Free Summerfield by Katie Miller

breathing was necessary we pulled away. He lay back down, but
brought me closer this time so that my head was against his chest.

"Can I tell you something?" I whispered.

"Anything."

I bit my lip. "Sometimes, when things are like this. Nearly perfect. I
start to think that I've either gone utterly insane or that at any
moment I'm going to wake up, like it's a dream."

"Well, you're not dreaming. As for the insane part, well, that may be."

I looked up and stuck my tongue out at him. "Well gee, that makes me
feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

I heard him chuckle before kissing my head. "I like that you're a
little crazy."

He didn't see me roll my eyes.

"Can I ask you something?" He questioned, his voice echoing through my
head. I just loved the sound of his voice.

"Anything." I answered, grinning up at him.

He chuckled a bit, but his features more serious. "You said that
everything was nearly perfect. Why only nearly?"

I looked up at the stars again, waiting until I thought of just how to
answer. "It's just...the only other time in my life when everything
was perfect was when my mom was still alive. Now that she's gone...I
just feel like there's always that small part of me that's never fully
going to be there. The only thing to make this perfect were if...if I
had my mom back." I muttered, avoiding eyes contact. It had been a
hard thing to admit, to him and to myself. I had spent the last two
years thinking over and over about everything to do with my mom, but I
had never really talked about it with anyone.

"You know that's the first time you've ever really talked about her."
He said, possibly more so to himself than me. "You can always tell me
anything you want Belle. I'm always here for you. If it's about your
mom, your dad, Aunt, friends, shampoo, I'm here."

I couldn't help but smiled. I leaned up, capturing his lips this time
with my own. "You sure you're not a dream?"

He grinned; his only response was a kiss.

"One thing." I said, leaning in more to his chest. "Shampoo?"

He shrugged with a smirk. "It seems to be a girl thing."

***

"You nervous about the plane ride?" Dad questioned, looking
uncomfortable as we waited for my flight to get here. I had told him
that he didn't need to stay to see me off, but he had insisted.

I shrugged. I actually hated flying, but I didn't find the
need to make Dad worry about me. "Not really. I'll probably sleep most
of the ride."

"Did you sleep at all last night?"

"A couple of hours off and on."

Dad looked a bit concerned as he looked closely, like trying to find
some kind of hint in how I was feeling carved into my skin. "If you
have any problems or you want to come home early give me a call,
okay?"

I nodded. "Sure will."

I tried my best to give the most reassuring smile I could give. I gave Dad a hug and kiss
on the cheek before gathering my things and heading off to California.

And I had been right. I slept for over half the flight.
    Chapter Six

Lander California was beautiful in the summer. The weather was
extremely hot, but the flowers were in full bloom, people were all
around and smiling and the place looked like a garden magazine.

Kara met me at the airport. We decided that we wanted to hang out a while in town before going back to her
house.

She showed me all around town. Every place she would go while she was
living here all year round and she introduced me to some of her family
friends and people she knew well around the small town.

We had decided on the ice cream shop for the moment, to talk about things.

"So, what happened?" I questioned as we sat across from each other in
a booth. She was playing with her root beer float, lifting the straw
in and out.

Her mood seemed to change every now and then. She had been happy when
she met me at the airport as she showed me around her hometown, but
when I had suggested we go somewhere to talk about what happened she
seemed to lose herself in