Summer Swing

by Delia Delaney

  Summer Swing

  By Delia Delaney

  For those who made a difference in my life when I didn’t realize I needed you! People come into our lives for a season or a lifetime; treasure who and what is there for you to learn from…

  Copyright © 2012 by Delia Delaney

  The characters and events portrayed in this work are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Chapter One

  The waves tumbled softly against the warm, sandy beach, and the light breeze cooled the eighty-degree temperature just slightly. It was a comfortable heat to lounge in, because if I got too toasty, the ocean’s beckoning surf was always an option. The Bahamas were beautiful; imagine the pink stretches of sand and gentle waters. Or maybe another beautiful island of the Caribbean, like Barbados or Aruba. But I wouldn’t object to the romantic charm of Bora Bora, either. I’m not picky. I could even be lured to somewhere in my own country, like Kauai or Maui, or four thousand seven hundred miles east to Palm Beach and Siesta Key. There were plenty of beautiful, warm coastlines in the world, and there were even a dozen more in California, which was just a state south of me. I would love to be at any one of those beaches, just to feel like—

  “I am freezing my butt off!” Dawn exclaimed. “Please, Ellie, can we go now? This is ridiculous!”

  “I’m not done yet,” I replied, still sitting with my eyes closed, imagining the possibilities of being anywhere but the Oregon Coast.

  “You’re shivering, too! Dreaming about your warm sands and clear skies isn’t going to crank up the temperature here. I taste like a salt brick.”

  I opened my eyes and smiled at my sister. “Did you really just lick yourself?”

  She kind of laughed. “No. Well, kind of.” She slid her tongue out to touch her cheek. “Yuck. I feel like I’ve been swimming in the ocean.” The wind blew her light brown hair against her and she had to make an effort to rescue her face from it all.

  My face felt sticky too, but since we were both bundled up pretty well, that was the only part of our bodies that was exposed to the misty air.

  “I’m sorry, Ellie, but I’m heading to the car.” She stood up and brushed the cold sand from her rear. “You can take as long as you want, though. I think I’ll just talk to Wyatt until you’re ready to go.”

  I nodded, unsurprised that I’d lasted longer than my sister. It was my desire to make the trip to the beach, and Dawn had agreed to go with me, but my prayer for a sunny day at the ocean went unanswered. Apparently the coast didn’t get the sunny day memo like Portland had.

  I attempted to settle back in to my beautiful beach fantasy, but Dawn was right—I was freezing, too. Even with a sweatshirt and a coat, I still couldn’t get warm, and the sand my feet were buried in wasn’t much warmer than a wet rock.

  I glanced across the beach to the parking lot as my sister was just getting into the car. I knew she was dying to talk to Wyatt anyway, so I figured I should give her some time on the phone with her boyfriend. The water was not enticing at all, and the brief moment that I’d already stuck my feet in was also the start of my shivering.

  But I made my way to the shore one last time, just to make the most of my visit. I rolled up my pant legs again and stepped into the water. Of course I had to gasp because it was freezing cold, and after only a few seconds, my skin began to throb from the harsh temperature.

  “This is ridiculous,” I murmured to myself, leaving the dark gray ocean behind without another look. “I guess I’ll have to do better at checking the forecast next time.”

  Note to self: The Oregon Coast has a climate of its own. Duh. It wasn’t even sunny the last few times I was here, either.

  I took my time walking to the parking lot, even to slow and watch a family play in the sand. All six of them were bundled up like I was, and the youngest one probably wasn’t any older than two. It reminded me of my own family—four kids consisting of two boys and two girls—and parents that spent quality time with them, no matter the weather. The kids didn’t even look fazed by the overcast skies as they continued to play. I suppose I might have been a bit warmer had Dawn and I spent energy on building sand castles, too.

  As I approached the car I shook off the sand from my clothes, and then sat against the hood to brush off my legs and feet. The horn blasted, scaring the hell out of me, and my sister was laughing hysterically inside the car.

