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“There isn’t a single second that goes by where I don’t think about you.” I peer up at her, pressing my lips to her jaw. “My body constantly craves yours. My chest never stops aching for you.”
It’s not until the words are out of my mouth that the gravity of my love for her evaporates, and it falls full weight, crashing into me, engulfing me like a high-rolling tide. It’s inescapable.
“You got me, Summer, mind and body, every last part of me.”
Something flits across her face. Maybe I’ve gone too far and she’s overwhelmed. But the shard of doubt that muddies her eyes stabs me in the chest, making it impossible to ignore it.
“Am…” She pauses, shaking her as she drags in a breath. Worry creases her brow while she blinks her tears away. “Am I enough for you?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Think about it, Parker. Really think about it before you answer.” With an audible swallow, she asks, “Am I enough for you when you have all of this? Look around you and take it in. If you lost all of this, would I still be enough for you?”
“I’m always going to want more of you. I’m always going to take more.” Softly biting the tip of her nose, I hold her face in both hands. “But I’ll give you everything I have and more.”
“You want to know something you’ll think is stupid?”
“Yes.”
Warm hands clasp my wrists tightly. They’re so small, they can barely close around them.
“I’m scared…terrified, actually.”
The admission cuts through me, making me tug her flush to me. “Why?”
“Because you might leave me one day.” A heavy tear rolls down her cheek. “My dad left me and then my mom. Sometimes it feels like I’ve lived my life all on my own, or it felt like that before.”
“And now?”
A faint smile ghosts her lips with the shake of her head.
“You’re going to have to trust me, Sum. I’ve never lied to you, and I won’t ever lie to you…”
“I’m petrified that I’ll go back to that feeling, and it will be worse because it’s not just you. It’s you and Easton and the nights we spend together. The smiles and all those things that make memories.”
“I have no intention of ever letting you go, beautiful girl. Trust me, I need you as bad, if not worse.”
Nodding, she collapses into me. The breeze licks around us as the spray of the waves hums and buzzes in the air. All I can do is hold my precious girl, promising that I will never let her go with every kiss I press to her coconut-scented hair. Because there is no one else I want to share these moments with. There’s only her. Summer is everything and so much more that I never knew I wanted, needed, and deserve.
15
SUMMER
This is awkward.
The voice in my head keeps singing on repeat as we sit at the dinner table in silence. Agnes has given up on small talk or trying to make the weight of her husband’s mute presence less unnerving.
By the time we’ve finished dinner, he’s already disappeared. I’m more on edge about what he thinks of me and my being here than I was about the magnitude of the place when we arrived earlier. As though he can sense my unease, Parker clasps my hand on the table. The contact doesn’t fail to make me smile, but it doesn’t make my apprehension any less potent.
“Happy anniversary, Mom,” Parker states with a soft grin that’s almost as heartbreaking as the realization that hits me with the force of a runaway train.
Reaching to his side, he pulls out a small box and holds it out to her. “From East.”
“Sweetheart…” Agnes is clearly overwhelmed by the gesture as she opens the jewelry box and then holds it out so we can both see the cute pair of rose-gold elephant studs. “My favorite animal,” she says with an emotional rasp to her words.
“Hardy and powerful.” Parker puts his hand palm side up on the table, and as she places hers in it, she adds, “But gentle and nurturing.”
“Can I get you another drink?” he asks her, already standing to reach for the wine at the other end of the table. Once he’s topped up mine and his mom’s wineglasses, he says, “I’m going to check on East. Why don’t the two of you sit out on the porch? It’s a lovely night, and I’ll join you once I’ve made sure he’s all right.”
