He was so precious in his navigating our relationship. I needed to keep that in mind as we moved forward.
"No. It was me needing to think through what I wanted most for my future." I lifted to my toes and brushed my lips by his. "My parents are good with me staying the rest of the summer. I told them I might have a chance at something really great and I wanted to explore it more."
"Oh, yeah?" A smile broke out on his face that would rival the beauty of the sun rising across the lake just behind me.
"Absolutely. Let's figure this out." I squeezed him tightly to me.
"You figure it out for yourself. I already know that I wanna try this thing between us. I want to see if forever is really what they say it is." He brushed my hair back and gave me a cheeky grin as my heart melted in my chest. "You know what?"
I smiled and watched him closely. "What, baby? Tell me."
"We are totally a chick-flick right now."
"Or a horror movie?" I laughed as his expression changed.
"Never. Not in a million years." He picked me up and pressed his lips to mine. Even though I was scared to death to take another risk, a larger part of me was far too afraid not to.
It seemed to right. Too good. Like so much more than a summer fling.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Cora
"To us." Clay lifted his beer in the air and smiled around the table as we all sat on the patio of the restaurant we'd gathered at.
"To us." We all called out and lifted our beers to hit them against one another.
It'd been a year since we all met on Lake Havasu. A long year. A great year.
Brody wrapped an arm around my shoulders and leaned down to kiss me. I lifted up to meet him halfway, pressing myself against his side and deepening the kiss until we got the usual catcalls. I moved back and smiled at everyone.
"Why are we back here at the lake eating at a restaurant instead of having our own personal chef whip us up something good?" I glanced over at Cindy, who was sitting in Derek's lap. They'd gotten engaged a few months back, much to all of our surprise. Their plans of expanding Derek's parent’s ranch and starting a small restaurant at the front of the property had panned out over the last year, and they were great together.
Clay and Emily had moved in together and were looking at rings, but nothing had been planned just yet. Emily was extremely particular about the idea of what her wedding should look like, which shocked the shit out of all of us, seeing that she was the least likely to act like a bridezilla. They were sitting side by side, reading something on the beer bottle Clay held between them as I glanced their way.
Dedra was already off to dance with a handsome football type, and Daniel wasn't able to join us due to something related to his schooling. He had already started to pull away from the group, but the guys almost seemed to expect it.
I'd taken on the burden of the apartment myself, but I was rarely alone, seeing that the junior high football coach down the road seemed to like the idea of rocking my bed most nights of the week. I glanced up at him to find him watching me like a hawk.
"What?" I smiled and took a quick sip of my beer.
"You. You're what." He glanced around as his smile widened. "This place brings back so many fucking memories. I can't imagine my life without last summer...without you."
He was a different man. One completely committed to me, and if my mom thought my father treated her like a queen, she hadn't seen anything yet. Brody was at my beck and call, no matter what was going on in his own life. We supported each other in a way that made my other friends jealous and left me breathless when I thought about it.
We hadn't talked much about marriage and kids, though I knew our turn was coming up sooner rather t
han later. It was just the natural progression of things.
"What's for dinner?" Clay stood up and stretched. "You guys wanna order a big platter of ribs and chicken and go out on the patio?"
"Sounds good to me." Derek stood up and wrapped his arm back around Cindy. There was rarely any space between the two of them when they were together. They'd have kids on the way before any of the rest of us, no doubt.
The thought of kids caused my pulse to race. It was a subject that I would be bringing up soon just to figure out exactly what my handsome boyfriend thought of it.
"The baked potato casserole is stupid good, too." Brody picked up a menu and glanced down at it. "And the green beans. Let's just get a family style platter thing and eat until we're stuffed.”