jade green / jumeaux & lockhart.

The week of the lake cleanup, Finch starts waking to the whistles of robin's on the wind again. Spring break comes to an end, and with it Amis leaves. Nestled on her windowsill, unable to sleep through to morning, Finch would swear the robins are singing just to cheer her up.

It'd been Mrs. Jumeaux's idea, and Finch has never much been good at delivering disappointment, never mind to the woman who'd been treating her like a daughter in law since before anyone had any clue which of her boys she'd marry. Besides, when a Jumeaux has an idea, it's usually better to nod and sip your iced tea than to ask too many questions. They are nothing if not relentless in the pursuit of what inspires them.

Then both Finch's family sciences and her actual environmental science teachers mentioned the lake cleanup. They even passed around little sign up sheets, promising bonus points on their next finals if they participated to pick up the communities lakeside fronts. She'd scribbled both her and Ambrose's names immediately before passing the sheet along to her classmates, most of whom only pretended to look at it as if they were considering it.

Finch knows Ambrose could use the extra credit though. She doesn't blame him for grumbling about eating into weekend time, but all it takes is a bat of her eyelashes to remind him she's helping. She swears.

Besides, they just got off Spring Break. He can manage. She even packed handmade peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches to make the day easier.

"We can work on those freckles," she says to him on the day of, tapping the tip of his nose while grinning up at him. "You've gone all pale this winter. You could use some sunshine."

She pushes up on the balls of her green rubber boots and kisses his ivory cheek before running her hand down his arm to take a palm in her own. Hand in hand, she leads him to the tent and smiles their way through the volunteer organization process. An unfamiliar woman wearing green-cat eye glasses attached to a thin beaded chain frantically tries to give directions that confuse most, but Finch soothes her with a gentle voice and a few leading questions that eventually helps sort the crowd into smaller groups to work on different sections of the lake.

When they are finally in their cordoned off area, Finch finds herself wondering if Amias would've come with her as readily. She hopes he doesn't come back one day thinking he's too good for something like this.