That Summer: A Small Town Friends-to-Lovers Romance (That Boy Book 6) Page 3
“What do you mean?”
“Even though she sold her company, she hasn’t completely retired. She’s still going to work with Tripp, renovating hotels, but now, she’s only consulting on the designs. The house we are staying at is new, and Mom says it’s completely over the top. She should know. She designed it so that Tripp would have a private place for his big family reunions. It butts up to the resort property, so we can hang out there too.”
“But if it needs to be renovated, it’s probably not going to be that great.”
“The golf course was just redone by a renowned golfer, and there’s a new lazy river and water park. Mom says the resort’s grounds are amazing; it’s more the lodging itself that needs help. She’s not supposed to work either. Says she’s supposed to soak up the atmosphere, so she can come up with a plan. But since we’re not staying there, we get the best of both worlds, I guess. Didn’t you look it up online?”
“No. I was too busy sulking.”
Chase takes my hand in his and squeezes it, knowing the reason why. “How’d you leave things with Hunter?”
I sigh. “He told me I’d better not get so wrapped up with family fun that I forget to call him every day.”
“Are you dating? Like, is it exclusive?”
“Supposedly, I’m the only girl he’s talking to right now.”
“That’s cool,” Chase says, his finger gliding over the ring he gave me. “It’ll be interesting to see how that all plays out.”
“What do you mean by that?” I ask, bristling.
“Uh, I don’t mean anything by it. I just mean, it will be interesting. Like, he dated Taylor forever. It will be weird, them not being together, you know?”
“Can you imagine dating someone from, like, seventh grade on? The same person your whole life? Wouldn’t that be so incredibly dull and boring?”
Chase lets out a little snort. “Not if you’re in love.”
“So, you believe in high school sweethearts? You think they can work in the real world?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Well, my dad, for one. He didn’t seem to believe in that. And my brother seems to want the opposite. Date everyone he doesn’t love.”
“And what about you?”
“You know I loved Matt.”
“I know.” His finger stops moving, staying on top of the ring.
Matt is a sore subject with us.
I sigh again, not sure how to word this.
“What?” Chase says, his gaze meeting mine.
There’s something about Chase’s eyes that seem to drill right through me. Maybe it’s because he knows me so well. Maybe it’s because I can tell him anything without judgment.
“Tell me.”
“Even though I loved him and things, you know, got serious …”
Chase swallows when I say that, and I know why—because he thinks I had sex with Matt. Mostly because I haven’t told him differently.
“I didn’t picture us long-term. I couldn’t imagine being married to him. And I knew even if we made it until I graduated high school, we wouldn’t survive being apart during college.”
Chase must agree with my assessment. He might even like it because his finger starts moving again, tracing each letter on my ring. “You never told me that.”
“You didn’t exactly like him. And you don’t care for Hunter. You’re honestly worse than my dad. I don’t think you will ever like one of my boyfriends.”
“That’s not true, and you know it,” he says, getting up.
Probably because I already do know. He will like any guy who treats me with respect.
“I suppose we’d better get down there, huh?” I suggest.
When we get outside, the front yard is still complete chaos, but it appears most of the bags are stowed. Chase manages to shove his duffel in a too-small space in the back of one of the three matching Escalades that were rented for the occasion, and then he bends down to pet both puppies.
“I like what you did to your shirt,” Jennifer whispers to me, as Jadyn yells out, “All right, so that there’s no arguing, we are going to draw straws to see who gets to ride in which car. Phillip, you’re driving the first car—car one. Danny, you’re driving car two, and I’ll be in car three. Your sticks have a number on them. After you draw, get into the proper car and get yourself buckled up.”
Jennifer hands me baby Weston while she stands in the driveway and holds out the sticks. Chase’s grandmother, Grandma Mac, and my grandmother, Mimi, are first in line and are super excited that they both get car three. Grandma Mac takes Emersyn from Haley while their dad sets up her car seat. Grandpa Mac ends up with Phillip while Papa’s stick puts him with my dad, which, honestly, makes me wonder if the seats were rigged somehow. Especially when Chase, Damon, and the dogs end up together in the car my dad is driving. Car three fills up next with Ryder and Madden joining that group.
I close my eyes when I choose my stick, praying that it will have a number two, but instead, I get car one and end up with Phillip, Grandpa Mac, Jennifer, Weston, and Haley.
Haley takes her stick, sweetly looks at her dad, and says, “Can Dani and I sit in the very back?”
“Of course,” he says. “In fact, I’ll even let you choose the music for the first half hour of the trip.”
Haley is thrilled as she jumps in the front seat and connects her phone to the Bluetooth before taking her seat, but I know it’s not going to work. Weston will be screeching. She hates electronic music, which is Haley’s absolute favorite.
Chase comes to stand in front of me. “Bummer we’re not together.”
Weston coos and holds out her hands toward him. He takes her from me and kisses her on the nose. “How’s my sweet girl?” he says, and I swear, the kid swoons.
“Chase,” Jennifer says, “I’m so glad you are home. Westie has missed you.”
“You mean, you’ve missed him,” I tease. “And we can’t nickname my baby sister after a dog.”
