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Summer In Vermont

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Chapter One

A shotgun blast startled Maggie awake, and she had only been asleep for a couple of hours at best. Her vision was still fuzzy as she carefully leaned toward the window beside her bed and peered out at her aunt brandishing the weapon and chasing after a chicken. Aunt Dorothea, or Dot for short, shouted profanity at the bird as it continued to evade her attempts at catching it.

Maggie knew that chickens weren't easy to catch, but why her aunt decided to use a firearm to scare it toward the coop was yet another mystery she faced each day while living here. Vermont was weird. Moving from the west coast had been a real shock, particularly in the appearance of those around her as they seemed less likely to fret over their makeup and hair for hours prior to going to the store, and she used that term loosely. A store to these people consisted of a house with an apartment on the top floor for the owners and a collection of dusty cans, fresh produce from the nearby farms. There was always a well-stocked mini fridge of worms during fishing season, and the rest of the time it held quick-grab items like soda and deviled eggs.

Nobody cared that the fridge was also used for the worms; nobody except Maggie.

These people also looked like normal people versus the supermodel and actor-wannabe-types at her school and around California in general. She guessed there was a prerequisite for living here that stated each person must own no fewer than six pieces of flannel, and if they happened to be plaid, you got bonus points. Maggie swore up and down that she would never be caught dead wearing the dreaded print or fabric.

She flopped backward onto her pillow and immediately pulled her quilt over her face. It smelled a bit musty, having been stored in a closet for God knows how long. The quilt had begun to get worn down so the fabric had torn off in small patches along the edges. Dot had told Maggie that it was a quilt their great-grandmothers had made together as a way to unite the families when their children had been engaged and it had been presented to the couple on the wedding day. It had been passed down and Aunt Dot had gotten it from her mother, Maggie's grandmother. Maggie closed her eyes to try and ignore the calamity going on around her and she folded the quilt neatly at her armpits to get comfortable.

Aunt Dot came bursting into her room, the door banged loudly against the wall, and Maggie jumped up with a start.

"Mag," Dot said out of breath. "Come help me grab this little fecker. It'll be a donkey's years before I get it back into its pen."

Maggie rubbed her eyes and squinted at her aunt, noticing her get up of the day. She refused to call this an outfit -- a patchwork dress with torn, striped leggings underneath, knee-high riding boots, and of course, her wild, curly red hair standing almost on its ends toward the sky. Maggie and Dot were often asked if they were mother and daughter because their hair was almost the same, except Maggie brushed hers and put effort into its appearance.

"Mag!" Dot reminded.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Maggie threw the covers off her legs and followed her aunt downstairs, but not at the same pace. Maggie walked much slower, making an effort to avoid having to help.

When she turned the corner at the bottom of the staircase and looked up, she saw through the open screen door to the outside. As she planted one foot in front of another almost in a sleepwalk, she heard her aunt shouting motherfecker and Jesus Christ at the chicken as it balked and flapped its wings. The rest of the chickens clucked in the pen as if cheering on their loose comrade.

Maggie leaned against the doorframe and watched her aunt standing in a defensive pose, her arms out to the sides with her elbows bent and her legs in a deep squat. Maggie would have laughed at any other moment, but she was too tired to find the humor in this.

"Okay, you circle around to the other side of it," Aunt Dot said. "I'll be ready in case it comes back this way."

"You look like some moronic crab," Maggie retorted.

From the other side of the bird, Maggie looked up to see what directions her aunt would provide, but instead she just sprang forward in a sprint and chased it toward her. Maggie froze out of fear and crossed her arms in an x across her face as the chicken ran through her legs and her aunt collided with her. The pair crashed to the grass and Aunt Dot puffed out a cackle.

Breathless, she rose and helped her niece off the ground.

"You were supposed to catch it, dummy," Dot joked.

"Aunt Dot, this is not normal," Maggie was pissed.

"Eh," Dot shrugged. "What is this 'normal' people keep talkin' about? I ain't never known normal."

She turned and walked toward the chicken coop to retrieve the bucket of feed. As she shook it, the chicken came running and after a handful was tossed into the pen, the bird walked straight in.

"What the hell, Aunt Dot?" Maggie asked, her anger rising.

"What?" Dot asked, acting clueless.

Her niece simply rubbed her temples, closed her eyes, and began to walk back toward the house. Dot chuckled and tossed the rest of the feed into the chicken pen, watching as they pecked it all up.

