I've Got Summer

T W O

S U M M E R

"—Summer." I watched the large, devilishly handsome man thank my dad and walk out before I was finished introducing myself, biting my lip and cursing myself for not caring how I looked that day. My hair was a mess, but his dark brown was intentionally and wonderfully pulled back on top, and when he turned around it was obvious why he kept it shaved around the back and sides.

A glorious tattoo of wings covered the back of his head, and I couldn't help but admire that—and his back, and his butt—as he walked away without a word in my direction.

He looked like all the guys in all the books I'd read that the main character was never able to keep away from, and I kind of wanted him to be just like that—plus some elements from the erotica genre.

Dad coughed again, pulling me out of my trance as the big, black truck pulled out into traffic. I helped him over to sit down at the bench behind the counter, holding onto his arm until I knew he wouldn't fall. It was a lovely bench I insisted we added when I was younger, so I could sit there, watch the edge of the forest meet the river, and read my books while dad and my brother worked.

"When's August getting here?" I asked, siding down next to dad, placing a hand on his thigh.

He waved a hand dismissively, hating that I fussed every time he had a hard time with his lungs. "He's a couple days away, he wanted to drive."

My brother lived in the big city, making a career at a law firm as an assistant, but eventually he wanted to pass the bar and become one of those big-brained-full-of-money guys. He'd probably do it, too, because he was always the smart one. I just got our mom's shenanigans.

"Is Leon with him?" My voice was hopeful, because I hadn't seen my brother-in-law in a while. Not that they were married, but I knew they would be soon. As soon as August got the balls to actually ask him. Or else I'd beg Leon to ask and let me watch my brother squirm with embarrassment while he did.

Dad waved his hand again. "No, he had to work."

Disappointment filled my stomach, but I blew it away with a smile. Seeing August would be great either way, especially now that dad had gotten worse and I needed help to look after him and the shop. I just hoped August could stay long enough to make sure dad would get better.

Lung cancer was what the doctors said last time we were there. He needed to get out a part of his left lung, and he'd be all right. So he was scheduled for surgery a couple weeks in the future, and needed to take it easy and stay on his medication religiously before that. And I had to remind him, like I was the parent.

I was hardly a parent. I was more like mom than him, and when I called her to let her know about dad last week, she'd said, "Let him come to me, and I'll cleanse his aura and heal him with my crystals, he'll be just fine in less than a day!" Or something like that. I stopped listening when she said to send him to her, across the globe, to some new age village she and her friends had built.

She was lovely, but a bit...naive. She fully believed in shakra and auras, and herbal medicine. I wasn't opposed to the idea that it might help, but I'd never believe crystals could cure cancer. Not alone, anyway. Modern medicine would be the best way to attack it, but I would gladly hide some crystals around the house to help speed up the process.

"That was the guy who bought the forest hut," dad told me once he'd been able to calm his breath and stop coughing up parts of his lung. Well, that might've been an exaggeration, but I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if it happened.