A Summer Romance (12 page)

“Am I what?” she asked dreamily, all
annoyance forgotten at his touch.

“Are you okay?”

“Never been better,” she breathed, staring
up into his eyes as he brought his mouth to hers. He kissed her
tenderly at first, stroking her back in a soothing rhythm. She
melted against him, responding to him instantly and grasping onto
his broad shoulders to pull him closer. His kiss intensified,
delving deeper with a need that belied his subtle approach.

“You didn’t call,” he breathed against her
neck as he trailed kisses down to her collarbone.

“Andi told me not to,” Maggie admitted as
she leaned her head back while he kissed her throat. “She told me
to play hard to get.”

Aaron chuckled softly, she could feel his
warm breath on her skin and it sent shivers through her. “Trust me,
Maggie, nothing about us is easy.” And with that cryptic response
he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bed. He laid
her down gently and stood over her. He was just a silhouette in the
darkness.

“We come from different worlds,” he told her
as he slowly began unbuttoning her blouse. Her nipples were hard
peaks below the thin fabric, aching to be touched. “Our paths would
never have crossed if we hadn’t both been brought to this place.”
He pulled her blouse open and slowly trailed a finger down from her
collarbone to her waist. She arched her back at his touch.

“And I know that I’ve never done anything
good enough to deserve you,” he continued as he placed a soft kiss
on her abdomen and hooked his fingers under the waistband of her
panties.

“That’s not true,” Maggie argued
breathlessly as she lifted her hips so that he could slide them
off. “You don’t see yourself like I do.”

“No one does,” he whispered just before he
claimed her mouth in a searing kiss.

Maggie woke the next morning to Aaron gently
caressing her cheek.

“I’m sorry to wake you,” he whispered as her
eyes fluttered open. “I need to go but I didn’t want to leave
without saying goodbye.”

“Where are you going?” she asked, trying to
sit up as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Don’t get up. It’s early.” He gently pushed
her back down onto the bed. She went willingly, fighting just to
keep her eyelids open. “I’ve got another meeting. This one is in
Savannah so I’ll probably be gone most of the day,” he explained as
he slipped from the bed and pulled his jeans back on.

“Another meeting?” Maggie asked
sleepily.

“I should be back by dinner, and hopefully
we’ll have something to celebrate. I’ll tell you all about it
later, okay?” Aaron searched the room until he found his discarded
t-shirt.

“Alright,” Maggie conceded, pouting a
little.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered as he
leaned down to kiss her. Then he slipped out of the room, quietly
shutting the door.

~∞~

Several hours later when Maggie woke again
she was left to wonder about yet another mysterious meeting,
however, this time Aaron had promised to tell her all about it.
Unfortunately he’d said he’d be gone most of the day which meant
she had a very long time to wait.

She tried to fall back into her old routine.
She had her coffee on the veranda and then took a stroll around the
grounds with Barney in tow. The orchards were in full bloom and the
sweet smell of peaches permeated the humid air. Aaron had told her
that the harvesting crew would be arriving at the end of this week.
It made her sad to realize that the harvest would start soon,
because that was quite literally the beginning of the end. When the
harvest was over it would be time for her to leave. She wasn’t
ready for the end of summer yet, wasn’t ready for the decisions
that would come with it.

As Maggie made her way back to the house she
felt anxious. The abundance of free-time that had once felt like a
blessing now seemed a burden. She had no idea how to fill her time.
She wondered if it was missing Aaron’s presence that made her feel
so restless.

Finally unable to sit still any longer, she
decided to take a bicycle ride into town. The heat was oppressive,
but she was fueled by a need to keep moving, and somehow she’d
actually grown somewhat accustomed to the unrelenting heat.

She was covered in a healthy layer of sweat
when she reached Sweetwater. Her first stop was at the corner diner
where she ordered an ice-cold coke and used the restroom to splash
some water on her face and freshen up. After that she felt revived
enough to take a walk around town.