            Upstairs, Maggie dropped onto her bed, face down, exhausted. She planned to go back to sleep, but she guessed her aunt would have other ideas, and she didn't bother to get too comfortable. She was surprised though that Dot didn't come to harass her again for another hour, and Maggie knew it was an hour because the old fashioned wind up clock on her night table said so.

            "Hey Mag, going to town. Need anything?" Dot asked.

            Aunt Dot had made effort to get ready for an outing; she had put on a wool jacket despite the 75 degree weather. Maggie turned her head and pushed the hair out of her face to look at her Aunt.

"You're going to town?" She asked. "Can I come?"

Dot shifted her weight from one foot to another and narrowed her eyes at her niece.

"Promise you won't take forever getting ready?" Dot asked.

"Yeah," Maggie said as she rolled her eyes.

Dot stood for a moment and watched her niece's face to see if she could trust her.

"Fine," she said finally. "You have ten minutes and if your ass isn't on the seat in the truck, I'm taking off."

She turned and closed the door behind her. Maggie didn't expect to take long; what would she have to look forward to in town? Toothless hillbillies and inbred morons from the boonies? No thanks.

She brushed her hair, applied a quick coat of mascara to her lashes, and stood in front of her dresser to pick out an outfit. She selected a pair of jeans from one drawer, and from another chose a tank top. It was still a little cool out for her, since she was used to 90 degree weather at this point in the year back home, so she took a flannel shirt from the closet with a plaid print. Classic Vermont apparel, she thought with slight disgust.

As she was lacing up her boots, or shit kickers as they were called out here, she heard the engine of the truck fire up. She jerked her head up from her shoes and grabbed her purse on her way toward the bedroom door.

She sprinted downstairs and out the front door, the screen door slamming behind her as she chased her aunt down the dirt road. The truck pulled away as she coughed at the dust being stirred by the tires.

"Goddammit!" She shouted at the back of the truck. "Dot!"

She had run almost a quarter of a mile behind the slow-moving antique before her aunt thought it fair to allow her passage. Two out of the three brake lights lit up as Dot slowed the truck down, and Maggie continued to run, eventually catching up. The heavy passenger door squeaked open as she climbed up into the cab, her aunt leaned on the seat and looked down at her while she laughed. Maggie was not impressed. She let out a grunt as she pulled the hefty door closed, having to use ample strength in doing so.

"Funny," she grumbled as she panted heavily and wiped sweat from her face.

"Hey, I said be ready in ten," Dot said simply.

They sat in silence for a couple of miles until Maggie reached out to turn on the radio. Dot shook her head.

"Radio's busted," she said.

"How can you live like this?" Maggie asked with utter exasperation.

"You kids today," Dot said. "You've got to have your AOL, PDAs, flip phones, and God forbid you survive without your dial-up internet."

Maggie blinked her eyes a few times, trying to process what her aunt said. She faced the windshield in silence, her eyes wide in disbelief. She was stunned and couldn't wrap her mind around the nonsense her Aunt Dot had just said.

"What the fuck is AOL?" She asked after a ten minute silence.

Dot just laughed as they turned off the dirt road and bumped onto the main road. The frost heaves tossed them up and down on the seat, and by the time they reached the store, Maggie's stomach was sore from having to hold her abdominal muscles tight to cushion the bumps. Trucks from the 60s were not meant to be ridden in so much, but Dot refused to buy a new one because this one was easy to fix.

Maggie hopped out of the truck and pushed the door closed as her Aunt Dot came around the front of the truck to discuss her plans.

"And what is a PDA?" Maggie asked.

"Never mind," Dot said. "Now, I have to go to the fabric store, and eventually we need to get some groceries, but I don't want to be more than an hour because we need to prepare for book club with the girls tonight."

Every month 'the girls' got together to discuss the book they were supposed to be reading but all that ever happened was the group said they hated or liked the book, then after a few bottles of wine they were cackling at the latest gossip. Book club was actually an entertaining experience for Maggie, and she had only been an observer of the last one since she had only been with her aunt for a week. This month she had read the book and would be included in the discussion, but not the wine since her eighteenth birthday was next week and she wouldn't be legal to drink for another few years. That disappointed her a bit, but getting to watch old women discuss the seedy romance they'd picked out and get all hot and bothered was better than the book itself.

