Say Yes (Nostalgic Summer Romance)

I blew out a breath, dragging a hand over my face again to wipe away the drying tears. “I feel retched for everything I’ve assumed for so long,” I admitted. “For being so angry and hurt over something that wasn’t even real.”

“It was real,” Dad said. “Everything you have felt, everything you feel now is real. We should have told you when we were trying, but we didn’t want to get your hopes up. And we should have told you more how proud we were of you, how much you light up our lives.” He paused. “There are a thousand ways your mother and I could have been better parents to you, and while we can’t go back in time and do things over, we can start doing better now. Today.”

“I’m so glad you told us what you were feeling,” Mom said.

“Harley, we’re not perfect,” Dad added. “But more than that, we’re sorry we ever made you feel like you had to be.”

Those words nearly broke me again, emotion warping my face as I nodded and held my breath to keep the tears from flowing again. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“Now,” Dad said with a clap of his hands. “First, you need to tell us all about this award you won. And second, you need to help us pick a name for your little sister, because your mom is stuck on Nella and all I can think of is salmonella and I need my Harley to help me talk some sense into her.”

I choked on something between a laugh and a cry at that. “I wish I could hug you both so bad right now.”

“Soon,” Mom promised. “Now, the award. Tell us everything.”

And so, I did, and — surprising even to me — I told them about Liam, too. By the time we ended the call, I knew I had an outrageous bill coming, but it was worth every penny for the way my heart and soul was filled to the brim.

For the first time in my life, I was completely open, completely true to everything I was, standing proud on top of a mountain with my chest split open for all the world to see.

I was clean.

And with that cleanse came the most beautiful thing of all.

Clarity.

I was ready to release it all — the need to be perfect I’d held onto my entire life, the pain I’d carried around like a badge of honor hidden under my clothes, the fear of failing, and the pressure to be something I knew I wasn’t.

And Liam.

I saw the summer for everything that it was, everything that it gave me, and I knew it was so much more than what him leaving had taken away.

It was time to step into the next chapter of my life.

And I was itching to write the first page.

The Art of Surprise

“I’m so proud of you,” Angela said through the phone on the night of the exhibition. “I just wish I could be there to see it.”

“I’ll take pictures,” I promised.

“You better.” A pause. “I’m not just proud about the award, you know.”

“I know,” I told her.

“Do you miss me as much as I miss you?”

“Probably more. But how’s China?”

“Hot. And rainy. We’ve been in conference rooms with fancy bankers most of the time so far, though, so I don’t mind.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Hardly,” she said on a snort. “But we’re getting ready to draw up our first sketches, so it’ll get more exciting soon. How are you feeling? Ready to go home?”

I sighed, looking around the dorm at my suitcases sprawled out on the floor. They were mostly packed, save for the things I needed to get ready tonight and what I’d need for my last day tomorrow before I left for Atlanta.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I’m packed. All my art from the semester has already been shipped home, except for the one on display tonight. They’ll ship that one later. So, physically, yes?” I frowned. “Emotionally? Probably never.”

“It was a magical summer,” she agreed on a sigh. “I’ll always remember it.”

“Me, too.”

“Will you come visit me in China?”

I laughed. “Probably not. An eight-hour flight is enough for me to know I wouldn’t last for a twenty-four-hour one.”

“Fine. But I’m bombarding you in Atlanta or Savannah or wherever you are the second I’m back in the States.”

“Promise?”

“Pinky.”

A moment of quiet stretched between us.

“Still no word from Liam?”

“No,” I answered. “But… it’s okay. Really, it is. I hate the way things ended, but I think having time alone has helped me see that I wouldn’t go back and change it, even if I could.”

“Not even to save yourself the misery of the last few weeks?”

I shook my head before realizing she couldn’t see me. “Not even then. When he first left, it was all I wished for. I’d be bawled up on the floor, sobbing, praying to go back in time and not walk into that leather shop that night. But now… I know it’s probably hard to believe, but I’d rather have the memories of what little time we had together than to have never experienced the summer with him at all and save myself the pain in the end.”