Strawberry Summer

by Melissa Brayden

  “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—” I paused so my racing thoughts could catch up. “Can I ask where you’re going?”

  She nodded. “Tanner Peak.”

  I replayed the words. “What?”

  Her eyes met mine. “I’m moving back to Tanner Peak. I love Chicago, but when I really think about it, Margaret Beringer, the happiest times in my life were all in that little town. Were all with you.” She shook her head. “I’ve been chasing that kind of happiness ever since, when all along, I knew right where to find it.”

  My entire being went warm. I felt the smile take root. She wanted me back. What was a hope moments before was now a reality. “What about Carrington’s?”

  She smiled back at me and slowly took my hand in hers. “I told them I either work remote, or not at all.”

  “And?”

  She slid her other arm around my waist. “I can home-base at the Tanner Peak store, but I’ll have to be flexible about travel. There might be a decent amount.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  She laughed. “I would love that.” A pause. “Maggie.”

  “Yes.”

  “You came to Chicago for me. For me. You don’t know how much that means, that you—” Her voice broke, too thick with emotion to finish the sentence. But I understood the gravity. She took our entwined fingers and brought them to her chest. I could feel her heart beat against the back of my hand, and it was everything.

  “I had to come. There was no way around it,” I said. “You were here, so I had to be.”

  Her eyes sparkled as she wiped away the errant tears. “And you love me?”

  “And I love you,” I said very seriously. “Desperately. More than the Beatles. Way more.”

  Her smile only grew. “I love you, too.”

  I closed my eyes and let the words wash over me. “Does that mean there’s an us? What do I have to do for there to be an us?”

  She inclined her head to the side in thought. “Well, I need somewhere permanent to live.”

  “I know the best place. All the strawberries you can eat. What else?”

  “There should be a dog. I prefer large, goofy ones.”

  I grinned. “Your lucky streak continues. Anything else?”

  “I’m partial to kissing, given it’s with the right person.”

  I took a deep breath. “Let the audition commence.”

  I pulled her in and kissed her, threading my fingers through her hair. I felt her smiling against my mouth and fully endorsed that sentiment. When we came up for air, she cupped my face and looked at me quite seriously. “This is all that matters, okay? We have to remember that. Everything else is just details to be sorted through. Promise me we’ll remember.”

  “We will. For always. I promise.”

  Epilogue

  I waited patiently as my thorough clients took another lap through the three-bedroom bungalow they’d already proclaimed to love passionately three times and counting. He was a meticulous accountant. She was an elementary school teacher. They were very sweet, but I’d pay them eight times my commission to wrap up this outpouring of real estate love.

  While I wanted the couple to be happy, I was also aware of the fact that I had a dinner date with a beautiful woman who’d just gotten in from a business trip the day before. Courtney and I were scheduled to leave in just over an hour, and I so wanted to freshen up for the night out. She’d taken the day off, and it had been excruciatingly hard to come into work this morning with her still in bed and stealing my heart. The idea of spending the evening with her (and the later-evening beyond that) had me already a little checked out of the last part of my day. I would make it up to this nice couple later, I decided. Maybe a congratulatory fruit basket when the deal went through. Toss in some extra strawberries for good measure.

  “So it sounds like we have ourselves a winner!” I said excitedly to the wife, who was now walking around the house with her hands clasped to her heart as if in the midst of the most touching moment of her life. Okay, so my own heart was warmed at the sight whether I wanted it to be or not.

  “Thank you, Maggie,” she said, beaming. “I never knew a house could feel so much like family.”

  “Can I use that quote on my website?” I laughed and accepted the hug she offered me. She really did sound like a commercial.

  “We’d like to put in a full ask offer,” the husband said. “Unless you think we should go over-ask.”

  I raised a finger. “Let’s not get crazy. I’ll submit a full ask tomorrow, only because it’s new to the market and the brokers are swarming. If there’s a competing offer, we can adjust. Tanner Peak is suddenly very popular. Small-town life is on the rise.” And there it was, right on time, that jolt of excitement that came with every potential deal. I really did love my job.

  “Babe, let’s take one more walk through.”

  Sometimes.

  Sometimes I loved my job.

  When I arrived home forty-five minutes later with sore feet and low coping skills, I was met at the cottage door by a gorgeous woman who handed me a glass of red wine. “Hi, baby,” Courtney said. “How was your day?”

  “Better now,” I said, grinning at her and accepting the kiss she placed on my lips. “Do I have time to drink this?” I held up the glass.

  “Take your time. Dinner can wait. I made a cheese board for us.”

  “An appetizer! I could kiss you!”

  “I will take you up on that.” She stole another kiss and placed the elegant little platter on the table in front of me. She’d seemed so much lighter lately. Happy, that was the word, and I was right there with her. Life was infinitely better since Courtney had moved in six months prior.

