Chapter 9

Even though Emily is almost dry by the time we slide into a bright red booth, the waitress with a nametag reading Judy gives us free milkshakes after complaining that Emily looks like a limp rag. I can't imagine a place like this in Hawaii where a restaurant would know me so intimately or care what I look like.

"We missed you last Sunday," she tells Emily as she slides two towering chocolate milkshakes onto the table, her arm reaching up to lean casually against the booth.

"My dad had work," Emily says as she pulls the two books and her mom's list out of the bag. I "But we should be in this weekend."

I didn't realize Emily and her dad came here every week and the feelings of closeness make a lot more sense.

"We've got your dad's favorite on the menu. Hal's making his meatloaf," she whispers with a wink. She nods to me. "Bring your friend. I'll make sure you get an extra big slice."

"Alright, Judy," Emily says. I'm sure my dad and grandma would actually enjoy coming here with me for meatloaf. It's the kind of thing people in small towns enjoy. I nod enthusiastically to Judy who smiles in return.

"What was your mom's tattoo?" I ask as I pick up the Albert Camus book and flip to page 157, taking a quick sip of the milkshake before I begin reading.

"It was on her arm," she says, swiveling her phone to show me a picture of her mother, glowing in the light of fireworks, a tattoo visible on her left arm. "It says an invincible summer."

I study the picture, nodding. I read through the pages, looking for the quote. Emily goes back to looking at her phone, sighing.

"Au milieu de l'hiver, j'ai découvert qu'il y avait en moi un été invincible," I read out loud when I find the line. Out of the top of her book, I see Emily's eyes snap up to me. I look up from the book and meet her eyes, astonishment written plainly on her face.

"You speak French? Why didn't you say something?"

"I wanted to, but someone was a little too eager to get over here to let me get a word in edgewise." I'm teasing her and I see that faint color rise to her cheeks again. And I wonder if now I'm blushing too. "Took it in middle school. I was thinking of maybe minoring it in college."

I hadn't been thinking that until now. Actually, I'd been thinking about minoring in Japanese so I could speak to my grandparents better. But the expression on Emily's face when she heard me speak French makes me want to speak it. A lot more. Emily looks down when her phone pings and we break eye contact.

"So do you know what it means?" she asks me, sliding around the table and sitting in the booth next to me, making my skin tingle with the heat of her so close to me. She peers over my shoulder and I tap the sentence I just read out loud.

"It means something like, in the midst of winter, I found within me there was an invincible summer." Emily nods slowly, taking it in. She squints at the words as if better vision will allow her to understand them. The seconds tick by in silence as we process the sentence. It's really a pretty beautiful concept, the idea that our dark days are just that, days, and the light will continue. Some days, particularly when I'm missing my friends and family, I really need to remember that. My eyes tick over to Emily who is still staring at the book in confusion. She's my invincible summer, I think to myself.

"Well, that's just great," Emily says, throwing her hands up after a minute passes. "What does that even mean?"

Her frustration is amusing and I laugh before I can catch myself. Then, I pull out my phone and send Emily the translated sentence in a text before leaning on the table to look at Emily. I think of my mother's letter and how I've gotten so much out of it, even though the words haven't changed in seventeen years.

"Well, maybe that'll change. It may not mean anything now, but maybe it will one day. Maybe you just need to finish the list or something first."

"I am deep in winter, Blake. Nothing about the summer is invincible," she mutters, reaching out to grab her milkshake and take a long, slow sip.

"Not yet," I clarify, smiling at her. "I mean maybe it didn't make sense to your mom at first either. Maybe her summer didn't exactly start out as an invincible one. But it became one."

It definitely feels that way to me, like I started this summer sure it was going to be horrible. And now….I don't know. It's definitely not horrible, not with Emily around. Not that I want her to be miserable, but I'm really lucky Emily blew up her social circle before I moved here. She bites her straw, mulling over my words.

"Besides, you've already taken the first step," I say, reaching past to grab the pen Judy left on our table. I hold it out to her before spinning the list to face her too.

#9. Buy a book in another language.

Emily takes the pen and carefully puts a small blue checkmark next to it.