Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (101 page)

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem. That’s what Summer told me to
come down here and say. I hope I didn’t forget anything.”

I laughed. “Did she really send you down
here?”

“Yep, she really did. Your girl is kind of
pushy. She said she had things to do to get ready for tonight and knew you were
down here stressing all alone. She told me to come down and stress with you.
Now that I see all that food over there I’m glad I came.”

“Your compassion overwhelms me,” I said
sarcastically. He grinned and headed for the table. I followed him and said, “I
sent my father an invitation for tonight.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You think he’ll
come?”

“No, but it doesn’t stop me from hoping.
He hasn’t spoken to me in over a year, so I’m not sure what makes me think that
any of this would change that.”

“Your dad has control issues. You know
none of that shit is on you, right?”

“I know, but even knowing that doesn’t
make me stop wishing I could do just one thing he was proud of.”

“Your mom and Chrissy will be here,
right?”

“Yeah, Mom actually arranged for the emcee
and the entertainment tonight. Chrissy helped Summer with the color scheme and
all of that stuff. They’re both coming around.”

“Does your mom know about the non-profit?”

“Yeah, it’s actually what she got most
excited about. She says she has lots of ideas about fundraising for me. She
joked about me hiring her to be the financial manager for the non-profit side
of the business.” Part of wanting this school for me had always been about
wanting to give the kinds of opportunities that had been handed to me my whole
life to someone much less lucky and much more deserving. The part of the school
that Lance and a few retired surfers we hired are going to run for me will be
for profit. The non-profit side will be open to kids between ten and eighteen
whose parents meet a certain income level, and that will be the side where I
will be teaching. I’m a little nervous about working with kids since I have no
real experience with it, but Summer tells me I have the patience of a saint and
Lance says I’m an awesome surfer. Hopefully, those two things will be enough to
get me started. I also hired two other guys who had a lot of experience
surfing, as well as kids of their own, to help.

The caterers were still setting up as
Lance fixed himself a plate. I went over and got us a couple of beers from the
bar we had set up for tonight, and we went out to one of the picnic tables out
front to sit while he ate. The beach was only steps away from our front door,
and Summer and I hired a group of local painters who painted murals on three
sides of the building. The side that faced the beach is covered with a huge
blue wave and off in what looks like the distance, a surfer is riding it into
the sunset. The right side of the building is a coral garden and the left, a
giant octopus. The press had taken pictures of the murals and ran an article in
the local paper about the school. I was hoping it would generate some customers
for us, just as I am hoping this party tonight will do the same.

“Did you and Summer get that thing with
the bodyguard worked out?”

I laughed at Lance’s reference to Bennie
as the bodyguard. “Yeah, we did. Bennie and I actually sat down and shared a
meal and talked about it. He admitted that he was in love with Summer, but he
says he’s over it. I’m not sure whether to believe him or not, but Summer does
vouch for his strong moral code and I trust her instincts.” Summer wanted to
hire him to do security for us. I objected at first, but only out of old
jealousies and insecurities that I knew I needed to get past. I did sit down
with Bennie and we did share a meal. I did most of the talking and told him in
no uncertain terms that as long as he respected the fact that Summer and I
loved each other and nothing was going to change that, he and I wouldn’t have
any problems. “Have you been upstairs lately?”

“No,” he said, washing his finger sandwich
down with a gulp of his beer. “Kobe showed me around a couple of weeks ago, but
I heard Summer saying she’d done a lot more to it since then.”

I nodded and couldn’t help but smile at
the way Summer had taken charge of her side of things. This old building is
huge. Once we finished the plans for the bottom story, Summer and I sat down
and talked about what to do with the top. She had an idea that apparently she’d
already talked to Kobe about quite a bit. Over the past year with Phoebe’s help
and encouragement, he had been making a good deal of money designing custom
surfboards. Summer talked to him about expanding that business and hiring the
homeless to help him increase production. Between Kobe, Summer, and Phoebe,
there would always be someone around to manage it and she could still finish
her classes. I was proud of her and I couldn’t think of a single reason why we
shouldn’t do it.

Summer and Kobe put their heads together
after that and while I worked on my end of things, they designed an incredible
workshop upstairs. They also turned one of the rooms into a full-service
kitchen and Summer plans on serving free meals to her employees and anyone else
who is hungry. She invested a good deal of the money her grandfather left her
in the project and surprisingly, Kobe put up his part of the money, as well.
She’d already hired a cook, a guy named Ace that used to be part of her “crew”
on the streets. She hired a young girl named Hailey to help him out in the
kitchen and do light cleaning.

I was impressed with her business acumen,
considering she didn’t have any experience. I guess it’s true what they say
about some people just being born with it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. I was going
to need a lot of help on the business end. I found myself wishing more and more
that I had the kind of relationship with my father that would lend itself to us
being able to work together on something like this. But wishing for it and
having it are two different things.

Finishing the last of his beer, Lance
said, “It sounds like you have everything together for tonight. I’m not sure
why you’re nervous, you’re going to kill it.”

“I hope so.” I reached down into my pocket
while we sat there and Lance told me about a few more ideas he had about
advertising. I fingered the soft velvet of the box I’d slipped in there earlier
when Summer walking into my apartment. She’d almost caught me with it and
ruined the surprise.

