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directly into
the Wisconsin River and magically transformed into a boat.
    The Duck entrance at Echo Point was right
around the turn near the beginning of the Lower Dells Boat Tour, and every time
I rounded that corner, my heart skipped a beat, as I was hoping to see Dolly,
the Duck Aaron drove. Although each time I secretly wanted it to be Aaron, it
didn’t really matter because the Duck company seemed to hire only good-looking
college men in their twenties, and I was happy to flirtatiously wave at any one
of them.
    I was still somewhat infatuated with Aaron when
I came home from college for the summer. I never really got an answer to what
went wrong in our relationship, and I blamed myself somehow. Now I wondered if
anyone could ever love me the way Aaron once did. Could I really now be finding
a way to break free from the hold Aaron had on my heart? My mind came back to
the present, and somehow Nolan was only a few feet away from me.
    How did he move so quickly without me knowing?
    He randomly picked a brochure for the Tommy Bartlett
Ski Show off the rack and nervously rolled it into a tube. “So, how was your
day?”
    Something told me this wasn’t a good idea. Why
risk heartache again?
    I pulled my tongue out of the back of my throat
and squeaked out, “Fine. We sold books.”
    Dammit ! Why did he come off so smooth while I
sounded like an idiot?
    He gave a chuckle under his breath. “That’s
good.” He moved in closer, and I could smell his cologne. The scent just about
tipped me right off my feet when he suddenly stopped his momentum, turned on
the spot, and headed back over to the ticket counter.
    I snapped out of his delicious scent-hold and
wondered what I did wrong. I turned and breathed into my hand for a quick
breath check. Was my hair more hideous than I had thought?
    He stayed at the counter, doing something by
the till. It was odd behavior.
    “Well, I have to get going. My parents will be
expecting me.” I started backing out of the booth, still facing him, unable to
turn away. The next few seconds passed in slow motion as my foot smashed into
the corner of a metal stand holding up the American flag. The flag crashed to
the floor with a loud clang and I flew backwards, grabbing the rack of
brochures to break my fall. But it didn’t. The papers went flying through the
air as I landed on my right hip on the concrete floor, covered in brochures for
Dells attractions and a metal rack on my chest.
    Oh my God. Did that really just happen?
     Nolan jumped up from his spot at the
counter and ran over to my side. He dug me out of the pile of brightly colored
papers, asking if I was okay.
    That was it. I just ruined my chances to spend
any time with this cool, alluring boy this summer. Who would want to be with
“Ava the Clumsy”? I was mortified and wanted nothing more than to hide in the
cave of brochures on top of me and never see Nolan again. 
    I opened my eyes and found his blue eyes not
more than four inches before me. His breath on my face confirmed the lack of
space between us.
    Three beats of silence passed as we searched
each other’s eyes for answers, and then a tiny chuckle escaped Nolan’s mouth.
He tightened his lips, trying to hold it back, but it was so cute I collapsed
into laughter. Relief played on his face as he offered a hand to help me up,
and we laughed comfortably for a minute together.
    I knew right then no matter what happened this
summer, I’d never forget the time Nolan watched me pick a fight with a brochure
rack.

Chapter
Five
    Twenty minutes later I parked the Olds in front
of my parents’ house on Capital Street, walked up the sidewalk and through the
front door.
    My mom was an elementary music teacher and
spent her summers working in the garden, sitting on church committees,
quilting, and reading. My father had always worked in the bank industry. I
didn’t really know exactly what he did, only that he
had climbed his way to the top and now sat as the head of some rather