That Summer: A Small Town Friends-to-Lovers Romance (That Boy Book 6) Page 2

  “He’s a good athlete, but he plays dirty, he slacks off whenever he can, and I just don’t respect him.”

  “It’s not like we’re dating. We’ve just been hanging out.”

  “Whatever. Anyway,” Chase says, holding out the gift.

  “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  “I know, but, well, just open it, and you’ll see.”

  I turn the package over and slide my finger under the tape to break the seam apart. Then, I flip it over and remove the wrap. There’s a small box with a card underneath it.

  “What’s this?” I ask, realizing Chase’s photo is on it.

  He blushes and then shrugs. “I know it’s kind of lame, but they made it for me while I was at camp. Told me that if I kept working hard, things like this were within my reach. That I’d play pro someday. Your dad tells me and Damon that, but I always kind of thought he said it because, you know, dads have to say that sort of thing. It was the first time I’ve heard it from an unbiased source whose job it is to know what the league wants. It is—” His eyes get misty.

  “Your dream,” I say, finishing his sentence.

  “That’s right. I’ll be playing professional football, and you’ll be on the sidelines, covering the game.”

  I can’t help but smile at him.

  “And at camp, it started to feel like less of a dream and more of a possibility. Anyway, I want you to have it. My first ever trading card.”

  “Shouldn’t you give it to your mom or something?”

  “No. It’s yours, Dani.” He gives my hand a squeeze and nods toward the small box. “Then, I saw this and knew I had to get it for you, so you’d know it was possible, too.”

  I tilt my head, wondering what could be inside. Wondering if he had a card made for me, but when I lift the lid off, I find a gold ring that spells out dream in a delicate font.

  “They’re real diamonds,” Chase says. “I splurged, but it was just so—”

  “Perfect,” I say, mesmerized by both the ring and its meaning. Not to mention the fact that Chase is the sweetest, most thoughtful boy I’ve ever known.

  I’m about to say more to him when my brother bursts through the door.

  “There you guys are. You’re supposed to get your butts downstairs. Everyone is waiting.”

  Chase holds my gaze for a moment and then stands up and gives Damon a fist bump.

  “It’s good to have you home,” Damon says to him.

  I get myself up off the bed, and the three of us travel down the two flights of stairs to the family room.

  “Chase!” his siblings yell out and attack him with hugs the second we enter the room.

  His parents and my dad and Jennifer aren’t far behind. And neither are the dogs, Angel and Winger—puppy cousins that my dad got when the Mackenzies’ fifteen-year-old yellow Lab, Angel, passed away. Winger is the Mackenzies’ new yellow Lab pup, and Angel, named in honor, is our black Lab.

  After the excitement of seeing Chase dies down, he’s hugged everyone and petted the pups, his mom, Jadyn—who I have called Auntie Jay my whole life but who isn’t really my aunt—moves to the front of the room and says, “Sometimes in life, in the midst of what feels like chaos, you are lucky enough to have things fall perfectly into place.”

  “Just tell them already,” my dad heckles.

  And it’s funny. Because my dad and Jadyn along with Chase’s dad—Uncle Phillip—have been best friends since they were kids.

  “All of us here,” Jadyn continues, “plus Papa and Mimi, and Grandma and Grandpa Mac, are going to spend three glorious weeks on vacation together.”

  “Where are we going?” her eleven-year-old son, Ryder, asks.

  Knowing that Jadyn just finished another hotel remodel and recently sold her company, I’m picturing us all on a gorgeous yacht with an attentive staff of hot college guys, serving me piña coladas with fruit stuck on an umbrella, as we cruise the Caribbean islands—no, wait, Greece. Yes, the Greek islands. And the exotically tan-skinned crew will have sexy European accents …

  “The Ozarks!” Phillip blurts out.

  He and Jadyn are beaming.

  What the heck? The Ozarks? The place my friends and their families drive to? The place old country stars go to put on family shows until they die? The place where there is a hillbilly theme park?

  “Sounds glamorous,” I mutter.

