Page 35 of It Started with a Sunset
Summer got a look of mock surprise on her face. “What? You don’t want to go to the top of Lookout Hill, lay down a blanket, string some lights from the antenna of your truck to a nearby tree, and have our own little two-person ball?” She laughed and put a hand on his arm, sending a zing of sensations up his arm. “I’m totally kidding.”
She tapped a finger on the part of his list that read,Take a walk along the path leading around Lake Baldwin, and if the sky is as clear as the forecast shows, stargaze on the beach. “I have a bag with jeans and a t-shirt in my car so I could change precisely because I thought you might want to do something exactly like this.”
He smiled at Summer. Maybe he should stop trying to predict what she was going to do in any situation.
He couldn’t imagine he would ever give up his list-making or over-preparing—he liked those things about himself. But he had been trying hard to be less rigid and more spontaneous. Summer had brought that side of him out, and he was enjoying it. But it was something he had to push himself to do, and tonight, being spontaneous sounded amazing.
“Actually, your plan sounds even better. Let’s do that.”
“What? Why? I don’t mind changing clothes.”
“I once told you that you had nowhere to wear that dress, and I was very clearly wrong. I’ve since been trying to eat my words as gracefully as possible, but I think you deserve to have a ball to wear it to, even if it’s a two-person ball.”
Her smile lit up her whole face. Possibly the whole bowling alley.
“My truck has an outlet, but I don’t—”
She grabbed his arm. “Your truck has an actual outlet?”
He nodded.
“I have a string of lights! Don’t give me a look like it’s weird to have a string of lights in my trunk—it’s in the bin of supplies I take into high schools for my presentation. Plus, I like to be prepared. I also have a hammock, a football, a few hoodies, a swimsuit and a towel, and phone chargers for both iPhone and Samsung, because you never know where an adventure is going to take you. Not that we’ll need all those things, but I do have a Bluetooth speaker, so we can have music at our ball.”
“And I have a blanket.”
“Perfect!” She stood up, and they grabbed all their trash and threw it away before heading out to her car to gather her supplies, and then they got in his truck.
A few minutes later, they came to the end of the dirt road that led around and around Lookout Hill—which could barely be called a hill—before ending at the top. With as flat as the entire eastern side of South Dakota was, on a clear day they could pretty much stand on a tuna can and see all the way to Saint Paul. So the little hill gave them a great view of the entire town.
He pulled within a dozen feet of the lone tree on the hill, and after a few minutes, they had the lights strung from his antenna to the tree, the blanket spread out under the lights, and the Bluetooth speaker playing soft music.
Summer untied the knot at the side of her dress and let the skirt fall in a beautiful wave toward the blanket-covered ground, and he’d never felt so underdressed for an occasion yet completely comfortable with the feeling.
He pretended that he was dressed in something much fancier than a t-shirt and jeans and gave her a slight bow, his arm bent in front of his waist. “May I have this dance?”
She gave him a curtsy and said, “I would love nothing more.”
He put an arm around her waist and she put her arm around his neck, and they held hands and danced around their little bit of space on the blanket. He had never really known much about how to dance, but it still felt so nice to be moving as one with Summer in time to the music. Back when he’d been making plans for this date, he’d imagined how it would be to walk around the lake with Summer, hand-in-hand, and knew it would be amazing.
This was so much better, though. He was kind of liking this more spontaneous version of himself that she coaxed out.
After a while, she laid her head against his shoulder, and they swayed to the music as they looked out at all the lights in the town, shining in the darkness, and the way the moon reflected on the lake, not far off to their left. Crickets in the distance made their own music, adding to the music coming from the speakers, and he couldn’t imagine a moment more perfect.
Without lifting her head from his shoulder, she asked, “Where do you think you’ll be working in five years from now?”
He was surprised by the question. But maybe he shouldn’t have been—being a recruiter was a tough job. All of the on-location recruiters they had usually burnt out within three to four years and went to the private sector, usually for sales jobs, so their department had a fair amount of turnover. But he wasn’t a recruiter. “Right where I am, only with a lot more businesses on board with donating scholarships. In a place where I can get as many kids able to get a college education as possible. Or, if I can do that better in another position at Lake Baldwin State, then I’ll do that, but I’d like to stay where I am.”
She lifted her head and looked at him for a long moment, and he couldn’t quite interpret the look on her face. Eventually, he said, “What about you? What are your plans for the future?”
She took his hand and sat on the blanket, pulling him down to sit next to her. He put his arms behind him on the blanket to support them, and she snuggled into the space beside him. He took a moment to breathe in the scent of sunshine and citrus on her, to take in the feel of her next to him.
“Staying at LBSU, of course. But also having kids.”
“Oh yeah?” He wanted kids, too, and was interested to hear more.
“Like ten of them.”
“Ten?” The number hit him hard, like a physical blow.
