by Nella Tyler
“Your compassion overwhelms me,” I said sarcastically. He grinned and headed for the table. I followed him and said, “I sent my father an invitation for tonight.”
Lance raised an eyebrow. “You think he’ll come?”
“No, but it doesn’t stop me from hoping. He hasn’t spoken to me in over a year, so I’m not sure what makes me think that any of this would change that.”
“Your dad has control issues. You know none of that shit is on you, right?”
“I know, but even knowing that doesn’t make me stop wishing I could do just one thing he was proud of.”
“Your mom and Chrissy will be here, right?”
“Yeah, Mom actually arranged for the emcee and the entertainment tonight. Chrissy helped Summer with the color scheme and all of that stuff. They’re both coming around.”
“Does your mom know about the non-profit?”
“Yeah, it’s actually what she got most excited about. She says she has lots of ideas about fundraising for me. She joked about me hiring her to be the financial manager for the non-profit side of the business.” Part of wanting this school for me had always been about wanting to give the kinds of opportunities that had been handed to me my whole life to someone much less lucky and much more deserving. The part of the school that Lance and a few retired surfers we hired are going to run for me will be for profit. The non-profit side will be open to kids between ten and eighteen whose parents meet a certain income level, and that will be the side where I will be teaching. I’m a little nervous about working with kids since I have no real experience with it, but Summer tells me I have the patience of a saint and Lance says I’m an awesome surfer. Hopefully, those two things will be enough to get me started. I also hired two other guys who had a lot of experience surfing, as well as kids of their own, to help.
The caterers were still setting up as Lance fixed himself a plate. I went over and got us a couple of beers from the bar we had set up for tonight, and we went out to one of the picnic tables out front to sit while he ate. The beach was only steps away from our front door, and Summer and I hired a group of local painters who painted murals on three sides of the building. The side that faced the beach is covered with a huge blue wave and off in what looks like the distance, a surfer is riding it into the sunset. The right side of the building is a coral garden and the left, a giant octopus. The press had taken pictures of the murals and ran an article in the local paper about the school. I was hoping it would generate some customers for us, just as I am hoping this party tonight will do the same.
“Did you and Summer get that thing with the bodyguard worked out?”
I laughed at Lance’s reference to Bennie as the bodyguard. “Yeah, we did. Bennie and I actually sat down and shared a meal and talked about it. He admitted that he was in love with Summer, but he says he’s over it. I’m not sure whether to believe him or not, but Summer does vouch for his strong moral code and I trust her instincts.” Summer wanted to hire him to do security for us. I objected at first, but only out of old jealousies and insecurities that I knew I needed to get past. I did sit down with Bennie and we did share a meal. I did most of the talking and told him in no uncertain terms that as long as he respected the fact that Summer and I loved each other and nothing was going to change that, he and I wouldn’t have any problems. “Have you been upstairs lately?”
“No,” he said, washing his finger sandwich down with a gulp of his beer. “Kobe showed me around a couple of weeks ago, but I heard Summer saying she’d done a lot more to it since then.”
I nodded and couldn’t help but smile at the way Summer had taken charge of her side of things. This old building is huge. Once we finished the plans for the bottom story, Summer and I sat down and talked about what to do with the top. She had an idea that apparently she’d already talked to Kobe about quite a bit. Over the past year with Phoebe’s help and encouragement, he had been making a good deal of money designing custom surfboards. Summer talked to him about expanding that business and hiring the homeless to help him increase production. Between Kobe, Summer, and Phoebe, there would always be someone around to manage it and she could still finish her classes. I was proud of her and I couldn’t think of a single reason why we shouldn’t do it.
Summer and Kobe put their heads together after that and while I worked on my end of things, they designed an incredible workshop upstairs. They also turned one of the rooms into a full-service kitchen and Summer plans on serving free meals to her employees and anyone else who is hungry. She invested a good deal of the money her grandfather left her in the project and surprisingly, Kobe put up his part of the money, as well. She’d already hired a cook, a guy named Ace that used to be part of her “crew” on the streets. She hired a young girl named Hailey to help him out in the kitchen and do light cleaning.
I was impressed with her business acumen, considering she didn’t have any experience. I guess it’s true what they say about some people just being born with it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. I was going to need a lot of help on the business end. I found myself wishing more and more that I had the kind of relationship with my father that would lend itself to us being able to work together on something like this. But wishing for it and having it are two different things.
Finishing the last of his beer, Lance said, “It sounds like you have everything together for tonight. I’m not sure why you’re nervous, you’re going to kill it.”
“I hope so.” I reached down into my pocket while we sat there and Lance told me about a few more ideas he had about advertising. I fingered the soft velvet of the box I’d slipped in there earlier when Summer walking into my apartment. She’d almost caught me with it and ruined the surprise.
*******
I sat at our table that night with Summer and I couldn’t help but look at her and think about how far we had come in the past year and a half. It was almost eighteen months to the day that we’d sat at in the gardens at the gala as scared, insecure kids who knew they had the beginnings of something good, but had no idea where to go with it. Now here we are at the grand opening of a business that will hopefully be the legacy we can someday pass on to our children, if they want it. If there’s one thing I learned from my father, it’s that people have to be given the opportunity to live their own lives as they see fit or they’ll never truly be happy.
