Free Grave Concerns by Lily Harper Hart

enjoying yourself. Nick and John will clean the fish.”
    Nick waited for his mother to disappear before turning to Maddie. “I will buy you a car if you clean these fish.”
    Maddie sighed, resigned, and held out her hand for the knife. “You’re going to be massaging me for hours tonight. You realize that, right?”
    “That’s a job I have no problem doing.”
    “I’ll help him,” John offered.
    “I’ll supervise,” Kevin chimed in, his eyes wide.
    “You have quite a way with the boys,” Howard said, smirking. “How does it feel to be the most popular woman at camp?”
    “Ironically it feels a lot like gutting fish,” Maddie said, plunging the knife into a trout gullet and causing Nick and John to make disgusted noises. “It does have its perks, though.”
     
    “YOU have to go first.”
    “No, you have to go first.”
    “I don’t want to go first.”
    “You’re the boy,” Hayley said, hands on hips. “You have to go first. It’s the rules. I don’t make them. I do have to follow them, though.”
    Maddie watched the teenage drama play out with a half smile. The teenagers cavorted by the riverbank as John taught his smallest minions the finer points of the Winters’ fire dance. He even took his shirt off and made war paint, making sure he was in character for the lesson. Despite his earlier words, Maddie had a feeling he was enjoying himself.
    “What are you doing, love?” Nick asked, moving up behind Maddie and kissing her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He rested his chin on her shoulder and studied the teenagers. “What are they doing?”
    “Debating who is going to start the game of Spin the Bottle first.”
    Nick balked. “Some of those kids are only thirteen,” he said. “They’re too young to play.”
    “There’s also adults everywhere,” Maddie reminded him. “They’re not really going to play. They’re going to dare one another to be the first to start the game until one side folds. Don’t you remember being that age?”
    “Vaguely,” Nick replied. “Actually, I remember thirteen and fourteen being really rough ages. By the time I hit fifteen things were okay again. Thirteen and fourteen sucked, though.”
    “I hated every age between twelve and seventeen,” Maddie admitted.
    “Why? I thought you were adorable.”
    That was a lie and they both knew it. “Nicky, I could’ve been the before picture in a Clearasil ad.”
    “I … well … .” Nick brushed his lips against Maddie’s cheek. “That’s a teenager thing. I had zits, too.”
    “You had zits for exactly two months and then they cleared up,” Maddie reminded him. “I had them for five years.”
    “And then they cleared up and you developed boobs in the same summer,” Nick said. “You came back to school looking like a model.”
    “I think you’re exaggerating.”
    “I’m not exaggerating, love,” Nick said. “Every guy in that school wanted you.”
    “You didn’t,” Maddie countered. “It took you forever to even notice that I had boobs.”
    “And when I did, what happened?”
    “Are you going to tell that funhouse story again?” Maddie asked, wrinkling her nose. “That story makes me feel … weird.”
    “You don’t like that story? Come on! We were seventeen. We were in the funhouse at the fair. You got scared and threw yourself on me. Out of nowhere I realized your boobs were huge. I was instantly in love.”
    “I think we need a more romantic story than that to mark our love,” Maddie countered.
    “That’s what happened, though.”
    “I know. It’s just … I’d been trying to get you to notice me for a week before then. That’s why I bought that stupid bikini.”
    Nick stilled. This was the first time she’d mentioned anything of the sort. “You bought a bikini because you were trying to get me to notice you? That’s kind of cute.”
    “It had daisies on it.”
    “I remember.”
    “You do not,” Maddie argued. “You’re just saying that