  “Any deals today?” she asked from the bedroom as she slid into a pair of heels. She had on the navy dress she knew I loved, the one that brought out the blue in her eyes.

  “I have an offer I’m submitting first thing in the morning. Time will tell.” Ernie bounded into the room and I offered him a few head rubs before he leapt up onto the couch and stretched out. “What about your day?” I asked. She’d been taking a lot more days off now. I loved it.

  “I read a book on the porch and did some sketches of the northern field. This lug made an appearance in one of them.” She scratched Ernie behind the ears and he sighed loudly. She looked so relaxed, so rested. It was contagious, and I found myself joining her there as the day slid off me little by little.

  “Maybe,” I said, catching her hand as she passed, “we skip dinner and stay in.”

  “I see what you’re up to,” she said, taking my face in her hands. “But it will have to wait until I’m properly fed. You’ll want my stamina up. Trust me.” She winked at me for effect, and boy, did it work.

  “You make a valid point. In that case, let’s get this show on the road.” I dashed into the bedroom and shimmied into my newish yellow cocktail dress and straightened my hair, very much liking the tamer look. Courtney appeared behind me in the mirror and wrapped her arms around my middle.

  “You are stunning. Do you know that?”

  I smiled at her in the mirror because she really made me feel that way. “Thank you.”

  “Ready to get out of here?”

  I nodded. “I am.”

  She released me and led the way to the car. As we drove from the property, she tossed me a glance. “Do you remember when we used to make out on the recesses of the farm?”

  I laughed fondly at the memory. “Like I could forget. Day would turn to night and we didn’t even notice.”

  Courtney made a right when she should have made a left and I smiled. “You’re heading over there, aren’t you? To our spot?”

  She raised a shoulder. “I just thought we could reminisce for a moment.”

  “Okay, but I’m not getting my dress dirty before dinner. Unless of course you want to take my advice and skip the meal altogether. I think you already know my opinion on the…” My voice trailed off because as we rounded the corner
to what had been “our spot” as teenagers, I saw the most unexpected gathering. Standing there along the edge of the field were Berta, Travis, and the kids. Melanie had her hands on little Tim’s shoulders. Next to them stood my parents, who held hands and grinned at me with tears in their eyes.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Courtney, but I already knew. Emotion welled within me and tears sprang to my eyes. “What are you doing right now? Courtney?”

  She calmly got out of the car, walked around to my side, opened my door, and offered me her hand.

  “Courtney, talk to me.” The butterflies in my stomach were on speed. Luckily, they were happy butterflies. Friendly ones. Courtney didn’t say a word.

  I followed her to where our friends and family had gathered. Everyone was smiling and exchanging anticipatory glances with one another. These were all of the people I loved, and this felt like the most wonderful dream. Courtney paused and turned to me in the same stretch of grass where we’d once talked and kissed and dreamed out loud until her curfew or mine.

  She smiled at me and took my hand. I reminded myself to breathe as the excitement bubbled. “Eight and half years ago, you gave a speech in history class and my life was never the same. Six and a half years ago, in this very spot, I asked you to marry me. You laughed and I told you that one day I would ask again. I had no idea then the obstacles that lay ahead for us. I had no idea that the great love I had for you would grow exponentially once we’d weathered them. But I know so much now, Maggie. Most importantly, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” She sank down on one knee, and I covered my mouth in shock that this moment had finally arrived. “Margaret Beringer, I love you and I want everyone to know it. I promise to always be there for you through the good moments and through the tough. Will you marry me?”

  “Say yes!” Travis yelled to laughter from my family and a slug from Berta.

  “Sorry,” she whispered and covered his mouth.

  But I was focused on Courtney and the way the setting sun haloed her blond hair and her blue eyes shone bright. She had always been the most beautiful woman in the world, but tonight she simply radiated. “Of course the answer is yes,” I said simply. “It’s always been yes.”

  The spectators cheered, and Courtney stood and kissed me thoroughly, lovingly. My father attempted to take a photo with his phone and my mother stepped in to help him. The baby fussed and Courtney dried my eyes as I laughed at my own sentimentality. Shortly after, we all headed off to dinner together, where we toasted with champagne and playfully talked wedding details.

  “While I can’t wait to plan a wedding,” my mother said, “I’m counting the days until grandchildren.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” my father said.

  “So who will carry the baby?” Travis asked in genuine curiosity. This time Berta didn’t slug him.

  Courtney and I exchanged a look. She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve always wanted to be pregnant one day.”

  I couldn’t stop smiling if I’d tried because we had so many “one days” ahead of us and I couldn’t wait to get to each and every one of them. The table erupted in conversation and I turned to Courtney. “Boy or girl?” I asked her quietly.