  “It will be,” Jennifer says seriously. Even she looks excited.

  “We’re all staying in a gorgeous new house on the water,” Jadyn says, “and we’ll have the use of three brand-new boats and a bunch of wave runners. The house has every amenity. And if that’s not enough, we will have golf carts available to take us to the nearby resort.”

  My dad stands up. He’s wearing a big grin. Clearly, this isn’t the first time he has heard about this because he is already fully on board.

  “It’s going to be an old-fashioned summer. Like the kind we used to have when we were kids,” he says, spinning his finger from himself and Jennifer to Jadyn and Phillip. “Swimming in the lake. Waterskiing. Tubing. Roasting marshmallows every night.”

  “And the best part of all of it,” Jennifer adds, “is that there will be no cell phones or other electronic devices allowed.”

  “Wait. What?” I blurt out in disbelief. Currently, my phone is practically glued to my hand.

  My dad nods in agreement. “Yep. We won’t need our phones. We will be too busy having fun.”

  “Are we talking, everyone? Even you?” I say, looking pointedly at Jennifer, who is always on her phone, dealing with some sort of business.

  “Yes. We are going to completely unplug. All of us.”

  I rub my temple and try to wrap my head around this.

  Chase sees my distress and says, “But what if there is some kind of emergency?”

  “There are walkie-talkies and a GPS communication system on board the boats if we need to call for help. And the house has a landline,” his dad replies.

  “What’s that?” Chase’s sister, Haley James, asks, scrunching up her nose.

  She’s probably on her phone more than I am. She is a total social butterfly who will start her last year of middle school this fall and seems to have a new boyfriend every week.

  “It’s a phone that’s hardwired,” Phillip clarifies.

  “But! I’ll die!” Haley says frantically. “I’ll miss everything!”

  “You’ll have so much fun, Haley, that you will forget about the boy drama here,” her mother counters. “Besides, it’s only three weeks.”

  “I love marshmallows. I can’t wait!” Madden, the youngest Mackenzie son who everyone calls Crusher, adds.

  I finally decide to pipe up, “I have cheer practice, and the boys have summer training. And we’re supposed to spend time with Mom.”

  “We’ve spoken to your coaches and assured them that you will all continue your workouts during vacation and will return in top form. The house has a beautiful home gym, and there is a more commercial version on the resort property. And when I told your mother about the trip,” Dad says, “she and Dick—Richard decided to holiday in Europe.”

  I guess that settles that.

  “When do we leave?” Chase asks with a grin.

  I look at him, surprised he’s on board.

  “Tuesday,” his mom says. “And we have a lot of prep to do before we go.”

  “But, Mom, this Tuesday?” Haley pouts. “We can’t. We absolutely can’t. We have to reschedule. It’s Kassie’s birthday party, and I can’t miss—”

  “Sorry, honey,” her dad says. “We leave on Tuesday. And to add to the fun, we’ve decided to make it a road trip.”

  “Just like we used to do when we were kids,” my dad says proudly.

  Baby Weston starts to wail, causing Winger and Angel to howl, too.

  I lean over and whisper, “I feel ya, girl. I feel ya.”

  Monday, July 13th

  Life complete.

  “I can’t believe you’re ditching me for a whole month,” Hunter says.

  We’re sitting in his car outside my house, saying good night. Well, more like he’s been kissing me and looking to score.

  I’ve mostly been fending off his advances. And who could blame me? It hasn’t been that long since he and Taylor broke up. They’ll be seniors this coming fall, and they were expected to be the it couple. Their breakup was such a shock, and the high school rumor mill has been flying ever since. I’ve been getting kept up-to-date on all of it by one of my friends, Shaylie, who is on the cheer squad with me. Her older sister, Meredith, and Taylor are BFFs. She says the breakup was not mutual, regardless of what Hunter is telling everyone. She says that Taylor dumped him for some really hot college guy she’d met at work. Since then, Hunter’s been talking to a senior girl from the dance team who lost the co-captain role to Taylor; the captain of the girls soccer team; and me, who, although I’ll only be a junior this year, was voted head cheerleader.

