Read Online Falling for Summer by Bridget Essex - Free Book Online Page A

her pretty little face.  Her smile grew as she considered what this meant.  “But...don't worry.  We're big girls.”  Her eyes sparkled.  “I think it's stupid that you were supposed to watch us, anyway,” she said, sticking her nose up into the air, in what I assume she thought was a mature expression.
    I groaned.  “Just promise me that you'll stay inside and stay away from sharp objects, okay, Tiff?” I muttered to her, shifting the pot over the gas burner as the kernels began to pop inside of it.  I gripped the pot handles tightly and trained my narrowed eyes on her.  “You have to promise you won't get up to any trouble, okay?”
    Tiffany stood straighter and nodded emphatically.  “I promise!  This is going to be so cool!” she said, and then she hugged me tightly around my middle.
    Those were the last words my little sister ever said to me.  I kissed the top of her head, poured the popped corn into a big plastic bowl, then grabbed a sweater as I dashed out of the kitchen and out of the house, into the arms of my girlfriend. 
    Monica had parked out front, and she was waiting for me in the driveway, her hands buried deep in her jeans pockets as she studied her scuffed sneakers and the chipping pavement of the driveway.  I rushed into her arms and hugged her tightly, but I didn't kiss her, because we promised that we wouldn't kiss one another anywhere we had the slightest suspicion that someone could catch us...  But as I embraced Monica tightly, too tightly for a just-a-friend embrace, I thought I saw a shadow in the doorway of my house...  We climbed into Monica's car and peeled out of the driveway. 
    That shadow must have been Summer.
    So Monica and I drove off of the road that wound around the lake and parked in the woods, away from prying eyes.  And as we kissed one another that night, I had no idea that my little sister had had every intention to get into trouble.
    And when Monica dropped me off back at the house, hours later, the cops were already there.  Tiffany's body had already been dragged out of the lake.
    And she was dead.
    And if I'd been there, it never would have happened.
    As I stood beside her body, staring down at it, sobbing, I remember thinking, It's all my fault.
    That refrain that has never left me.
     
    ---
     
    “Hey,” Summer kisses me gently, bringing me back to reality, with her warm mouth over mine.  I blink, then close my eyes, shutting out the memory as I kiss her, drinking her in as the storm flickers overhead, now farther away, the lightning coming only occasionally, the thunder sounding like a distant cat's purr. 
    “Where did you go?” Summer whispers, tracing her fingertips lightly down my neck and drawing me close, wrapping her warm arms around me.  “You weren't here,” she whispers into my ear.
    I sigh for a long moment, then run my hand over my hair, biting my lip as I turn toward her, drawn to her warmth, her softness, her kindness.  I don't usually ever speak about what's bothering me, what I'm thinking about...  But I find that, in this moment, I feel like I can.  “I was just thinking about...that night,” I tell her then, truthfully.  I inhale, shaking my head.  “You were there...  You saw Monica and me?” I ask her, holding her in my gaze.  “You knew what we were?”
    Summer's warm brown eyes flash, but then she's nodding.  “I saw you that night—the way Monica held you,” she says, voice thick with emotion.  “And I knew immediately.  Didn't you...didn't you ever notice me watching you?” asks Summer now.  Her eyes are wet, and she shakes her head again, biting her lip when my silence confirms the truth: I didn't.  Summer inhales deeply, her nostrils flaring as she searches my face.  Finally, she whispers, “I only became friends with Tiffany because of you.”
    I stare at her.  “Why?” I whisper, even though I know what she's about to say.  
    “I had a crush on you from the minute I saw you.  Even when I