Chapter 16
Summer
Later that week, Zander asks to speak with me while I’m cooking breakfast. “Darling, I’ve had a last-minute job come up, and I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Some visiting dignitaries are coming into the state, and they hired us to fly them around, but the other Finn pilot is sick. I’m the only other person at work who has his small aircraft license, so I need to take the job or cancel. I would be gone tonight and Saturday night.”
“I’m fine with it. Let me check with the guys to see who’s available,” I reply, pulling out my phone to send a group text. Surprisingly, Bay offers to stay with me. “Bay can stay. Take the job, Zander.”
“Thank you, Summer. I’ll let Troy know.” Squeezing my shoulder, he walks into the office.
After breakfast, Zander drops me off at school. Opening my locker, I find a white envelope with no name on the outside. Warily, I open the seal and pull out a lined sheet torn from a notebook.
Dear sister,
I thought I should write to you at school in case you didn’t get my last letters. Since you didn’t write back like I asked, are you happy knowing I’ll always be in your life? That your dead little sister has a big brother she’ll never know because of you?
Part of that money is still mine. I won’t be in here forever. Someday we will reunite, and I will take what is mine.
Forever,
Ben
Closing my eyes, I pull in a very deep breath, holding to the count of five. He does not get to control me anymore. He's locked up and can’t get to me. I'm safe.
“Summer, are you alright?” Opening my eyes, I see the guys watching me, concern etching their features.
“I will be.” Passing E the letter, I finish switching my books out for the day, slamming my locker a little too hard. One moment at a time.
The guys are passing the note between themselves, reading it. Alex hands it back, brows furrowed. “How many does this make?”
“I honestly don’t know. Zander hasn’t told me, but I need to keep this for Mr. MacLeod.” Pushing it through the slats in my locker, I want to scream. My frustration is mounting. Who is he working with at the school this time? Will this escalate like last year? “Let’s get to class, please.”
All the guys seem to stay a little closer today.
None of us like this after the kidnapping last year.
Alex informed the principal, and Bay had the idea to put a piece of mesh behind the locker door slats to prevent someone from pushing another letter inside.
It’s a long, tiring day, but we’ve done all we can right now.
As we're walking to the parking lot after school, I hear Seb’s name called. We all stop and look around. “Oh, shit,” Seb says. I follow his line of sight to see Beth standing between a row of cars. She looks okay, but her eyes are darting around frantically as if she fears something.
I take Seb’s hand as we walk over to her as a group. “Beth, where have you been? You haven’t called or texted,” Seb asks, stepping forward.
“Sebby. I’m so sorry. I lost my phone. Can I talk to you for a minute?” She asks, grabbing his hand and watching us warily.
Seb lets her pull him away until we are out of earshot. “She’s high,” Nick grunts as my concern grows. Nothing good will come out of this.
I see Seb pull his wallet out and hand her some cash. She kisses his cheek and scurries away to the far side of the lot. E and I approach Seb, who hasn’t moved yet. “Hurry, what’s going on?” I ask, taking his hand.
“She wanted money. Her boyfriend cut her off.” He looks so dejected, with shoulders slumped and his head hanging forward.
“Nick said she was high?” E questions.
“Yeah, I think so too.” He leans back, running a weary hand over his face. “She never asked how I was or anything. Just went straight to asking for money.”
I watch the sadness seep into Seb as E wraps an arm around his shoulders. “I’m sorry. Did she tell you where she was staying?”
“No, she wouldn’t answer any of my questions, just kept repeating she needed money. I had only $50 on me, so I gave her all of it. I hope she doesn’t use it to buy more drugs.”
“Me too. Come on, the rest of the guys are waiting.” E turns us around to walk back to our vehicles.
I hop into Bay’s Honda when we're ready to leave. He has to pick Olivia up and drop her off at the shop before we drive to my place. “Thanks for offering to stay with me Bay.”
“You’re welcome, Summer,” he smiles. “The timing worked out. The shop has slowed down, so I don’t need to work as much.”
He drives us to an older-looking elementary school 15 minutes away.
Despite its tired appearance, the landscaping is well-maintained and clean.
I follow Bay through the front door. A reception area is just inside, where an older woman greets Bay by name.
She makes a call, and minutes later I hear Olivia yell my name.
Turning, I find her jogging down the hallway towards us.
“Hey Olivia,” I smile as she slams into me.
“Bay didn’t tell me you were picking me up. Bad Bay,” she scolds him, wagging her finger. The receptionist and I laugh at her as Bay rolls his eyes.
“You'd already left for school when I found out, squirt. Ready to go?”
“Yes. Bye, Ms. Rogers,” she waves as she grabs my hand to lead me back outside.
“Where’s my hug?” Bay asks her.
Olivia sighs and lets my hand go to hug him. “Sorry Bay. I was excited to see Summer. Can we get ice cream today? I bet Summer wants ice cream too. Don’t you, Summer?” She asks, turning towards me. She puts her hands together in a pleading gesture, blinking her eyelashes up at me.
“Sure. I can always eat ice cream,” I shrug with a smile.
“Yay! I know the best place. Mr. Jim makes the ice cream himself, and he lets me sample all the new flavors.” She grabs my hand again and pulls me along. Bay is shaking his head at her, but has a smile on his face.
He drives us to an older-looking downtown street.
After finding a parking spot, we each take one of Olivia’s hands to walk as she talks nonstop.
We enter a small convenience store, and Olivia leads us towards the back.
There’s a small ice cream shop there with a wall of windows overlooking a side street.
You wouldn’t know it existed if you were driving by.