“Well, yes, sometimes, it seems Chase is the only one who can calm her down. He and Jadyn have some kind of magic baby-whisperer touch, and you’ll have to take the nickname up with him.”
“I’ll put her in the car seat,” Chase tells Jennifer. “You get in and get comfortable.”
“You’re going to make a good father someday,” Chase’s dad says, cuffing his son on the shoulder. “Just not too soon.”
I roll my eyes. Even though everyone thinks Chase can do no wrong and that he offered to put Weston in her car seat so that he could avoid talking about the nickname he’s been calling her, I happen to know he’s not quite as innocent as they think.
He and my brother are crazy about two things, I think as I watch Chase bite into an apple. Uh, make that three. Sports, girls, and food. Although not necessarily in that order.
So, even though Chase doesn’t want to date anyone seriously, that doesn’t mean he isn’t hooking up.
I get in the car and take a seat in the back with Haley. Pretty quickly, the caravan is rolling down the highway while I’m blasting white noise through my headphones, trying to drown out the sounds of Weston wailing over Haley’s playlist.
Fifteen minutes later, Phillip and Grandpa Mac are both rubbing their hands across their temples, and Jennifer is a ball of stress and about to lose her mind.
Haley, meanwhile, pretends to be oblivious to the noise.
I have to take action, so I grab her phone and turn the music off.
“Hey,” she yells. “It hasn’t been a half hour yet.”
“Are you really going to sit there and let the baby scream?”
“She screams no matter what.”
“Not true,” I tell her as I hook my phone to the Bluetooth and hit play on a playlist titled Smooth Baby Jazz.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Haley pouts.
“Thank goodness.” Jennifer sighs with relief as the screaming stops.
Weston smiles at her and kicks her feet to the beat.
I shake my head, knowing I’m totally contributing toward her becoming a spoiled brat, but I don’t care. No one cares. Not when the screaming stops.
Twenty minutes later, Weston is blissfully happy and appears to be on the verge of sleep, her little eyes struggling to stay open as she sucks on the side of her hand.
That is, until Grandpa Mac’s phone rings, causing her to screech.
“Bathroom break. Next gas station,” he states.
“It hasn’t even been an hour yet,” Phillip counters.
Grandpa Mac shrugs and holds out his hands. “Kids.”
Only it’s not the kids we have to stop for; it’s Mimi. She runs in and is quickly back in the car, apparently the only one who had to pee.
Another fifteen minutes later, and we’re stopping again.
It’s determined at this point that we should all go now, so we don’t have to stop again, but no one really does, opting instead to load up on convenience store snacks.
I decide to text Hunter when we get back on the road, knowing that, in a few short hours, I’ll be forced to surrender my phone.
We chat back and forth, which helps to pass the time.
It also makes me sad.
This trip couldn’t have come at a worse time in my life.
But I try to look at the bright side. We’ll have three weeks of talking, flirting, and getting to know each other better without all the physical stuff getting in the way. We can get close without worrying about sex. And by the time I get back, he’s going to want me so badly, he’ll barely be able to control himself.
I
’ll tell him that I’m not doing it with him until we are officially a couple.
Which means he will ask me to be his girlfriend.
And it will be the best school year ever.
Twenty minutes later, and Madden has to pee. The good news is that it means Phillip and Grandpa Mac will have to stop with the road games and sing-along songs that they decided to play over the baby mix.
Seriously, whose idea was this trip? I much prefer a nice private plane.
I get a drink, some nuts, put my headphones in, and go to sleep.
Some indeterminable amount of hell-time later, we stop again—this time for lunch.
“I can’t wait for you all to have a loose-meat sandwich,” my dad raves. “One of the best memories of my childhood was stopping here.”
Here is an old drive-in restaurant—the kind you park outside of and wait for them to bring your food to your car, or you can sit at one of the big picnic tables and eat there.
Chase slides into the seat next to me.
“I’ve had about enough of the road-trip fun,” I say grumpily.
“Really? We’ve been having a ball.”
“Singing together?”
“Yes, but not like camp songs. We’ve been jamming out.”
“To what?” I ask.
“I made a playlist,” Damon says, joining us. “It’s awesome. Got some ’80s rock for the old folks, mixed with some fun, newer party kind of stuff. It’s been the perfect road trip. Even Papa hasn’t complained about the noise, and that man knows how to headbang, just saying.” He lowers his voice and leans closer to us. “And I’m not sure, but I think he smoked some weed in his day.”
“Oh! Food’s here,” Chase says, quickly drawing my brother’s attention not to the food, but to the cute roller-skating waitress who is delivering it.
“You can set all that right here by me.” Damon flirts with the poor girl, giving her what he thinks is his devilishly handsome grin.
When the girl blushes, I can’t help but roll my eyes.
Chase, however, only has eyes for what’s in her hands. More calories.
I eat a few fries and try the amazing sandwich, shocked to discover it’s literally cooked hamburger meat that has been fried up into little pieces and thrown on a cheap white bun. Not only does it not taste that good, but it is also impossible to eat, as the meat flies out in all directions since, well, it’s not at all formed into a patty.
