If Summer Never Ends

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

I put my father's old Volkswagen convertible into park as I pulled up into Luke's driveway. We'd been working so hard on restoring the greenhouse and studio that I figured I would take him out to lunch as a little reward for his hard work. His house was not too far away from mine and without a surprise, I remembered exactly how to get there.

Luke lived a few blocks from the beach, and his house was a lot smaller compared to mine. It was the same white house with green doors and shutters, although some of the paint had faded over the years, which caused the color to dull. His family had a small backyard in which an old swing set stood and I remembered Luke and I playing on it all the time. I began to accept the fact that I would always be surprised at how I remembered the unimportant little memories.

After locking the doors to the car, I walked up the mosaic sidewalk and rang the doorbell. A few long seconds went by until I was greeted at the door by a woman with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a flannel shirt. A sideways smile crept upon me, for I could see Luke in the woman's face and I was excited to see her again.

"Gabriella Heaton! I never thought I would see you again! It's been ages! Come inside!" Luke's mother, Bethany McCree, insisted as she hugged me in the doorway.

"Yes, it's been quite a while," I agreed. She shooed me into the kitchen and to the table.

"Can I offer you anything to drink or eat?"

"No thank you," I replied. She took a seat across from me at the table.

Beth shook her head. "Well, I see you have done quite some growing up. How long has it been? Five years?"

"Six years," I corrected her. "It's actually been six years."

"Well, regardless of how many years it's been, I'm still really glad to see you. How are you doing, I mean, with everything? You doing fine?" she asked me, with a concerned look on her face. That was one thing I loved about Beth: she was always genuinely caring for other people. She didn't ask you how your day was because it's the polite thing to do. She did it because she honestly cared.

I shook my head and stared at the table. "It's been tough, but I'm getting by just fine."

She reached across the table and put her hand on top of mine. "We're always here if you need us."

I had always admired Bethany McCree. She was a pretty strong woman; when Luke's father left when he was six, she took care of him and his brothers all on her own. Even though she struggled with handling three boys and money, she always found a way to provide her kids with the very best. My mom and her were like the best of friends: they were both into DIY projects and getting crafty, probably the reason why my mom's death took a toll in their family as well as mine.

A timer went off and Beth rushed to the oven to take some food out. "So, how has life been treating you for the past six years?" she asked as she closed the oven door with her hip.

I shrugged. "It's the same old same old with me. I mean, I've grown up and gotten my driver's license, passed my ACT exam, and I'll be going to college next fall."

She turned around. "You got accepted already?"

I nodded my head.

"Congratulations! That's awesome!"

I mumbled thanks, but was beginning to get annoyed at everyone congratulating me. All I did was work my butt off in school so that I could make something of myself. For some reason, people found that extremely hard to do.

"So has Luke thought about college yet?" I asked.

She put some brownies on a plate and set them on the counter. "Yeah, he wants to go into the medical field. Don't bring the whole college thing up with him though. He's still pretty mad about what happened."