“Mr. Jim,” Olivia greets a large, older man behind the counter with an apron on.
“Olivia,” he smiles. “How ya doin’, girl?”
“Good,” she replies. “This is my friend Summer. You got any new flavors this week?” She asks, peering into the display case.
“Nice to meet ya,” he nods. “I have two new ones this week. Let me get ya yer samples.”
He grabs two little paper cups and adds a spoonful to each one, setting them on the counter. “The yellow one is pineapple and mango. The other is blackberry almond.”
Olivia quickly eats both. “Good job, Mr. Jim, but I think I’ll have a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of blueberry today.”
“Comin’ right up. What can I get ya, Bay and Summer?” He asks.
I peruse the flavors as he gets Olivia’s order.
Bay requests a scoop of pineapple mango, and I order a scoop of dark chocolate and a scoop of cream.
We take a seat at a table to enjoy our ice cream, and it’s fantastic.
You can tell it’s homemade; the consistency is so smooth and creamy.
Olivia tells us about the bean plants she’s growing in class and about a new boy who just moved here.
When we’re done, Bay drives us to the shop to drop Olivia off, where find David under the hood of an older car. After chatting for a few minutes, we leave for my house.
Once we get home, I tell Bay to grab a snack and get comfortable before I text Zander and call Sarah.
We’ve been talking through the E situation more, and my nightmares lately.
When I’m done, Bay follows me into the garden to harvest enough for a fresh salad.
Bay grills some burgers on the barbecue for supper while I construct the salad and make a dressing.
After dinner, we spread out on the dining table to do homework. “Summer, I wanted to give you a heads up. I’m going to ask another girl to homecoming. I didn’t want you to be blindsided or hear from someone else.”
“Oh,” I say, kind of shocked at the news.
I know we won’t be together because of the other guys, but I wasn’t expecting something like this so quickly.
Seb mentioned homecoming at lunch earlier in the week, though.
It’s the first basketball game of the season, and there’s a pep rally on Friday and a carnival and dance on Saturday. “Thanks for the heads up, Bay.”
“I need to find a way to move on from you, Summer. This is the best way I can think of,” he says, reaching over to squeeze my hand.
“I understand,” I smile sadly at him. This is rough. I’m going to have to watch Bay with another girl. I’ve never been in this type of situation before, and my heart hurts, but I have to respect his decision. I remind myself I have three amazing guys already and not to be selfish.
Luckily, Seb calls my cell, interrupting my pity party. I put him on speaker as we complete our homework and chat.
We decide to spend Saturday and Sunday at Alex’s beachfront house since it’s supposed to be sunny and hot this weekend.
After clearing it with Zander, Bay drives us down on Saturday morning.
E won’t be joining us, unfortunately, because he has something going on with his grandparents.
I pack some of the processed food from the garden for us to eat.
Alex is already there when we arrive. He meets us at our vehicle to help carry the cooler into the house. “Morning,” I greet.
“Good morning. Seb and Nick are on their way. They should arrive soon. Did you eat breakfast?”
“We did,” I nod. Once inside, I take my bag upstairs to my room, opening the doors to the deck to allow the warm, salty air inside.
Back in the kitchen, Alex is eating some eggs along with a coffee at the island, and Bay is putting the food away. “So, what do we want to do this weekend?”
“The water will be warm, so I would like to spend some time in it,” Alex replies. “I am not sure whether we will get another chance to return before the weather changes.”
“Then lets spend as much time as possible at the beach,” I smile.
Once Seb and Nick arrive, we gather supplies from under the house and head to the beach.
I help them set up the canopy and chairs before we lather up and hit the water.
Alex was right; the water feels warmer than it has all summer, and it’s wonderful.
Seb gets goofy, throwing me around in the water while Nick swims laps like he's in a pool.
Alex and Bay practice staying underwater as long as possible to increase their lung capacity.
It's something they do every time we stay here.
We swim and vegetate most of the day. Alex and I make sandwiches for lunch, and we eat at the beach.
After sunning for a while, Nick, Alex, and Bay go back into the water while Seb and I relax on towels in the sun.
“How was last night, Sunshine? Were things awkward with Bay? What did you do after we got off the phone?”
“Good. No. Tv,” I smile. “He told me he was asking a girl to homecoming next weekend, though.”
“Oh shit. I’m sorry, Sunshine. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It hurts, but I want him happy. It is what it is,” I shrug. “I’m not looking forward to seeing them together, but he’s my friend, so I’ll suck it up.”
“This sucks,” Seb grumbles. “Our senior year was supposed to be awesome, and it’s all messed up already.”
“I know. Don’t lose hope yet, though. We’re just getting started,” I say, reaching over to plant a kiss on his cheek.
For dinner, we cook meat over the bonfire, followed by s’mores. It’s a wonderful, relaxing evening.
The next morning, we all go for a run, with Nick and me quickly outpacing the rest of the guys.
We practice self defense at the end of the beach once the guys have caught their breath.
With four on one, we manage to tackle Nick a few times.
Working out always relaxes Nick, and he's smiling by the time we finish.
We make our way back towards the house at a slow jog, all of us deciding to plunge into the small waves to cool off. I end up floating on my back beside Nick and Seb while Alex and Bay bob in and out of the deeper water.
The guys decide to set up the volleyball net after lunch, and we play a few rounds of three on two before some teenagers join us for two more games.
The guys and I form one team, and we have a few laughs.
I have no idea who won or what the score was, but the others are friendly and nice, so it works out well.
We gather our stuff and lock up the house to head home late afternoon.