She wandered in and out of a few shops, but
mostly she just walked and contemplated the choices that lay in
front of her. She was falling in love and she knew it. It was easy
to imagine spending the rest of her life making love to that man,
but she was just too much of a realist to dwell in that fantasy for
too long. She knew that if she stayed her days would not be filled
with making love in a mansion. She would need to find a job and a
place of her own.

Was she ready to build a life here? Was she
ready to give up on her dream of finishing medical school? Could
she be happy living a quiet little life in this small town?
Questions swirled through her mind as she wandered the streets
aimlessly.

When she was with Aaron, in his arms, the
answers seemed obvious. But when she was alone, when she could
think clearly, without the distraction of his seductive eyes and
charming smile, she wondered if that would be enough. Right now she
didn’t want to spend a moment apart from him, but how long did that
kind of love last?

Maggie suddenly realized that she’d come to
a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. She glanced around to see if
anyone had noticed and her eyes focused on the storefront window
beside her. There was an ad tacked to the window with a picture of
a Jeep. The car was for sale and the flyer said to inquire within.
Maggie found herself walking into the store before she’d realized
that she’d even made a decision. If there was one thing she had
learned from this summer it was that sometimes when life presents a
path you should take it.

“Good afternoon,” the cheerful clerk greeted
Maggie as she entered the small antique store.

“Hello. I was wondering about the ad on the
window for the Jeep. Do you know who’s selling it?” Maggie asked as
she approached the counter.

“Well, that would be me,” the woman smiled.
“My name is Brandy Raulston, I own this little shop,” she announced
proudly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Raulston. My
name is Maggie Overton,” she introduced as she extended her
hand.

“Please call me Brandy, my mother-in-law was
Mrs. Raulston,” the woman laughed as she shook Maggie’s hand. “So
you’re interested in the Jeep?” she asked.

“Yes. Is it yours?” Maggie asked.

“My granddaughter’s actually. Just bought it
for her as a graduation gift a few months ago and she went and got
herself accepted into the University of Hawaii if you could believe
that. You don’t even want to know what it costs to ship a Jeep from
Georgia to Hawaii!” the woman exclaimed. “Anyway, she’s gone off
and left me to sell it.”

“How much do you want for it?” Maggie
asked.

“I bought it used for $5,000 just a few
months ago and I was hoping to get that back out of it.”

“Oh.” Maggie only had half that. She’d known
it was a long shot, but it had been worth a try. “That’s a little
more than I have, but thank you for your time.” Maggie said
politely as she turned to leave.

“Maybe we could work something out,” the
storeowner said before Maggie could leave. “When my granddaughter
left she also left me a bit shorthanded here at the shop. You
wouldn’t be looking for work would you?”

Sometimes when a path presents itself, you
take it.

~∞~

Maggie couldn’t stop smiling as she drove
her new Jeep to the grocery store to show Andi, who immediately
took her lunch break so that Maggie could take her for a ride.
After a short cruise around Sweetwater, the girls stopped for lunch
at what was quickly becoming Maggie’s favorite café.

After Maggie reluctantly returned Andi to
work she continued her tour of Sweetwater, slowly driving up and
down every street, exploring the residential neighborhoods and the
outlying areas. She imagined herself living here with Aaron in one
of the quaint little homes, raising a family, working at Ms.
Brandy’s antique store. It was a happy life that she imagined and
yet a far cry from the one she’d once dreamed of.

Maggie remembered with distinct clarity the
night she’d decided she was going to be a doctor. It was her first
sleepover at a friend’s house. She was ten years old and her mother
had allowed the sleepover only because it was with the daughter of
a wealthy businessman who her father was in negotiations with.

The motives didn’t matter to Maggie, for her
it was her first taste of freedom from the rigid schedule her
mother held her to. It had been a night of many firsts. Her first
taste of junk food, the first time she’d ever broken her mother’s
very strict 9:00 bedtime rule, and the first time she’d ever
watched television for hours on end. Maggie recalled being amazed
with the fact that Jennifer had a television in her room. The only
televisions in Maggie’s house were in her father’s den, where she
was never allowed, and in the housekeeper Mrs. Burton’s room.

