“I suppose you’re right,” I said to him.
Odds were that both my mother and Rowan were sleeping, so there was no need to rush the only true happiness in my life, especially knowing I would be in a pit of despair once summer actually came.
“I’m always right,” he teased, which elicited a giggle from me.
“I’m so going to miss you.”
“And I’ll miss you. Ireland will not feel the same this summer at all. It can’t.”
I went to raise my head to ask why, but he pushed it back down and held it against his chest. While his heart rate was steady, there was a slight erratic cadence to it, which I knew echoed my own racing heart. Snuggling closer to him, I let out a sigh.
“Why will this summer be any different?” I knew how much he loved Ireland just from our conversations about it.
“Because you’ll be here, which is way too far away.”
I smiled against his chest, then pressed my lips to him. “It’s just for the summer.”
“And the only one we’ll ever have to spend apart.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“Next school year, we’ll both be adults and can do whatever we want with whoever we want.”
“Whenever we want,” I added, and he kissed me this time.
“Exactly. Let’s just lie here and enjoy this little time we have left.”
I had agreed, but a few hours later, I was now staring at my mother’s angry and hurt face, wishing I hadn’t let him convince me to stay there for so long. While I was sure he thought it would be for just a few minutes, we ended up falling asleep, and mymother had caught us lying naked in each other’s arms on the pier.
“I can’t believe you would jeopardize everything we have here, Reagan.”
“We weren’t hurting any?—”
“You were not hurting yourself, but that doesn’t extend to me and your sister. I need this job in order to keep a roof over our heads and the insurance to keep up Rowan’s medical care. I might very well lose everything now because you couldn’t control your hormones.”
When she put it that way, the magnitude of what I had done hit me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought about the three of us being kicked out of this school and off these grounds. The only reason her job here worked was because it provided what other places wouldn’t be able to if she were to take a different job.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Luckily, Mr. Brannington isn’t going to have the board tender my resignation. Of course, that was on the promise that you would stay away from his grandsons from this point forward, especially Cillian Brannington.”
“I’ll keep that promise,” I assured her, and I intended to do so.
There was too much at stake for me not to. Her anger seemed to subside, but the deep seated disappointment she had in me was still evident on her face. It gutted me. Not ever seeing Cillian again also did. Maybe he was right about next year. We would be adults, and if neither of us were here at this school, there would be nothing for my mother to worry about.
But Cillian would be here at school next year as he would return for his senior season. Unless...No, I refused to accept that his overbearing grandfather would yank him from this school. From what he had told me, every Brannington male attendedschool here and had graduated from Summit Crest Preparatory, too. He wouldn’t change a family tradition for me.
I’ll need to keep my word and let him go.
My heart shattered into pieces at the very thought. I would think of something, as would Cillian. After all, we had been sneaking around for a while. Had we not fallen asleep then none of this would’ve happened. We would have to be more careful in the future. And we would be.
“Is there anything else before I go to bed?” I asked my mother.
“Yes. Be sure to shower that boy’s touch off you before climbing into bed.”
DUBLIN, IRELAND
While I had already planned on coming back home to spend the summer in Ireland, the speed at which my grandfather made those arrangements was no coincidence. I also had a pretty good what his infamous “we need to discuss something” would entail. At least I hadn’t had to come back here alone. Princeton was right beside me in first class.
