Chapter 34

Every inch of my skin has been on fire for the last twelve hours. When Chase dropped me off last night, I felt like I was leaving my heart in his passenger's seat and I've never felt more okay with that than I do now. I've been with other men before, Chase knows that, but telling him I've always belonged to him wasn't a lie. And I don't think he thought it was either.

I remember agreeing to date the quarterback in high school because he was so adamant about bringing me as his date to prom. I agreed to it out of boredom, in a way. The guy I wanted wasn't giving me anything and here was this perfectly nice guy practically falling at my feet, so I said yes to a date that resulted in my first serious relationship where he ultimately cheated on me. I feel like, in one way or another, I've been wronged by every guy I've let close to me. Any man who has ever whispered sweet nothings into my ear about how amazing I was or how much they loved me, never thought twice about hurting me or letting me down.

I settled, more often than I care to admit, with men who didn't mean much to me when I look back now. My heart has always been with Chase.

When I lived in Miami, I went on a handful of dates with this guy who was a regular at the bar I worked at. He sweet talked his way into me giving him my phone number and I eventually let him take me to dinner a few times. The more time we spent together, the more he seemed to actually pull away. I noticed it quickly—not that he attempted to hide it too well, though. When all was said and done, he told me that dating me just felt like "a lot", whatever that meant to him at the time. I didn't ask for clarification or challenge him, I let his excuse be his out without any kind of question. Thinking back on it now, I wish I would've asked what the hell he meant by it. Drew often made me feel like I was too much too. He'd tell me to settle down at the bar all the time. One night he apologized on my behalf to his friends because I was yelling at the television while we were watching the Knights play an away game. He looked embarrassed the entire time. That should've been my sign.

As someone who considers herself overall pretty confident and of the opinion to take no shit—I sure as hell have taken quite a bit of shit from weak ass men. And that stops now. No more small men. No more men who want to stare at my chest one minute and then tell me to calm down the next.

Abby's face lights up my phone screen as I'm lying in bed, still reeling over last night and the memory of Chase's hands all over me. I texted her when I got home last night and told her to call me when she woke up. Telling her my teenage dreams came true last night is first on my list this morning.

"Morning, Sunshine." I smile into the phone when her face comes into view.

"Hi," she croaks out before she coughs all over the screen. She moves the phone away from her face and I see Ford laying next to her. I'm certain he's naked. Either that or he just wears his shorts real, real low.

"Cover up, Anderson," I call into the phone as he takes it from Abby's hands. "Is she okay?"

"She's got a little bug I think, but she'll be okay."

I nod at him while he looks off the screen and watch his eyes as he looks at her. Ford stares at Abby like she's the single greatest thing he's ever seen. It makes me wonder if from the outside anyone would say that about Chase when he looks at me.

"What'd you want me to call you about?" Abby asks when she comes back to the screen. She takes the phone from Ford as she sits up in her bed against the headboard. His head falls into her lap and her attention is on me, but I see her fingers running through his hair at the bottom of the screen.

"You guys are making me want to have sex at eight in the morning. Stop fondling each other, I can't handle the tension."

Ford's laugh carries through the screen and he pulls the phone back down to him. "I'd love to have sex right now, but I can't until I get a test done in a couple days—doctor's orders."

"He's going to be unbearable for that time, I hope you know that," I say to Abby. "But I have to tell you about last night. If sixteen-year-old Summer could see me now…"

Abby chuckles, and I take a sip of my coffee before continuing.

"Chase and I are actually going to try and date, I guess. He very sweetly—and shyly, I might add—asked me to be his girlfriend."

"What?" Abby leans forward, nearly choking on her own saliva as Ford sits up abruptly too. She puts both of them in focus on the screen and my cheeks feel warm as I place a palm over them. "I'm so happy. I'm kind of shocked, but also not that shocked. You've been spending more time together, I figured he was bound to realize how perfect you are."