  We’ve been fine with him talking to all of us because, I mean, it makes sense. He hasn’t been single in years. And I assume none of us wants to be just some rebound.

  My brother, who hears all boy gossip during summer conditioning, says that Hunter would be a fool to immediately move from one relationship to the next. That he should play the field. So, while Shaylie’s sister thinks that Hunter is only trying to make Taylor jealous so she will want him back, the guys on the football team say he won’t take her back anyway because he’s having too much fun.

  And fun with Hunter has been fun.

  He has been a longtime crush of mine.

  We’ve been hanging out. I’ve kissed him.

  Life complete. Right?

  At least, I thought it was.

  But then, last week, he
told me that I was the only girl he wanted to talk to, which is typically a precursor to dating. To a relationship.

  And that news spread fast, too.

  The football team’s consensus is that he made a good choice. But Shaylie’s sister thinks Hunter thinks if Taylor hears he’s in a relationship, she will be more jealous than if he played the field and, again, that she will want him back.

  Which leaves me where I am now.

  Fluctuating between worrying if I’m going to get hurt while dreaming about dating the hottest senior guy this year.

  In between kisses, Hunter says, “Don’t forget to call me right after conditioning. We’ll talk from eleven to noon every. Single. Day.” He suggestively runs his hand down the front of my shirt. “You’d better not get so wrapped up in all the family fun that you forget.”

  “I’m going to go crazy without my phone, and I promise I won’t forget.”

  “Just so you know,” he says, sweetly moving his hand across my cheek, “I’m serious about you, Dani. I can’t wait for you to come back home, and I can’t wait to have you cheering for me on the sidelines this fall. I’ll be a team captain, and you’re the head cheerleader. It will be perfect.”

  I remember what my friend told me about his and Taylor’s dream. That she would be captain of the dance team, him a football captain, and how they’d be homecoming king and queen their senior year.

  And I wonder if he really is doing this just to make Taylor jealous.

  But when he kisses me again, I disregard all the gossip.

  Tuesday, July 14th

  Diamond-Mackenzie Summer Camp.

  I throw a duffel on the bed. Even though we are staying for a month, there is supposed to be a big laundry room, so we don’t have to pack for much more than a week. We’re going to be out in the sticks, so I’m just taking a bunch of bikinis, jean shorts, tank tops, sandals, and workout clothes. I carefully fold up a few cute outfits, a couple dresses, toss in a pair of wedges, and call it good.

  I peek out the window and see that Chase is doing the same thing as me. And I’m pretty sure he has some sixth sense that tells him when I’m standing at the window because he turns around, winks at me, and then motions for me to come over.

  It’s not the first time I’ve wished for a little bridge that connected our rooms together.

  I zip up my duffel and carry it downstairs. The front door is open, and I can see my dad hoisting a bag up into a rooftop carrier.

  When I get outside, I find three generations of Mackenzie and Diamond families—all wearing stupid matching baseball shirts, like the one I have on. I mean, really, who wants to wear the same shirt as their grandma?—sprawled across our neighboring front yards in an attempt to pack up all our shit.

  The grandpas are bitching that their fishing poles are going to get crushed under all the baby gear. The grandmas are chatting away about food they are going to make, obviously disregarding the chaos around them. The dogs, Angel and Winger, are chasing each other, dodging bags. Ryder and Madden are rolling across the lawn, either play-wrestling or fighting for real, and the littlest Mackenzie, baby Emersyn, is holding Haley’s hand and screaming bloody murder as Haley furiously taps something into her phone.

  My dad and Phillip along with the grandpas are staring at a growing pile of cargo to determine how it and all of us are going to fit.

  I toss my bag on the pile and make my way up to Chase’s room.

  “I’m surprised you aren’t out there, helping,” I tell him, coming through his door.

  He’s standing by his bed. A duffel is sitting on it, and he’s folding a pile of laundry. I plop down on his bed and watch, amazed at how perfectly he folds his clothes.

