Dear Zoe

As summer vacation begins, Tess spends more time with Jimmy. He builds a lightweight chute that they can hoist between their windows so Tess can climb down to his room, where they get stoned, talk, and kiss. Jimmy tells Tess his mom and dad had five kids by the time his mother was 27. She got pregnant with Jimmy when she was 40 and developed cancer 10 years later. Jimmy reveals she sang to him every night and that his father blamed him for his mother’s death. When Jimmy started to get in trouble, his father sent him away, as if he didn’t care. Tess argues with Jimmy on this point, and after, she feels Jimmy begins to treat her more as an equal.

Jimmy gets Tess a job working at Thelma’s Lemonade Stand at the Kennywood amusement park, where Jimmy also works, operating the Skycoaster. Tess’s coworker Vicky often leaves in the middle of the day to hook up with people who buy lemonade, but Tess doesn’t mind because she gets to eat lunch with Jimmy most days. Her dad picks her up at the end of the day and does a few deliveries, and Tess falls asleep with Frank.