The Summer of Lost Wishes by Jessa Gabrielle Page B

hang out with
him?” I ask.
    She sighs and nods in defeat. “I realized
then that he obviously cares about your well-being, and I think
that’s the best way he knows how to show it, for a sixteen-year-old
boy,” she says. “So like I said, benefit of the doubt…for now.”

Seth’s Letter
    I drove out to the Crane Pavilion today. It
made me laugh when you knew exactly where I was talking about. I’ve
been going out there since I was a kid. My dad used to take me out
to see the cranes. He would tell me how they were much like humans
in the way they fell in love and created families. Two cranes,
monogamous. They’d actually care for the baby birds together. It
was always sort of weird, for my dad to talk about birds mating and
me being too young to understand it, but I guess he was trying to
teach me a lesson about love. I’ve never asked.
    Each time I go out there to leave your next
letter, I always secretly hope you’ll be there waiting for me. You
never are, and I doubt you ever will be. I know you don’t want to
risk the chance of us being seen together. Crane Pavilion gives me
a sense of hope, though, because I know you’ve been there. You’ve
been there leaving letters for me. For a moment in time, you were
in that very spot, with me on your mind, just as I am with you on
my mind.
    This is a little weird, writing letters to
you. I’ve never written to anyone before. Maybe someday I’ll show
up when you’re dropping off a letter, and we can sneak away. Maybe
we can just never come back.

Her Reply
    Do you ever think about actually running
away? I have a million and one times. But lately, it plagues me
more and more. I want far away from this small town. I want to go
somewhere so big that I can get lost in the lights and no one would
ever find me. It was a dream before, but now, after you, I crave
that to be my reality.
    Do you believe there is such a place? New
York or Chicago, maybe? Possibly even somewhere bigger – a place so
big that they couldn’t find us no matter how hard they searched. I
just want to find somewhere with lights and stars and music where I
can dance all night.
    But here’s the real question. Would you go?
Would you be willing to leave this life behind? I know your family
has a plan for you. They’ve given you the blueprint to your future
– the perfect factory job to support a family, the perfect home to
raise your children, even the perfect future wife in Hanna. Could
you really walk away from all that certainty just to be with me?
Would you go?

Chapter
Eleven
     
    “It’s not Hanna,” I blurt out, as soon as
Rooks steps into our foyer. “The letters. The girl. It’s not
Hanna.”
    “Whoa,” he says, holding up a hand to stop
me. “Slow down. Why didn’t you text me about this earlier?” He
looks past me and smiles. “Hi, Ms. Davenport,” he calls out, waving
to my mom.
    Shoot. She has a way of appearing at the
absolute worst times. I turn around to see her staring at us.
There’s no way I can have a private conversation right now,
especially about secret scandals featuring Seth McIntosh.
    “Piper says you guys are going to the county
fair,” Mom says, like she’s analyzing his reaction to see if I’m
being honest with her.
    He nods. “Yes, ma’am. We’re meeting up with
my friend Hector and his girlfriend Natalie,” he says. “She’s the
mayor’s daughter.”
    He clearly added that line for good measure.
I wonder if Mom realizes that Rooks has her figured out more than
she has him figured out. Then I wonder if he’s used that pretty boy
smile and endearing charm on the moms of a hundred other girls who
didn’t want their daughters dating the boy with the reputation. I
convince myself I’m the first and he’s a natural.
    “We won’t be out late,” Rooks says. “My dad
has already reminded me that we have to work on your bay window
tomorrow, so I can’t afford to stay out too late.”
    “Be careful,” Mom says. “I still don’t trust
those