“Good. Thanks. Hailey’s going crazy with the whole wedding planning thing. I’m kind of just along for the ride.”

  “Hey, you love me. Don’t forget that,” Hailey tossed in. “And we got together during Eva and Ember’s wedding festivities, if you remember correctly, so you should love weddings.”

  “I surrender,” Charlie mocked, and Lena listened as Hailey laughed at her.

  “We have no idea when it’s going to be yet, so keep your entire calendar open for the next two years or so,” Hailey added.

  “I will.” Lena laughed.

  “And if Summer checks in about business stuff, I’ll tell her to call her girlfriend, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be her first call as soon as she’s able to make one.”

  “Thanks. I’ll let you two go. Drive safe.”

  “We will. I’m driving,” Charlie said. “Ow!” Lena heard her exclaim and she assumed Hailey had punched her lightly in the shoulder.

  “Bye.” Lena laughed and hung up.

  She finished up the document she’d been working on and slid her computer into her bag before heading down to Strange Joe’s for her meeting with Van. Van had brought her own computer to the meeting, which they held in the back office. They walked through her financials and history along with some of the information about O’Shea’s and the locations where Strange Joe’s would fit. They sipped on Strange Joe’s coffee while they worked, until Lena finally saw Summer’s name appear on her phone.

  “Hey,” she greeted instantly and stepped outside the small office.

  “Hi, I’m sorry. I used my phone all day yesterday and fell asleep before I plugged it in, so it died. I just woke up, plugged it in and saw your messages.”

  “Oh, it’s okay,” Lena replied, suddenly feeling terrible about thinking the worst. “How are you? How’s he?”

  “I haven’t been to the hospital yet. I’m going to grab breakfast and head over. He should be awake by now and be a little more alert.”

  “And you? How are you?” Lena repeated her initial question and sat in an empty chair at one of the tables.

  “I’ve been better. I’m sorry for not calling.”

  “It’s okay. I understand. I was just worried.”

  “Am I interrupting you at work?” Summer asked.

  “I’m working, but you’re not interrupting.”

  “My dad is a stubborn asshole, by the way. You should know that before you get on that plane,” Summer said after a moment of shared silence.

  Lena laughed and replied, “Please, you haven’t met my parents yet.”

  “Yeah, stubborn too?” Summer’s tone lightened.

  “Not really stubborn. They just have giant sticks up their butts.”

  Summer laughed a weighted laugh, but at least she laughed.

  “Hey, can I ask you a favor?”

  “Of course, you can,” Lena replied.

  “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be here, but I don’t have much to do outside of sit in the hospital room during visiting hours and school stuff.” She paused. “I’m thinking about boxing up some of my stuff. My books, mostly. Anyway, I don’t want to send them to my apartment because I’m never there.”

  “Send them here,” Lena said.

  “Are you sure? I can send them to the office. I can even wait. I’m just a little bored, I guess.”

  “Summer, send them here. If they get here when I’m there, I’ll have my neighbor put them in the garage. She has a key and helps watch the place when I have to go out of town for work. She won’t mind.”

  “Not Van though, right?” Summer teased.

  “No, not Van.” Lena turned to see the woman they were currently talking about heading behind the register to help a customer. “Summer, she and I might be working together though. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

  “No, it’s not. I’m just messing with you.” She paused. “I’ll pick up the books when I get back and move them into storage until I find a house.”

  “Oh.” Lena forgot about the whole Summer moving into her own home thing.

  “I know we didn’t get a chance to talk about that before I left. Maybe we can when you get here.”

  “Sure,” Lena replied. “Hey, I miss you.”

  “I miss you too,” Summer replied. “Can I call you tonight? We can just talk for a while about anything other than what’s going on here.” She sighed. “I don’t want us to lose trajectory, Lena.”

  “Trajectory?”

  “I’m here, you’re there, and we were just starting to figure things out. It’s been a crazy couple of days, but I don’t want us to stop… progressing.”

  “Neither do I.” Lena smiled. “Call me whenever you want.”

  “And you’ll be alone?” Summer asked. “And I don’t mean that in a jealous way. I just want to be able to talk to you. Maybe we could FaceTime.”

  “I’ll be alone, and that sounds great. I miss your face,” Lena admitted.

  “Will you wear those glasses?” Summer asked with a mischievous tone.

  “Will you wear a hoodie and those shorts?”

  “Definitely.” Summer laughed.

  “Then, you’ve got yourself a date,” Lena replied.

  “I can’t wait. I have to go get dressed and get to the hospital.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you tonight, and let me know if anything changes with him today.”

  “I will. I-” Summer stopped mid-sentence, leaving Lena wondering what she was originally going to say. “I’ll talk to you later,” she completed.

  ◆◆◆

  “Hey, dad,” Summer greeted her father who was sitting up, trying to eat Jell-O.

  “Morning,” he greeted gruffly. “This stuff is terrible. They only have lime. Who likes lime Jell-O?”

  “I imagine a lot of people, or they probably wouldn’t make the stuff.” She sat down in her chair. “Seth’s stopping by later. He had a meeting.”

