5

Madison got out of bed to close her window and then paused there to look out. From this vantage point, she could easily see Gavin’s camp trailer. Rather, the golden lights from the trailer since it was dark. It was actually a cozy scene with what looked like a dying-down campfire not far from the trailer. And was that Gavin bending over it, giving it a poke? Bright orange sparks shot up into the night sky, making the scene even more picturesque. She sighed with longing.

Gavin was a widower.

She shivered in the darkness. Barefoot in her old cotton nightgown, she stared blankly out the window. When her thoughts started to wander, retracing a bittersweet trail she rarely allowed herself to travel, she didn’t try to stop them. She was transported back to that last magical summer with Gavin. A season that haunted her still.

June began brightly, like any other highly anticipated summer vacation on the tree farm. Being warmly welcomed, settling into her own room, helping Grandma with inside tasks, or driving the tractor, fixing the drip lines, and working outside with Dad and Grandpa. Wonderful, blissful routines.

As usual, when it was hot and the chores were done, she’d meet up with the local kids down by the river. As always, Gavin and his younger sister, Mindy, were part of this crowd. Gavin was seventeen and more handsome than ever. About to start his senior year, he brimmed with confidence and energy and enthusiasm. Madison and Mindy were only fifteen, but with a full year of high school behind them, they felt much older.

Addie was eleven and often had her nose in a book. She was too young to be welcome with the teens, but she’d tag along sometimes anyway—until her complaints about feeling left behind got everyone fed up. Addie had been such a whiner back then. And like everyone else except Mindy, Addie had been oblivious to the budding romance between Gavin and Madison, including the fact that they wanted to ditch her at times.

Madison had always admired Gavin. And over the years, she’d often showed off for his benefit. She’d even feign false courage hoping to impress him. Of course, once she took the risk—like leaping from the railroad bridge—she usually got such a thrill that the next time was easy. But up until that last sweet summer, her relationship with Gavin had been similar to Mindy’s. He’d been a big brother and good friend. But when Mindy started spending more time with Gavin’s best buddy, Ben, it seemed a natural transition for Madison to become more involved with Gavin. Before summer ended, she was head over heels for him. Even now, the memory of their first kiss still sent her spinning.

But unlike Mindy, who’d loved sharing steamy stories about Ben, Madison had been determined to keep her relationship with Gavin limited. Although they had some pretty hot make-out sessions, she always knew when to draw the line. Gavin might not have appreciated it so much in the moment, but he always respected her for it. And that was nice.

Of course, their amazing summer ended far too soon. And on the last Friday before Labor Day, they met at their favorite rendezvous—the oak tree by the river—where Gavin used his flashlight to reveal the initials he’d carved into the gnarly old trunk. GT + MM. After a final memorable kissing session, Madison heard her dad’s shrill whistle, the signal for her curfew. The young lovers kissed goodbye and swore to meet at Thanksgiving and to write letters in the meantime.

But Madison’s mom spoiled their Thanksgiving “date” by insisting her girls accompany her to Spokane to meet her new fiancé’s family—and to celebrate their engagement. And then, come Christmas break, Mom and Ray ruined everything by having the girls return to Spokane for holiday festivities and a New Year’s Eve wedding.

Following winter break, the letters, which had already been scarce on Gavin’s end, grew even scarcer. Knowing his senior year was demanding, Madison excused him for it, but still wrote his name on her notebook, daydreaming of their next meeting. By spring break, she was desperate to see him. But Gavin and Mindy were gone. They were off with their church youth group, building houses in Guadalajara, Mexico. As it turned out, Shelby went on that mission trip too.

By summer break it was too late. Gavin and Shelby were married! It was mind-blowing but true. And Madison’s sixteenth summer was a dark one. Nobody knew why she was so moody. Grandma blamed it on teenage hormones, Dad blamed her newlywed “parents” back in Spokane, and preteen Addie, making the most of Madison’s retreat into the shadows, basked in the limelight for a change.

Now, standing by the window, Madison closed the bedroom curtains and turned away, wiping tears from her cheeks that she hadn’t even realized she’d cried. Gavin was available now. But once again, Madison was too late. Based on Addie’s comments, it was painfully clear that her sister was staking out her territory. She was set on Gavin. And really, the match made sense. It had never occurred to Madison before, but Addie and Shelby were strikingly similar. Both were pretty, soft, needy . . . the kind of women that made a guy feel manly, strong . . . necessary. The way that Trevor had claimed he wanted to feel. Attributes, according to him, that Madison lacked.