Page 42 of One Last Time

“I put them in your trunk earlier. Ready to go when you are. Hey, do you think May will have any fries ready yet?”

May, it turned out, wasn’t overly surprised to find Lee had tagged along. Although Dunes wasn’t technically serving lunch for another thirty minutes, she got him a soda and a bowl of fries. She didn’t ask why Lee was here, but she did ask why he had red smeared all around his mouth and why my tongue and teeth were bright blue.

We explained the bucket list to her, and Lee said, “And later we’re doing laser tag.”

“Oh! That’s…” She gave us a curious look, her smile a little stiff. “No offense, but that sounds kind of…normal.” Then she groaned melodramatically. “Why do I feel like there’s a catch with you two?”

“It’sStar Warslaser tag,” I explained with a grin. “We’ve got Han Solo and Princess Leia costumes. We wore them for Halloween a couple years back. Lucky they still fit.”

“Noah didn’t feel like renting a Chewbacca outfit and joining in,” Lee added.

May laughed. “You kids. I hope you bring in some pictures! Oh, hey, looks like we’ve got customers. Elle, time to get to work.”

I was worried Lee would be a distraction, but it turned out I was so run off my feet once the lunch rush started that I barely had time to spare him a glance. Idid,however, notice him taking a phone call, looking unusually serious. I walked over before dropping an order to the kitchen, long enough to hear him talking in a deep, gruff voice.

“Yes. Yes, of course. Next week is fine. Thank youso muchfor understanding about the short notice. Mmm-hmm. I’ll be sure to let her know. Have a great day.”

“What was that about?”

Lee jumped, and there was an unmistakably guilty expression on his face. He looked at me with wide, bulging eyes for a moment and then coughed, waving his phone at me. “Oh, nothing. Just, uh, just the realtor. Canceling. They double-booked us.”

“And called you?”

“Mom gave them my number. Help organize things around the bucket list, you know?”

Huh. Well, I guessed that made sense.

“Now, don’t you have tables to serve, missy? Those fries aren’t gonna eat themselves.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Lee?”

He looked up, and so did I. It was quiet—a lull after the last of the late-lunchers left and before the early dinner-goers arrived, something that, a couple of weeks into summer and several shifts into working at Dunes, I was getting familiar with. I was putting away glasses under the bar.

“Yeah, May?”

“What are you doing?”

Lee and I exchanged a confused glance. He looked down at the mop in his hand and the bucket. I could see him thinking the same thing as me: Was this a trick question? “Uh…mopping?”

May gave a long sigh, crossing her arms. “You don’t work here. Stop mopping.”

“But the floor was sticky.”

May gave him a sharp look, a mom-type look that said,Don’t talk back to me, young man.He gave her a bright, winning smile, even pulling out the puppy-dog eyes. May threw her hands in the air, waving them in front of her like she was trying to wave away bad juju.

“That boy,” she told me with a sigh. She didn’t add anything else, but I guessed there was nothing elsetosay. I knew exactly what she meant and smiled at my best friend.

“Tell me about it.”

“Anyway,” she said, taking a breath. “Elle, I’ve got you working a double today, don’t forget, and I’ve put you down for those extra shifts you wanted next week.”

“Oh. O-okay. Thanks.”

She gave me an odd look. “Is that a problem?”

“No!” I blurted. “That’s great. Thanks, May, I appreciate it.”