Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Summer
My phone was blowing up with notifications, as if I needed anyone to tell me what was wrong. I had fucked around, and boy was I finding out.
I needed to handle this in person.
So here I was, adulting the hell out of it, yet still feeling like a fraud as I stood before Victor in my old apartment building. With cupcakes.
“You didn’t have to do that, Miss Landry.”
“It’s Summer. And I never thanked you properly for saving my belongings. I hope that didn’t get you into trouble.”
“It was a pleasure. And no trouble. A couple of days after Mr. Nyquist picked up your stuff, I got a visit from Mr. Kershaw who told me not to worry. Gave me his number and said to call if”—he lowered his voice—“Mr. Carter tried to punish me for going against his wishes. Said he could get the team’s lawyer to assist with any employment issues.
Luckily, Mr. Carter didn’t retaliate except to act a little cold to me, but it was nice to know a guy like Mr. Kershaw would think of a guy like me. ”
Yes, it was. “Theo is one of the best.”
“Not Theo. Hatch, Kershaw the Younger.”
Hatch had done that for Victor? And he hadn’t breathed a word about it. That was so sweet, but then everything about Hatch Kershaw was.
The phone on Victor’s desk rang. “Yes, Mr. Carter. Right away.” He turned to me and said, “You can go up now, Miss Landry.”
“It’s Summer,” I muttered.
My internship had ended yesterday in Rockford, and this morning I drove to Chicago to see Dash. He’d unblocked my number and was apparently receptive to the idea that I would visit in person and apologize for how much I’d hurt him.
Again.
But first he needed to exert another power play. For fifteen minutes, I had been forced to wait in the lobby.
I was to squirm.
I was to grovel.
I was to crawl to him on my knees.
That’s when it struck me.
Shelby Mae would never.
What was I doing here when the one person I truly wanted to see was less than a mile away?
I had messed up with Dash, and I had apologized for doing so.
I wasn’t going to apologize for the circumstances of my getaway, or the fact I felt free for the first time in years, or that Hatch was the man who made all that possible.
Was the man I loved.
And I did love him. So fucking much.
I took a step back from the lobby desk.
“Miss Landry?” Victor frowned as I backed up even further.
“I won’t be seeing Mr. Carter today.” Or any day. I refused to give him any more of my power.
“You won’t?” Still baffled.
“No need for you to do a thing, Victor. Enjoy the cupcakes!”
The firepit’s flames flickered, casting shadows on the various plants and flagged stones around the patio. I pulled the fleece blanket tighter around my shoulders, hoping to fight off the chill of the night as well as my doubts.
He wasn’t here.
After abandoning my visit to Dash, I had tried to surprise Hatch at his condo. When he didn’t answer, I called Addy, who said he’d gone to Saugatuck. So here I was, aiming to surprise him with a grand romantic gesture.
The only one surprised was me. The house was shuttered, the rooms dark. I had retrieved the key from under the stone frog, and now I was sitting outside because I felt closer to him here than anywhere else.
Sending him a text after going dark for so long seemed weird. But I needed him to know I was trying.
Funny story …
I came to the lake to find you. Kalamazoo, not the other one.
You’re not here.
Then I waited. Each moment that passed without a response was absolute torture.
Distancing myself from him had seemed like the best option, but once our secret became common knowledge, a new clarity overtook me.
I had an idea about how to make things work, but first I needed to talk to Hatch.
See if he felt the same, if he had felt the void of separation as deeply as I did.
If he could see his way to forgiving me for pushing him away.
I checked my phone again, its silence damning. The night air edged cooler, the flames started to dim, and with them my hopes of—
Was that a footstep?
A figure appeared at the end of the path leading to the not-pool house. Hatch emerged from the shadows, looking seriously grumpy.
“Why aren’t you in Rockford?”
“My internship ended yesterday. I drove to Chicago to see you today.”
“Well, I drove to Rockford to see you.”
“You did?”
“I wanted to surprise you. Then Addy called me and said you were here.”
“She told me you had come here.”
He smirked. “Well, I didn’t want anyone to know I was going to see you, so I told everyone I was heading to Saugatuck for a little pre-season R&R. I’m tired of everyone knowing my business.”
He came closer, and just the sight of him in the firelight had my heart clattering wildly. His face was tan, his hair a little long, his eyes—sparkling, if somewhat irked that I couldn’t for the life of me make it easy on him. Typical Summer.
“You’re here,” I breathed.
“I am.” He held out his hand. “Let’s go for a drive.”
As my palm curled around his, I wanted to squee, but I was also too nervous. I shouldn’t have been. After all, we’d taken decisive steps toward this moment. Both of us moving toward our destinies, another chance at redemption.
He opened the passenger side door of the SUV and helped me inside.
On the road, neither of us spoke. I knew where we were going: a place that had history for us, where we had come together in explosive fireworks.
Once parked, it was second nature to allow him to hoist me on the hood.
He climbed up and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders.
“Still beautiful,” I said, gazing at the lake.
“Sure is.”
I turned to find him looking at me with that trademark Hatch intensity. “Still corny.”
“Hey, it’s a romance classic.”
We were here, where it all started, and I hoped, not where it would end.
