Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (203 page)

I was not sure I still had a job, but my
Grandfather’s attorney made that a moot point today anyways. Grandpa was a
wealthy man, surprisingly, and now I’m a wealthy woman. I no longer had to
worry that Drake might think I was using him as an escape from the poverty I
lived in. I no longer had to worry that other people would think he was a fool
for dating the homeless girl. I have a roof over my head and a full belly and
that house I’d been in earlier today was full of history. I have family history
like everyone else now. I realized something beyond all of that, though… I no
longer cared what anyone else said or thought. I hate being without him, and
denying myself the one thing I want most in the world was just ridiculous.

“I have everything I need, except you. I
love you, too. I never want to leave you again.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

DRAKE

I stood in the center of my building and
looked around. Tonight was my grand opening party to get the news out to the
community and the press. I can’t believe it’s finally ready to go. When I
bought the old creamery building on the beach, it was crumbling from the inside
out. It hadn’t been used in almost ten years and the salty air had wreaked
havoc. I knew in my heart though as soon as I saw the inside of it last year,
this was where I wanted to put my school.

Now almost a year after buying the
building, the hard labor of everyone involved was coming to a head and I
couldn’t be more excited. As far as I know, this will be the only surf school
of its kind in the U.S.
–
maybe
anywhere. We aren’t just going to teach surfing. Summer and I had talked a lot
about it and we both agreed that we also need to teach an appreciation and
respect for the ocean. One of the rooms was set up with desks and chairs where
the theory instruction could be done.

Down the hall from that room is another
big one that is filled with paraphernalia from days gone by. It’s a way to
teach about the history of surfing and I have to give Summer most of the credit
for this one. One wall is covered by a large movie screen where pictures and
videos will be shown constantly of some of the greatest surfers that ever
lived, going all the way back to the 1950s.

After she and I finally admitted that
neither of us ever wanted to live without the other, we set about making plans
for our future. Summer was willing to transfer her classes to San Diego State.
She was studying Marine Biology and SD State had a much better program than
anywhere in Oregon, anyways. The only thing she was going to miss about Oregon
is her friend Matt. I met him when I went to help her move. Like Bennie, and
me, he was in love with her and it wasn’t hard to tell. But he seems like a
nice guy and most importantly, he seems to genuinely wants Summer to be happy.
I meant it when I told him he was welcome to come and visit us anytime.

Once she was settled in her own apartment
in San Diego, Summer slowly began to go through the things she had shipped out
from her grandfather’s house. She gave away the furniture and clothes that were
still usable, but she kept everything Wayne had collected during his career. It
turned out to be a whole wealth of things that are now on display in the museum
area of our school.

The main room is just a large open area
with surf simulators and an area where I plan on putting a wave simulator soon.
Summer and Phoebe had come in early in the morning and decorated the tables we
had delivered for tonight with seashells and tiny surf boards. The caterers
were moving in and out, setting up the food. I was pacing nervously back and
forth, wondering if there was something else I should be doing.

“Hey!” I looked over at the door where
Lance was sliding in past a couple of guys in aprons carrying a big cake. He
stopped just inside and looked around. “The place looks good.”

“Just good?”

He rolled his eyes. “It looks great. You
look like shit.”

“Thanks.”

“What are you so nervous about?”

I shrugged. “This is the first thing I’ve
ever done on my own. I mean, without my parents’ help. I just want it to be
successful.”

“First off, that’s not true. You’re an
awesome surfer, man. If I was half as good as you, I’m not sure I’d be ready to
retire until I was thirty. You did that on your own. And then, you used that
talent to earn enough money to do this on your own. You have a lot to be proud
of.”

“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.