In Search of Tomorrow ✓

Twenty-One

The next morning, I was so exhausted that I barely had the energy to roll out of bed. The hype from the soccer game had left me wide awake well past midnight, flicking through the channels on the TV in the living room while I absentmindedly flipped through To Kill a Mockingbird.

When I'd finally gotten to sleep, it had been fitful, and I when I looked in the full-length mirror across the room I saw I had dark circles under my eyes.

Yawning, I set my feet on the floor, letting them sink into the carpet, and stretched. It was only Tuesday—I could already tell it was going to be a long week.

After I'd pulled on some satisfactory school clothes (jean shorts and a plain t-shirt) and done my makeup, I brushed out my hair and then headed downstairs to start on breakfast. I'd barely turned on the oven to heat it for the frozen waffles when the phone rang.

I found myself wondering grumpily who would call at this indecent hour as I stomped across the kitchen and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I asked, stifling a yawn.

The voice on the other end of the line was all too recognizable. "Evelyn?" she asked, sounding resigned. "It's Katie."

I'd already known that, and I also had a feeling exactly what she was going to say. My gut twisted uncomfortably and I sat down at a barstool and crossed my legs at the ankles.

"I closed down Skyport Creamery," said Katie quietly, her voice breaking a little. "I'm sorry. Nobody's been coming in. They opened one of those commercial ice cream shops a little ways down the road and everyone's been going to that. You know business has been slowing down and slowing down, and it's just stopped lately. I can't afford to keep the place open. You should probably start looking for a job elsewhere."

She broke off her long monologue breathlessly, as if she'd been trying to get it all out in one painless swoop. But it hadn't been painless. I could literally feel the world crashing down around me.

"Evelyn?" she asked quietly.

I took a deep, shaky breath, exhaling loudly through my nose. "I understand," I said. "Thanks for everything, Katie."

"I still want to keep in touch, Evelyn," she said. "If you ever need anything, I hope you know to call me."

Numbly, I thanked her and then hung up the phone, my hands shaking as I set it back down on the counter and went back to making breakfast.

I spent the rest of the morning like a zombie, getting Maddie and Clare ready and then braving the rainy weather to drive to school. After I'd dropped my sisters off at the elementary school, I drove to the student parking lot and then stepped outside into the cold drizzle, not caring that I was ruining my hair.

I ran into Cameron just outside my locker—he was leaning against it with his hands in his pockets, clearly waiting for me. He still looked thrilled and a little tired from his victory the previous night, but even his smile couldn't cheer me up completely.

"What's up, Evelyn?" he asked me as I silently began unpacking my backpack and sorting through my textbooks. "Is everything okay?"

I turned to him, looking so happy and at ease, and had to remind myself that his life wasn't perfect, either. "I lost my job," I said. "Katie shut down the ice cream shop."

"Why?" he asked, his forehead wrinkling. "I loved it there! I've gone there for years."

"Clearly you were one of the only ones."