“I see now why they invented the hamburger,” I groan as most of my sandwich ends up falling onto the wrapper instead of going into my mouth.
Chase, in contrast, devours his sandwich in about four bites and manages not to drop a speck.
Damon continues to flirt, buzzing the girl constantly, asking for more ketchup or another order of fries, and somehow, he manages to leave with her number.
“I vote for a change of cars for the last half of the trip,” Haley suggests.
“No way,” Damon disagrees. “We love our car.”
“Fine, we’ll switch the other one up.”
“We can do that,” Grandma Mac says while Mimi says to Jennifer, “Why don’t you drive the car we were in, and Jadyn can come with us? Haley, you will be in charge of Emersyn.”
“Okay,” Haley quickly agrees and then says, “Dani will have to come with us, too, so that works!”
Jennifer is grinning when she gets behind the wheel. “All EDM, all the time,” she shouts, feeling free. “Actually, we can listen to anything you want. Dani, you ride shotgun and be in charge of the road-trip tunes.”
“Awesome,” I say, feeling excited.
While we’re loading up, Chase picks up Madden and says, “Crusher, the puppies miss you. Wanna ride with them the rest of the way?”
Madden pumps his fist in the air and rushes to the other car while Chase helps Haley get in the back with Emersyn, and then he makes sure Ryder gets buckled in before getting in himself.
My dad stops by our car and says to Jennifer, “You’re going to wish you had one of your fancy sports cars for this part of the trip.”
“How come?” she asks.
“Why don’t you lead the caravan, so you can see for yourself?” he says, giving her a steamy kiss before getting in his own car.
“Party car!” Jennifer says as we all happily pull away.
I turn around and smile at Chase. “Any music requests?”
“A little country maybe?” he says more to Jennifer than me.
“That sounds perfect,” she says. “Also, Ryder, buddy, how about you share those snacks you got at the last stop with all of us?”
Ryder smiles and digs through a grocery-sack-sized bag, tossing out all sorts of goodies—beef jerky, Corn Nuts, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Skittles, sunflower seeds, chocolate, little frosted cakes, bubble gum, suckers, and slightly warm cans of pops.
The first thirty minutes of the drive is filled with fun. Loud music, lots of snacks, and singing.
I look back at Chase, who winks at me.
And I can’t help but smile. I’m glad he’s in the car with me.
I was texting Hunter most of the trip, but before lunch, he said he had to go, something about mowing the yard before his mom got home.
I hear Chase’s phone vibrate and watch as he looks at it and quickly replies.
“Who are you texting?” I ask, knowing it’s probably my brother.
“Uh, some girl,” he says, the tops of his cheeks turning slightly pink as he grabs a handful of sour-cream-and-onion potato chips and shoves them into his mouth.
“What girl?” I ask, needing more info. Because what girl?
“Just this senior girl. I guess she kinda likes me,” he says with a shrug.
“Well, she must be desperate if she can’t get someone her own age,” I scoff.
“That’s pretty mean,” Haley says from the back.
I notice Jennifer nodding her head in agreement.
“What? It’s true,” I say to them all.
I know how high school works. I mean, if it wasn’t for societal rules, even I’d consider dating Chase.
“Think what you want, Dani,” Chase says. “But some girls don’t care about what other people think.”
“And it’s not like she’s some nobody,” Haley says with a laugh, clearly sticking up for her brother. “She’s a track star and co-captain of the dance team.”
My eyes go wide. “Wait. Are you talking about Kelsey Jennings?”
He nods. “She’s almost as pretty as you.”
“Why would she want to date you?” I ask.
“Because she says I’m the sweetest boy she’s ever met,” he replies, his face turning red—a full-on blush.
And I’m instantly pissed.
Because Chase is the sweetest boy I’ve ever met, and I’ve been telling him that since I could speak.
“Whatever,” I say, feeling upset. “She’s going to get made fun of. You don’t date down; you date up. A senior girl does not date a sophomore boy. Her social credibility will be destroyed.”
“You should choose who to date based on their worth as a person, not their age,” Jennifer says. “Plus, Chase is a cutie. A model. A football stud. And a good guy. Who wouldn’t want to date him?”
“Dani is right though. I could never date a seventh grader. Can you imagine? And I’m totally over all the guys in my class. The guy I’m talking to,” Haley says, holding up her phone, “is going to be a freshman.”
Chase turns around and grabs the phone out of her hand. “Who is Hottie God?”
“Oh, I know!” Jennifer says. “That’s what Keatyn called Aiden in The Keatyn Chronicles movies.”
“He was so dreamy,” I agree.
“So’s the boy I’m talking to,” Haley says with a happy sigh. “He’s perfection. Thus the name.”
“I’m going to find out who it is,” Chase says to her. “You know that, right?”
“If it gets to a relationship status, which I fully expect it will,” Haley counters, “you’ll be the second to know. I mean, after I scream it across all my social media.”
“Regardless, this is completely sexist,” Chase says, turning his attention back to me. “As you well know, guys date younger girls all the time. Older guys date you. And, apparently, my sister,” he mutters. “Why is that okay, but Kelsey being interested in me isn’t?”