Superior Hearts Summer, page 1
Copyright © 2025 by Olivia McCarthy
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
Generative AI training usage of this work is prohibited.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
ISBN (paperback): 979-8-9908446-8-1
ISBN (ebook): 979-8-9908446-9-8
Editing & proofreading by Caitlin Miller
Cover design & typesetting by Benita Thompson
Content Warning
The following story is a kisses only romantic comedy that contains issues some readers may be sensitive to:
- parental abandonment
- references to addiction and gambling
- alcohol usage
- fade to black between married couple (in bonus scene)
Contents
1. Paige
2. Connor
3. Paige
4. Connor
5. Paige
6. Connor
7. Paige
8. Connor
9. Paige
10. Connor
11. Paige
12. Connor
13. Paige
14. Connor
15. Paige
16. Connor
17. Paige
18. Connor
19. Paige
20. Connor
21. Paige
22. Connor
23. Paige
24. Connor
25. Paige
26. Connor
27. Paige
28. Connor
29. Paige
30. Connor
31. Paige
32. Connor
33. Paige
34. Connor
35. Paige
36. Connor
37. Paige
38. Connor
39. Paige
40. Connor
41. Paige
42. Connor
43. Paige
44. Connor
45. Paige
46. Paige
47. Connor
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
1
Paige
April 1st
April Fools is not for vampires. It’s a regular day that should not involve costumes. But my job as the part-time phlebotomist at Dr Gartinen’s pediatric office required me to dress up. I don’t know if Dr. Gartinen wanted social media promo photos and thought ‘perfect opportunity!’ or if he confused April Fools Day with Halloween. Either way, it was actually for the kids. So I did it. I hated it. But I did it, because it made the kids laugh when I drew their blood.
This is why, at 5:17 p.m. on April 1st, I am walking down the street of Viewport, Michigan, I’ve lived on for my entire life in a vampire outfit, complete with false teeth, and clutching an envelope of forms to my chest. My black cape swirls in the wind, and I kind of love the dramatic flair. But not enough to do this for fun anytime soon. LARPer, I am not.
The whole reason I’m still in this crazy getup after work is because Blaze, my now-eleven-year-old neighbor, who I’ve babysat for nine years, will get a kick out of it. Phlebotomist, vampire—ha. I thought I was clever too.
I’m on my way to give Blaze’s parents my application for working at their pre-teen leadership summer camp. Chet and Ember recently decided to reopen the camp as a way to give back to the Yooper community, and Blaze’s mom is the closest thing I have to a sister. So when I told her I felt stuck in my job, stuck in Viewport, and stuck in general, she told me to think about working at the camp for them as a ‘nurse’ and counselor. Ember gave me a stack of papers and told me the job was there if I wanted it.
Ember’s husband, Chet, can be intimidating, but what Ember says goes. His love for her means that, even if I’m not exactly what they envisioned for the position, I’m guaranteed the job.
I hated every moment of being in this stupid costume, and now I feel more stuck than ever. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I spent my lunch break in my car filling out these forms. I don’t want to take advantage of Ember’s kindness, but maybe this is an opportunity to do something different. I have to give them to her before I chicken out.
The snow has melted into puddles, and it’s misty. The wind has a bite to it that hints at winter weather. I wish I was wearing a hat, but a hat on top of a wig seemed overkill. I’ll have to ask Ember if we’re in the clear or if we’re projected to have any late winter snow storms. We usually get a few in April, with at least one in early May, but with where we’re situated right off the water of Lake Superior, the weather isn’t small talk. It’s life. And as a local meteorologist, Ember is somewhat of a celebrity and everyone asks her about the weather. She never minds.
I dodge a puddle on the walkway of the O’Malley’s house, climb the porch steps, and knock. After watching Blaze for so many years, I have a special knock to let him know it’s me. We made it up together. Three sharp knocks followed by six taps of my palm against the door—we even have a rhythm because percussion is fun. I’ve just gotten to the second tap of my palm when the door is wrenched open and I pitch forward, false teeth and all, into the arms of…not Blaze.
These arms do not belong to anyone I know. They are muscular and covered in black long sleeves. I drag my eyes up the arms to a broad chest and discover this man is wearing a henley. The top button is undone. My eyes travel up his neck, across a lightly stubbled jawline, and, finally, his head. He’s taller than me by at least six inches. His dark brown hair hangs in perfect coils sitting just above his shoulders, blue eyes, and lips curved into a deep frown. He’s wearing a backward baseball cap. I can’t. I don’t do interacting with attractive men. But this one looks like a dark-haired Heath Ledger in Ten Things I Hate About You, and goodness knows I have a LOT of notebooks filled with ridiculous fiction regarding that particular no-chance scenario. Since Heath left us, I haven’t found a new celebrity crush. But this guy—he could be it.
