of my shirt up to cover my face and wait for it to settle. My fists clench, and the gritty dirt on my skin fuels the anger smoldering inside me.

Cam romps on the engine and skids to a stop by the pond. He jumps out of the truck, hee-hawing like he did something really funny.

The smell of dust is overwhelming. Lane’s covered from head to toe, the ATV looks brown instead of black, and I can’t even see my arm hair under the layer of dust.

“Regan?” Lane reaches over to put his hand on my shoulder. It feels cool against the heat burning under the surface of my skin.

“What?” I snap.

“He’s just playing around.” He tries calming me with a soothing voice.

I growl, “Stupid idiot.”

“We came to swim. Let’s go swim.”

“Let’s,” I answer through clenched teeth.

Without another word, I ease the ATV forward into the hidden parking spot.

Tobi meets us with an apologetic smile. Her blonde locks flow across her shoulders. “Sorry,” she mouths.

I shrug in an attempt to shake off Cameron’s stupidity. I’ll get him back somehow.

Haylee saunters over, tossing a football in her hands. She looks up at me with her big, brown, doe eyes. “It’s only dust, Regan. Nothing the water won’t wash off. Come on, let’s get in.”

Cameron’s already stripped to his shorts, walking to the water’s edge.

He stretches his arms as wide as his mischievous grin and taunting eyes. “Where have you two been? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you did a little mud-wrestling last night and fell asleep before you washed off.”

Haylee intercedes, throwing Cameron the football. “Catch, Cameron!”

Cam easily catches the ball and smirks at me. So much for that distraction.

Lane tears off his T-shirt, cap, and sunglasses, then tosses them on the tailgate. “Throw it!” he calls, running toward the water.

Cameron steps back and launches it in the air. Lane leaps, catching the football in midair, and plunges into the water, inverted on his shoulder blades, making a huge splash.

I stealthily scurry barefoot behind Cameron and lock my arms around his torso, forcing him into the water with me. The look on his face when he comes up to meet me is priceless. A mini-payback.

Haylee and Tobi bail in for a splash fest. I don’t know how, but the guys always win.

We settle down to catch our breath, lying on our floats between the low bank and the cliffs, in a circle joined by hands and feet. Lying here in the stillness of the water and the warmth of the sun, life stands still. I wish every day could be like this.

Haylee and Cameron babble about a movie they watched. Tobi adds her two cents about Cam’s favorite action flick. Lane chimes in occasionally, keeping his eyes on me, as if he’s sharing a secret just for us. Tiny beads of moisture are scattered across his skin, sparkling in the sunlight. Making him look even better.

Tobi says, “Hey Rey, that pump jack kind of looks like a mechanical bull, maybe a buckin’ bronc.”

I take in the two oil pump jacks on each side of the pond. “I’ve thought about climbing up and riding one a few times,” I quietly admit. If Cameron heard me say something like that, he’d haul me up the ladder and make me ride it.

Lane adjusts his feet on my raft, keeping us connected. The movement draws my eyes back to him. He’s still in good shape from his spring baseball workouts. He’s not bulky, he’s…perfect. When I graduate college and get some experience in marine science, I’ll finally be ready to find a guy like Lane. Someone I can share everything with, and I do mean everything.

My eyes scroll up to Lane’s face, and I see his smooth lips pulled up at the corners.

Tobi tugs on a piece of my hair. “Hey.”

“Yeah?” My voice is scratchy, and I clear my throat.

“I was talking to you.”

“Sorry.” I blink furiously, trying to clear my head. “What did you say?”

Tobi repeats, “I ran into your cousin, Susanna, at Glamour Farms yesterday.”

I chance a glance at Lane. Bad idea. He’s biting his lip, trying not to laugh out loud at me. I can’t be daydreaming about my future guy like that. “Glamour Farms?”

Tobi snickers. “Sorry, it slipped my mind for a minute, you know nothing about style.”

“Hey!” I reach my hand back and splash water on her. There’s nothing wrong with jeans and T-shirts.

Tobi squeals, flicking water back at me. “Anyway,”—she giggles— “it’s my favorite place to shop.”

“KA-BOOM!” Cameron roars and smacks his hands on the surface of the water, nearly causing me to fall off my raft.

Lane and Haylee laugh as Cameron continues with his animation. I can only assume he’s giving scene-by-scene depictions of the latest action movie he’s seen.

Tobi picks up where she left off. “Susanna was with her mom. She looks fantastic. You can’t even tell she was ever pregnant. You know, you two look a lot alike.”

Tobi continues talking, but my mind clouds. Thoughts of what the Faniger family has done to my cousin bear down on my chest. Every time I think about it, it ticks me off. This stupid town made her out to be a lying slut.

Susanna had so much going for her. She had a full ride to play volleyball at the University of Illinois and was going to be a physician’s assistant. All it takes is one boy, one stupid boy, to screw up your whole stinking life.

“Abby is so cute. If my dad didn’t have me working so much, I’d babysit for her,” Tobi continues, oblivious to my thoughts. “Oh, and Susanna said for you to call her sometime. She’d like to see you.”

“Yeah, I should do that.” I lie there and desperately try not to show my feelings. Truthfully, I’m not exactly sure what they are at this moment, but whatever they are, they’re causing my eyes to sting.

I dump myself off the raft and under the water to hide any appearance of crying. The cool liquid knocks some sense into me, and I climb back up and lie on my belly. Avoiding eye contact with my friends, I listen to Cameron prattle and try to get my brain to think about something else.