*******

I sat at our table that night with Summer
and I couldn’t help but look at her and think about how far we had come in the
past year and a half. It was almost eighteen months to the day that we’d sat at
in the gardens at the gala as scared, insecure kids who knew they had the
beginnings of something good, but had no idea where to go with it. Now here we
are at the grand opening of a business that will hopefully be the legacy we can
someday pass on to our children, if they want it. If there’s one thing I learned
from my father, it’s that people have to be given the opportunity to live their
own lives as they see fit or they’ll never truly be happy.

The press was here and they’d interviewed
Summer about her program for the homeless. When the reporter asked about her
background, I’d heard a hesitation in her voice. But then she’d squared her
shoulders and held her chin up and she’d told her,

“I lived on the streets for almost six
years. I saw some terrible things and some days, it was all I could do to
survive. But one thing I learned that I will carry with me for the rest of my
life is that while I thought the people rushing past me every day just didn’t
care about my lot in life, the truth was closer to them just not knowing what
to do to help me. When I finally realized that being suspicious of kindness was
getting in the way of not only my survival, but any success I might go on to
have, my life got a whole lot easier.

“I’m hoping this place will teach people
job skills and give them back the self-confidence that being homeless takes
from you. I’m also hoping that coming here and opening themselves up to the
idea that there are a lot of people who care about them will give them the
motivation they need to begin reintegrating into a society they walk around feeling
like they’re on the fringes of.” I was so damned proud of her.

After dinner, I took to the podium on the
stage and introduced everyone that would be taking part in the school. Then
Summer and Phoebe gave small tours of the museum section while Lance, Kobe, and
I showed our guests the rest of the place. When at last it was time to clear
the tables and open up the dance floor, I got up on the small stage and behind
the microphone once more before the band started to play. I was about to open
my mouth when I saw Bennie holding open the main door and my father stepping
through it. He made eye-contact with me and I watched him look around the
place, taking it in with his eyes. Now more nervous than I had been all day, I
tried to recall the speech I’d had memorized for weeks.

“Ladies and gentlemen, once again I’d like
to say that I’m so honored at the turn out we’ve had tonight, as well as
overwhelmed by the offers I’ve gotten from many of you to help. I will probably
be taking a lot of you up on those offers since this is my first foray into the
business world and I’m not really sure yet what I’m doing.” I glanced back
towards the door. My father was still there.

“I came up here for a specific reason and
I will get to that. But while I’m here and talking about my business acumen, or
lack thereof, there is someone else I need to make honorable mention of. My
father, Neil Spencer, is one of California’s most successful businessmen. He’s
a self-made man that worked tirelessly for hours day and night while I was
growing up to go above and beyond when it came to providing for his family.
There was a time, a lot of time, when instead of realizing that and
appreciating it, I took it all for granted. I didn’t let myself consider the
hours of intensive brain power it had taken for him to earn what I spent freely
in a day. It was just my life and I was so caught up in living it that I didn’t
know how to look outside of myself and really see the world. My father and I
haven’t seen eye to eye on most things since I became an adult. The fault of
that lies with us both, but tonight, I’d like to say that for my part, I’m
sorry. It would have to be devastating to build a legacy for a family who not
only doesn’t appreciate it, but doesn’t want any part of it, either. Many times
I’ve complained about how unreasonable he is, but now I realize that he’s
actually been a lot more patient than I ever gave him credit for. So tonight,
I’d like to thank him for what he has taught me. He’s taught me about hard work
and free enterprise, and he’s made me tough enough to stand on my own two feet,
even when I could have continued to take the easy road and let him keep doing
it for me. I’d also like to thank him for coming tonight and tell him that I
hope one day he realizes just how much that means to me.”

The audience was clapping and my father’s
eyes still hadn’t left my face. For a second, I thought he was going to just
turn around a walk back out. The expression on his face was unreadable. But
after a brief hesitation, he gave a nod in my direction and then he went over
to where my mother, sister, and Summer were sitting, and he sat down with them.
I wasn’t joking when I said it means a lot to me for him to be here. There’s
only one thing left that I need to do and with the right answer to my question
my life will finally be complete. “Summer, can you come up here for a minute?”
She looked embarrassed. She hates being the center of attention and I knew
that. But tonight, I want her to be because from here on out, I wanted everyone
to know that she’s mine.

Summer came up and stood next to me on the
stage. I gave a little talk about her and what her role was going to be in our
business. I thanked her for everything she has done to help me, and then I took
her hands and slid down to one knee. There was a collective gasp in the crowd
and as I took the velvet box out of my jacket, Summer’s eyes filled with tears.
I flipped it open so that she could see the sapphire and diamond ring as I
said,

“Summer French, nothing in my life
prepared me for falling in love with you. When people talk about things that
consume them, I never really understood that
–
until I met you. I’ve been consumed
by you for eighteen months and during that time, the only part of it I was
unhappy was when I wasn’t with you. This business is a dream of ours and I
believe it will be successful, but if it’s not and if nothing else in this
world works out the way I think it will, I know I’ll be okay as long as you
agree to stay by my side. Summer, will you marry me?”

Tears were streaming down her face as she
took my hands and pulled me up to my feet. She reached up and put her arms
around my neck and pulled me down so her mouth was next to my ear. “Yes,
there’s nothing else I’d rather do with my life than be your wife and your
partner and hopefully someday, the mother of your children. I love you.”

“I love you so much, baby.” I kissed her
then in front of everyone. For a minute, the rest of the room and the world
disappeared. When I pulled out of the kiss, I took the ring out and slipped it
on her finger. Then, I held her hand up to the crowd and said, “She said yes!”
There was clapping and cheering and as I took her hand and led her down off the
stage, the band began to play a slow song. “Dance with me?”