  She rolled the window down slightly and said, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist!”

  I gave her a playful glare, but didn’t say anything as I knocked my shoes together to remove the sand from them. When I finally sat in the passenger’s seat, Dawn was finishing up her conversation with Wyatt, and since the car was toasty warm with the heat on, I took my coat off and tossed it in the back seat.

  I was glad my sister had her coat off too because I stuck my ice-cold hand down the back of her shirt.

  “Ahhh!” she screeched.

  With a wry smile I said, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

  She took a second to recover from the cold shock as she narrowed her eyes at me, and then into the phone said, “Oh, just my little sister being rotten…”

  I had to laugh. “Oh, I think I’ve learned from the best,” I told her.

  “David?” she smirked.

  I chuckled again. “Yeah, right. He’s nicer to me than you are.”

  “That’s because he holds that position as the oldest sibling to look out for you. I’m your sister. I’ve earned the right to be mean to you.”

  It was true, and I thought about that as she finished up her conversation with her boyfriend. David was the oldest, but Dawn was only a year younger than him. Growing up they’d been the best of friends, but also the worst of friends because the two of them had always been in competition with one another for as long as I could remember. Whether it had to do with allowance and chores and things at home, or school, social status and sports, David and Dawn were always neck and neck. They were the ultimate example of sibling rivalry, and it was no wonder I turned out to be so overlooked.

  I don’t say that in a bad way, because I was certainly kind of my own sort, but once Adam was born, I took a back seat to the rest of my siblings. He came into our family when I was ten years old, and even though my parents would never say he was an “accident,” my mom did admit that he was “a pleasant surprise.”

  My little brother had Downs Syndrome, and until four years ago, Adam was kind of the focus of our family. He was only six years old when he died, and even though we all loved Adam for everything he was, we felt at peace with his passing. He’d suffered so many medical problems his entire life, and we almost lost him two other times, but God decided to finally take him home, and the rest of us did our best to put our own home back together without him.

  By then I was a sophomore in high school, Dawn was a senior, and David began his baseball scholarship at Oregon State University. We all kept pretty busy, but once the dust had settled a bit after Adam’s death, my parents seemed to take more notice of me—the one child that had become pretty independent over the years. Whereas David and Dawn had always been involved in your typical slew of sports—baseball, basketball, volleyball and football—I’d taken up a different sport that hadn’t exactly been passed down through the family, and wasn’t as easily a spectator sport.

  Snowboarding.

  I loved being queen of the mountain, and I was fifteen when I first decided to try it. My parents didn’t exactly approve since it wasn’t something they’d ever been too familiar with, but they did allow me the opportunity to learn from the Newman family. Harvey Newman worked with my father at the hospital, and his son Grant was (kind of) my boyfriend at the time. Because t
he Newman’s had two other sons and a daughter that also boarded, my parents agreed to let me go with them whenever they invited me to the mountain. Grant wasn’t exactly the best instructor, but his older brother was. Asher pretty much took me under his wing out on the slopes, and it was because of him that I became confident enough to own the snow.

  These days I still lived with my parents in Lake Oswego while I attended Portland Community College, but in the fall I had plans to transfer to Portland State University. I was currently working as an intern at a popular Portland radio station, and since I was finishing up a degree in broadcasting, I was hoping to someday land the job that I’d had my sights set on for the past four years.

  Out of my entire family, I was the only one that wasn’t employed in some sort of medical career. My parents were both nurses at Legacy Meridian, my sister was a nurse at Legacy Emanuel, and David just recently landed a position as one of the athletic trainers at Clackamas Community College. There was definitely not a lack of knowledge in our family when it came to healthcare or sports injuries.

  “So are you excited for Summer League to start?” my sister inquired with a smile. So far most of our car ride chitchat had been about Wyatt, but I knew it wouldn’t take long for Dawn to bring up what else had been on her mind.

