“I know you don’t like him,” I say because Chase has never really cared for the guys I date. Always says I could do better. The worst part is, in retrospect, he’s usually right.
I dated a guy named Matt over the last year. To say he broke my heart would be an understatement. I’m just grateful that I never slept with him.
Thus the breakup.
“He’s not like Matt,” I argue because he isn’t.
Matt was always getting into trouble. He skipped school. Drank a lot. Smoked. Rode a motorcycle. Totally had that bad-boy thing going on. And when your parents are going through a divorce, starting new relationships, and getting remarried … well, sometimes, you feel the need to rebel.
But Hunter is different. He’s a three-sport athlete—defensive end on our football team, starting point guard in basketball, and holds the school record for the shot put. I’ve thought he was cute since we were kids and had a huge crush on him, but he was dating Taylor Tinsdale since the seventh grade. It was a big shock to everyone when they broke up a month ago.
“He’s a good athlete, but he plays dirty, he slacks off whenever he can, and I just don’t respect him.”
“It’s not like we’re dating. We’ve just been hanging out.”
“Whatever. Anyway,” Chase says, holding out the gift.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“I know, but, well, just open it, and you’ll see.”
I turn the package over and slide my finger under the tape to break the seam apart. Then, I flip it over and remove the wrap. There’s a small box with a card underneath it.
“What’s this?” I ask, realizing Chase’s photo is on it.
He blushes and then shrugs. “I know it’s kind of lame, but they made it for me while I was at camp. Told me that if I kept working hard, things like this were within my reach. That I’d play pro someday. Your dad tells me and Damon that, but I always kind of thought he said it because, you know, dads have to say that sort of thing. It was the first time I’ve heard it from an unbiased source whose job it is to know what the league wants. It is—” His eyes get misty.
“Your dream,” I say, finishing his sentence.
“That’s right. I’ll be playing professional football, and you’ll be on the sidelines, covering the game.”
I can’t help but smile at him.
“And at camp, it started to feel like less of a dream and more of a possibility. Anyway, I want you to have it. My first ever trading card.”
“Shouldn’t you give it to your mom or something?”
“No. It’s yours, Dani.” He gives my hand a squeeze and nods toward the small box. “Then, I saw this and knew I had to get it for you, so you’d know it was possible, too.”
I tilt my head, wondering what could be inside. Wondering if he had a card made for me, but when I lift the lid off, I find a gold ring that spells out dream in a delicate font.
“They’re real diamonds,” Chase says. “I splurged, but it was just so—”
“Perfect,” I say, mesmerized by both the ring and its meaning. Not to mention the fact that Chase is the sweetest, most thoughtful boy I’ve ever known.
I’m about to say more to him when my brother bursts through the door.
“There you guys are. You’re supposed to get your butts downstairs. Everyone is waiting.”
Chase holds my gaze for a moment and then stands up and gives Damon a fist bump.
“It’s good to have you home,” Damon says to him.
I get myself up off the bed, and the three of us travel down the two flights of stairs to the family room.
“Chase!” his siblings yell out and attack him with hugs the second we enter the room.
His parents and my dad and Jennifer aren’t far behind. And neither are the dogs, Angel and Winger—puppy cousins that my dad got when the Mackenzies’ fifteen-year-old yellow Lab, Angel, passed away. Winger is the Mackenzies’ new yellow Lab pup, and Angel, named in honor, is our black Lab.
After the excitement of seeing Chase dies down, he’s hugged everyone and petted the pups, his mom, Jadyn—who I have called Auntie Jay my whole life but who isn’t really my aunt—moves to the front of the room and says, “Sometimes in life, in the midst of what feels like chaos, you are lucky enough to have things fall perfectly into place.”
“Just tell them already,” my dad heckles.
And it’s funny. Because my dad and Jadyn along with Chase’s dad—Uncle Phillip—have been best friends since they were kids.
“All of us here,” Jadyn continues, “plus Papa and Mimi, and Grandma and Grandpa Mac, are going to spend three glorious weeks on vacation together.”
“Where are we going?” her eleven-year-old son, Ryder, asks.
Knowing that Jadyn just finished another hotel remodel and recently sold her company, I’m picturing us all on a gorgeous yacht with an attentive staff of hot college guys, serving me piña coladas with fruit stuck on an umbrella, as we cruise the Caribbean islands—no, wait, Greece. Yes, the Greek islands. And the exotically tan-skinned crew will have sexy European accents …
“The Ozarks!” Phillip blurts out.
He and Jadyn are beaming.
What the heck? The Ozarks? The place my friends and their families drive to? The place old country stars go to put on family shows until they die? The place where there is a hillbilly theme park?
“Sounds glamorous,” I mutter.
“It will be,” Jennifer says seriously. Even she looks excited.
“We’re all staying in a gorgeous new house on the water,” Jadyn says, “and we’ll have the use of three brand-new boats and a bunch of wave runners. The house has every amenity. And if that’s not enough, we will have golf carts available to take us to the nearby resort.”
My dad stands up. He’s wearing a big grin. Clearly, this isn’t the first time he has heard about this because he is already fully on board.
“It’s going to be an old-fashioned summer. Like the kind we used to have when we were kids,” he says, spinning his finger from himself and Jennifer to Jadyn and Phillip. “Swimming in the lake. Waterskiing. Tubing. Roasting marshmallows every night.”
“And the best part of all of it,” Jennifer adds, “is that there will be no cell phones or other electronic devices allowed.”
“Wait. What?” I blurt out in disbelief. Currently, my phone is practically glued to my hand.
My dad nods in agreement. “Yep. We won’t need our phones. We will be too busy having fun.”
“Are we talking, everyone? Even you?” I say, looking pointedly at Jennifer, who is always on her phone, dealing with some sort of business.
“Yes. We are going to completely unplug. All of us.”
I rub my temple and try to wrap my head around this.
Chase sees my distress and says, “But what if there is some kind of emergency?”
“There are walkie-talkies and a GPS communication system on board the boats if we need to call for help. And the house has a landline,” his dad replies.
“What’s that?” Chase’s sister, Haley James, asks, scrunching up her nose.
She’s probably on her phone more than I am. She is a total social butterfly who will start her last year of middle school this fall and seems to have a new boyfriend every week.