Page 81 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

Saturday

Our fancy date was amazing. We sampled cocktails and talked about everything from what sports he played as a kid to what my favorite book was. But a night out on the town wasn’t really us. It made sense that we wound up on the beach, albeit a little tipsier than usual. My high heels dangled from my hand and he’d rolled his pants up so they wouldn’t get wet.

“The stars are so bright tonight,” I said and spun in a circle. It was hard not to spin in this dress. The skirt lifted in that perfect way. And I felt so giddy and light tonight.

“Beautiful.”

I looked over at him. But he wasn’t looking at the stars. He was staring at me. “You’re cheesy,” I said. But I didn’t really mean it. His compliment had me smiling so big.

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t beautiful.” He tucked me into his side like I had always belonged there.

“Christmas or Easter?” I asked. We’d been asking each other silly questions like that all night.

“Christmas. The Easter Bunny always used to freak me out.”

“Me too! What kind of creep hides out in a bunny costume and lets children sit on his lap? Talk about furries combined with pedophilia.”

“Maybe the same creep that dresses up as Santa,” J.J. said with a laugh. “Minus the furries thing.”

“Huh. I never thought of that before.” I wondered if it was the same guy that played both at the mall near my mom’s house. It was hard to tell if they were even a similar height because of the big floppy ears and everything.

“I have an idea,” he said and looked down at me. “Maybe we can use this game to help you choose a major.”

I stared at him skeptically. “Or we can just keep staring at the ocean.” I pulled him to a stop and looked out as far as I could see. The water blended with the dark blue sky in the distance. Suddenly I felt so small. Like my major barely mattered. That it didn’t have to be the hardest decision in the world. It was just a small choice in the grand scheme of things. But…my mind was still blank. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to be when I grew up, which was starting to get tedious because I was already an adult.

“Accounting or finance?” he asked.

“Umm…” Just choose. Flip a coin. Leave it to fate.

“Marketing or econ?”

“Ugh neither.”

“Philosophy or sociology?”

“No.”

“Political science or whatever a teaching degree is?”

I laughed. “I don’t know. Why is deciding what you’re going to do for the rest of your life so freaking hard?”

He kissed my temple. “Because the rest of your life is a long time. What if you knew you’d only have to do it for five years? Then what would you choose?”

“None of the above.”

J.J. laughed.

“Do you have a coin? Maybe I can just let the fates decide.”

“Are you a believer in fate?”

I looked up at him. A few months ago, the answer would have been an easy no. But now? I had wound up on the other side of the country next to his lifeguard stand for a reason. It was like we needed each other. Maybe I was here to show him that long distance could work. And he was here to show me that not all men were utter garbage. If we hadn’t met, would I still be hung up on Aiden? Would he still be scared of commitment? “I think when life is good, it’s easy to believe in fate. But when it’s bad, it’s a little trickier.”

“So right now?” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. It immediately blew back in my face from the light ocean breeze.

I smiled up at him. “Right now I’m a huge believer. What about you?”

“There were so many ways in which this summer could have played out differently where we never would have met. I mean, you could have stayed in Cali. I could have gone straight to New York. I’m just happy we’re standing right here together.”

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