A Summer Love- Chapter Two by Terri Reed

“Mom, it’s not going to work.” Jenny dragged her mother along the boardwalk to the café. No amount of matchmaking was going to bring Jenny and Jake back together.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about?”

The innocence in her voice was so saccharine sweet Jenny’s teeth ached.  She snorted, even as her heart rate still beat too fast.  

“A table for two,” she managed to say to the hostess who led them to a table on the deck by the railing where they had a perfect view of the ocean and the beach.

Jake was back in town.

She’d known one day he’d arrived. She had expected it a few months ago when his mother passed but then he never showed so she’d let her guard down. Seeing him today had stirred up all her old feelings and the memories she’d thought long buried.

Fifteen years.

A long time to get over him. 

She was over him. She’d moved on.  That she was still single had nothing whatsoever to do with Jake!

But boy, oh boy, he was still as good-looking as he’d been when she’d fallen in love with him.  Back then he’d been thinner and exuded a kinetic vitality that had always amazed her even as it drew her in, making her want to be within the sphere of his energy force.

Time had been good to him. He’d filled out, his shoulders boarder, his arms muscled. Now his dark hair had just a tinge of silver thread through the dark strands and there were new lines in his face that only made him more attractive.

And there’d been sadness in his chocolate colored eyes that had tugged at her.

That is, until he teased her.  

Placing her chin in her hand, she stared at her mother. “What were you thinking to invite Jake to dinner?”

Shaking out the napkin and laying it properly across her lap, Mom said, “Extending an invitation to an old friend who’s recently returned to town after a long absence.”

“Right. That’s all.” Jenny turned her gaze to the beach and her breath caught as her gaze snagged on Jake and his dog walking along the sandy shore. Was he limping? What had happened to him over the years?  Would he really sell the house?

The place they’d dreamed of sharing and filling with children.

A flutter started in her tummy and worked its way through her until her hands shook.  An idea formed. She loved the cottage by the sea.

Adjust your expectation and form a new plan, her dad had always told her.

Good advice.

If Jake wanted to sell, there was no reason why she couldn’t buy the house.