Page 30 of It Started with a Sunset
“And before that?”
“Hip hop dancing. That was hard—more than a month.”
“And before that, guitar, up-cycling, photography, rock climbing...”
Summer nodded, not getting where Valeria was going with this at all.
“You pour all of your focus into a new hobby, and then you’re done. You move on to a new one.”
“Well, yeah, because it’s about the challenge. So once I master something, what’s the point of continuing to do it? There are other interesting things out there.”
Valeria nodded. “Which was pretty much your same philosophy in choosing a major.”
Avery looked like she was trying to hold in a laugh, but a bit of it burst out. So she sipped her soda and gazed off at a crowd, acting like nothing had happened. Summer still didn’t get where Valeria was going with any of this.
“Someone might assume that with your personality type and your ridiculous ability to master things quickly, you might move on from one job to another quickly, too. You’d master one, then move to another. And every few years, you’d move on to a new career altogether. Yet you’ve stayed at the Welcome Center since you were eighteen.Nine years. For someone with your personality type, that’s like...a lifetime.”
“Well, yeah. It’s my home.”
“Avery,” Valeria said, “help me out here. How long have you worked with Summer?”
“I started just over three years ago in admissions, about a month before Summer started full time in the Welcome Center.”
“And have you noticed anything different between Brock and Summer over the past few weeks?”
“Yeah,” Avery dreamily said. “They smile differently.”
Summer looked over at her coworker. “What?”
“Well, you definitely smile differently when you’re around each other, of course. But it’s not only that. It’s like even when you’re not thinking of each other, there’s still a part of you that is, and it changes your smile.”
Summer smiled, just thinking of Brock smiling differently when he thought of her.
“Huh,” Valeria said, studying Avery. “Observant girl. Have you seen either of them be like that before?”
“Not really. Never with Brock. I’ve seen it on Summer a few times before, but it never lasted more than a day. And never like this.”
Wow. She hadn’t even realized that about herself, let alone about Brock. “Okay. I’m still not getting why me wanting to go hang out with Brock instead of hanging out with seventy-five of my favorite people is problematic.”
Valeria met her eyes. “Are you ready for things to get serious with Brock?”
“That’s not something I usually ask myself when I’m in ‘about to go on a first date’ territory.”
“Do you ever ask yourself if you’re ready for things to get serious with anyone?”
She crossed her arm and looked at her roommate. “So I don’t usually think about getting serious. That’s not a big deal.” It probably was a big deal and she knew it; she just really didn’t like to think about it. She didn’t even know what about it made her skirt the topic so much.
“With Brock,” Valeria said, “maybe you should spend some time thinking about it. Because dating him comes with more consequences than the men you normally date.”
“We’ve been friends and coworkers for a long time. If we started a relationship and it ended, we could just go back to being friends and coworkers.” She might not have always believed that, but now that she reallywantedto date him, it didn’t seem like it was much of an issue.
Valeria was giving her a look like her comment was so absurd that she had no words. So Avery stepped in. “I don’t think that’s really how relationships work. They kind of only go forward or they end.”
Valeria nodded. “Like I said,consequences. And I’m talking consequences beyond things just feeling awkward at work.”
Avery nodded. “You stick with the Welcome Center because it’s home. Maybe Brock is your home, too.”
“Exactly,chica.” Valeria poked her in the shoulder with her pointer finger to drive the point home. “So make sure you’re not treating your relationship with him like you do a hobby. And when things do start to get more serious, maybe rethink your inclination to run.”
