The Summer Home

18. The New Family

     After Nathan had finished doing his service for the town and Ray, the young man dedicated the rest of his summer to helping his father. Nathan was the only kid that knew what was really going on, so he was determined to help out as much as he possibly could. Helping his father get around the house made things as easy as possible so that his old man could work on and finish the new novel. With Nathan's assistance and constant pestering, Peter actually had no trouble making his deadline much to the excitement of his agent and publisher. What made Peter happy was that fans around the world who were eager for the release of the new Frank Slate novel, which his publisher was more than happy to launch just before Christmas. Just getting that damn novel done on time was an accomplishment in itself, and Nathan was so proud of his Dad for doing it... especially considering how much his father was struggling. Nathan still managed to find some time to hang out with Cheryl Adams as well since she also completed her community service around the same time Nathan did. They went on a few more dates that were a bit more formal dates, as they also began to exchange oodles of emails, texts, and did a lot of facetime chats when Nathan moved back to the city with his new family.

     The move into the new house wasn't as hectic as Nathan first assumed it might be. He chose to take over the room that was located next to Jacob's as the two of them had gotten along for the most part and were closer in age. While it wasn't the biggest room available to him, Nathan didn't have the heart to take away Dad's den which was actually right next to his bedroom. Nathan also didn't have guts to take away the playroom that his two younger sisters had used happily for years. There were bigger fish to fry than space, so Peter couldn't help but be proud of the mature man Nathan was slowly becoming.

     There was more to life and the young man was finally beginning to understand that. Nathan had also chosen that room because he wanted to make an effort to get closer to Jacob. It was a gesture that was not lost as they two of the grew very close over the years and became the best of friends. There wasn't anything one wouldn't do for the other, and it was like they were real brothers. They were able to handle anything together and were each others best men when their day came to become married men but that was many, many years later.

     With permission from Peter, there was one person he was allowed to tell everything to, as long as she promised to remain quiet. Nathan had taken Cheryl to the park and told her everything about what Ray had told her along with every other detail he had learned that day at the bridge. Stunned couldn't begin to describe how shocked Cheryl was to hear this update, especially about the great lengths the writer had gone to just to attack Nathan's father and smear him as badly as she could in the public eye. They had heard of the phrase that there was nothing meaner than a woman scorned but this woman was living proof of such a statement. For the rest of that summer, the two of them had become very close, which made their parting at the end of the summer that much more difficult. They promised to keep in touch and never grow apart. Nathan also promised Sonya that he would be a complete gentleman when he was with Cheryl, and he was a man of his word. The only thing that happened between them that summer was their first kiss, which came a week before the summer ended. He was going to miss Cheryl but knew they had what it took to make it through the cold winter ahead.

     Peter had been right about his book, and how the fans would respond to it. When the Frank Slate sequel hit bookstores, they couldn't keep them on the shelves and sales went into the millions. The profits this new novel had made were staggering, and while the publisher was screaming for Peter to write another Frank Slate novel, Peter put his foot down and returned to being the snobbish writer that usually he was. This sequel was the exception rather than the norm, and he made if clear that the next novel he was going to pen, and deliver on time, would be a new story with new characters that were just as appealing and inspirational.