  “I had to unpack, do laundry, and repack. I’m feeling a little behind schedule.”

  That makes me laugh. Chase is always precise in everything he does.

  “It sort of amazes me that you and Damon are such good friends. You couldn’t be more different. He’s still in bed, and he probably hasn’t even packed.”

  “Actually, he packed last night so that he could roll straight out of bed and into the car.”

  I shake my head and laugh. “You need help with anything?”

  “Nah. I’m good.” He smiles at me. “I like the shirt.”

  “I’m wearing it under protest.”

  He moves closer to me. “Diamond-Mackenzie Summer Camp. Ozarks,” he reads aloud. “The peach color of the sleeves looks really pretty with your hair.”

  “Yeah, well, on its own, it’s not that bad, but when you match your grandparents and even the dogs, it sort of loses any cool factor. Oh, wait! I know!” I rush over to his desk, open a drawer, grab a pair of scissors, and pull off the shirt.

  “What are you doing?” Chase asks, his eyes wide.

  I look down at the bra I’m wearing. “Grow up,” I tell him. “It’s just like a bikini top.”

  He moves toward me and then runs a finger across the top of it. Which basically means his fingers are grazing the tops of my boobs. It stops me in my tracks, and I find myself wondering why him doing something so innocent doesn’t feel that way at all.

  “No, it’s not,” he says. “Your bikinis don’t have this sexy lace.”

  “Whatever,” I say, rolling my eyes at him.

  I’m kind of dating Hunter. Chase can’t just touch me like that. I consider swatting his hand away, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

  Because when Chase touches me anywhere, it always feels good.

  I stare at him for a moment, noticing how much differently his shirt fits than mine. How tight it is on his arms. Almost like his mom ordered it a size too small, forgetting how much he’s grown.

  I tilt my head at him and say, “Take your shirt off.”

  He gives me an adorable grin. “Your wish is my command,” he says, stripping the shirt off.

  My breath catches. It’s not like I haven’t seen him shirtless many times before. Maybe it’s because it’s been three long weeks, or maybe it’s that he’s grown, or maybe it’s just that he looks damn good with no shirt on. I’m not sure.

  “What?” he says, causing my eyes to move away from his sculpted chest and to his beautiful face.

  “Uh, I’m going to fix your shirt,” I tell him, gaining my composure.

  I grab it from his hands, lay it flat on his desk, cut the sleeves off, and give it back to him.

  When he puts it back on, I’m impressed with myself.

  “Much better,” I tell him, noting his buff arms are now fully in view.

  “Hopefully, Mom won’t be pissed,” he says.

  “Whatever,” I reply, laying out my shirt and cutting a slit down the middle of the neck so that it will highlight my cleavage. Then, I cut off the hem, shortening the length, making it more of a midriff. I mean, I work hard for these abs, so I might as well show them off.

  I lay the scissors down and put the shirt back on. “What do you think?”

  “Hot,” he says. “Pretty freaking hot.”

  He lets out a whistle, and I can’t help but blush. I shouldn’t. I mean, it’s just Chase. But still.

  “I like what you did to mine, too. The sleeves were a little too tight. This feels so much better.”

  “Do you really think your mom will get mad?”

  “She should just be glad we are wearing them. Have you looked up the place we’re going?” he says, interrupting my drooling. “It looks really cool. I’m excited to just relax. I mean, I still have to work out, but other than that, it will be nice. It’s been a crazy busy few weeks, and as soon as we get back, two-a-days will start and then school.”

  “This summer has flown by.”

  “Well, we have three whole weeks together to slow it down,” he says in a sultry voice, drawing the words out and making them sound almost sexy.

  “What I want to know is, why the Ozarks? I could tell our parents were excited about it, and I know they went there as kids—”

  “But why not somewhere more exotic, right?” he says. “I was envisioning, like, some private yacht, cruising the Caribbean or something.”

  “Ohmigosh! Me, too!”