The-Lucky-List-Rachael-Lippincott

Recommendations

Info

My eyes widen in surprise. I had no idea. “Wait. She what? France?”“Yeah,” he says, chuckling. “She studied French in high school and was determined to get out ofHuckabee one day and board a plane there for good. You know, marry some stylish Parisian and eatbaguettes by the Eiffel Tower and shit.”I laugh, giving him a once-over in his torn jeans and sweat-stained T-shirt.“Eventually, she just wanted to go to France,” he says, noticing my look and smirking. “And then wegot married, and had you, and she realized she had everything she needed right here in Huckabee.”He gets a distant look in his eyes, a furrow forming on his forehead. Finally, he clears his throat,taking one last solemn bite of his cereal.“You good?” I ask him as he puts his bowl in the sink, the spoon loudly clattering against theporcelain bottom.He nods, looking back to give me a small, thin-lipped smile.“That wasn’t very convincing,” I say.He laughs, calling out, “I’m great! Never better!” before kissing me on the top of the head andleaving for work.I look down at the tattoo on my mom’s arm, processing all this new information. An invinciblesummer. Her invincible summer.If the quote is the key, I finally know what I have to do.I don’t even bother to clean the dishes. e second my dad crosses over the threshold, I’m tearing upthe stairs to my room. I duck under the edge of my floral bedspread, my hands clawing at the box I’vehidden under my bed.I rifle through everything, the manila envelope, the stued moose, the soccer T-shirt, until I see thebook, nestled into the corner.I pull it out to see “L’ÉTÉ” is written across the front in a bold red, “par Albert Camus” justunderneath it in black.And… there’s my first problem. As I flip through the yellowing pages, I realize this entire book is inFrench. With three years of Spanish under my belt, I couldn’t find the quote she’d pulled her tattoofrom even if I tried.I stop my flipping, my brow furrowing when I see there’s a page missing, a gap between 156 and 159,the jagged paper near the binding the only clue that something had been there.She’d ripped a page out.I could probably just Google it? Or…I flip back to the title page and see a faded blue stamp reading “O’Reilly’s Used Books,” and suddenlythe possibility of my first bucket list item is sitting right in front of me.9. Buy a book in another language.If they have this exact book, not only would I check my first list item o, but I could figure outwhat that missing page said. And, if I could figure out what the missing page said, I bet I could figure
out what the whole quote was. I could find my answer.It isn’t much, but it’s a place to start. Finally.
Page 3 and 4: This one’s for you, Mom. I love y
Page 5 and 6: moving back into town after twenty
Page 7 and 8: of those babies,” my dad whispers
Page 9 and 10: It’s her eyes, though, that start
Page 11 and 12: “Not so much anymore,” I say.an
Page 13 and 14: same words hundreds of times. I alw
Page 15 and 16: I smile at him, nudging him right b
Page 17 and 18: distance just in front of me, HUCKA
Page 19 and 20: apron and my pink Nina’s Bakery h
Page 21 and 22: resident gay of Huckabee.”Blake l
Page 23 and 24: 4A few hours later I push open the
Page 25 and 26: chance.Blake appears in the closet
Page 27 and 28: “Do you hate it?”She’s the fi
Page 29 and 30: “I can’t believe your dad was s
Page 31 and 32: She stops dead and looks back, our
Page 33 and 34: Could I do them too?
Page 35 and 36: “I spent my morning slaving away
Page 37 and 38: I have to do it myself.I picture it
Page 39 and 40: Until now. If I can stop chickening
Page 41 and 42: I sigh, shutting the water off and
Page 43 and 44: My name will come up. Matt will get
Page 45: words become clearer, the block let
Page 49 and 50: She grins and shakes her head at me
Page 51 and 52: fiction books, and World War II his
Page 53 and 54: “Au milieu de l’hiver, j’appr
Page 55 and 56: “I’d hate to have to take the t
Page 57 and 58: calculus class she was probably the
Page 59 and 60: thinking they already know.”It fe
Page 61 and 62: “Okay. Fine. It has to be a small
Page 63 and 64: 11I usually don’t work on Sundays
Page 65 and 66: I’m honestly not sure we’d be f
Page 67 and 68: dust behind us.I glance out the win
Page 69 and 70: much just be hiding out in my house
Page 71 and 72: 13I sit on the steps of my house, s
Page 73 and 74: My eyes widen, and I give her a “
Page 75 and 76: now that she’s on the other end o
Page 77 and 78: to set, sending a shower of deep or
Page 79 and 80: She’s the first person I feel lik
Page 81 and 82: the cat dragged in.”“Nice to se
Page 83 and 84: 15I meet up with Blake aer work on
Page 85 and 86: check off “3. Go on a picnic” a
Page 87 and 88: “Blake! I swear to God, don’t l
Page 89 and 90: 17I spend most of the next day hidi
Page 91 and 92: afternoons. But I also think about
Page 93 and 94: pumps are older than dirt.”“No
Page 95 and 96: Claire in Kauai over spring break,
Page 97 and 98:
wrist. “Your mom gave it to my da
Page 99 and 100:
I’d needed someone more than anyt
Page 101 and 102:
We’re planning on camping out in
Page 103 and 104:
Blake’s silent, leaving a space f
Page 105 and 106:
20The first thing I feel when I wak
Page 107 and 108:
“Valid point.” She nods, pausin
Page 109 and 110:
needles and all that.Even though I
Page 111 and 112:
21When we pull up to my house, I’
Page 113 and 114:
A new start.I push it away, whirlin
Page 115 and 116:
e story had gone viral aer a local
Page 117 and 118:
23The second Nina pulls into the pa
Page 119 and 120:
“Yeah.” He nods. “Okay.”Rel
Page 121 and 122:
My voice trails o and I hold up the
Page 123 and 124:
25The next forty-eight hours pass i
Page 125 and 126:
She turns around to look at me, her
Page 127 and 128:
Blake’s shoulder brushes against
Page 129 and 130:
27This is exhilarating.My adrenalin
Page 131 and 132:
really wants. Except for this.”It
Page 133 and 134:
look down at Matt. For a moment I w
Page 135 and 136:
e thought pushes me out of the room
Page 137 and 138:
I drop my bag in the entryway, my v
Page 139 and 140:
29The second I walk into Nina’s t
Page 141 and 142:
wanted,” I say. “All the years
Page 143 and 144:
I think about all the years we’ve
Page 145 and 146:
carefully uproot a sunflower to rep
Page 147 and 148:
his arm around me. “Hey! I still
Page 149 and 150:
And if my mom taught me anything th
Page 151 and 152:
A new chance, just like the one I h
Page 153 and 154:
boyfriend a girl could ask for.en J
Page 155 and 156:
More from the AuthorAll This TimeFi
Page 157 and 158:
Also coauthored by Rachael Lippinco
show all

The-Lucky-List-Rachael-Lippincott

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?