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“I have to say, I never saw that coming.”
“What? Your sister coming out of her grief and being with someone new?”
“No. David and her. We’ve all known each other... forever.”
“Sometimes it’s comforting to make a change with someone you know, who knows you. Brooke loved and lost and suffered the grief of that. She’s lonely. He’s a friend with the potential to be more. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t. But this is a step out of Brooke’s past and into a new future without the man she lost.”
“She’s come a long way this past year. I just want her to be happy.” Cody stared at his sister with David. They stood close, talking, smiling at each other. Brooke let out a burst of laughter and put her hand on David’s forearm. David stared at Brooke and smiled, laughing with her, but the light in his eyes: pure adoration. “They look good together.”
“Like us?” Summer asked.
He met her earnest gaze. “Yes. Like us.” He didn’t know why she asked.
“Summer,” someone called out.
She turned in the direction of the voice, gasped, smiled, then released his hand and rushed toward another man, throwing her arms around him and hugging him close. The guy picked her up off her feet, squeezed her tight, then set her down, took her hands, held them out, and looked her up and down. “Gorgeous.”
Something wild inside Cody came alive.
He took a step to get Summer back, but Natalie caught his arm and held him still.
“She has a whole other life you know little about. And apparently other men.”
Cody pulled his arm free, not liking the implied notion that Summer wasn’t committed to him. And then he thought about how they’d been holding back with each other. How he’d thought Amy had been doing the same thing, then found out why.
But this wasn’t the same.
Whoever she was talking to wasn’t who Summer wanted to be with. Cody held that special spot in her life.
He didn’t take his eyes off Summer, smiling and chatting with her friend, and spoke to Natalie. “She’s with me, Natalie. I know that. That’s all that matters. Whoever that is, is just a friend. From what I know, she doesn’t have many close ones.” He turned to her then. “And you can stop pointing out that she has a life and home in Texas with her grandfather. Just like we’ve talked about our relationship, we’ll talk about what comes next and figure it out.”
“I just want you to be happy, Cody.” The earnest look in Natalie’s eyes touched him.
He’d just thought the same thing about his sister. “I am happy with her.”
“Even though you know things are going to get really hard soon?”
He thought about what his sister said about using the time you had wisely because you never knew when someone’s time ran out. “Hard doesn’t mean impossible. And I’m happier with her than without her.”
He walked away from Natalie.
Summer saw him coming and held her hand out to him.
He took it and smiled at her friend. “Hi. I’m Cody Larkin.”
“Summer’s boyfriend,” the man said. “She just told me. I’m so happy for the two of you. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve implored her to be happy. And look, she is.”
Summer grinned and shook her head. “Cody, this is my very good friend from college, Miles.”
Cody shook the man’s hand. “You two have known each other awhile.”
“She saved my life.”
Cody stared at Summer. “You did?”
“Miles was in one of my classes. Everyone was walking out of the building. He was in front of me. Suddenly, he yelped, then dropped to his knees. He was holding his arm and gasping for breath. I didn’t really know what happened, but I went to him to be sure he was okay. He’d begun to panic and tried to open his backpack, but his fingers wouldn’t work. His face had turned bright red.”
“Long story short, I’m allergic to bee stings. Summer found my EpiPen, jabbed it in my outer thigh, called an ambulance, and saved my life.”