"Yeah, fine," Maggie said. "I'll just hang out over there."

She pointed at the Nelson's which was a general store that sold a variety of items from beer and wine right down to school supplies. Maggie was glad she wasn't staying here for the school year and was just visiting for the summer.

Dot held up her hand, her index finger sticking up as she mouthed the words, "one hour" and walked away toward the fabric store.

Maggie stomped off toward Nelson's but sat on the bench outside despite the No Loitering sign that was nailed up beside a No shoes, no shirt, no worries sign. She pulled out her phone to see if she had reception here in the Podunk town, if it even was big enough to call it that. She knew that the area her aunt lived in was called a hamlet because it was part of a town, but not one on its own. Cookeville the hamlet was in Corinth, which was a town, and it sat on a map in the middle of nowhere, someplace where cell service and high-speed internet couldn't even find it.

She always expected to see horse drawn carriages meandering down the roads because the town itself still looked like it belonged in the 1800s. Back when it was settled, it was part of New Hampshire because Vermont hadn't even become its own state yet, and she only knew this because old Mrs. Nelson made it a point to mention it when Maggie went inside to get a soda.

Nobody knows where Vermont is, let alone Corinth. Even Maggie's friends had looked perplexed when she said she had to skip all of the parties and concerts this summer because she was going to be staying in Vermont. They had asked what state that was in, and Maggie had replied, "New Hampshire." Turns out she was kind of right.

Mr. Nelson shuffled out of the door to the establishment and plopped onto the bench beside Maggie. He had his pipe in his hand and a set of matches. Mr. Nelson was in his 80s, and he liked to talk as much as his wife.

"Ya know," he began slowly. "I reckon I shouldn't be smoking this here pipe, but eh, I'm an old man."

He leaned forward with the pipe now between his lips and he made a smacking noise as the match ignited the contents of the bowl. The smoke stank terribly, but Maggie just waved her hands to get it out of her face.

"Oh," she said, feeling a bit of a squeeze in her chest as she accidentally inhaled some of the rancid air.

"Yup," he said. "I didn't 'spect to live this long, and now that I'm here, I figure I gotta live like I wanna. Simply put."

Maggie nodded and watched for her aunt. From where she sat she could see Dot in the window of the fabric store talking with one of her friends and shaking a bolt of bright orange in front of her to illustrate a point. What point she was making, Maggie had no idea.

"When the missus and I was courtin', she was already engaged to another man," Mr. Nelson said, having decided to spill his darkest secrets to Maggie for some reason. He laughed at the idea of having stolen his love away from another.

"Boy was he cross with me, but I was just a young cuss, I didn't care 'cause that was the gal I wanted to marry," he puffed on his pipe as he laughed. "Boy that was some 60 years ago, I bet."

"Ah," was all Maggie could say to that.

She got up to go into the store and she waved at Mrs. Nelson behind the counter on her way toward the books. They had the same junk each time she checked, though once there was a new book that was still no use to her. She browsed through the titles as she ran a finger along the spines to take in the experience. While other kids had electronics to read on, Maggie still enjoyed good old-fashioned paperbacks. The act of reading those involved more than just looking at words; it was a cathartic practice that reminded her of being a kid who was hiding under the covers to avoid being found awake after bedtime, which was something she often had done. She just had to know what happened to her favorite characters during their latest quest, and she needed to find out whether Nancy Drew escaped the latest trap she'd fallen into.

As usual she found nothing of interest but as she turned to grab a soda from the cooler, she found herself face to chest with a stranger. She lifted her chin and backed up a foot, apologizing to the man. His dark hair was accented by strands of silver, his brown eyes seemed kind, and the few wrinkles he had around them made Maggie guess he was only in his late-thirties.

"Excuse me," Maggie said meekly, feeling a blush invade her skin.

His handsome face lit up with a smile which made her feel more self-conscious. It was an infectious smile and her cheeks felt tight as her mouth cured upward in mimicry.

"No worries," he said with a soft, deep voice.

Over at the register, Mrs. Nelson was leaning toward them in an effort to eavesdrop with her ancient ears, but she was disturbed by customers who had questions about the actual age of the cheddar in the deli case.

"Joshua," he said, darting his hand forward in a slightly awkward manner.

"Maggie," she said as the natural skin tone returned to her face.

"There's nothing good to read here," he said after a moment of silence.