“How did your internship go?”
“I learned so much. I felt like my work really made a difference.”
He smiled. “I’m happy for you. You deserve to have your hard work recognized.”
I reached for his bruised jaw. “Dash hit you.” Addy had told me and I couldn’t resist touching the evidence.
“I had it coming.”
“I didn’t talk to him after the article came out. I thought I should but then … I realized I can’t keep apologizing. I can only do what will make me happy.”
He turned to me, his eyes shining with so much hope it almost broke me.
“Your career—that makes you happy. I get that, and I’m sorry I tried to fix it my way.”
“No, please. You were trying to do right by me. It might not have been the best method, but the intention was lovely. I overreacted. Lauren told me about your contract. How you made signing it contingent on getting me into the internship.” I shook my head. “She was not pleased.”
His lips curved. “I signed anyway. Ryder had made a good faith effort to honor my request. And I wanted to stay in Chicago.”
This guy. “But you did that. For me.”
“I would do anything for you, Summer. Tell me you came to see me because you want to make it work. We can do long-distance, I’ll fly to wherever you are, I’ll fucking clone myself. Whatever it takes.”
I couldn’t help my smile. “More than one of you? Not sure the world could handle that.”
But he didn’t smile back. He was hurting. I had hurt him, and he wasn’t ready to joke about it, clone offers notwithstanding.
“Tell me why you’re here,” he whispered, his voice laced with pain.
“To see you. To talk to you. To ask you about what comes next.”
“Ball’s in your court, Sunshine. You tell me.”
I bit my lip. “I’ve found a job.”
“Already?”
“I’ve been working toward it for a while now, but I couldn’t tell anyone until some things were settled. Have you heard about Lauren’s plans?”
“She’s leaving Mallinson to create her own boutique sports management agency.” A long pause while his mind made the connections. “You’re going to work with Lauren?”
“She asked me to come on board to do research and analytics with a view to becoming an agent.”
His eyes lit up. “Based in Chicago.”
“Right. And if anything was to happen, such as my boyfriend being traded to another city, I can work from anywhere. There’ll be a lot of travel, and our schedules might be crazy but—”
He drew me close. “Ball’s in my court now.”
And then he kissed me.
The relief at his lips touching mine flowed through me like a sensuous wave. I had missed him so much, and this closeness, in the dark where it all began, was filling my heart to overflowing.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he murmured against my lips. “So many times over the last couple of months, I’ve looked up at that moon and wondered if you were watching it, too.”
“In all those strange countries? I want to hear everything about your travels.”
“Sad in Split, heartbroken in Helsinki, miserable in Marseille?”
“I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “It’s okay. I needed to be all those things. I needed to miss you like hell because while I was doing that, you were on your own journey. One I hoped would lead you back to me.”
I touched my forehead to his. “This journey of mine didn’t just start the day we said goodbye.
It started the day I jumped out of that church bathroom.
You broke my fall, Hatch, in more ways than one.
You caught me, rescued me, held me close.
I needed that. I needed you. Then I needed you to let me go. ”
“Which I did. Reluctantly.”
“Yes. But you still did it. You tried to shield me and keep me safe, but ultimately you recognized that I needed to rescue myself. That I had to make my own way, at least for part of the journey.”
He released a sigh. “I get that. I do. Only you’ve been making your own way for so long, Summer.
I think you thought Shelby Mae was gone, replaced by this new, improved you.
But she’s still with you. She’s the one who had the guts to claw her way out.
To fight. I want Shelby Mae and Summer. I want all the parts of you. ”
I swiped at a tear. “Thank you.”
See? I’m not such a bad bitch to have on your side.
No, Shelby Mae, I guess you’re not.
Hatch smiled at me. “Also, I want to travel that road with you, not because I think you can’t manage by yourself, but because I think the path sometimes has potholes and rocks.
I want to fill those gaps and kick those rocks out of the way for you.
I also happen to think the view from the path looks better when two people are traveling it, looking out for each other.
” He shook his head. “Damn, that’s one tortured analogy.
What I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to be the boss of you.
How could I be when you’ve owned my heart for so long? ”
More tears welled. “I’ve made you suffer, haven’t I?”
“It’s been good for me. The Golden Child shouldn’t get everything too easy.”
I laughed softly. “You mean you’re glad you didn’t shoot your shot all those years ago?”
“Fuck no. We’ve missed out on five years, and frankly these last two months have probably taken another five years off my life, so you owe me. Big time.”
I smiled. “Ten years?”
“Forever.”
I liked the sound of that. I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“I love you.”
“Thank Christ, because I love you, too.”
“I think I’ve been falling for you since you made me a sandwich that first day, since you put taking care of me above your heartache. I realize now how hard that was for you, but you were still there for me. No hesitation. No reservation.”
Hook, line, and Summer.
“I’ll always be there for you.” He gentled me back on the hood. The moonlight caught the copper tones in his hair, the perfect chisel of his jaw and cheekbones, giving him that dark angel energy I loved. My man had never looked more beautiful.
Or more focused.
I pulled at his belt buckle. “Think you can last this time?”
Those moss-green eyes shone back at me, more than up to the challenge. “With you, Sunshine, I can last as long as you need me.”