I get into the cabin, and I fall to my knees by my suitcase, wiping the tears from my eyes as I pick up the plastic bag and carefully unzip it.
Tiffany's diary falls into my lap.
I must have read this a hundred times. As the diary falls open, my eyes gaze down unseeing at the pages.
Sobbing, I focus on an entry.
Summer is my best friend, and I love her very much.
“Amanda?” comes Summer's voice from outside. She sounds stricken. “Amanda, are you here?” she calls again, her voice breaking.
“Yes!” I call out to her, and then she's in the doorway, staring down at me, her warm, brown eyes full of pain.
“Come here,” I tell her softly, holding my hand out to her. And Summer does, tentatively at first, her wet feet padding across the floor, but when she finally reaches me, she sits down and leans against me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
“Do you see this?” I whisper, running a finger under the line in the diary. Summer is my best friend, and I love her very much. I glance up at Summer now, holding her gaze. “She loved you,” I tell her softly, feeling the words hitch in my throat. “And I don't think she would have wanted you to blame yourself.”
Summer holds my gaze for a long moment, hers utterly unwavering. “You, either,” she finally says, her voice gruff, full of unshed tears.
We stare at one another for a long moment, and then I'm standing, holding onto the diary and Summer's hand, helping her stand, too.
“I know what I want to do,” I tell Summer, taking a deep breath. “It's time,” I tell her, holding the diary out to her. “Twenty years have come and gone. Twenty years of a life that I didn't live,” I tell her, feeling the tears come harder now, coursing down my cheeks, warming my skin.
Summer takes the diary from me, raises a questioning brow.
“It's time,” I whisper to her, reaching across the space between us and taking up her hands in mine. “It's time to let Tiffany go,” I tell her with finality.
Summer's eyes flash pain, in that moment. Pain and hurt and...something else. Something else that I'm feeling, rising up within me.
Relief.
“We've both been blaming ourselves,” I tell Summer, taking a deep breath. “And it has to stop. It just... It has to stop.”
Summer nods, after a long moment of staring down at the diary in her hands. “It has to stop,” she repeats.
Together, hand in hand, the two of us move out of the cabin, into the sun-dappled warmth of a Lake George afternoon. Together, hand in hand, the two of us move to the fire pit at the center of the campground. Summer patiently, carefully, silently builds a fire out of the logs she drags out from the main office.
And together we stand, waiting, gripping the diary between us.
The fire roars, already climbing high into the sky. The water of the lake glitters under that beautiful sunshine, and the cicadas sing their hearts out...
It's a perfect, beautiful day.
And, beside me, Summer watches my face, her eyes still pained, her expression still closed-off, still sad.
“No more,” I whisper to her, and I hold up the diary, Summer's fingers brushing the edge of it as she finally lets it go. “We've done enough grieving,” I tell Summer, then. “You taught me something last night...” I whisper to her.
“What?” she asks me, her voice breaking.
“You taught me to live,” I tell her. I step forward, and I set the diary down gently into the fire. I turn back, and I take Summer into my arms as tears stream down her face, as she gathers me into her embrace. Together, the two of us hold one another as Tiffany's diary goes up in smoke, the edges of the paper curling and flickering, like a rose made of embers.
“It's time to start living,” I tell Summer earnestly. “I know Tiffany would have wanted us to be doing that this whole time. But we can start now.”
“Right now,” whispers Summer, and she leans forward and kisses me fiercely.
Twenty years ago to the day, Tiffany lost her life.
And, twenty years later, I found mine again.
Summer and I kiss in the blazing heat of the fire, in the heat of this gorgeous summer day. And I know, as we hold one another tightly, that falling for her has changed everything for good.
“C'mon,” says Summer then, taking a step back, her mouth turning up at the corners as she squeezes my hands tightly. “Let's go make some memories.”
So we do.
The End
If you enjoyed Falling for Summer, you'll love Bridget Essex's novel Don’t Say Goodbye: Maxine “Max” Hallwell has spent her entire life making the safe, responsible decisions. When her best friend, Jo, introduces her to her new girlfriend Fiona, a stunning, charismatic cake decorator, Max realizes that making safe decisions might have cost her the woman of her dreams...A heartwarming, poignant romance.
