Page 93 of No More Secrets
The phone calls and video chats weren’t cutting it anymore. She missed him constantly and was surprised at the discontent she felt. This is what she had spent years working for, wasn’t it? And yet here she was, feeling empty and alone on a spectacular terrace while the rich and beautiful partied poolside.
It was just annoyance at having to change her plans, she told herself.
Thankfully, the photo shoot was next week. She would get to spend two days on the farm watching Niko get assaulted by goats, determining what, if any, progress Jax had made with Joey, and spending as much time as possible with Carter’s hands on her.
She could even extend it to three days if she planned carefully and used some vacation time, she mused.
Her phone signaled an incoming call and her heart flip-flopped.
“Hi, handsome,” Summer answered, her voice giving away her smile.
“Happy Fourth of July, beautiful.” Carter’s voice sent a rush of heat flooding through her.
She heard the booms and cracks on his end along with the oohs and ahs of the crowd.
“Where are you on this fine summer evening?” she asked.
“I’m in the square. Along with the entire population of the town,” he grumbled. “Mom’s idea, of course. It looks like a 1960s sit-in protest.”
Summer laughed. “I can only imagine.”
“I’d rather imagine you. What are you wearing?”
Summer laughed, glancing down at her festive red cotton minidress. “Stars and stripes underwear and patent leather red heels.”
He hummed at that. “Great minds think alike. I’m wearing the matching loincloth.”
“I’m really liking this mental picture.” Summer snagged a bottle of water off the tray of a passing waiter.
“I wish you were here, Summer.” His voice was low, sweet. She felt it like a caress and closed her eyes. For a second it was just them.
“I do, too.” She meant it. “I’ll be there in a week,” she reminded him.
“That feels like a year from now.”
She laughed, because it did for her, too. “I think we’ll survive. I love you, Carter.”
“I love you, honey. Here comes the finale.”
She heard the booms through the phone. They watched together as town and city lit up in a blaze of festive color and sound.
––––––––
That night, as the fourth ticked into the fifth, Summer lay awake thinking. When had a week become a lifetime? When had she ever let her life revolve around a man? Not since her father, she thought with regret.
And look how that had turned out.
The tiny, mean voice in her head put in its two cents.
Summer could still feel the cut of his disappointment. Still see the anger and sadness in her father’s eyes. He had thought she was letting him down and wouldn’t even listen to her as she tried to explain that she was trying to make him proud.
She was pandering to fools just like the rest of the fashion industry, he had told her. Didn’t she want to do something important? Something meaningful? Did she only care about pretty dresses and celebrity gossip?
The words still had the power to cut her all these years later.
Summer rolled over to her side and switched her thoughts to Carter.Was there any way this relationship could actually work?she wondered. Moving to Blue Moon wasn’t an option for her. She had a plan and was within striking distance of the next step. She couldn’t just give it all up for ... what? What would she do on a farm in the middle of nowhere?
Could she move closer? Make it less of a long distance relationship? She thought of the train in Rhinecliff and shook her head against the pillow. Moving out of Manhattan would hurt her work in more ways than one. How long could they continue this way? Stolen moments, all-to-brief weekends. Constantly setting aside work to make time for each other.
