Their Last Summer

The Real June (2023)

"It's nothing", Connor says, throwing his cup in the trash can.

I guess asking about Victoria won't give me anything to work with. I need to jump right to it, "You were close with June?"

Connor looks surprised by the question, "Yeah. She was always around because of Mags."

I nod my head, "Yeah, they seemed pretty close."

Connor agreed, "Definitely. When she went missing Mags would cry all the time."

How could Maggie feel that bad about June going missing, and not want to help now? It just didn't add up. "Yeah. It was a rough time for everyone."

We sat there a few more minutes before Maggie called us over to work on balloons. The color theme is blue and gold. June's favorite. I'm on my tenth balloon when I look around. Things are really coming together. There's lights and a big movie projector to play the video. I look over some more and see Debbie. I think back to her kissing me. I should apologize again, but she probably doesn't want to see me right now. I'll reach out another time.

"Hey! It's Henry right?" Penny asks.

I stop blowing air into the balloon, "Yeah that's me."

Penny looks around, "it's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Absolutely, June would've loved it." I say, and she really would have. She would've asked me to dance and called me "Grandpa Henry" when I told her no. She would've eventually got me out there though.

"Guests should be arriving soon."

"I better get to blowing then." I say, holding up the airless balloon.

Penny laughs, "Yeah."

It's been 20 minutes and people are starting to get here. I look around and see my mom. She waves at me and goes to stand with some of her friends from church. More and more people arrive. I see June's Aunt Emma and walk over to her.

She sees me and her face lights up, "Henry! I'm glad to see you."

"Glad to see you too Ms. Emma", I say hugging her. "Where's-"

"She passed."

June's mom had passed away and I didn't know about it. She was such a sweet person. "Wow. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, we knew it'd happen before long", Ms. Emma's face looked aged with grief.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." I say, swallowing the lump in my throat.

Ms. Emma puts her hand on my shoulder, "It's okay."

"I should've been there."

"You don't need to be bogged down with all this regret Henry." She says, in a whisper.

"I know. I should be going now, but it was good seeing you." I know she's right, but I can't let her words sink in right now.

I walk towards Isaac, who looks like he's freaking out. "What's wrong?"

"Penny just said she wasn't giving a speech anymore." Isaac says, running his hand through his hair.

"What? Why not?" I ask, in shock.

"Something about "too many people being here"."

"So she just backed out at the last minute?" I ask, feeling my anger grow.

"I don't know who's gonna fill her spot. You think Maggie would do it?" Isaac asks, desperate.

"I mean she should." I think back to the schedule, "Wait. She's gonna be picking up the cupcakes from across the street when the speech was supposed to happen."