  “You’re the CEO. You don’t have meetings?”

  “I was on vacation when this happened. Still am.”

  “I’ve got to get out of here soon, Summer. I can’t just lie around like this. I gotta get back to work.”

  “Dad, you can’t just go back to work. You had a triple bypass.”

  “I’ll be fine. The doctor said I could go back to work.” He dropped his spoon and Jell-O on the tray.

  “He did? When?” Summer challenged.

  “Yesterday,” he replied. “He said I have to take it easy for a bit, but then I can go back.”

  “Well, I’ll make sure to get a more definitive timeframe than you did, and we’ll see.”

  “Summer Taft, I am your father. I’m a grown man.”

  “You’re a stubborn asshole, dad.” She leaned forward. “You don’t listen to anyone. You make your life harder than it has to be, and you’re here because of that.” She stood. “Do you want anything from the gift shop? A magazine or-”

  “I don’t suppose they sell cigarettes.”

  “No, dad. The hospital gift shop does not sell cigarettes. You couldn’t smoke them in here anyway. Oh, and you just had heart surgery! You can’t smoke anymore.”

  “Why are you in such a bad mood?” he asked, apparently not understanding why she’d be upset that he asked for cigarettes. “You haven’t been around in months. I didn’t even think you’d come.”

  “To the hospital?”

  “To California. You seemed happy in Chicago. Seth said you were staying there.”

  “I am, but you had a heart attack, dad. Did you really not think I’d come?”

  “You seemed pretty upset with me the last time you were here.”

  “Because you’re living in the past,” Summer retorted. “The house is a disaster, dad. You’re going to lose it. You know that, right?” She paused. “Aunt Donna said you’re probably going to have to move in with her.”

  “I am not. I just need to get back on my feet and-”

  “And the bank will foreclose,” she interrupted. “Dad, you have two children that have more money than we know what to do with and-”

  “I’m your father. That’s not how this works. I don’t want your money.”

  “You don’t want it, but you need it. Why are you doing this? Why are you not letting us help you?”

  “I need to be able to take care of myself, Summer.”

  “But you’re not, dad. You’re not taking care of yourself. You’re eating fast food every night and not cleaning the house. The place looks awful. You take better care of Mo than you do of yourself.”

  “I’m doing alright.”

  “Says the man in the hospital bed.” She walked toward the door. “I’m going back to the house. I’m hiring a maid to come clean it top to bottom.”

  “You are-”

  “Doing it and you can’t stop me.” She turned back to him. “And when you’re out of here, you’re staying at my place, while Seth and I talk to the lawyers about your finances and see what has to be done to save the house, since you refuse to leave.”

  “Summer!”

  “No, I’m done putting up with this crap from you, dad. This isn’t what mom would want for you. You know that. Seth will come by to see you later. Aunt Donna said she’d be by too. If you need me, have the hospital call me.” She left the room.

  CHAPTER 23

  “There they are,” Summer said. “You should wear them more often.” She pointed through the screen to Lena’s glasses.

  “Let me see. Did you keep up your end of the deal?” Lena watched as Summer pulled her iPad back a little so Lena could see the hoodie and shorts. “Nice.” She winked at her.

  “How was your day?” Summer asked.

  “Can I get the tour?” Lena asked back. “I never got the tour of your apartment.”

  “Why? I don’t actually live here either,” Summer said. “So, how was your day?”

  “It was good actually.” Lena went on to explain the idea she came up with in more detail so Summer would know that she and Van were only going to be business partners once everything was approved. “The lawyers are reviewing everything now, but from what I can tell, it looks good. I think it’s going to work. I’ve got the presentation ready to go for Friday if it does. If it doesn’t, I’ve got the backup vendor I know they’ll approve.”

  “That’s amazing, Lena. You’ve done all that in like two days.”

  “How’s your dad?”

  “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that.” Summer squinted her eyes.

  “We don’t have to, but I’d like to know.”

  “He’s the same personality-wise, unfortunately.” She inhaled and exhaled deeply. “He’s stable and will be released on Friday afternoon.”

  “Still acting like a jerk?” Lena asked.

  “I spent most of the day at the house, helping the maid I hired to clean up, and we’re still nowhere near done,” Summer explained. “I think there’s mold. I have an inspector coming out tomorrow to check, but if there is, and it’s bad, he can’t move back in there until it’s gone. The maid is the one that found it. She said she’s not going back until it’s gone. I can’t blame her for that.”

  “You shouldn’t be in there either.”

  “I won’t go back in until I know how bad it is. I packed my books up when I got back here. I’ll send them overnight tomorrow morning. They should arrive before you leave.”

  “I’ll take care of them.”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

  “You don’t have to thank me.”

  “Yes, I do. You’ve been great with this whole thing.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m just so tired, Lena.”

  “I know, honey.”

  “No, I mean, I’m really tired.” She leaned back and ran her hand through her hair, which was down and perfect. Lena missed touching it. “I don’t want to be the CEO anymore. I don’t want to have to deal with my pain in the ass father anymore. I want my brother to step up and actually run this damn company he started and stop running around the world. I want my dad to be okay. I want him to take care of himself. He won’t, so I have to. That’s not fair to me because I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to. I want to be there. I want to be with you. I want to be with my friends. I want to be home.”

