The Summer that Changed Everything (Complete)

Chapter 2 - Dinner with Brady

*****The Next Day *****

Lynn sat in her room at her bay window staring at the cordless phone in her hands as if it was some sort of ancient relic. Her Mom had gotten all these old phones out of the storage boxes in the attic and gotten the landline phone re-activated earlier. She let Lynn write down the phone numbers of all her friends and family on a piece of paper before she locked her cell phone away. 

She dialed the phone number of her best friend Kate but of course she didn't answer because she wouldn't recognize this number. She left her a voicemail explaining the nightmare she was living in called the cell phone free summer and told her to call her back at this number. A little while later the phone rang and she looked at it in her hands and realized she had no idea who was even calling. That was so weird. 

She clicked the answer button and said, "Hello?" 

"Cell phone free summer? Really?" Kate asked before busting out laughing like crazy. 

"Ha ha. I'm glad you're enjoying this because I am completely miserable. I don't even know what to do with myself without my cell phone. It's SO freakin' boring! Not only that, she shut off Netflix and the wifi and took away our laptops too. She even took away Wes' video games!" 

"Oh my gosh. I can't even imagine. What does she expect you guys to do?"

"She said she wants us to get outside and experience the world the way that she did growing up without all these gadgets. She actually told us to go outside and meet the neighbors. Can you imagine? Just walking up to a stranger's door and saying hi. That would be SO weird." 

"Oh my gosh. You're literally living my worst nightmare right now. I'm so sorry," she said, before laughing again. 

"Oh guess who moved in across the street where old Mrs. Graetter used to live?" 

"Who?" 

"Brady Quinn." 

"Seriously? That's crazy."

"Yeah. That's what I thought. It's going to be SO weird having him as a neighbor."

She heard her Mom yell from downstairs for her and her brother so she told Kate goodbye and sat the cordless phone back on the charging dock. As she made her way out into the hall Wes was coming out of his room too and he looked just as miserable as her. 

"This really sucks," he grumbled. 

"Yeah tell me about it," she agreed, stomping her way downstairs with a pouty face. 

When she walked into the kitchen she saw her Mom standing at the mixer pouring some milk and adding butter to some homemade mashed potatoes. 

"Wow Mom. You made real homemade mashed potatoes and beef and noodles from scratch ......... AND homemade rolls? You must REALLY be trying to impress these people," Wes laughed, sticking a finger in the mashed potatoes and licking it off. 

 Their Mom smacked his hand and said, "Stay out of that! I'm just trying to be neighborly. It's nice to get to know your neighbors. Now you two go help set the table. There's going to be four of them so set 7 places." 

Lynn noticed that her Mom had straightened her long brown hair until it was smooth and shiny and had put on makeup and was wearing a cute outfit too. She looked really pretty. Wes was right. She must really be trying to impress these new neighbors. 

Pretty soon the doorbell rang and her Mom grabbed both her and Wes's arms and led them towards the door to greet their guests. When the door opened there stood a very handsome man in his mid forties with blonde hair, a big white smile and tanned skin that looked like an older version of Brady Quinn.