I straighten and step back, embarrassed at having fallen, and begin apologizing profusely. The fatal flaw in that plan is that my stumble jarred my false teeth, and now my speech is unintelligible. I think I’m spitting. Great. Now I look like I have rabies.
“Thowy!” I say as I back away, unsure where to put my hands or what to do with my teeth.
Blaze runs around the corner. “PAIGE!” He gives me what can only be described as a bro high-five. He outgrew hugging me last year, and as his long-time babysitter, I definitely cried. Blaze looks from the man to me. The man glares at my head. “We’re learning about shipwrecks in school!” Then, with a crinkled brow, he says, “You didn’t do our knock. I would have gotten it if I heard it.”
I sigh, then attempt to tell him that I was about to knock, but there’s a flaw here too. I can’t take my teeth out because where would I put them? Capes don’t come with pockets.
I choke on my own saliva. The man in black snakes his hand out and taps me on the back, attempting to clear my airway. My teeth go flying with the impact and land on the floor. My face reddens as both Blaze and the attractive man’s eyes follow the projectile teeth.
“Paige?” Blaze asks. “Why are you dressed like that?”
The mystery man scowls deeper.
“April Fools!” I squeak, keeping my eyes on Blaze and trying to ignore the man’s disgust. “We…uh…dressed up at work, and I thought you’d like to see it. But that was a mistake, and these are for Ember, and if you could give them to your mom, I’d be really grateful. Ok. Byeee.” I thrust the envelope into Blaze’s hands and turn to leave. I hustle out of there and am already off the front porch when a deep voice calls out.
“Wait, Alice.” I turn around slowly, even though Alice is not my name. The man in the black henley stands at the edge of the porch, his hand outstretched. He opens his palm and smirks at me. “You forgot your teeth.”
Humiliation burns in my throat as I trudge back to the porch. I grab the slimy teeth and stare at where his black joggers meet white socks. Thanks,” I say before walking away as fast as I can without running.
2
Connor
The vampiress apparently known as Paige walks faster than an Olympic speed walker down the sidewalk. I ignore the cold and lean against the porch railing. I watch until she disappears up a driveway and through the side door of a house down the street.
My hand is slimy from holding her ridiculous teeth. Growing up as the youngest son of a dentist, I spent a lot of time at the office. I’m immune to spit and teeth, whether real or dentures. Also, do you know how many people forget their teeth, retainers, or night guards at hotels?
I wipe my hands off on my joggers. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt anything around a woman, and that was unexpected.
Yes, the Halloween costume was odd for April, but she had a reason. I can’t believe I called her Alice—a nod to the Twilight obsession Kaleigh made me endure during our relationship. Paige’s flushed face was bright red, but not before I noticed the light dusting of freckles across her nose. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight bun at the nape of her neck, and I wonder if it was part of the costume or if she wears her hair like that usually. Her eyes were wide and blue, and the way she fell into my arms felt…right. Which is bizarre. Because absolutely nothing about that interaction was normal.
Thinking of Kaleigh makes the cold nipping at my face even more welcome. My long-time girlfriend and I always talked about getting married young. I’m a caboose, with a big age gap between me and my next oldest sibling. I guess I wanted to even the field a little. I was tired of being the baby, the last to do everything. And I really do want a family of my own. I love kids. They never mind the goofier side of my personality. My nephew, Blaze, is awesome. If it wasn’t for Ember having a baby this summer, I’d beg Chet and Ember to let Blaze come to camp. As it is, I understand they want to soak up time with him and settle in as a family of four. I’m happy for them. But I want what they have. With less drama. I love my brother, but he is a Class-A idiot. Or, he was. He’s shaped up and is lucky beyond belief that Ember and Blaze are in his life.
I replay the interaction in my mind. Calling Paige ‘Alice’ was a mistake. Now I can’t stop thinking about the incident.
When I proposed to Kaleigh over a year ago, she said no and broke up with me. Adding insult to injury, the whole thing was filmed. I hired a photographer and videographer duo to make us sparkle in the sunshine like the vampires in Kaleigh’s favorite scene from Twilight. This involved glittering me with stage makeup. It was awful and itchy, and glitter was stuck to my arm hair for months. Because I paid the company, they delivered the footage within a day, just like their super-fast turnaround time promised. They even edited it into a montage. Her coming to the clearing, redwood trees towering in the background, me waiting for her—and we both sparkle. There I am, down on one knee, and I look like I’ve been dropped in a pool of glitter. She gets away with only having a sparkle filter edited onto her. And the woman who loved Twilight sees me, shrieks, puts her hands over her mouth, and begins to say, “NO!” Repeatedly. For eight minutes.
Apparently, we’d been together for too long, and she had bigger ambitions. I’m not sure if that meant the actual Edward Cullen was who she wanted to be with, but it clearly did not mean me.
After that, I watched the video multiple times a day for a week until Chet came to California. And bless him, when he saw it, he did not laugh. He destroyed my video, but I know Kaleigh was sent a copy, too—part of the contract I signed.