Maggie nodded her head, glancing back over her shoulder at the shelves of romance novels, hunting and trapping guides, and astrology books.

"Yeah," she said with a laugh, and turned her gaze back at the handsome stranger. "I can see that."

"I order mine through Mrs. Nelson and they let me know when they're in," he said. "If there's something specific you're interested in you could try that. She's got a catalog under the counter."

Maggie shrugged slightly.

"I don't really know what it is I'd be looking for," she said as she walked toward the cooler.

After she selected a soda, she paid for it and walked outside to return to her perch on the bench. Mr. Nelson had gone back inside for some reason or another, and Maggie was doing her best to remain nonchalant around Joshua. She watched as Aunt Dot tossed a few bags into the back of the truck and started to make her way toward the grocery store. She turned her head toward Maggie and waved wildly as though they hadn't seen each other in years. Then she surprised Maggie by hollering "Hi Joshua!"

She disappeared into the grocery store while Maggie watched from the corner of her eye as the handsome stranger walked out of the general store with his hand returning from a wave. He sat beside her and placed a heavy paper bag at his feet. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees as he turned his head toward her.

"So Dot is your aunt, huh?" He asked with genuine interest and a hint of surprise.

Maggie nodded and took a drink from her soda. She motioned toward the bag of books by his feet and made an effort to ask an intelligent question about them.

Instead, an thunderous belch bellowed from her mouth and her face returned to its previous vermilion hue. Despite her complete humiliation, Joshua couldn't contain his boisterous laugh as he turned the same color as Maggie, but for another reason altogether. He fought to catch his breath as he laughed for what seemed like a full minute while Maggie buried her face in her hands. He clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"Nice push," he said finally as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"Gee, thanks," Maggie managed to say.

She lifted her head and saw her Aunt Dot returning to the truck with some more bags and Maggie rose to her feet to rush off the porch of the store before she missed the truck ride back.

"It was nice meeting you," Maggie shouted.

"You too," Joshua said, still fighting back the giggles. "Hey, before you go, what type of books are you into?"

She stopped and turned to face him, and that was when she noticed how his shoulders looked in the suede jacket he was wearing.

"I guess I like um, science type books," she said with an upward inflection.

"Science type books?" he repeated in the same tone. He smiled wider than she had ever seen a person smile before.

"What?" She asked, feeling self-conscious again but still unable to avoid copying that smile of his.

Of course, she recalled, guys don't like nerdy girls.

"I'm a science teacher over at the college," he said as he lifted his bag of books and stood up from the bench. "I'll drop off a bunch of great books later if you'd like."

This was the happiest moment for Maggie since she'd moved to this weird town devoid of culture.

"That would be amazing," she said, trying to contain how truly excited she was. "Thank you so much."

She heard the truck start up behind her.

"Fuck," she said. She turned and ran toward the truck but shouted a quick "Goodbye" to her handsome new friend.

As she sat beside her aunt on the way home, she thought about Joshua. She couldn't wait to get home to write a letter to her best friend, Sam. She thought about the things she would say to her in the letter, about how she bet Joshua read a lot, and he probably wore glasses. How cute was that?

"He is cute, isn't he?" Dot said, breaking the silence.

"Huh?" Maggie said, trying to pretend she didn't know what her aunt was talking about, but also quick shocked at her aunt's ability to read her mind.

"Joshua," Dot said. "He's cute."

Maggie sat quietly and didn't respond. She shook her head and looked out the window in silence.

"He's single," Dot offered.

"Yeah but he's like, old," Maggie countered. "I mean, he is at least ten years older."

She feigned disgust, but the truth was she didn't care. The fact that he was older meant he was more experienced, mature, and well-read.

"Age don't matter," her aunt replied. "Besides, you're not jailbait anymore."

"Aunt Dot," Maggie bellowed angrily.

She wasn't actually mad, but she was extremely embarrassed. The fact that he was a college professor made it more mortifying that she had burped in front of him. Professor Joshua, she said to herself. She sighed.

"Ah, young love," Dot teased.

"Shut up," Maggie said, but this time she was laughing and didn't bother trying to sound mad. "Oh my God, Aunt Dot. I made such an ass of myself."

Maggie covered her face with her hands again as she told her aunt about the burp. Dot turned into the driveway and parked the car. She turned to her niece, took her hand in hers, and looked deep into her green eyes.

