Keepsake of My Love

36 Summer of love

Mood: swipe left and tap the media box above to listen to Summer Days by Martin Garrix.

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Lydia

I was completely in love with Jake's stunningly majestic home. It was a freaking mansion compared to most houses in town. I especially enjoyed spending summers hanging out at Jake's place and using his pool to swim and sunbathe.

His parents worked long hours and traveled with their jobs, so Jake and I had the place to ourselves most of the summer. His live-in housekeeper, June, and the gardeners were around, so we had some good conversations.

His mom's dog, Tinkerbell, often snuck into his room and rested on Jake's bed.

"Off! Shoo!" Jake picked up the little Chihuahua and placed her on the floor.

"Aww, poor lady," I commented. Jake rolled his eyes.

"When we get a place of our own, we'll get a big dog. Like a wolf," he said.

"I prefer cats," I replied.

"We'll get both," he grinned as he lay on his side on his bed. Dang, he looked smoking hot!

I went through a pile of photos Jake had on his desk.

"Oh, those are from my mom," he said.

"Ooh, look, there's you and me when we were in high school!" I remembered the day his mom took that photo of us standing outside the house. It was when I visited their place for the first time.

"Gawd, we looked so awkward," I continued.

"We were awkward," he replied.

"Oh, Jake, is that your mom?"

"Um, yeah. Like twenty years ago," he said.

"She's so pretty, Jake," I commented.

"Dad took that photo of her. They were on an extended vacation in Paris when that pic was taken. She just found out she was pregnant with me," he replied.

"So you were conceived in Paris! How romantic!" I thought it was so cool.

"Please. Next topic." Jake was uncomfortable talking about his parents' love life.

"Ooh, here's one of you and your dad when you were both younger!" I chirped.

Jake's dad had really good bone structure and incredibly handsome features. I looked over at Jake. Gosh, he was a beauteous man. He had his parents to thank for his gorgeous self.

I flipped through more photos and found one of Jake with a surfboard. It looked fairly recent, as in taken in the last year or two.

"Ooh, when was this taken, Jakey?" I had to know.

"Last summer," he said. His face looked grim.

"Where?"

"At the beach where Elsie and I were. They have a beach house. That's where I was last summer."

"Oh. Yeah. I remember Carrie saying something." I averted my eyes to deflect any tears. My body had already frozen.

"Missy, look at me."

"No, I'm okay."

"Missy."

I couldn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. So I said nothing.

"Look at me."

Jake moved towards me and stroked my arm. He lifted my chin to look at him. My face moved willingly, but my eyes betrayed my hurt feelings. I couldn't bear to look at him.