Chet’s romance with Ember was the stuff of sheer stupidity, but he’s good in a crisis. If anyone could understand being a fool in romance, it’s him. My brother helped me pick up the pieces of my life without Kaleigh. He helped me sell my possessions and then offered me a job.
He told me about how he and Ember had been playing with the idea of opening Gramps’ old camp and hunting property back up and making it a tween leadership camp. The camp needed significant supervision, and since Ember and Chet couldn’t be there to handle the day-to-day stuff, and I had experience in hospitality, Chet asked me to be the manager of the camp. My first advice as manager was not to use the word tween. Preteen, please.
I finished out my contract with the boutique hotel I managed, packed up my apartment, sold almost everything, and moved to Michigan. Northern Michigan. Technically I was born here, but my family left for sunnier California when I was six. My memories of living here are sparse, but I do have memories of Gramps’ property. Every year from ages nine to thirteen, my parents sent me to stay with him for a week in the fall. Every year, I learned all I could about responsible firearm use, hunting, caring for the land, and all of Gramps’ tall tales. I miss him.
Gramps is gone now, but Chet is here. I’m crashing at his house for the next week before I head over to the camp and begin preparing for the campers.
The wind whips up, and I can smell the unique scent of Lake Superior. Water shouldn’t be so big unless it’s an ocean. Lake Superior didn’t get the memo.
Ember’s round belly comes into view before she does. “What are you doing out here, Connor? Blaze was looking for you. Something about needing to finish beating you in a video game?”
I grumble. I might be the worst person to ever touch a video game controller in the entire world. Blaze is merciless in beating me, but I can’t blame the kid. He’s my favorite nephew, and I’m pretty sure I’m his favorite uncle. A sacrifice to my dignity is worth it.
Ember smiles knowingly, fans herself, and turns her face into the wind. Over the past few days, I’ve heard her mention the temperature being hot several times. It is not hot in April in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but I’m not going to argue with her. I like my sister-in-law a lot. She’s been good to Chet, and she’s an amazing mother. She’s also pregnant, so nope, not arguing.
She leans her hands over the railing and takes a deep breath. “What’s bothering you?”
“Kaleigh,” I say, and my voice comes out rougher than I expected.
Ember puts an arm on my shoulder, which is comical because at six feet three and a half inches tall, I’m taller than her by a lot. She shifts her weight from side to side and pulls me in for an awkward hug. I try not to bump her belly, but she’s seven months pregnant.
She shifts away after a brief sisterly but also motherly hug. “I’m sorry. But why?”
“Uh. I was just remembering the…vampire proposal. The girl at the door earlier was dressed as a vampire.”
Ember takes it in stride. I know Chet told her about the vampire proposal. I also know that Ember isn’t one to mock. “What girl?”
I shrug and point down the street to where Paige disappeared. “Paige.”
“Paige? She was here?” Ember peers around like Paige is going to pop out of the bushes below the porch.
“Yeah, but she left.”
“Dressed like a vampire? Why? How?”
“She said it was April Fools. Something for work.”
She laughs. “That’s actually really perfect for her job, but it probably went over all the kids’ heads. Most importantly, was she dressed like a Twilight vampire or Dracula?”
I find myself wanting to know what she does for work, but Ember would be like a dog with the scent of a bone if I asked or showed interest. Especially since I just admitted to thinking about Kaleigh, the last person I had romantic feelings for.
I settle for answering her question with details. “Pointy teeth, black cape, red cumberbund.” I really want to know if the hair was part of the costume or her actual hair. But I also don’t want to give too many details. No hints that my heart stuttered when she was in my arms. Nope. That was nothing.
“Ahh, so Dracula. But that doesn’t have anything to do with the Twilight vampires, right?”
“It was odd.”
“So, other than her boss confusing Halloween and April Fools, what did she want? She isn’t babysitting Blaze until we take you to the camp next week.”
“She gave Blaze an envelope and said it’s for you.”
Ember brightens. “She’s going to work at camp with you! She’s just the sweetest. I’m so glad for her. You have to look out for her. She’s had a rough few years, and she needs someone she can look up to. I think she’s twenty-four, only a year younger than you. You finally get the chance to be an older brother! She’s practically a big sister to Blaze, so there’s a family connection here somewhere.”
That’s not good. Because the last thing I want is to form a sisterly connection with Paige.
3
Paige
End of April
Ember asked me to babysit Blaze a few weeks ago. She and Chet need to go to the camp property and open it up for contractors to begin working on updates. Camp is about three hours from Viewport, so they’re leaving before dawn and won’t be home until late.
I haven’t seen Mr. Handsome-You-Forgot-Your-Teeth guy again, and since it’s been a week, my mortification has faded a little. He was probably some friend of Chet’s and was just stopping by. I’ll never have to see him again. The thought both soothes and stings my heart. We could have had such a wonderful future.
