The First Summer of Forever

Chapter 21- Forever

Conrad

Dinner was amazing. The food was great, but the best part about it was  just being with Belly. She had this easiness about her, something that just melted all my worries away. Sometimes I couldn't believe that this was us, we were finally here. Not here, in Key West, but just here, in this moment in life- together. 

There was a time where everything was falling apart and I thought I would have to live my life without her by my side. Hopefully, we would have many more years together. I looked forward to days of early marriage, the newlywed phase, living in a small apartment while I finished med school and then completed my residency. We could travel and sail like this every chance we got once I was done with school. I could see it being our thing. Then, hopefully, we would start a family and move into something bigger. 

I could see us staying in California or going back to Boston, spending summers in the summerhouse.  I remember how images of those things flashed through my mind the day we saw each other again at her graduation.

______________

It was late spring, and I had just finished my finals. I was packing my things to fly home for a few weeks to take care of some things at the Cousins house before I started the new summer semester. Last time I was there, I noticed some paint chipping on the siding, the garage door was sticking, and the dock out back needed some repairs. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and took it out to see who was calling. It was Laurel. I hadn't heard from her in about a week. She had been really good about checking in on me every week or so, this whole time I'd been in school. She always  invited me over for dinner and offered to do my laundry when she knew I would be home.

"Hello?"

"Conrad."

" Hi, Laurel"

"Hey, so, will you be coming home soon?"

"Yeah, I was planning on coming to the summerhouse for a few weeks. There's some things I need to work on at the house."

"Well, stop here first, I want you to come to Belly's Graduation, it's this Saturday. If you can."

"Oh, okay. Do you think Belly will be okay with me coming?"

"You said you guys have been writing letters to each other, right? So what's the big deal?"

"I, I don't know... I just don't want to make her feel uncomfortable."

"Connie, it's you. Come on. What are you talking about? She'll be ecstatic that you're there. Over the moon."

"Okay, If you are sure she'll be okay with it, I'm more than happy to come celebrate with you guys. Have, Have you talked to Jeremiah?"

"He's not coming. He still needs time to process, I guess. I'm really not sure. He isn't as open with me as you are. He's always busy with your Dad's company when I call. I think he just wants to avoid the conversation though."

"Oh"

"Connie, it's fine. Everything will be fine. I promise."

"Okay, Laurel. Text me the details, and I'll be there."

"See you there, Connie." She said before hanging up the phone.

Instead of flying into Boston, I decided it would save time if I just flew into Providence. When I got off the plane, I rented a car, and headed straight to the mall. I had two things on my mind. The first one was, I needed something to wear since I didn't stop at home. All of my dress clothes were at the Boston house. Something simple was all I needed. A pair of dress slacks, and a button up shirt would work. And I needed a new pair of dress shoes anyway.