  “Home?” Lena asked.

  “With you.” Summer shrugged her shoulders. “I know it’s crazy, but that’s how I feel. Hailey helped me realize it the other day. I feel at home when I’m with you. I think it’s one of the reasons why I like your house so much. I do like the house, but I like it more because you’re in it. I liked the few days I was there, when you came home from work and we ate dinner and just talked. I’ve never had that.”

  “I liked that too. I want it again,” Lena replied.

  “I don’t know how long this vacation thing will last,” Summer said. “But I’ll find a place when I get home. Maybe you can stay over there sometime. We can go back and forth. I’m sure I can find something I like. I can try to make sure it’s close-”

  “Summer,” Lena interrupted her and watched the look of confusion on her face. “Did you not just hear what I said? I said I liked it. I want it again.”

  “I heard it.”

  “You don’t have to rush to find a house. You don’t have to rush to do anything you don’t want to do,” Lena explained.

  “I know, but…” Summer faded, and Lena could tell she was holding back.

  “Summer, just tell me what you want. Don’t worry about how I might take it.”

  “I can’t. It’s too-”

  “Too crazy? Too soon? Too fast?” Lena interrupted again. “I don’t care.” She laughed. “I never expected to find someone like you, Summer. I thought I’d be in a dead-end marriage for the rest of my life. I finally got out of that, and I barely had enough courage to try to talk to a woman. Then, I met you. You turned my world upside down.” She laughed lightly. “And I like it. I like you. I more than like you. I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but it’s okay with me if it takes you a while to find a house.” She took off her glasses because she wanted to make sure Summer could see her intent in her eyes.

  “It is?” Summer smiled.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll keep my apartment though. The lease isn’t up for a while, so if you change your mind or if something-”

  “Okay. Okay.”

  Summer smiled at her and said, “I’m kind of crazy about you.”

  “I’m kind of crazy about you too,” Lena replied with an eyebrow lift. “Now, tell me more about all these life decisions you’re working on.”

  “It’s exhausting. I’ve never had to come up with a plan for myself before. I was twenty when this whole thing started. Younger even, because Seth started coding when I was still in high school. We’ve always been close. He included me in everything.” She explained. “Even though in some ways I’m ahead of everyone else my age, I feel like I’m way behind in others. It’s just really starting to bother me.”

  “I get that.”

  “You do?”

  “I got married in college and was ahead of most of my friends for a while there, but then it felt like I was behind, because they’d all gotten jobs and moved up in them or had kids. Their lives were progressing; mine stayed the same. My husband turned into my roommate. So, yes, I understand what it’s like to feel like you’re ahead but behind at the same time.”

  Summer smiled at her and pulled the screen closer.

  “I wish you were here. I just want to hold you.”

  Lena smiled back at her and said, “Me too. Friday isn’t that far away.”

  “It feels like forever. You realize this is basically the longest we’ll have been apart since we met?”

  “I guess I hadn’t.”

  “Oh, I’m putting a key in the sconce next to the front door for you, in case I’m at the hospital when you get in.”

  “Okay,” Lena replied.

  “Your flight’s all taken care of, right?”

  “Yes, I’m good. I’ll be there around five your time.”

  Summer stared at her for a moment, and in that moment, Lena swore she could see the longing in her eyes mixed with the exhaustion she undoubtedly felt.

  “So, let’s talk about something else,” Summer suggested. “I’m thinking about embarrassing childhood stories. Got any?”

  They stayed on FaceTime for over an hour before Summer had to go, because Seth was calling with an update on the business. Lena let her go but hated doing it. She looked around her bedroom and realized how empty it felt without Summer in it, which was crazy because it had been her bedroom for years prior to even knowing Summer Taft. Summer was right though. Home wasn’t the building. It was the person.

  ◆◆◆

  Summer had fallen asleep around midnight, after a long talk with Seth about one of their VPs, who had made a poor decision with one of their distributors. She had hoped to sleep in a little before having to head over to the house to meet the mold inspector. She wondered how long her father had been living with it and made a mental note to have the doctors check his lungs too. Unfortunately, she’d woken early, and as her eyes made their first appearance, she realized she smelled something. It took a moment for it to register that it was coffee.

  “Seth, you don’t normally wake up before nine. What are-” She stopped as she entered her spacious yet mostly empty kitchen.

  “Hi,” Lena greeted her and sat two mugs of steaming coffee on the counter.

  “Hi,” Summer replied breathlessly before taking six long strides toward her and engulfing Lena in a hug. “What are you doing here?”

  “You just seemed like you needed a hug,” Lena said with a small laugh as she felt Summer squeeze her tighter.

  “I did.” Summer’s arms were around Lena’s neck, and after enjoying the feeling of being cradled by her girlfriend for another moment, she pulled back and stared into her eyes. “I missed you.”

  Lena was dressed in her comfy jeans with a Stanford t-shirt that Summer recognized as her own. She must have left it behind. Lena’s hair was down and wavy, and she looked perfect.