Maggie had many fond memories of watching
The Flintstones in Mrs. Burton’s room in the early morning hours
before school, but she’d never before watched sit-coms and late
night dramas. She was enthralled with everything that cable
television had to offer.

The show that captured Maggie’s attention
the most was the hour long series about emergency room doctors.
Maggie was glued to the screen, watching with rapt attention as the
doctors on the show handled one catastrophic event after another.
It was an introduction to a whole new world. There were women on
the show who were doctors, they were unconcerned with the state of
their hair, or whether or not they dirtied their nails or ruined
their make-up. They were self-sufficient, strong characters who did
not define themselves by who they were married to.

In the sheltered life Maggie had lived she’d
never known women could be anything other than the trophy wife her
mother was raising her to be. She remembered as the show concluded
releasing a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She
turned to Jennifer and told her “I’m going to be a doctor.”

Jennifer had laughed and changed the channel
to another show, but Maggie had spent the rest of that night
imagining what it would be like to be a doctor. When she’d shared
that dream with her mother the next morning she’d been absolutely
appalled and Maggie was never allowed to spend the night with
Jennifer again. But the seed had been planted and Maggie began
devoting every spare moment she could to secretly researching how
she could become a doctor.

And now here she was, so many years later,
considering giving up that dream for the love of a man. If she had
known that this trip would bring her to this crossroads, would she
have taken it? Would she give up the time she’d spent with Aaron to
go back to her solitary existence?

One thing she knew for sure was that this
experience had changed her. She knew now what it was to love and
she knew that if she left now she would leave broken hearted. Her
old life would be a lonely one now, but if she could, would she
give up what she’d had with Aaron to go back to that life without
the heartache? No. Whatever the cost, falling in love had been
worth it. The problem was Maggie had not yet decided what that cost
would be and time was running out. Summer would be over soon.

Maggie jumped when the phone rang, which was
funny since she’d been willing it to ring for the last hour. She
clambered for the phone, fumbling it before she got it to her ear.
She took a stabilizing breath before answering.

“Hello.” Her voice rang clear and steady,
despite her racing heart.

“Hey, beautiful.” Aaron’s voice was sultry
even over the phone.

“Hey, yourself,” Maggie responded playfully.
Just the sound of his voice relaxed her nerves.

“How quickly can you be ready?” Aaron
asked.

“Ready for what?” Maggie asked.

“I’m taking you to dinner,” Aaron told her
confidently.

“What if I have other plans?” she
teased.

“Cancel them.”

Maggie smiled. “I can be ready in ten
minutes.”

“Good, I’ll be there in five. We’ve got
reservations for six.”

Maggie glanced at the clock, it was 5:30. “I
didn’t realize there was a restaurant in this town that required
reservations.”

“There’s one,” Aaron confirmed. “See you in
a minute.”

Maggie hung up and ran upstairs, grateful
that she’d already showered. She frantically scanned the clothes in
her closet, looking for something that would be nice enough for a
restaurant that required reservations. She’d spent the last several
weeks in cut-off jean shorts and undershirts. She felt giddy as she
pulled items from the closet, trying them on and then discarding
them onto the bed. Finally she came across a sleek, dark blue wrap
dress with a deep v-neck that showed more cleavage than she was
normally comfortable with. In this past she’d usually worn this
dress with a lace camisole beneath. Tonight she didn’t.

She chose to leave her hair down, brushing
out the long auburn strands so that they fell down her back. Her
hair had lightened under the Georgia sun, with streaks of deep gold
running through it. She was just applying the last of her make-up
when she heard the doorbell. She skipped down the stairs, carrying
her blue strappy heels in her hands and slipping them on just
before opening the door. She felt flushed as she smiled up into
Aaron’s expectant face.