A Summer to Remember

chapter 13





We made small talk while we ate our dinner. By the time we were done, we had each finished a pretty good amount of wine and it helped bring my nerves down a bit.

“Thank you again. I’m having a great time, I would love to do something like this again.” I looked over at Adrian and I could tell something was bugging him. “Is something wrong?” He placed his hand on my thigh and turned to face me.

“Okay, I think it’s better I tell you this now rather than later.” This worried me a little. Things seemed to be going so great. I had no clue what was going on. I nodded for him to continue. “Remember the night we met? I was actually at that party because I had just graduated from Brant and I was celebrating.”

“Oh okay. So you graduated? That’s what you wanted to tell me?” I was still a little confused. If it was our age difference he was worried about, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, and why would he be telling me this now?

“That’s not all.” He looked down and paused for a minute. “I was offered a job in Florida.” He looked back up at me and waited for me to say something.

“Why Florida? Doing what?” I didn’t have much emotion at this point, probably because it hadn’t completely sunk in yet. I hadn’t expected this.

“My dad got me in touch with a guy a few years ago who ran football camps down there. I’ve been going to his camps since I was a senior in high school. He called me a few weeks before I graduated and wanted me to talk with a friend of his who was looking for a new football scout. He thought I would be good for the job. Long story short, after talking to his friend, he offered it to me.” He brushed his thumb on my thigh. “And the job’s in Florida.” He tried to read the expression on my face.

“When do you leave?” I tried to keep a straight face and not let my emotions get the best of me. The wine wasn’t really helping matters.

“I have to be there the beginning of August, so I’ll probably leave the last week of July.”

“That’s only two and a half months away.” My stomach dropped and the rims of my eyes were filling up with tears.

“I know. I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible before things went too far. It wouldn’t be fair to you if you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in to his chest. I could feel a few tears fall down my cheeks. “I really like you, Ava. I wasn’t expecting to find someone over the summer, let alone find someone I’d share this kind of connection with.”

I quickly dabbed away the tears and attempted to pull myself together. I didn’t want him to leave. Things seemed like they were finally falling into place for me and now I felt like everything was being ripped away. Maybe there’s a reason why Jason wasn’t fully out of my life yet. I’d always believed that everything happens for a reason.

Jeffrey entered the room with our complimentary dessert and I slid away from Adrian so we could enjoy our cheesecake. After a few minutes and some small talk, the mood had lightened and I was finally able to get my emotions under control. I excused myself to the restroom and touched up my makeup.

The thought of losing him already sent a piercing feeling through my heart. But for the first time in a very long time things became clear to me. I wanted to take a chance. I needed something different in my life. I’d played it safe my whole life and I didn’t want to do that anymore. Every time Jason and I would break up, I would always take him back because he made me feel like he was the best I’d ever have and that I should be lucky to have him. As bad as it sounds, a part of me always believed it was true, until now, when Adrian came into my life! When I got back to our VIP room, Adrian had already taken care of the bill and was getting our things together to leave.

“You ready?” he asked when I entered the room.

“Yes.” He went to open the door. “Wait.” I wrapped my arms around him. “If we’re only going to have two and a half months left together, we better make the most of it.” I pulled his head toward mine.

When our lips met, a jolt ran through my body. It was more intense than before. I didn’t know if it was because of the wine or because I knew we only had a few months left to spend together, but whatever it was I didn’t want it to stop. I pushed him up against the door and continued kissing him. He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me closer. I pulled away and began kissing down his neck.

“We can’t do this here,” he said in a hushed tone, disappointment in his voice. I trailed a few more kisses up his neck and then there was a knock on the door.

“You’re right. We should probably go.” We backed away from the door as Jeffrey pushed it open.

“Thank you. Have a nice night. I hope we see you again soon.” He held the door open. We walked past him toward the elevators, giggling about his timing.

I couldn’t help but smile a little, thinking about the kiss we’d just shared in there, I’d never done anything like that before. I’d noticed that Adrian was involved in a few things I’d never done before, and I must admit I kind of liked it.

We stepped into the elevator and watched the doors close in front of us.

“I’m not ready to go home. Let’s stay here!”

“What?” Adrian’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Let’s get a room here. Let’s stay here for the night.”

“Are you joking, because that’s not a very funny joke if you are.”

“No, I’m serious.” I turned to face him. “I just want to be with you tonight.”

“As tempting as that sounds, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What? Why?”

“I have to work in the morning, and judging by the kiss I got up there, if we stay here tonight I probably won’t be getting much sleep.” I felt a little crushed, but deep down I knew I was rushing things. “I would gladly do it if I wasn’t working with my dad.” The elevator doors opened and we stepped out into the lobby. “Listen, this is our first date of many more to come. We’ll have plenty of nights like this one. I don’t want to you feel like you have to rush things because I’m leaving and then regret it later.”

“I won’t.” I smiled at the thought of being with him.

“Then you won’t regret waiting, either.” He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “It’s getting late. I’m going to take you home. I promise we’ll have more time together this weekend.”

“Okay.” We went outside and got into the truck that the valet already had waiting for us.





When we reached my house all the lights were out. Adrian got out of the truck and walked around to open my door and help me out. Which I was grateful for, my feet were killing me. You’d think I would know better than to wear brand new heels on a date, but of course I’d put up with the pain just to be sure I looked good. I used him to steady myself as we walked quietly to the front door. I opened up my small black clutch and pulled out my pink key ring with the letter “A” in cursive. I unlocked the door and turned back to Adrian to say goodnight.

“I won’t be able to see you much the rest of the week because I’ll be working on the edge of town at that new housing development. So between the drive time and trying to wrap up this project, I won’t be getting home until late. You want to do something Friday night, though?”

“Of course. What did you have in mind?” I leaned up against the railing of the deck, attempting to take some pressure off my feet.

“It doesn’t matter to me. How about you think of something and let me know.” He stood in front of me and put his hands on my hips.

“Okay. We can do whatever I want?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Even if I want to see a really horrible chick flick?” I joked.

“Even if you want to see a horrible chick flick.” He leaned over and gave me a soft, gentle kiss on the lips. “Goodnight, Ava.”

“Goodnight, Adrian,” I whispered as he pulled away.

I watched him drive away. Knowing that I only had a couple months left with him, I had to make the most of it. Even if we didn’t end up lasting, I was determined to make sure we’d have a summer to remember.