  “You mean to meet Wyatt’s cousin?”

  She smiled. “Uh, yeah. Why else would you want to watch baseball?”

  “Hey, I like baseball. How many years have I spent watching David play?”

  “Yeah, but you don’t like it.”

  “Sure, I do. I just…don’t understand it much, I guess. David claims it’s not interesting to me because I just don’t ‘appreciate’ the game.”

  She shrugged. “True it’s not for everyone, but I like it.”

  “Because you’ve been watching Wyatt play for, like, ten years now.”

  “It hasn’t been ten years,” she laughed. “Four. Four years at PSU. But I guess it seems like ten years,” she added with a frown.

  I gave her a sympathetic frown of my own, not sure of what to say. We’d talked about Wyatt’s fear of commitment for hours upon hours, and I knew it was still a sore subject for her.

  “Oh, well,” she said lightly. “What we have is good, and if he needs more time to realize he can’t live without me, then I guess I can give it to him. At least for a few more months.”

  “Yeah, right. You have no intention of dumping his sorry butt. I think you should make him learn the hard way and then he’ll figure it out.”

  She smiled and replied, “Well technically we’ve only been together for two years, and that’s really not long enough to freak out over.”

  “You’ve known him for four, dated him for two, and he still can’t decide on your relationship?”

  “He’s decided. For now things are good the way they are.”

  “For him. But it’s not what you want, Dawn. Just...don’t ‘settle,’ okay? Make sure what you want is taken into consideration too.”

  She paused for a few seconds, but ultimately decided the topic was over when she said, “So let’s talk about Gage.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What about him?”

  “Well I showed you a picture of him and you barely said anything.”

  I shrugged. “He was kind of cute.”

  “Just kind of? Why do you have to be so vague, Ellie? I think he’s super cute.”

  I sighed because I knew Dawn really wanted to set me up on a date with this guy. I figured I might as well indulge her for now so I asked, “Have you ever met him?”

  “Gage? Yeah, but just a couple of times. He’s a year older than you—twenty-one—and he plays ball at Eastern Oregon. It’ll be his last summer before he graduates so he wants to play summer league over here. He’ll be living with Wyatt, so you’ll be able to see him all the time.”

  “And what about after summer? He goes back to Eastern as a senior. What’s his major?”

  “Oh, uh… I don’t really know. But that’s the fun of getting to know him, Elle. Seriously, I think you should go out with him. Wyatt’s already told him about you—”

  “Oh, great. There goes any little chance I might’ve had.”

  She laughed. “Oh, come on. Gage was totally interested, so whatever Wyatt told him couldn’t have been bad.”

  “I don’t know, Dawn. I’ll think about it, okay?”

  “You’re not still hung up on Tim, are you?”

  I almost overreacted, but I only said, “No, I’m not. I just wanted to take a break from it all for now.”

  “But you’ve got summer to enjoy before you start school again. Why not fill it with a summer romance?”

  She had a silly look on her face and it made me laugh. Dawn was all about love and romance, and even though I didn’t feel like Wyatt was her knight in shining armor, she was happy with him, and I couldn’t take that away from her.

  “I said I’d think about it.”

  “Okay, fine. But you like guys over six-foot, Elle. He’s six-three, he’s a pitcher, and he—”

  “I’ll think about it,” I growled playfully.

  With a laugh she pulled into my parents’ driveway and pretty much sent me on my way so she could meet up with Wyatt.

  Later that night I was on my computer—kind of doing some work, and kind of just messing around socially—and my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but decided to answer it anyway since I thought it might be work or school related.

  “Hello, this is Ambrielle.” There was silence for a few seconds, so I asked, “Hello?”

  “Oh, uh, I’m looking for Ellie. Is this the wrong number?”

  “No, I’m Ellie.” There was a pause again so I said, “Uh, Ellie is short for Ambrielle. Um, who is this?”