"My dear, I want to impart some sage advice on you, from one woman to another," she began. "Love is just one big embarrassment after another, and the trick is to find a way to overlook the other person's foolishness and enjoy acting like idiots together."

Maggie yanked her hand away, rolled her eyes, and shoved the door of the truck open. Dot opened her door as well and hopped down. They met at the tailgate of the truck and retrieved the goods before they headed into the house together. It was afternoon now and as Dot put away the fabric she'd bought at the store, Maggie began taking leftovers out for lunch.

Upon opening the fridge, Maggie discovered a dead chicken lying in a bowl. A month ago this would have upset her, but now she had become accustomed to it and continued on with her quest for sustenance.

"Don't move the bird," Dot said from the doorway. "It's for tomorrow night."

"Is that the little fecker from this morning?" Maggie inquired.

Her aunt simply laughed in response. Maggie nodded to herself and placed leftover pork chops on a plate to heat in the microwave. As she continued to prepare the lunch for herself and her aunt, she decided to explore more on the subject of her secret crush. Though she knew it was no secret that she thought he was sexy.

"So, um," she started casually. "That Joshua fellow says he teaches at the college."

Dot stifled a laugh as she went to stand beside her niece and pretended to help fix the plates.

"Ah yes," Dot said, deciding to prolong her niece's suffering as much as possible. "I seem to recall hearing that somewhere."

The quiet caused Maggie physical pain as she waited for her aunt to answer questions she hadn't even been asked yet.

"So?" Maggie asked, hoping her aunt would spare her the awkwardness of having to ask specific questions about the professor.

Dot glanced at Maggie with a false look of confusion on her face.

"What?" She asked. "Oh I'm sorry, did you want to know something?"

"Oh my God, Aunt Dot," Maggie erupted. "I'm seriously dying right here."

Maggie lowered her head and dropped her shoulders. Dot laughed and felt mercy for the girl.

"He's in his late-thirties, single, lives a few minutes away actually," Dot said. "He teaches science at the college up north, and actually he is Professor Joshua Cole, to be specific."

Suddenly a commotion outside captured their attention. They turned their heads to look outside as the door swung open with help from Dot's old Border Collie, Snoopy, who bolted inside and came to rest at the top of the basement stairs. The screen door closed, making a sharp clap as Maggie stood in awe of the cowering dog, but she was confused only for a moment before the cause of commotion came up the stairs.

From the bottom of the stairs, they saw a duck's head bobbing up and down as it managed to climb each step before it finally reached the top of the deck in pursuit of the dog. They turned their gaze toward Snoopy once again, who looked more fearful as the duck approached the screen door. The pup cowered on the step and whimpered at the impending doom. Maggie was in complete amazement of this animal's fear of a duck, one which could do no more than hiss and flap its wings. She herself had been chased by that exact bird numerous times, except instead of running away she had stood her ground and waved it off. What was the worst it could do; The duck bill equivalent of gumming her to death?

She walked up to the door and kicked the frame, startling the duck enough that it ran in the opposite direction and flapped its wings as it glided off the deck. Maggie turned to the dog.

"Really, Snoop?" She asked, incredulously.

"Oh, my poor baby," Dot said as she rushed to the dog and cradled his head in her lap. She planted loud kisses on him as she caressed his fur.

"That dog is a wimp," Maggie added.

"He's a lover, not a fighter," Dot said.

After lunch, Dot did the dishes and Maggie went outside to finish the last chapter of the smut they were to discuss later that evening. From up the road she heard a vehicle approaching, but didn't expect anyone to visit. It was common to hear the sound of an approaching car or truck from a mile away, something that she hadn't been able to hear in California over the noise. She was surprised when a car was actually coming down the driveway toward the house, and from a distance she guessed it was some kind of small hybrid car.

When the car got closer, she could see Professor Joshua in the driver seat. He waved as he parked the car and got out.

"Hey," he said.

It was a simple word, but it was like a beautiful soliloquy to Maggie.

"Hey," she said.

It was all she could think to say.

"So I know we just talked, but I couldn't wait to bring some of these books over," he opened the back door of the car and removed a small box before nudging the door shut again with his foot.

Maggie jumped out of her chair and walked to the edge of the porch where Joshua was placing the box. She tried to remain calm and not show her eagerness over seeing him again.

