Chapter 28
SUMMER
“For those of you who don’t know her, this is—”
“Miss Maimy!” Quinn shouts, cutting off Brian’s introduction.
Over the last two weeks, every part of my life has slipped into a steady routine: carpool Quinn and Henry to school, manage Emma’s client schedule at the law practice, spend my evenings with Everett and Quinn now that his songs are written, and on Mondays after speech therapy, the two of us lead the talent show practice. It’s a shock to see anyone else here.
Quinn rushes for the stage where her teacher is waiting with open arms.
“Quinn! I didn’t know you would be here!”
“What’s going on?” Everett asks as we approach.
Brian faces us, hands folded, shoulders rolled back. “I was just introducing Mrs. Farris’s replacement to the group. Miss Amy has agreed to take over the play.”
“It’s two weeks until the performance,” Everett argues.
“And we’re doing a talent show,” Blake points out.
I’m at a loss for words. Unable to look anywhere but at Brian.
Irritation plasters his face as he stares at me. “What talent show?”
“Isaac and Noah are doing a magic trick!” Etta claps.
“And Henry’s bringing his bearded dragon!” Noah volunteers.
A muscle in Brian’s jaw flexes. “Summer, can I speak to you in the hall for a second?”
Everett steps in between us. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Brian folds his arms. “I recall informing both of you week one that I would be finding someone else to help. This shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
“And it’s been a month since then. Summer has taken the lead on this for four weeks, and you’re just going to come in here and kick her out?”
“Does this mean we have to go back to the play?” Etta’s bottom lip wobbles. “There aren’t any fairies in The Rainbow Fish.”
Brian’s gaze tracks to the heap of props beyond the stage curtain he must have missed. He ignores Etta’s question and looks at Everett. “Nobody said anything about kicking Summer out, Mr. Dawson. She can stay if she wants to.”
“I’d love to see what you all have been working on,” Miss Amy says. Her supportive tone adds another voice to an already overwhelming majority on our side.
No matter what, this isn’t a conversation Brian’s going to win.
He knows we’re right. There’s no time to start over.
Props have been made and parts rehearsed.
We need all the practice we can get. Memorizing lines takes weeks.
These kids would never be ready in time for the play that was planned before.
I touch Everett’s arm. “It’s okay. I’d like the opportunity to explain.”
“I guess you’ll be filling her in on this talent show,” Brian grumbles to Everett as he steps away from the group.
Be right back, I mouth to everyone before following Brian into the hallway. I wait until the door closes behind us and we’re clear down the hallway out of earshot before I start speaking. “I can explain…”
He whips around. “There’s nothing to explain. Typical Summer, doing whatever she wants.”
“This isn’t about me,” I argue. “These kids want a voice. They had no say in the play before.”
“Yet they still chose to show up. It’s voluntary.”
“Yes, because they’re creative and smart and funny and interesting and they wanted to showcase that. Instead of forcing what that looks like, I let them take control. Don’t you want that for the students at your school?
Didn’t you want that for me? The underlying message of that comment hangs in the air between us.
“It wasn’t your place to say yes to this!” he chastises.
“I know. I should have run it by you. But this isn’t even about the talent show and you know it. This is about control over me!”
He scoffs. “There is no controlling you. That much is obvious. Now, apparently, you’ve resorted to making stuff up to look successful too. A law firm, Summer? Nice cover-up.”
“Excuse me?”
“According to Celeb Magazine, you’re nothing but a glorified babysitter.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, heading for the gymnasium door. This conversation no longer deserves my time.
He snags my wrist. “Did you wear the red dress for him too?”
I jerk my arm away. “That’s none of your business.”
A chuckle bubbles up from his chest, dark and diabolical. “You think this one will last any longer than every other job you’ve failed when you’re screwing your boss?”
He doesn’t see it coming. One second he’s smirking at me and the next I’ve slapped it off his face. A stinging sensation spreads across my palm as he lifts his hand to cover the red welt it left behind.
“What do you want from me, Brian? You left me!”
“I want you for once to have to work for what you have,” he spits, dropping his hand.
My mouth falls open. “You’re jealous. That’s what our divorce was.
You’ve been strapped to a career you detest for years, and you resent me for not experiencing the same thing.
Well, guess what, Brian… you chose this life for yourself.
I never asked you to follow in your father’s footsteps.
I would have supported you through anything you wanted to become. ”
“Support me with what money, Summer? You were never realistic. We would have been broke if it wasn’t for me!”