  “Both,” she said decidedly. “I already have a boy name picked out.”

  “Tell me.”

  She leaned in close to my ear. “Clayton Carrington Beringer.”

  I kissed her softly. “I love you.”

  She grinned at me. “Never stop saying that.”

  I looked down the table at the faces of the people I loved and reflected on the journey that had brought me to this very moment. The world wasn’t an easy place. In fact, it came with pain, sorrow, and strife. But interwoven were moments of unencumbered joy when I reminded myself how wonderful it was to be alive, to love, and to be loved in return.

  I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Courtney and I would have the most wonderful life together full of laughter, adventure, and warmth.

  For that, I’d be thankful until my dying day.

  Life was good.

  About the Author

  Melissa Brayden (melissabrayden.com) is a multi-award-winning author of eight novels published with Bold Strokes Books. She is hard at work on her ninth and loving the writer’s life in San Antonio, Texas.

  Melissa is married and working really hard at remembering to do the dishes. For personal enjoyment, she spends time with her Jack Russell terriers and checks out the NYC theater scene several times a year. She considers herself a reluctant patron of spin class, but enjoys hitting a tennis ball around in nice weather. Coffee is her very best friend.

  Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

  Escape in Time by Robyn Nyx. Working in the past is hell on your future. (978-1-62639-855-9)

  Forget-Me-Not by Kris Bryant. Is love worth walking away from the only life you’ve ever dreamed of? (978-1-62639-865-8)

  Highland Fling by Anna Larner. On vacation in the Scottish Highlands, Eve Eddison falls for the enigmatic forestry officer Moira Burns despite Eve’s best friend’s campaign to convince her that Moira will break her heart. (978-1-62639-853-5)

  Phoenix Rising by Rebecca Harwell. As Storm’s Quarry faces invasion from a powerful neighbor, a mysterious newcomer with powers equal to Nadya’s challenges everything she believes about herself and her future. (978-1-62639-913-6)

  Soul Survivor by I. Beacham. Sam and Joey have given up on hope, but when fate brings them together it gives them a chance to change each other’s life and make dreams come true. (978-1-62639-882-5)

  Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden. When Margaret Beringer’s first love Courtney Carrington returns to their small town, she must grapple with their troubled past and fight the temptation for a very delicious future. (978-1-62639-867-2)

  The Girl on the Edge of Summer by J.M. Redmann. Micky Knight accepts two cases, but neither is the easy investigation it appears. The past is never past—and young girls lead complicated, even dangerous lives. (978-1-62639-687-6)

  Unknown Horizons by CJ Birch. The moment Lieutenant Alison Ash steps aboard the Persephone, she knows her life will never be the same. (978-1-62639-938-9)

  The Sniper’s Kiss by Justine Saracen. The power of a kiss: it can swell your heart with splendor, declare abject submission, and sometimes blow your brains out. (978-1-62639-839-9)

  Divided Nation, United Hearts by Yolanda Wallace. In a nation torn in two by a most uncivil war, can love conquer the divide? (978-1-62639-847-4)

  Fury’s Bridge by Brey Willows. What if your life depended on someone who didn’t believe in your existence? (978-1-62639-841-2)

  Lightning Strikes by Cass Sellars. When Parker Duncan and Sydney Hyatt’s one-night stand turns to more, both women must fight demons past and present to cling to the relationship neither of them thought she wanted. (978-1-62639-956-3)

  Love in Disaster by Charlotte Greene. A professor and a celebrity chef are drawn together by chance, but can their attraction survive a natural disaster? (978-1-62639-885-6)

  Secret Hearts by Radclyffe. Can two women from different worlds find common ground while fighting their secret desires? (978-1-62639-932-7)

  Sins of Our Fathers by A. Rose Mathieu. Solving gruesome murder cases is only one of Elizabeth Campbell’s challenges; another is her growing attraction to the female detective who is hell-bent on keeping her client in prison. (978-1-62639-873-3)

  Troop 18 by Jessica L. Webb. Charged with uncovering the destructive secret that a troop of RCMP cadets has been hiding, Andy must put aside her worries about Kate and uncover the conspiracy before it’s too late. (978-1-62639-934-1)

  Worthy of Trust and Confidence by Kara A. McLeod. FBI Special Agent Ryan O’Connor is about to discover the hard way that when you can only handle one type of answer to a question, it really is better not to ask. (978-1-62639-889-4)

  Amounting to Nothing by Karis Walsh. When mounted police officer Billie Mitchell steps in to save beautiful murder witness Merissa Karr, world
s collide on the rough city streets of Tacoma, Washington. (978-1-62639-728-6)