The following is an excerpt from Bridget Essex's novel Don’t Say Goodbye, available now on Amazon!
Max combed through her long, lanky brown hair with her fingers and put it up in a nicer ponytail, and she reapplied her mascara. She didn’t normally wear makeup, but she’d put on mascara this morning, and she’d tossed the tube of it in her purse, so why the heck not put on more, she’d thought.
Meeting Jo’s date was a big deal, after all. Jo went on a lot of dates. Jo was just…like that. She was charming and funny and she had the confidence of a world leader, so of course the ladies were attracted to her, and she ended up going on quite a few dates with quite a few different women. So for her to actually call up Max and ask her to meet this date, the woman that Jo had just met last week…Jo must be serious. And a serious Jo? That hadn’t happened since Alexandra, five years ago. And Alex had broken Jo’s heart.
So Max got out of the car, locking it behind her, and tugged down on her jacket, running her hand through her ponytail as she stared up at the half-lit sign for the Malibu. If the sign was to be believed, it was really called the “M li u.” They hadn’t changed the sign’s bulbs since Jo and Max had started going to the diner about twenty years ago, when the word had been complete and readable. After all, they didn’t need to change the bulbs—the regulars at the Malibu knew it for the good, greasy food and the great diner coffee, and the cute retro booths that Jo and Max always liked so much, and with or without the sign properly lit, the place was pretty much always packed.
Jo was in their usual booth at the back of the diner, and Max waved to her from the doorway when she walked in. Jo slid out of the booth, stood and grinned at her, her hip jutting out a little to the side at a cocky angle. Jo had obviously gone all out for dinner. She was wearing her close-cropped black hair swept a little to the side, which made her look mischievous. Her leather jacket was hung up on the little hook between booths, and her navy blue plaid button down shirt had actually been ironed. Or, knowing Jo, it was made out of that kind of fabric that didn’t need ironing.
Either way, she looked good, her wide, infectious grin widening even further as Max trotted over to her and enveloped her shorter best friend in a quick, tight hug. Jo hugged back just as tightly, and then, with her arm snaked around the small of Max’s back, Jo flopped Max around so that the booth was in front of the two of them.
“Max, I want you to meet my new girlfriend,” said Jo triumphantly, the buttons on her plaid shirt now in danger of bursting, her chest was puffed up so much with pride. “Fiona, this is Max—my best friend in all this world, and a great lady. Max, this is Fiona.”
Max’s breath caught in her throat as she took the woman’s hand. Time seemed to slow down, and the air crackled between them.
Time slowed down…and stood still.
When Max had woken up, the day had stretched before her as it always did. Get up, eat breakfast, drive to work, get to work. Work. Go home. Go to sleep. There was nothing in it that had marked this span of twenty-four hours as anything other than utterly ordinary or normal or as dull as usual. But as Max looked at this woman, as time stood still, Max�
��s heartbeat thundering in her chest, she knew that somehow, unexpectedly, things had changed. The day was no longer normal.
She hadn’t been expecting this.
Fiona had bright red hair, what looked like very curly bright red hair, held by a lot of bobby pins and clips to her head. Her bright green eyes sparkled as she smiled and took Max’s hand. The corners of her mouth turned up impishly…she had the kind of smile that if you saw it across the room, you wouldn’t even realize that you were smiling, too, but then you would be. She was wearing a plunging blue v-neck sweater that showed a great deal of gorgeous, curving chest, and tight black pants, and as Max took Fiona’s smooth, soft hand in her own, as Fiona’s fingers closed around Max’s palm, and Fiona shook her hand gently up and down, Max swallowed.
Fiona was beautiful. That much was obvious. But as her bright green eyes sparkled, as their hands curved up and down as Max and Fiona shook, there was something more to her, Max knew. So much more. Fiona seemed, in that first glance, the kind of woman who was perfect for Jo--bright, energetic, positive, with the kind of courage and tenacity that can move mountains. The kind of woman who would make Jo really, really happy.
And the kind of woman that Max would have given her right arm to meet first.
Jo and Max had always joked that they were attracted to the same kinds of women. It was sheer coincidence that the best of friends had both grown up and realized they were lesbians (for a very misguided week in their twenties, they’d even tried dating one another. It was a miserable failure.).