“I wasn’t talking about finances. Heaven forbid we have an emotional connection over a fiscal one. I didn’t need the house with the land or a title attached to my name. I would have been happy in a shack if it meant we were passionate about each other and pursuing our dreams.”
“Not everyone has parents who give them a choice,” he argues. “Some people have to work hard regardless of what they want.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry you felt you had to live up to your parents’ standards, but you’re an adult who hasn’t lived under their roof in years.
You don’t get to do the same to me by tying my worth to your expectations.
I refuse to be trapped in a life that doesn’t bring me joy.
If you ever loved me at all, you would have wanted that for me too.
Instead, you threw me out because you couldn’t bear to see me happy in moments you weren’t.
This was the right decision for us. I can’t imagine raising children with someone who doesn't love and respect me.”
He blanches.
“I hope you got everything you ever wanted—a stable job and a big old 401k to go with it,” I finish.
I’m fuming when I leave him. Struggling to settle the feelings I’ve pushed down in his presence and the conversation we should have had a long time ago. I found more love and respect in the last two months of my life than I was shown for twelve years in the one I shared with him.
I take three deep breaths before I reenter the gym. Everyone’s in full costume and spread across the room. Props are placed and a playground from a magical storybook is what their imaginations created onstage.
It never occurred to me that I’d love this—working with kids—as much as I do.
I’ve never understood how anyone is expected to know what they want to do with their life without trying it first. This fulfills me is the thought running through my head as I take in all that those four weeks with these talented kids have accomplished.
“You okay?” Everett asks, leaving Quinn’s side. Blake is slowly rolling her around the gym floor on his skateboard.
I should be honest with him that I’m anything but. I can’t here, though. “I’m fine.”
Everett slides his arms around my waist. It’s the first time he’s touched me in front of Quinn or anyone else.
A declaration that I am, in fact, sleeping with my boss, even if I haven’t been nannying as much as I was before he finished his songs.
Tears are threatening to surface as I pull away from him.
I don’t want Brian to be right about me, and I can’t fall apart in front of everyone.
“You don’t have to pretend you’re okay with me. You deserve to be pissed or hurt. The guy tried to bulldoze all of your hard work.”
“He brought Miss Amy in here because he thinks I won’t see this through.
And he was right to worry. I’ve walked away before when I didn’t love something.
But that’s not what’s happening this time.
I can’t explain why working with these kids and spending time with Quinn makes me happier than anything else has. ”
He brushes a thumb across my cheek. “If it makes you happy, Summer, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.”
This time when he tries to hold me I let him. I hug him back, and I don’t let go. Because this is what a relationship is supposed to look like—communicating about difficult things rather than skirting them. Showing up for the other person with understanding and support rather than leaving them.
It’s how unconditional love is supposed to feel.
“Will you go on a date with me?”
The sidewalk touching Blake’s house shrinks in the rearview mirror, along with his skateboard on the porch steps where he abandoned it before heading inside.
A warm breeze funnels through my rolled-down window post talent show practice.
If my hair wasn’t tied back, I’d miss the fine lines that appear around Everett’s eyes in my peripheral view.
He’s surprised. After everything that went down with Brian at the school, I can’t blame him. My sticky cheeks from drying tears are evidence he thought I’d need the night off.
This request is anything but spontaneous. In two days, Everett is leaving on tour. My time with him and Quinn is rapidly ending. Sulking over my failed marriage is not how I plan to spend one of my last nights with them.
“Going out? Like… dinner, movie, and a goodnight kiss?” he clarifies.
He tracks my gaze, eyes still fixed on the suspended mirror between us. Quinn’s swinging her feet in the back seat and smiling at a woman bent backward as she clings to a leash attached to her boisterous yellow Lab.
“More like, dinner, dessert, and a bedtime story with Quinn. Considering I’m your babysitter, I was thinking we’d stay in. And I don’t kiss on the first date.”
He fights amusement. “We’ll see about that.”
One of the things I love most about Everett’s and my connection is how unorthodox it is. We don’t play by the traditional rules I did with Brian. He and I both know where this night will end up—in the same place every night this last week has. I still like to mess with him.
“What did you have in mind then?” He reaches across the center console, toying with the frayed hole in my denim shorts.
“I’m still waiting for you to say yes,” I remind him.
I suck in a little breath when the warm pad of his finger comes into contact with my inner thigh.
“Yes, Summer. I’d like to go on a date with you. But I have one request.”
I finally pull my eyes from the road to look at him. His have warmed to a hypnotizing shade of liquid gold. “Anything.”
“Wear the dress.”