Kyle Houston touched my butt at the spring dance. But sitting in the motel room with Sue’s obituary in my hands and the lake sparkling in the distance, I can feel it in every part of my body-the twisting of my gut, the ache in my neck, the tightness in my chest. It’s a formula that involved throwing myself into work, no-strings sex, and overpriced cocktails with Chantal. I’ve become skilled at warding off the loneliness that threatened to pull me under in my early twenties. She’s standing in front of the Tavern in the photo, which runs under the headline “Tribute to a Beloved Barry’s Bay Business Leader.”

There are fine lines fanning out from her eyes that didn’t used to be there, but even on the local paper’s smudged newsprint, you can see determination in the slight upward tilt of her chin and the hand that rests on her hip. Sue’s face is staring at me, hair pulled back, smile so wide it’s beckoned her dimples. I think it was less about Sam’s boy-ness and more that Mom wanted to keep me away from other teenagers for at least two months before we went back to the city. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea, Persephone,” she said slowly, right in front of him, then turned to Dad for his input. Mom hadn’t looked happy when I asked if Sam could stay for the evening.

“Almost all my clothes are,” he explained matter-of-factly. Within minutes I learned he had lived next door all his life, he was also starting eighth grade in the fall, and that he liked Weezer well enough, but the shirt was actually a hand-me-down from his brother. Given how sullen he was when we met, he was a lot chattier than I expected. We were sitting on the floor, door open at Mom’s insistence. “So what kind of name is Persephone?” he asked, stuffing a third Oreo into his mouth. Sam didn’t seem to have the same problem. As soon as we were alone, I was tongue-tied with nerves. I’d never had a boy in my bedroom until that first evening when Charlie dropped Sam off on the doorstep of our cottage. Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic story of love and the people and choices that mark us forever.

The summer after carley fortune