They both knew the kind of women they liked, a list that had never altered across the many years. Warm. Funny. Dynamic, charismatic, forward, vivacious…as Max woodenly sat down in the booth across from Jo and Fiona, Jo protectively putting her arm around Fiona’s shoulders, Max felt the blood drain from her face. They’d both dated women that the other had said, without a doubt, was their type.
But it had never been…quite like this.
Max had never been a “love at first sight” kind of person. She didn’t even really believe in it. Obviously, there would be attraction, but love? That was the kind of stuff you saw in the movies. It didn’t really exist in real life. But for the first time, Max crossed her legs, took the napkin off the table and nervously began to fiddle with it in her lap. There was a very disconcerting feeling going on in her heart. It was not altogether unpleasant…just very unnerving and unexpected.
Her life had never, ever felt like it was a scene from a movie. Until this moment.
Don’t Say Goodbye is available now on Amazon!
More from Bridget Essex:
- The Guardian Angel: When Erin's life is saved by a gorgeous woman who swears she's Erin's guardian angel...things begin to get complicated.
- The Vampire Next Door: (Co-written with author Natalie Vivien) Courtney's book store is failing, and she thinks her girlfriend might be cheating on her...Courtney doesn't even think she believes in love...that is, until she meets the vampire next door.
- Don’t Say Goodbye: Maxine “Max” Hallwell has spent her entire life making the safe, responsible decisions. When her best friend, Jo, introduces her to her new girlfriend Fiona, a stunning, charismatic cake decorator, Max realizes that making safe decisions might have cost her the woman of her dreams...A heartwarming, poignant romance.
- A Wolf for Valentine's Day – Trish Dalton has put her wild, adventurous days behind her. But when she's gifted a weekend stay at a remote lodge in the Rockies, she finds she may have one more adventure left in her. A light-hearted, steamy romance, perfect to read any time of year.
- A Wolf for the Holidays: Mandy’s not having a great December. Her lackluster girlfriend has given her a massive dog--who looks a lot more like a wolf than a dog--as a gift. But all problems seem minor when she wakes up to a gorgeous, naked woman stealing jeans out of her dresser...a woman who swears she’s a werewolf. A warm, holiday romance!
- Wolf Town: Amy moves to the strange little New England village, Wolf Town--but she finds more than a fresh start when she begins to fall in love with the daughter of the Wolf Town patriarch...who also just happens to be a werewolf.
- The Sullivan Vampires: A beautiful, romantic series that follows the clan of Sullivan vampires and the women who love them. Advance praise has hailed this hallmark series as “Twilight for women who love women” and “a lesbian romance that takes vampires seriously! Two thumbs up!”
- Big, Bad Wolf: During a terrible snowstorm, Megan thinks she sees a wolf. But when beautiful, hungry-eyed Kara comes into Megan’s life, she brings more danger than a pack of wolves.
- The Protector: Elizabeth Grayson doesn’t want a bodyguard, but when her life is put in danger, her father hires mysterious Layne O’Connell to keep her safe. And Elizabeth is beginning to fall for the woman who was charged with keeping her alive.
- Dark Angel: Cassandra Griman was in the wrong place at the wrong time when her life is saved by an angel. But first impressions aren’t everything, and the captivating woman who saved her life is no angel. Can love save the soul of a vampire?
These and more are available now.
Sign up to be notified when Bridget releases anything new!
About Author Bridget Essex
My name is Bridget Essex, and I write about werewolves, vampires and lady knights; about two strong, courageous women who fall deeply in love with one another, living love stories that transcend time. I’m married to the love of my life, author Natalie Vivien.
I’m best known for my Knight Legends series, stories about women knights, real world hi-jinks and love stories that are out of this world. My Sullivan Vampire novellas are a popular series lauded as “TWILIGHT for women who love women,” and I have several other series and stand-alone novellas, and I’m always putting out something new. Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when I release something!
You can find out more about my work at http://BridgetEssex.wordpress.com I’d love to connect with you on Facebook! Friend me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008329511329&ref=tn_tnmn
Learn more about Rose and Star Press, publishers of lesbian romance and fiction of distinction, at http:///www.LesbianRomance.org
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