This Summer Will Be Different
by Carley Fortune
Contents
Chapter 27
Overview
One year earlier, Lucy and Felix spend an intense night together at his home, awakening deeper feelings for Lucy. Fearing risks to her shop and to her friendship with Bridget, Lucy retreats, framing the affair as casual. Felix masks his reaction, and Zach collects Lucy for her flight instead of Felix.
Summary
In a flashback to the summer a year earlier, Lucy wakes in Felix’s bed after a passionate day and night together. She notices his carefully maintained home and a shelf displaying the books she mailed him, including a marked passage from Great Expectations that suggests deep feeling.
Confronted by the intimacy and by Felix’s tenderness, Lucy realizes her own feelings have intensified. She recalls her obligations to her struggling shop, In Bloom, and her devotion to Bridget—especially the warning not to fall for Felix. The potential fallout frightens her.
Panicking, Lucy lies that her work system has crashed and asks Felix to drive her back to the cottages. Felix studies her, then goes along, lightening his tone. When Lucy tries to set distance, Felix deflects with, “I had a good time. That’s what we do, right?” which Lucy reads as him treating it as casual.
They part with plans for breakfast before Lucy’s flight, but the next day Zach arrives instead, saying Felix can’t make it. Lucy leaves PEI believing she alone lost control while Felix kept it casual.
Who Appears
- LucyNarrator; realizes deep feelings for Felix, panics about In Bloom and Bridget, lies to create distance, and leaves.
- Felix ClarkSpends the night with Lucy; reveals tenderness and keeps her books; then masks feelings, calling it a good time.
- ZachPicks Lucy up for the airport when Felix doesn’t show, saying something came up.