"There's a lot of great stuff in here," he said, removing a book here and there to show off the different topics they covered. "Of course, I'm not sure which of these you may have read, but hopefully you can find something useful in here."

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and swayed nervously as Maggie looked through the books. She was impressed. There were books about the human eye, how a dog's brain works, and of course one of her favorite topics: astronomy.

"I haven't read any of these, actually," she said. "Do you mind if I keep them for a while?"

Joshua seemed to like the idea and he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, keep them as long as you need," he said. "I hope you don't mind but I make notes and underline things as I read. Some people say it's nerdy to do that, but it helps me remember things that I really find fascinating."

"No, that's not nerdy at all," she responded.

It's adorable, she thought.

Maggie suddenly wished she were a few years older.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

They stared at each other for a moment before Joshua took the opportunity to ask some questions.

"So, are you here for long?"

"I think I'm just staying until the end of summer," Maggie said.

"Oh," he said. "Then what?"

"I go back home I guess," she said.

"College?"

"No, I don't know what I want to do," she said.

He leaned against the porch, half sitting on the edge of it as he pressed for more information.

"Maybe you could consider a school out here," he said. "Admission is a bit lower and you could study for a year to get an idea of what it is that drives you."

She thought about that for a moment as she looked up from the books to glance at his face. She felt as though her crush were obvious whenever she was looking at him, so she returned her eyes toward the books.

"I'm not sure," she said as she lifted another book from the box. "I mean, I'm not exactly the typical college age. I probably should have graduated from college by now rather than just getting around to matriculating."

Her handsome professor friend shrugged.

"That's what I did," Joshua added.

"Really?" Maggie said, looking up at him again.

She found this fascinating and she wondered what he would have been like as a college student. Joshua nodded.

"I did," he said. "My parents wanted me to study something that I felt passionate about, but I didn't really know how passionate I was until I took a few classes in science and education. I couldn't choose between them, so I opted to do both. Sort of."

"I bet you're a great teacher," Maggie said before her inner filter could stop her.

She clamped her lips together tightly and felt the blush return to her face.

"Thanks, Maggie," he said as his faced became tinted pink.

The sound of his lips speaking her name made her heart beat faster. The pair were at a standstill, not really sure what to say next. As usual, her aunt cured all quiet moments with complete chaos.

Dot came barreling through the screen door, but instead of opening it first, she crashed through the screen itself and a loud tearing sound echoed in the country air. She sprinted toward the woods after something that neither Joshua nor Maggie could see at first.

"Goddammit, you little fecker," she shouted.

At the edge of the woods they finally spotted one of the many cats that Aunt Dot had around the house. This one was a calico, and part of the reason Maggie hadn't been sleeping well was because the cat was in heat. It kept her awake with its constant howling, just begging to be fucked by anything that would have her.

            As Dot approached the cat, it became wise to the threat of captivity, so it ran as fast as it could into the woods. Maggie could hear Joshua laughing.

            "This is happens a lot?" He asked, poking her with his elbow.

            She jabbed hers back at him, laughing to cover how stupid she felt being related to that crazy woman who was running barefoot into the woods after a cat.

            "Aunt Dot is odd," Maggie said for lack of better words.

            "She has always been nice to me," he said. "She gives me pickled beets all the time. I swear I have a year's supply of them in my house."

            Maggie scrunched her nose.

            "Pickled beets?"

            "Yeah, she hates them, but makes them anyway," he said. "Works out for me, though, because I love them."

            Maggie began to rethink her distaste for the vegetable, but also wondered why her aunt would waste time and energy making something she didn't even like.

            "Anyway," he said as he pushed away from the porch. "Enjoy the books. I have to get back home to grade some summer school papers."

            "Summer school? In college?" She asked.

            "Yeah, but it's not what you think," Joshua said as he walked toward his car. "People study during the summer to get ahead in school, not because they fell behind."

            "Oh," she said. "Well, thanks again for the books. I'll tell you what I think of them."

            He smiled.

            "Okay," he said.

            Dot emerged from the woods with the cat nestled in her arms as she rubbed the base of its tail. The cat howled in delight and Dot chuckled at the sight of her niece and her crush.

            "Get a room, you two," she said as she entered the house. "You're getting the cat horny again."

            Maggie was too shocked to speak, and after turning a little red, Joshua hopped into his car, waved goodbye, and drove away.

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