The Summer Experience

Prologue

Digging my toes into the sand, I stood and looked over the water. The sun was shining in the distance and I could feel the warmth of it dancing onto my skin. I took a deep breath and waved at the boat making it's way into the harbour. Mrs. Winters laughing with Jenny in the back seat of the boat as Julian drove into the dock, a wide smile plastered on his face as well. Throwing the rope around the pole, the boat found it's way to the side of the dock. Mrs. Winters stepped out, quickly followed by Jenny and Julian.

Wrapping her slender arms around me, Jenny's broad smile quickly turned into laughter as her belly bumped into me, pushing me slightly to the side, "I'm so sorry Mattie! I'm not used to this thing inside me yet, it seems to get in the way more often than I would like." Rubbing her stomach, she found the lounge chairs I had set up for us, "Oh thank heavens. I feel like my feet could explode right now." Kicking her shoes onto the beach, Jenny found a comfortable position in the chair.

"Hey Momma." I wrapped my around around Mrs. Winters, quickly making sure she found her way to our spot, "Did you guys have fun?"

Mrs. Winters laughed, "Of course we did. Julian is a fine captain if I say so myself."

Julian laughed as he put an umbrella in the sand over Jenny, "I got practise from the best captain of all time. Mr. Winters was one in a million, I wouldn't know half of what I do now if it wasn't for him."

We all shook our heads in agreement, settling into the sandy shores, watching the kids play in the water, "Are you excited to have a child, Jenny?" I looked around the beach, "Soon your little bundle of joy will be running around this beach, throwing sand in the eyes of innocent bystanders and making you wish you had your tubes tied."

Jenny laughed, "Probably, it's a scary sight. I can't even imagine what my kid is going to be like. Be as loud and obnoxious as me and probably as goofy as that man over there!"

Julian just waved his hand dismissively as he helped a kid make a few sand castles. "Whatever babe, you're the one who married this "man over there"." Laughing, he quickly dumped a bucket of sand onto the beach, creating the first layer of his sand castle.

The wind was slightly picking up, bringing the fresh smell of cooking on the campsites to my nose. I realized how hungry I was at that point, so I located the cooler closer to the water and brought out some Popsicles, handing one to the ladies of the group, "Blue Raspberry for Jenny and Cheery for Momma, I know they're your favourites."

Jenny clapped her hands in glee, "I am so excited for this! I'm so glad you remembered. I really want to just eat all of them, but I will make sure not to eat them all at once." She started munching on her popcicle, savouring the taste. "I thought Auntie Summers was going to be here this weekend, but I don't see them anywhere in sight."

My hands started to fumble and my nerves started to get shocked, I couldn't imagine seeing the Summers again after the last time, I had made a total fool of myself right in front of their extremely cute - and extremely nice son, Myles. I started to slightly kick the sand, not wanting to bring up the last experience that we had. I took a few deep breathes, but then I felt a shadow looming over me. I looked behind me to see a beautiful boy standing above me, a playful smirk on his face.

"Well, if it isn't Mattieboy! I haven't seen you since that disastrous night in your hotel room at the wedding."

I turned fifty shades of red, I couldn't believe he said that in front of everyone, "Hey Myles. It has been a really long time, hadn't it? It's nice to see you." I looked behind him to see Mrs. Summers standing with her hand on her hip and one hand over her eyes, "And hello Mrs. Summers, it's very nice to see you too!"

Waving her hand slightly, she made a small smile, "Would you boys mind going to get the chairs from the car. I need somewhere to sit and I was hoping you would be able to help."

I smiled slightly, "Absolutely. I'll go get those for you."

I got up and started walking towards the car, hearing someone coming from behind me, turning around to see Myles, I let out a frustrated sigh, "Oh, it's just you."

He grinned slightly, but he look slightly hurt, "Oh I'm sorry Mattieboy. I didn't mean to intrude. You just never called me back after our night together. I knew I did something wrong, but I assumed you would eventually call me. I'm sorry for whatever I did, I hope you're going to be okay."

I knew he was just being nice, I sighed in discontent, "I'm sorry I never called you, I just had a lot on my mind. Maybe we can start this over again? Pretend that we were never together that night and just be friends first, would that work for you?" I was trying to sound pleasant, I didn't want to make him feel worse then he did.

"That sounds like a good plan." Grabbing the chairs, he started back towards the beach, "By the way, my name is Myles Summers. It's really nice to meet you, Mattie."

I blushed slightly as I sat back down on my chair, watching Jenny and Julian splashing in the water. A pang of jealousy hit me, but as I turned to see a smiling Myles, suddenly all my worries disappeared.

Maybe second chances only come once in a lifetime.

BOOK STARTING OCTOBER 2014