Page 22 of It Started with a Sunset
“Ahh, interesting,” she said, nodding at his self-assessment. “Your analysis explains a lot, too.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s not what you were going to say?”
“I was going to say that you think you should have the ability to control the uncontrollable. You know, like thinking that an event with one hundred fifty students, plus their parents, plus fifty ambassadors, that went overnight, traipsed all over the campus, included lots of activities, and required feeding and housing would all go one hundred percent according to plan. That’s impossible. There are a lot of factors that aren’t controllable. People are unpredictable. And sometimes there are wasps you don’t know about.”
Brock shook his head, chuckling. “Okay, you got me there. But I still believe that you can up your chances of it going according to plan by being as prepared as possible.”
“And I agree. To a certain extent, because it does get to a point where you’re not getting the same return on investment.”
“If you’re gettinganyreturn on investment, it’s worth it.”
They were just going to have to agree to disagree on that one.
As the waiter came and took away their plates as they finished, Summer said, “Okay, I’ve got another question for you. If time, money, and responsibilities weren’t a factor, what would you be doing?”
“Hmm. You go first—I need more time to think about my answer.”
“Fair enough. Okay, mine’s easy. I want to experience everything there is to experience. Travel to all the places. Try all the things. But I want to do all that with a big group of fun people. So if money wasn’t a factor, I would choose to pay for all of them to be able to experience all the things with me.” It wasn’t even one of those “wouldn’t it be nice?” dreams—it was an actual goal of hers.
Brock smiled, but she wasn’t sure if he was just smiling because he had guessed her answer, or if it was because it sounded like a fun thing to him, too.
“What about you? What would you do?”
Brock wiped his napkin across his mouth and put it on the table. “College made a huge difference in my life. You know how when you’re growing up, you think that the way your family does things is normal and that it’s the one and only way to do things?”
Summer nodded.
“I grew up in Golden Springs, so Lake Baldwin University was only a twenty minute drive away. But I got enough scholarship money to live on campus, and that made all the difference to me. It helped me to, I don’t know, find myself. To realize that there are other ways of doing things, and some of those ways were better. I know I have an issue with perfectionism, but some of the ways I did things were setting me up for failure, no matter how hard I tried to be perfect at them. Living away from home during college was life-changing for me.
“So, I guess if I could do anything, it would be exactly what I’m doing. Helping other kids to experience something different from what they’d experienced their whole lives, so they can see with fresh eyes which of the things they’ve always done is working for them and which things aren’t.”
Summer just gazed at the man across the table, a new appreciation for him forming so much more concretely in her head. It made her want to reach a hand across the table and hold his. To go walk along the shore of Lake Baldwin with him and talk late into the night. To do all the things Deja said was wonderful about having a partner for life.
She allowed herself to reach across the table and give his hand a squeeze, ignoring how right it felt, and said, “You’re a good man, Brock.” And then she ignored how he turned his hand to squeeze hers back and the look he was giving her as he gazed into her eyes. She didn’t even allow herself the chance to interpret what the look meant because everything was definitely heading into the danger zone. She glanced out across the dining room for their waiter. “I guess it’s time to pay the bill and head home.”
She also ignored the look of disappointment on Brock’s face when she suggested they end the night.
Summer didn’t fear change. Change was exciting. There was always something else great on the horizon, so she never felt like she had to hold on to the past. It made it easy for her to take risks.
Except when it came to work.
As ephemeral as she could handle anything else in her life being—in fact, everything else changing was something she generally sought out—the Welcome Center was always the one constant. The people there had been her family for nine years. She wasn’t about to do anything to risk that. And falling as completely for Brock that she was feeling like she could easily fall for him would definitely risk things at work.
Chapter Ten
Brock
The Aquamoose Tracks excitement in the room was so palpable that Brock felt like he could reach out and touch it. The ballroom was filled with one hundred and fifty prospective students, most with a parent or two, all seated and going through the packet of information they got at the door, chatting with each other as they waited for the event to start.
A child, probably not more than four years old, was at the back of the ballroom, which was kind of strange. Kids weren’t really allowed at this event, so he figured the little girl’s parent must’ve gotten special permission. She had a purple helium balloon tied to her wrist, and she was dancing around, making the balloon bounce with every move.
Summer leaned in from where they both stood at the front of the room, just beside the stage. “Isn’t this amazing?”
“It really is.” He’d worked in the Welcome Center for the past four years, so he’d helped out at this event a lot. They all had. But he’d never been co-in charge of it before, and it made everything so different. There was a nervous anticipation, sure, but an even stronger excitement as they watched everything that they had planned for happen in real time. “Good luck up there.”
Summer walked up the steps onto the stage and welcomed everyone. She was such a natural. It was like she was being energized just by being in front of that many people.
How had he never noticed how incredible she was on stage before? He’d always thought she did a good job and that she was the best person to be over this event. But it had never hit him before how amazing she was at getting such a huge crowd excited and pumped up to sit and listen to people talk.