  After another brief silence he replied, “Oh, I’m Gage. Gage Brennan. My cousin is Wyatt Brennan. He uh… Well, your sister is Dawn, right? She gave me your number. I hope you don’t mind, but she thought… Well, she suggested I call you. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Yeah, sure. I mean I’m glad you called; I was just thinking about you.”

  “You were?”

  “Yeah, I’m online… Maybe I can friend you?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He paused for a moment but I could hear that he was moving. “Just a sec…”

  I had already searched his name and was looking over the information. “Is this you in the Rockies t-shirt?”

  He answered with a soft chuckle, and then added, “Yeah, I’m from Colorado.”

  “Oh? What part? I have a few relatives down in Pueblo.”

  “I grew up just outside of Colorado Springs. Black Forest?”

  “Oh, sure, that’s just a bit north, right?”

  “Yep.” He laughed again and said, “Well I guess I might have been able to find you on here—the only snowboarding picture. That’s probably all I know about you.”

  “And now you know my full name is Ambrielle Abbott.”

  “Yeah, I guess that makes two things. And your name is pretty, by the way. Ambrielle. I like it.”

  Sheesh, had he been face to face with me he’d see me blushing right now. “Oh, uh, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. You like to go by Ellie, though?”

  “Uh, it doesn’t really matter. My family calls me Elle or Ellie. Except when my mom is perturbed with me. Then she uses my full name.”

  “Hmm, I guess I’ll have to see you in person to decide what I should call you. And there’s not much to do with the name Gage, so I guess you’re stuck without any options.”

  “Hmm, I guess I’ll have to see you in person before I decide that,” I replied. I’d been looking over his photos online and decided he was definitely as cute as Dawn claimed. Maybe being stubborn about it had been a waste of time.

  “So is that a possibility, then?” he ended up asking. “Can I see you sometime? I mean can I take you out one of these days?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I found myself replying right away.

  “How abo
ut next Saturday? I’m moving in with Wyatt so I can play baseball in Portland this summer, and I’ll be getting there next weekend.”

  “Sure, that sounds perfect. I’ll be working that day but I’m off at four.”

  “Okay, that sounds great. Uh… Well, I’m kind of familiar with the area but not entirely, so forgive me if I need to do a little research first. I’m sure Wyatt can help me out, but if you have an idea of what you want to do…”

  I was smiling as he spoke. “What if I just took you on a little tour. I can show you some of the sights, and point out some of my favorite places. You’re kind of talking to the right person since it’s actually my job to know these things. I conjure up the Slice of the City blip each week for our radio station. I research different social scenes, restaurants, and other things and just find that one thing I want to share with listeners for that week.”

  There was a brief pause before he said, “Wow. Sounds like I have a date with the queen of the social scene. That’s kind of exciting.”

  I laughed. “Well yeah, it can be fun. But I don’t go clubbing every weekend, or dine out every night. I’m definitely not a party girl, so don’t get the wrong idea.”

  “No, your sister said that you’re a ‘nice girl’,” he chuckled. “I didn’t really get the impression that you partied a lot.”

  “Well that’s true, but I wouldn’t take what my sister says too seriously. She tends to over-romanticize life in general.”

  “Yeah she seems a little…”

  “Spacey?”

  He laughed. “No, I was going to say something along the lines of ‘quixotic.’ ”

  “Ah, yes, that too. Goes right along with unrealistic and dreamy.”

  “Oh, so you’re saying you and I aren’t a feasible combination?”

  I had to pause for a second. Is that what I meant? His tone was of the teasing sort, but I went with, “Yeah, probably not. But I’ll give you a chance anyway.”

  Chapter Two

  I had never built a friendship with a guy through technology before meeting him first, but that seemed to be the case with Gage. The following week we talked on the phone everyday, texted in between our busy times, or sent emails or other comments to each other online. I really liked my time with him, even if it wasn’t in person.