"My guy." Ford beams on the other end of the screen and I see him pull out his phone, which I can only assume he's reaching out to Chase right now, too.

"It caught me by surprise. I mean, he's definitely let his guard down a lot more in recent weeks when it comes to himself personally. But his home life, football, his dad life, when it comes to CeCe—all of that has still been pretty much the same. Very on routine with everything there. Almost like he's finally just making time for himself, you know?"

"Mm-hmm, yep. That's what he needs, though. Everything in his life has been pretty lined up and well-practiced for a while. But he completely forgot how to be just Chase. Of course, only you could bring him back." Abby laughs as she pulls her legs up to her chest.

"So how are you feeling? Aside from the coughing." She's been pretty private about all of her fertility stuff, but she fills me in when she feels up to it.

I've taken the approach of sending her texts every now and then letting her know I'm thinking of her and whenever she wants to fill me in or catch up, my door is always open. It feels like she appreciates that route so she can share things on her terms and when she's ready, versus someone needing an update every step of the way.

"I feel okay. I'm exhausted. But I've got a good little caretaker here." She rubs Ford's bicep and he kisses her forehead.

"Good. You still have my apartment key, right? Just in case you need to check your blood pressure or need an extra heating pad, you know, anything, right?"

"I have it if I need any of that stuff, thank you."

"Okay, good." I nod my head.

"By the way, will you be here for Christmas?" she asks.

I sigh, thinking about the holiday. I'm looking forward to it, but my parents asked me to come home for it for the first time in years. They're usually out of town, but this year they've decided to come back to Florida.

"No, actually. Can you believe my parents will be home this year? So they're having a bunch of family over."

"Oh my gosh, well, that's exciting, though. It's been almost a year since you've seen them in person, right?"

I pause, thinking back for a moment and counting months in my head. "Yeah I guess so. My mom emails me all the time, though, so I'm not completely out of touch with them."

I keep seeing Abby swat Ford's hand away from her as she talks and it makes me feel like I'm invading their time together. "I can let you go, I just wanted to let you know that dreams do come true."

Abby belts out a laugh and so does Ford. "I'm going to text him and tell him not to fuck it up and to treat you like a fucking queen," Ford says, pulling the camera closer to his face.

"That's not necessary," I say, shaking my head.

"Give me the phone." I hear Ford say to Abby and she clicks her tongue before handing it over to him. "Love you!" she calls out as the scenery begins to change.

"Where are you taking me? Have you put clothes on yet? I swear to God, Anderson, if you're talking to me naked, I'll kill you."

"Relax," he says, flashing the camera at his waist to show a pair of shorts. "Listen, you're like a sister to me, Summer. Chase may be my teammate and my brother-in-law, but I'll still sucker punch him if he hurts you."

Ford's overprotective, big brother thing he's been doing with me lately is actually pretty sweet. It's hard to get annoyed with him when he's just looking out for me, even though I want to tell him to chill out, back off and stop being so macho. It's kind of nice having him in my corner.

"Thanks," I say, smiling at him.

"Look at my palm tree," he says, quickly changing the subject and facing the phone out toward his backyard. I can hear Abby in the background telling him to stop talking about the palm tree.

"Uh, looks great."

"Yeah, I just had it planted." His voice is full of pride before Abby's voice gets closer.

"We're going to let you go," she says, stepping in front of him.

"Love you," I call out just before we disconnect the call.

There's an obvious pep in my step as I'm getting myself ready for work today. Curling my hair feels fun and not tedious, pulling my scrubs up over my hips doesn't make me groan at the couple of jumps I do to get them in place. I feel happier than I have in a while.

Before I walk out the door, my phone dings with a text message from Chase.

Chase

This will be waiting in the family suite for you Sunday. Wear it.

A picture of one of his jerseys pops up on the screen. It's a special edition throwback jersey with his name and number on the back. It's one of the only jerseys of his I don't have, until now.

That sounds a little bossy.

Chase

Good.