The press was here and they’d interviewed Summer about her program for the homeless. When the reporter asked about her background, I’d heard a hesitation in her voice. But then she’d squared her shoulders and held her chin up and she’d told her,
“I lived on the streets for almost six years. I saw some terrible things and some days, it was all I could do to survive. But one thing I learned that I will carry with me for the rest of my life is that while I thought the people rushing past me every day just didn’t care about my lot in life, the truth was closer to them just not knowing what to do to help me. When I finally realized that being suspicious of kindness was getting in the way of not only my survival, but any success I might go on to have, my life got a whole lot easier.
“I’m hoping this place will teach people job skills and give them back the self-confidence that being homeless takes from you. I’m also hoping that coming here and opening themselves up to the idea that there are a lot of people who care about them will give them the motivation they need to begin reintegrating into a society they walk around feeling like they’re on the fringes of.” I was so damned proud of her.
After dinner, I took to the podium on the stage and introduced everyone that would be taking part in the school. Then Summer and Phoebe gave small tours of the museum section while Lance, Kobe, and I showed our guests the rest of the place. When at last it was time to clear the tables and open up the dance floor, I got up on the small stage and behind the microphone once more before the band started to play. I was about to open my mouth when I saw Bennie holding open the main door and my father stepping through it. He made eye-contact with me and I watched him
look around the place, taking it in with his eyes. Now more nervous than I had been all day, I tried to recall the speech I’d had memorized for weeks.
“Ladies and gentlemen, once again I’d like to say that I’m so honored at the turn out we’ve had tonight, as well as overwhelmed by the offers I’ve gotten from many of you to help. I will probably be taking a lot of you up on those offers since this is my first foray into the business world and I’m not really sure yet what I’m doing.” I glanced back towards the door. My father was still there.
“I came up here for a specific reason and I will get to that. But while I’m here and talking about my business acumen, or lack thereof, there is someone else I need to make honorable mention of. My father, Neil Spencer, is one of California’s most successful businessmen. He’s a self-made man that worked tirelessly for hours day and night while I was growing up to go above and beyond when it came to providing for his family. There was a time, a lot of time, when instead of realizing that and appreciating it, I took it all for granted. I didn’t let myself consider the hours of intensive brain power it had taken for him to earn what I spent freely in a day. It was just my life and I was so caught up in living it that I didn’t know how to look outside of myself and really see the world. My father and I haven’t seen eye to eye on most things since I became an adult. The fault of that lies with us both, but tonight, I’d like to say that for my part, I’m sorry. It would have to be devastating to build a legacy for a family who not only doesn’t appreciate it, but doesn’t want any part of it, either. Many times I’ve complained about how unreasonable he is, but now I realize that he’s actually been a lot more patient than I ever gave him credit for. So tonight, I’d like to thank him for what he has taught me. He’s taught me about hard work and free enterprise, and he’s made me tough enough to stand on my own two feet, even when I could have continued to take the easy road and let him keep doing it for me. I’d also like to thank him for coming tonight and tell him that I hope one day he realizes just how much that means to me.”
The audience was clapping and my father’s eyes still hadn’t left my face. For a second, I thought he was going to just turn around a walk back out. The expression on his face was unreadable. But after a brief hesitation, he gave a nod in my direction and then he went over to where my mother, sister, and Summer were sitting, and he sat down with them. I wasn’t joking when I said it means a lot to me for him to be here. There’s only one thing left that I need to do and with the right answer to my question my life will finally be complete. “Summer, can you come up here for a minute?” She looked embarrassed. She hates being the center of attention and I knew that. But tonight, I want her to be because from here on out, I wanted everyone to know that she’s mine.
Summer came up and stood next to me on the stage. I gave a little talk about her and what her role was going to be in our business. I thanked her for everything she has done to help me, and then I took her hands and slid down to one knee. There was a collective gasp in the crowd and as I took the velvet box out of my jacket, Summer’s eyes filled with tears. I flipped it open so that she could see the sapphire and diamond ring as I said,
“Summer French, nothing in my life prepared me for falling in love with you. When people talk about things that consume them, I never really understood that – until I met you. I’ve been consumed by you for eighteen months and during that time, the only part of it I was unhappy was when I wasn’t with you. This business is a dream of ours and I believe it will be successful, but if it’s not and if nothing else in this world works out the way I think it will, I know I’ll be okay as long as you agree to stay by my side. Summer, will you marry me?”
Tears were streaming down her face as she took my hands and pulled me up to my feet. She reached up and put her arms around my neck and pulled me down so her mouth was next to my ear. “Yes, there’s nothing else I’d rather do with my life than be your wife and your partner and hopefully someday, the mother of your children. I love you.”
“I love you so much, baby.” I kissed her then in front of everyone. For a minute, the rest of the room and the world disappeared. When I pulled out of the kiss, I took the ring out and slipped it on her finger. Then, I held her hand up to the crowd and said, “She said yes!” There was clapping and cheering and as I took her hand and led her down off the stage, the band began to play a slow song. “Dance with me?”
“I still can’t dance,” she said with a grimace.
“Remember what I told you about slow dancing.”
“Yes, it’s like making love.”
“Then make love to me on the dance floor, Summer.”
She grinned and led me out in front of the stage. I took her into my arms and we began to dance. “Will you teach me?” she asked.
I looked down at her pretty face. “Teach you what, baby?”
“Will you teach me how to dance, the way you taught me how to surf?”
I grinned at her. “It would be my pleasure.”
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Nella Tyler
