Dear Miss Advice,
It’s June in Peterborough and I think I’m falling for someone I keep seeing on patios and around downtown. Is this how summer love starts?
— Hopeful for No Reason
Dear Hopeful,
Yes. That’s exactly how it starts. With eye contact, warm weather, and a completely unwarranted sense of possibility.
June is very persuasive. Everyone looks charming when they’re half-lit by sunset and carrying a drink. You mistake availability for depth, banter for connection, and before you know it, you’re romanticizing a man whose best quality may be “owns two decent short-sleeve shirts.”
Summer love is real in the same way fireworks are real: briefly exciting, mildly dangerous, and mostly smoke by morning.
— Miss Advice
Dear Miss Advice,
Why does everyone in Peterborough seem to couple up the second summer arrives?
— Alone at the Marina
Dear Alone,
Because nothing brings people together like heat, boredom, and a deep fear of eating on patios by themselves.
Every June, Peterborough fills with temporary soulmates. Suddenly people who ignored each other all winter are strolling hand in hand by the lake as though they’ve found The One, rather than just someone willing to split nachos and compliment their sunglasses.
Relax. Most summer romances are just seasonal produce: appealing, overpriced, and gone before Labour Day.
— Miss Advice
Dear Miss Advice,
A man asked me to go for a sunset walk by the lake. Should I be flattered?
— Suspicious in Sandals
Dear Suspicious,
Flattered? Mildly. Impressed? Absolutely not.
The sunset walk is Peterborough’s most beloved form of budget seduction. It costs nothing, looks romantic, and allows a man to seem thoughtful while investing less than the price of fries. Very efficient.
Go if you like. Fresh air never hurt anyone. Just remember that a scenic route is still a route, not a personality. If all he’s brought to the table is waterfront ambiance, then congratulations: you’re dating geography.
— Miss Advice
Dear Miss Advice,
I’ve started seeing someone new this June and everything feels easy and exciting. Should I trust it?
— Optimistic in East City
Dear Optimistic,
No.
Next question.
June is when bad ideas put on sunglasses and call themselves destiny. Of course it feels easy. Nobody’s arguing over Christmas plans, furnace bills, or who failed to text back on a Tuesday in November. You’re floating along on sunshine and hormones, which is lovely, but not exactly a firm foundation.
Enjoy it if you must. Just don’t start using the word “different.” That’s how the trouble begins.
— Miss Advice