RECOMMENDED READING
The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones. BY DAVEN MCQUEEN
YAREAD Historic AN EXCERPT Fiction | Wattpad Books | June 2020
True to her word from that first day in the Malt, Juniper Jones did, in fact, see Ethan soon. She strolled into the shop that Monday morning in a flourish of checkered fabric that startled Ethan from his sleepy reverie. He hadn’t slept well the night before, tossing and turning as he ran Aunt Cara’s words over and over in his head. That’s just the way it is around here. And yet this, here, was where his dad sent him to learn the consequences of his actions. This, in his father’s eyes, was what he deserved. Shame and fear had weighed heavy on him all night, and now as Juniper approached, he could hardly manage a smile. She didn’t notice—she seemingly started talking before she even walked through the door. By the time she reached the counter, she had finished her sentence. She stared expectantly at Ethan. 58
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2020
“Come on, Ethan Charlie Harper,” she said, after a second passed without his response. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already.” This, despite everything, drew a laugh out of him. Ethan already knew that Juniper Jones would be impossible to forget. He shook his head. “You were talking too fast. What’d you ask?” Juniper sighed theatrically. “I asked,” she said, “what the special of the day is.” Ethan blinked at her. “Special of the day?” “Yeah, you know—the hot new flavor, one day only, get it before it’s gone.” She shaped her voice into that of a radio-commercial broadcaster, throwing out her arms for emphasis. “We don’t really do that here.” He pointed up at the menu on the wall behind him. “Those are your options.” He was sure that she, a loyal customer, knew this
well. Still, she was unfazed. “Sure you do that here,” she insisted. “Look at all these ingredients you’ve got. You could make the best special of the day the world has ever seen.” “I don’t really know how I would—” Juniper reached across the counter, cutting him off with a hand to his arm. “Try. Please?” She looked at him so kindly, so imploringly, that Ethan wondered if she saw through his tired gaze, and knew, somehow, what he had heard in the general