Page 31 of It Started with a Sunset
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When Summerfirst stepped foot into the Student Center on Monday morning, she could hear the industrial fans still blowing on the carpet in the ballroom upstairs.
And the first thing she noticed when she walked into the lobby of the Welcome Center was Pavani. She ran up to her friend and coworker and gave her a long hug. “Does this mean you’re back?”
Pavani grinned. “I am. Well, my doctor only approved me for half time this week, but I should be back to full time next week! How was Aquamoose Tracks? Did the sprinklers really come on in the ballroom?”
“Right in the middle of my presentation. But it went well. I’ve got to go meet with the ambassadors who are working today, but I think we’re going over the feedback forms first thing, so you’ll get to hear from the horse’s mouth how it went.”
It was all Summer could do to make herself go to the right and down the hall to the big meeting room to meet with the five students working today instead of going left through the doorway into their office area to see Brock. But somehow she managed it and ran the morning meeting with Alejandro, Paige, Jessa, Takeshi, and McKay and gave them their assignments for the day, and only cut it short by a few minutes.
Then she went into the office area and her eyes met Brock’s through the glass as he sat at his desk, talking on the phone. Seeing his face didn’t just make her face smile, it made her entire soul smile. He gave her a pretty glorious smile back. She had gone nearly two full days—forty-five hours—without seeing Brock, which had given her a good amount of time to think about what she really wanted. And to really miss him. Following Valeria’s advice had nearly killed her.
She set her things down in her office, and when she stepped back out, Brock was just coming out of his office. Then Tess walked down the hall leading from her office and said, “Summer, Brock, will you come to my office for a moment before the morning meeting?”
They followed Tess down the hallway, and Summer glanced at Brock, giving him a questioning look, but he just shrugged. When they reached the doorway of Tess’s office, he touched Summer’s lower back ever so slightly, a cue to say she could go in first, and she drank in the slight contact.
Once they were all seated, Tess picked up a stack of papers from her desk, tapping them on the desk to straighten them. “I was looking through all the feedback forms from Aquamoose Tracks, and I started noticing a trend in the ‘Anything you would like to tell us about the event?’ section. I’d like to read a couple of them to give you an idea.”
She set the stack down again and picked up the top paper. “‘Summer and Brock make the cutest couple! Did they meet at LBSU? I want to hear their story.’ And another. ‘Summer and Brock were so adorable together! I hope that by the time I go to school here, they’re married!’” She put the papers down and looked at both of them. “Are you two an item now?”
The sensation of Summer’s face suddenly being sunburned was returning in full force. In front of her boss wasn’t exactly where she wanted to have this conversation with Brock. Or to hear what the prospective students thought of it.
“Um...” She looked at Brock, and he looked at her, seeming to not quite know what to say any more than she did. “Everything is still so new—we haven’t exactly had a chance to discuss stuff like that.”
At the same time, Brock said, “Yeah, I think we are.”
“We are?”
“I mean I want to be an item with you. To date you.”
She smiled. “I do, too.”
Tess leaned back in her chair. “This is a far cry from when you both were in here three weeks ago and I told you that you’d be working together.”
They both chuckled, and Brock rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I know.”
“I don’t know whether to congratulate you both on getting past your differences or be worried for you.”
Summer sat up straighter. “Worried?”
“Well,” Tess said, motioning at Summer, “you take a chance on everything, whether you think it’ll work out or not.” Then she motioned at Brock. “And you don’t take a chance on anything that isn’t practically guaranteed to work out.”
If Tess was right, then that meant Brock thought their relationship was “practically guaranteed to work out.” She swallowed hard. “Does that mean you think I’m going to mess this up?”
Tess’s voice softened. “No, Summer. Not at all. I’m just saying to proceed carefully. There aren’t any rules against dating in this department. Don’t make there be a reason for a new rule.”
Summer nodded.
“Are you okay with everyone in the meeting seeing the evaluations that mention the two of you, or would you rather I pulled them first?”
Summer looked at Brock, but he shrugged then said, “I think it’s fine to leave them in. I mean, Elle and Everett were there, so if the students picked up on it, they probably did, too. Summer?”
“I think it’s fine. I already texted Pavani about it and Deja is smart enough and observant enough that she probably figured it out the second one of us walked in this morning. Or maybe she even knew before we did.”
When they left Tess’s office, Tess stayed inside, so Summer stopped Brock in the hall and whispered, “Do you think we’re making a mistake?” She hadn’t exactly had a lot of experience with relationships that had the potential to become serious, and Tess’s hesitation about it was making Summer worry.
Brock ran a hand down her arm and then gave her hand a squeeze. “I think that dating you is the most correct decision I could ever make.”
